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4 HWVKV H. TUCKKR. Kditor WHAT KIND Ob MEN WERE THE A POSTLES? They were common men. There ' was nothing remarkable about them in any way whatever. We speak of 1 the original panel, and not of Paul, who came in afterwards. They were | not men of high social position; it is not likely that they had enjoyed great opportunities of education nor of cul ture of any kind. Concerning Peter and John, we are distinctly informed, that they were “unlearned and ignor ant men.” Acts 4:13. These two ap- I pear to have been about such men as may be found in ah our seaport cities | who make their living by catching fish : and selling them in the markets; and it is probable that the other ten out ranked them but little if at all. There are perhaps five hundred or a thou sand men in Atlanta to-day who are fully equal intellectually ami morally, and in all other respects, to the best of them. They had their weaknesses like oth er men. There was a miserable and petty strife among them, even while their Lord was with them, as to *who should be greatest. Mark 9 :33. Even John, whois thought to have been so gentle and amiable because he leaned on the Savior’s breast, James, agreeing with him, was foolish enough, and enough possessed with an evil spirit, to suggest, that fire be called down from heaven to destroy a Samaritan village, with its inhabitants, merely be cause the people there yielding to their national prejudices (just such as we have now), failed to receive him, on the ground that he was on his way to Jerusalem—a place which they hated. Lu. 9:51-56. An other one of them who was really a leader, was very rash, and lost his tem per ; and denied his Lord and confirm ed his falsehood with an oath. He was lacking both in prudence and in cour age, the two qualities which above all others are most necessary, to fit a man for the prominent place occupied by him. The same man afterwards quar reled with Paul, and the contention was so sharp between them, that they could not possibly labor together, even in the work of the Lord Jesus, and they wore obliged to separate. Acts 15:39. The same man, on another occasion, was afraid to face an impor tant issue, and meanly tergivisated when he ought to have been bold; and he actually drew Barnabas, notwith standing the latter was full of the Holy Ghost (Acts 11:24), into dissimula tion with him ; for all which he was rebuked by Paul. Gal. 2:10 17. The were not always wise. They received Simon, the sorcerer, into their fellowship and Philip baptized him, though he was afterwards discov ered to be an impostor. Paul suffered much from “false brethren,” 2 Cor. 11:, 26, from which we may infer, that there were a good many of them. The churches established by the apostles were very disorderly. They had forni cation, and even incest among them. 1 Cor. 5:1. They appear to have made a convivial feast of the Lord's Supper, and there were many heresies among them. 1 Cor. 11:18-22. Judg ing by their antecedents and also by their history, the apostles seem to have been neither wiser nor better than oth er people. The world was full then, and is now, of men, far superior to the apostles, in all the qualities which we should think would fit men for their position. Considering the immeasurable dig nity of the office to which they were appointed, and the inconceivable re sponsibilities placed upon them, we should suppose that they were about the most unsuitable men that could have been selected in all Jerusalem, or in all Judea. The editor of The Inpex, or anybody else, would have selected men of the greatest moral courage, ami of the most distinguish ed abilities, and of the broadest and ! deepest culture, and of the most commanding position; and if these , could not have been had, he would have chosen the next grade below, j and thus on to the end, and those actually chosen would probably have been about his last choice. Hee what was to be done. A new religion was to be established—a re ligion of the most astounding char weter,—a religion utterly subversive human pride, and making war on humin nature—a religion founded by a man who was regarded ns the I illegitimate son of a carpenter, but who claimed to be the Son of God and ac tually equid with God, and identical with him, and those who accepted the new religion were obliged to admit '• thi» claim! As might have been cx pocteil, the opposition was fierce, not •only among the common people, but among the rulers, and the wise men, and the groat men, and among those who were regarded as the good men. Yet the avowed object of the new reli gion was to capture the whole world! To inaugurate such a stupendous enterprise, under circumstances so appallingly adverse, we should think THE CHRISTIAN INDEX AND SOUTH-WESTERN BAPTIST: THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1881. would require men, and more than a dozen of them too, of the highest posi tion in the world, and of the grandest capacity known to the human race. But, God’s ways are not our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts; they are as far above our ways as the heavens—that is as space—space in definite is beyond earth. He selected the fishermen and their peers. Now that it is all over, we can see some of the wisdom of it, which no hu man being could have seen at the time. If the new religion had been established by such men as human sa gacity would have selected, its success would have been attributed to their in fluence. The powers, intellectual, mor al, social, political and physical, while they could have commanded, would always have been regarded as the cause and ground of ultimate triumph, and thus the glory which belongs to God would have been given to man; and, thus too, we should have lost one of the strong evidences of the divine ori gin of the blessed religion of Jesus. It was established not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God. Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, were called. God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. Even the base things of the world, and things which were despised, were his chosen instruments. 1. Cor. 1.26:28. 4nd with these feeble and unworthy instru ments the word of God grew mightily and prevailed ; and to-day the civilized word is called the Christian world; and the day on which the Lord arose from the dead is kept sacred in every lati tude and in every longtitude of the habitable earth. From the facts before us we may learn some lessons of practical wis dom. 1. If the Apostles were such fallible men as the record shows them to have been, we ought not to worship them. There is a great disposition to accord to them a homage far beyond their due, and which is almost idola trous. They were faithful witnesses it is true, but there have been many since just as faithful, and doubtless there are many now. The Apostles suffered persecution ; but hundreds of thous ands since their day have suffered just as much, and some of them more, and hundreds of thousands woulddoso now. There is no reason why the apostles should be held in higher esteem than any other devout, sincere, and earnest disciples of Jesus, whether men or wo men. Many of our present pastors and deacons, and laymen, and also honorable women not a few, are fully equal to the best of the apostles in eVery respect, and superior to them in some. The grace of God has as much power now as it ever had, and it has just as good material to operate upon, and opportunities for growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord are better than they ever were. It may be said that the apostles were inspired. In the sense in which the expression is used this is not true. They were inspired only on certain oc casions and for certain purposes. When they preached, it was given them in that same hour what they should say. Those of them who took part in the writing of the New Testament were in spired for that purpose. But on ordi nary occasions they were ordinary men. Witness their mistakes! Witness their wranglings and bickerings! Except when under the influence of the Spirit they nre no guide for us, and their opinions arc no more valuable than our own. 2. We should not underrate the merit of Christians now living. According to the common notion, for we can hard ly call it an opinion, it is a terrible heresy to imagine, that we have any among us now, who would compare in any respect whatever with the apostles. We have multitudes who are quite as wise, and quite as good, and far more learned, and much better acquainted with the Scriptures of the old Testa ment having had immensely better op portunities for their study ; and thor oughly versed in the New Testament, the last revelation of God to man, which in the early days of the apostles was not written ; and who can see fully the correspondence of the two testa ments with each other and the glor ious light which each reflects up on the other—a privilege which no apostle ever enjoyed. Let us give hon or to whom honor is due. Let us pay to our devout brethren, whose piety is equal to that of the apostles and who are far mightier in the Scriptures than any apostle could have been, that rev erence and love to which their merits fairly entitle them. 3. We should learn to look charita bly on the faults of our brethren. If they make mistakes let us remember that the apostles did the same. If they sometimes show an unholy ambi tion let not forget that the apostles did the same thing. If they sometimes are guilty of duplicity let us bear in mind that even Barnabas, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost as he was, was led into the same sin. If they fall into a snare and become guilty of grievous crime let us remember our brother Pe ter's case, and not cut them off forever from our confidence, if they give due evidence of hearty repentance. 4. On the other hand let us not abuse charity by making it the apolo gy for laxity of discipline in our churches. The same New Testament which shows both the bad and the good side of apostolic history teaches us to withdraw ourselves from them that walk disorderly and this command is given specially “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2. Thess. 3:6. Other reflections suggest themselves, but this aiticle is already too long, and we must leave our readers to their meditations. INTERBIBLICAL HISTORY. The canon of the Old Testament was complete fourhundred years before a line of the New Testament was writ ten. What happened in the interval between these two periods? Would it not be interesting to know? and would not such knowledge be valuable? Would it not help us to understand much that we find in the New Tes tament? Read what our brother John A. Broadus says: To neglect the interbiblical history of the Jews is fatal to any thorough and vivid historical knowledge of the New Testament. Matthew and Luke take us at once in medias m. These beginnings of a new thing evidently take place amid an old civilization, anti we can not look around on the Roman or the Jewish world without looking back. If we turn simply to the Old Testament it fails to ex plain much of what we encounter in the Gospels. Imagine a reader well ac quainted with the Old Testament and its secular historical environment, who passes at once to a first examination of the Gospels. He will feel himself to be amid strangely new surroundings. Who is Herod, king of the Jews? is he a descendant of David ; and if not, how has he come to usurp the throne secured to David's line? Who is Ctesar Augus tus, issuing a decree to all the world ? We have seen Egyptian, Assyrian, Bait ylonian, and Persian masters of Western Asia, claiming to reign over all the world, but who are these new rulers? Not a few things also require to be explained in the social and economical condition of the Jews, as indicated in the New Testament. But the most numerous and wonderful changes are in their religious condition. Who are these Pharisees and Sadducees constantly coming before us and evidently exerting so powerful an influence on religious thought and life? What are the Rabbis, the lawyers, the Scribes? What are those synagogues, found in every town and frequented on every Sabbath, not for sacrifice and other ceremonical acts of worship, but for read ing the law, religious discourse, and prayer? What high ruling body is this, called the Sanhedrim, a name having no Heb rew derivation, while the body is pres ided over by a high-priest? What is meant by the traditions of the elders? Whence came this wide-spread and firm belief in a resurrection of the dead, as to which the Ol<l Testament gives but a few dim intimations? Such r.ro some of the questions that must s >rely perplex tire reader we have imagined. Now, from reading the New Testament itself, with commentaries and other popular works, intelligent people among us do get some knowledge ol these things; but it can never be a complete or a satisfactory knowledge .unless we personally study tiie rise ami growth of all these new and strange institutions and usages. The above extract is from Dr. Broad us’ article on the Old Testament Apoc rypha, published in the Baptist Review, of which see a notice in another column. According to Yorn Ability. —“ Every man accordig to his ability,” is the Christian rule of giving and working. It is not very faithfully obeyed. There are many persons who have great ability, yet do but little work; who have ample leisure, yet give but littie time; who have laige pi sseaaions, yet make small contributions. That is an evil that we have all seen under the sun. And there is another that is like unto it. There ae a great many people who have Some ability, but who do nothing; who have not much leisure, but who give no time to the Lord's work; who have a little money, but who put none at all into his treasury. Those who have a little and give nothing violate the Christian law just as truly as do those who have much and give little. There are a great many persons, young and old, in all our Churches, whose means and opportunities are limited, from whom not much ought to be expected; but they are able to do some thing; but they do nothing. They are trans gressors of the Christian law. They ought to repent, amido works meet for repentance Sunday Afternoon. Yes, that is the great trouble. Be cause they cannot do much they refuse to do anything. “Oh what little I can do would not help the cause in the least.” This is not true, but admit it: it might still do you some good to do what yo t can. It is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Secure then this blessing for yourself. The Central Baptist says: We can sea nothing in the simple act of teaching the colored people that r'l ttld os tracise a Christian teacher from goed society among bis co-religionists, or bar the doors of white people generally against him. And that is our opinion exactly-. In the simple act of teaching there is nothing objectionable. But a good deal depends on what it is that is taught; and a good deal on the associa tions and habits of those who do the teaching; and a good deal on the un conscious influence of the teachers. We have seen some very conscientious persons laboring with great zeal who in our opinion did more harm than good. We have tried to give them practical views which would have made their labor efficient, but they would not listen ; their desire is to teach, not to be taught ; and they think they can teach everybody. Unfortunately “everybody” does not agree with them, and so the parties are at outs. A fanatic of the positive polo meets a fanatic of the negative pole and of course neither of them will listen to the other. A man who is not a fanatic at all slips between to reconcile the parties, and to him neither ol them will listen. So it goes. A REMARKABLE MORTUARY REPORT. In the second annual report of the Board of Health of the city of Atlanta, we find the following statistics: “In analyzing our record of mortality for the past year (1880), we find that the total number of deaths in the city was 679 giving an annual death rate of 17 8 per thousand. Os thia numi er there were 288 whites, and j 391 colored The annual rate.of mortality per thousand among the whites was 13; among the Colored 23 8 “The number of deaths in persons over five years of age was 392 White 175; col ored 217. The number of deaths among children under five vears of age was 287. White 113; colored 174 “ Among the principal causes of death, we find that pneumonia is Charged with 62. White 14; colored 48 Other acute lung diseases, 18; —9 each of white and colored Consumption 100. White 41; colored 59 Diar'hoeal diseases—including diarrhoea, enteritis, dysentery and chulera-infant im— -114. Whiteso; colored 61 Typhoid fever 25. White 11; colored 14. Malarial fevers 5 White 2; colored 3 Scarlet fever 2 ; both white. Diphtheria 5. 1 white, four colored Rheumatism 2—white. " Twenty deaths were due to accidents—9 white and 11 colored. Three suicides, all white, are not included in the above figures. There were 81 still born children white 31; colored 50. “ The greatest mortality among the whites occurred in the month of May, when it reached 33 The lowest, in January, was 12 Among the blacks the greatest mortality occurred in the months of May and Julv. 44 each. The lowest iu January, April, Octo ber and November. 25 each. The greatest total mortality was regis'ered in May—77 The lowest in January— 37. “ We are unable to offer any comparative statements of annual mortality, as reliable mortuary statistics were not obtained prior to the organization of the present Board in July 1879 “It will be observed, by an examination of the alrove figures that, of the total num ber of deaths, 42 26 per cent, occurred in children under five years of age ;—ll 78 per cent, of all deaths was due to acute lung diseases; 14,72 per cent, to consumption; 16 81 per cent, to diarrhoeal diseases, and 3.68 to typhoid fever “ The disparity in the relative death rate of tire whites and the negro is striking and invariable. The record in this city does not differ from that in other cities. The fact is significant, and full of melancholy interest, ami, unless these figures are reversed by the statistics in the rural districts, the fate of the race will not be difficult to read." The above is copied from the official report of the Board of Health. We append some remarks of our own. The entire report taken as a whole and including both, whites and blacks, shows that Atlanta is one of the health iest cities in the world, the death-rate being only 17.8 per thousand. For white people the place is a marvel of health the death-rate being only 13 per thousand. For blacks It is nearly as healthy as New York and Boston are for anybody, the death-rate being 23.8 per thousand. The most wonderful feature in the report is the exhibit of the relative mortality of whites and blacks, the percentage of deaths among negroes being nearly double that of the whites. How can this remarkable fact be ac counted for? Os course we do not know but we suggest the following con siderations. 1. The negroes are less thrifty than the whites, consequently they suffer more from the wants and prevations of poverty. A vast number of white people in Atlanta depend on their daily labor for their daily bread just as the negroes do. But it would seem that they are either more industrious, or that they know better how to husband their means, or both. 2. The negroes are more reckless in regard to their health than the whites. They have not been in the habit of taking care of themselves. They fre quently expose themselves when a white man would not do it. They neglect themselves and postpone proper atten tion until it is to late; and on recovery from sickness or from slight indispo sition they resume their occupation or their ordinary habits too early. 3. When they have the disposition to protect themselves they do not know how to do it. They are ignorant of the laws of health, and have no proper knowledge of remedies. They become the victims of quacks or what is pos sibly worse, of conjurers. 4. Underlying all this there seems to be another cause which is somewhat occult and the nature of which we do not understand. It seems to be a law of nature that where two races of men are placed in competition side by side, the weak waxes weaker and the strong stronger. It is the survival of the strongest if not of the fittest. The same phenomenon is witnessed iu the Sandwich Islands where the native race is rapidly disappearing. The natives and Europeans have been living peaceably together for about half a century; the former have become civilized and christianised, and yet they are dying out, while the whites are thriving and multiplying. Why is this? We do not know-. A somewhat similar case is that of the American Indians. What became of them? They were not all butchered. They melted away. We think it probable that if a million of Chinese were placed among us, thrifty as they are, three or four cent uries would see the last of them. Part of their blood would be absorbed and the rest, would disappear. There are five millions of negroes more or loss imbued with the genius of civilization. They will probably be able to perpetuate their race for an in definite length of time. But will they thrive? The mortuary reports of all the cities show that if they were not replenished from the country they would noon pass away. Yet according to tffie census they seem to be increasing more rapidly than the whites. If this be true, it would seem that country life is favor able to the longevity while city life ab breviates it. We have no statistics from the country but are inclined to the opinion that the same causes which increase mortality in the cities operate, though not so strongly, in the rural districts. The rapid increase of the negroes as shown by the census may be more ap parent than real. The census of 1870 probably did not report them fully while the census of 1880 does. One of the most significant facts in the above quoted report shows that we should look for the cause of slow increase not merely at the end of life but at the beginning of it. Os 81 still-born child ren 31 were white and 50 black. This was not so in former drys. Negroes are not experts in certain kindsof vice ; if they were some things which we now hear of, would never come to light, hut the result would be all the same. The scientific methods of violating the sixth commandment are unknown to them, and we hope they will so remain. The Revised Book of Di-cipi.ine. In chapter i. sec. 5, of the revised form of the Book of Discipline we read, “All children born within the pale of the vis ible church are members of the church, are to lie baptized, are under the care of the church, and subject to its government and discipline, and when they have ar rived at the years of diacr.tion they are bound to perform all the duties of church members.” This implies that children— the children of Christian parents are born members of the church. The lang uage is in accordance with that used in chapter ii. sections 2 and 4, of the “Form of Government,” but not in accordance with that used in chapter ix. sec. 1 of the “Directory for Worship.’’ In the latter place it is said, “Children born within the pale of the visible church, and dedi cated to God in baptism, are under the in spection and government of the church.” The difference between the two state ments is worth looking at. The one says that children are members of the church irrespective of baptism ; the other that they are members in consequence of bap tiim. We are persuaded that the latter statement is the correct one, and conse quently that the statement of the As sembly’s Committee is defective. Very much embarassed are our Pres byterian brethren with the question of infant baptism. Greatly do they disagree with each other; and the above extract from our valued ex change The Presbyterian of Philadel phia shows that their book of Discip line disagrees with itself. It is an old chronic sore that has been plastered over many times, but to no effect. It will never cease to annoy them. It is a piece of proud flesh the only re medy for which is to apply the knife and cut it out. We think we can safely promise that when they have settled all the difficul ties in regard to infant baptism we shall adopt it. Until then we are glad to keep clear of a [so-called ordinance which is as troublesome as it is un scriptural. Yet some of the best people we ever knew were Pedobaptists. How strange! An atrocious crime was recently committed in Pennsylvania by a man named Snyder, whereupon he was seized by a mob of a hundred men and put to death by hanging. On this the N. Y. Independent says : The hundred men that hung Snyder a*e murderers, every man of them, and by the laws of Pennsylvania are punish able with death. They were not the of ficers of law and had no authority for their deed of crime. The fact that the murderer deserved death gave them no right to inflict it. There ought to have been another cor oner’s jury, to ascertain how Snyder came to his death. His death was by murder, as really as the death of those he mur dered. He intended to kill his victims; and ttie hundred men intended to kill him. Society cannot with too much vig ilance hunt down murderers and brit g them to justice; but civil society must demand that their punishment be com mitted exclusively to the constituted agents of law. If a self-appointed mob, by mere brute force, does tins work, then that mob ought to be brought to justice. A righteous indignation should be taught both the duty and the necessity of keep ing itself within the limits of law. Penn sylvania owes it to herself, as a com munity of law and order, not to overlook the crime which was committed by the hundred or more men who hung Snyder. Judge Lynch should be made to under stand that the people have no occasion for his services and that they will nut tolerate them. And these are our views exactly. When Snyder’s crime was done, there was one murderer; when he died at the hands of that lawless mob there were one hundred murderers. No con ceivable circumstances in a civilized country can justify what is called Lynch law; and it could never be administered, in our presence except over our most earnest and most Solemn protest. It is true that God can work without human agency; but he has not chosen to do it. It is true that the strongest Christian is weakness itself in- God’s sight; but God has always chosen weak things to overcome the strong. It is for every Christian to put himself in the way us God’s use, to join himself to the army of God in every conflict with sin ; and let him who stands aside fear lest, when the battle is over and the enemy routed, when the triumphant hosts return to celebrate their victory, when the shout and the song ring through the habitations, then the curse of God rests upon the indiffer ent, as it rested upon Meroz in the days of Deborah.— Journal aud Mes senger, TO ALL WHO ARE INTERESTED IN THE WORK OF THE B‘>U HE UN Baptist convention. At the la!e meeting of the Southern Bap tist Convention, held in Lexington Ken tucky, the full iwing resolution was unani mously passed: R-solved, That the Boards of- this Con vention are hereby instructed to appoint a joint committee of three, whose duty it shall t>e to prepares paper, setting forth, if pi-si tile. some plan, by which the S mthero Bap tist Convention may het er succeed m reach big, for contributions, the in is-es of our Southern churches; ad, that this paper be presented for consideration at the next meeting of the Southern Baptist Conven tion. The committeeappointed under rhe above resolution led, that, tins is a subject to which they may well call the attention of all who are interested in the work us the Southern Baptist Convention A glance at the yearly contributions to Home and Foreign Missions will suffice to show that weare not duinga Work commen surate with our ability. And we do not think that for years to come, the Convention can set before it any higher aim than that of reaching and enlisting the masses us our Southern churches in the cause ot missions. Real progre s iu this direction from year to year will be one of the best possible answers to all questions concerning the need fur the Convention, and rhe best of all justifications f r having continued wicht le t.eretoiore ap parently lar 6 e prupur.iou of expanses to in come. And we believe that for a work which so imperatively needs to be done, there must be some way for approximately ing it. The committee in preparing the paper as instructed desire all the light that is possi ble. Andas the territory ot tue Convention is so laqe, and the conditions lor reaching the masses must be so different in the differ ent States, they ask from all who have giv en, or who can give to the subject special thought that they will send to the commit tee, in the most concise form p issible, any suggestions which can help them in brtng '' g the subject properly be ore the Conven tion. Ac is also hoped that during the cothing winter this subject may be discussed by the editors and correspondents of our denomi national newspapers, and thus brought to the attention, nut only of the committee, but also many of the masses. Very respectfully, F. H Kk&foot, H. K. Ellysok, W. C. Cleveland, Committee. N. B.—Please send all such communica tions to F. H Kerfoot, 116 McCulloch street, Baltimore, Md. 'the Baptist Review, Rev. J. R. Baumas, D. D. editor, Cincinnati. The January number of this excel lent Baptist Quarterly is before us. It contains 136 pages of entertaing and valuable matter from some of our best men. The four numbers of the year will contain over five hundred pages of the best that our denomination can produce, and the price is $2.50 a year. We cordially recommend it to the pa tronage of our ministers and intelligent laymen ; though really we think that those who read and pay for so good a publication are more patronized than patronizing. The tide of beneficence runs not towards the publishers of a good book but towards the readers of it. Among other excellent articles in the present number is one on the Old Testament Apocrypha by our brother John A. Broadus. The editor Dr. Baumes does not write the articles, it is true, but it affords us pleasure to say that he is known to us, and is held by us in high esteem. There is one thing that true moral excellence will not permit itself to do, and that is to pose before others iu its daily walk, as though it would say: “See me; see how patient I am ; how gentle and winning; how resigned to whatever trials may be sent to me; and how superior to the passions and moods of ordinary men and women.” A great many persons who are really trying to be Christians, virtaully say all this by their manner, if not by their words. But this is a strain of artificiality which has no place in genuine goodness of heart and life, which surely ought to be above self-consciousness and the Pharisaism of humility. “Surely,” says a recent writer, “the spirit we should long to find in ourselves, and in any for whom wc have a care, is that inward leaning towards all things love ly, that inward shrinking from all things base, which will make right doing almost instinctive.” An instinct ive right-doing is not made up of any number of tableaux of saintliness.— S. S. Times. THE PARENTS’ AND TEACHERS' ASSISTANT IS REARING CHILDREN FOR ETERNAL LIFE, BY REV. HENRY H. TUCKER, D. D. FIFTY-SECOND WEEK. And God shall wipe all tears from tbelr eyes and there shall be no more death , neither sorrow nor crying, n ither shall there be any more pain lor the former things arc passed away. Rev. xxi:l. Heaven! sweet, happy, holy, glorious heaven is to be the home of the saints forever and ever. “Eye hath not seen nor car heard, neither have entered in to the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Cor. ii :9. Why then should we fear to die? We have no reason to fear; we should rather welcome death, knowing that it will usher us into the happiest place that God has ever pre pared. “Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus!” Rev. xxii ;20. QUESTIONS. What is said of heaven? What is quoted from Cor.? Has the Christian any reason to fear death? How should be rather feel? What may he know about death ? 1276 No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath, ■ Can reach that healthful shore: Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, Are felt and feared no more. Filled with delight, my raptured soul Would here no longer stay; Though Jordan's waves around me roll, Fearleu I'd launch away I