see Mr. and his family all enter the little chapel, and take their seats in the congregation, which, on Monday morning, is mostly composed of members of the Church, and the immediate neighborhood. But how was their surprise hightened when, on invitation being given for persons to join the Church, the father, mother, and all the children went forward and gave their hands to the preacher! In the midst of the wave of feeling, which at this time had risen high, the father asked liberty to say a few words, which being granted he remarked, with streaming eyes, as follows: "My neighbors and friends, I have a word to say. I have not only sinned against God, my wife and children, but I have sinned against you. What influence I have had in this place has not been exerted for good, but for evil. I have been a man of the world, and sought only its pleasures, instead of being religious and setting a good example. For this I sincerely ask pardon of God and of you; and now, by the assistance of Divine grace, me and my house will

serve the Lord. I ask you all to go with us, that we may

save ourselves and our families." At the conclusion of this short speech the mourners were invited to the altar, and soon almost every sinner in the house was on his knees, pleading for pardon at the mercy-seat. From this moment a great and glorious revival ensued, and more than eighty persons were happily converted to God. Reader, if thou art a husband or a father, and living without God and without hope in the world, go and do likewise, and thou shalt save thyself and family from sin and hell. Part of the converted family has already passed over the "King's highway," and entered the celestial city, and the remainder, like Christiana and her children, are following hard after. O, the blessed ones that have entered heaven! No wonder good John Bunyan said, when in his dream, heaven opened its gates to let in Christian and Faithful,

and the heavenly multitude greeted their arrival, "which when I saw, I wished myself among them."

"A few more days of sorrow,

And the Lord will call us home,
To walk the golden streets

Of the New Jerusalem."

CHAPTER XXV.

JOHN CRANE.

THE subject of our present narrative was born at station, about two miles below Nashville, Tennessee, in the year 1787. Lewis Crane, his father, was among the very first settlers in Cumberland, and was one of those hardy pioneers who braved the dangers of the wilderness, constantly exposed, with his family, to savage depredations. At that early day there were but comparatively few means of grace enjoyed by the settlers. No sound of the church-going bell waked the echoes of the forests with its inviting tones; and it was only occasionally that a Methodist itinerant, in one of his long and weary circuits through the wilderness, following the emigrant population as they penetrated the western wilds, would lift up his voice in the log-cabins, or by the campfires of the almost homeless wanderers, and proclaim a full and free salvation in the name of Jesus. Though this class of ministers was often despised by black-gowned and white-cravated clergymen, with the lore of a theological seminary in their brains, and the powder and perfume of the toilet on their hair, and, by way of derision, called "circuit riders," or "swaddlers," yet, had it not been for their self-sacrificing devotion, Christianity would not have been kept alive in these western wilds. Often have these men traveled from block-house to block-house, from station to station, and from cabin to wigwam, bearing the messages of mercy to their fellow-men, without any means of support or any expectation of a pecuniary

reward. But the history of one is, to a greater or less extent, the history of all those early pioneers of Christianity.

Lewis was not only the first among the adventurers to this western wilderness, but he was among the first that became religious and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church. Though Methodists at that time were few in number, yet they lived to love God and one another, and cheerfully bore the cross of Him who said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Hence, we may readily infer that young John, though born in a block-house, in the most troublous times of border warfare, was early taught the fear of God. At the early age of six he was brought under religious influence, and impressions were made upon his tender mind and heart that marked his character forever. And here we might remark, nothing is more important than giving the mind a proper training in the soft and flexible season of youth. The softest breath of summer may stir the stem of the delicate flower, while the rudest blasts of winter may not move the giant oak. In very early life the mind receives impressions that tell upon its future destiny.

"A pebble in the streamlet seant

Has turned the course of many a river;

A dew-drop on the baby plant

Has warped the giant oak forever."

The Prussian king, in urging reasons why the children of the realm should be religiously educated, said, "The youthful mind receives impressions with the flexibility of wax, and retains them with the durability of bronze." Said another individual, "Scratch the rind of the sapling, and the gnarled oak will tell of it for centuries."

Whatever these pioneer Christians learned, they learned the importance of giving their children a relig

ious education. At the age of twelve John was made a subject of converting grace, during the great revival which prevailed in Cumberland and all over the west. He was regarded as one of the most remarkable children of his age; and during this early period of his life he frequently exhorted his friends and acquaintances to seek religion, with an effect that gave evidence of his wonderful eloquence and zeal, few being able to resist the wisdom and power manifested in the preacher-boy. Many of his young associates were brought under religious influence through his instrumentality; and had their parents possessed the belief that young children could love and serve God, and followed up the convictions received by proper religious training, many would have become, like John, burning and shining lights. We were well acquainted with a traveling preacher who had a lovely daughter, seven years of age, an only child, and she had been taught to pray from her infancy. Once at a quarterly meeting, after all the professors in the house had communed, this child, who was sitting by her mother weeping, looked up into her face with streaming eyes, and said, "Mother, may I go and remember my Savior at the sacrament?" The mother replied, "Go, ask your father, my child." The father was sitting in the altar, and the little girl approached him and said tremblingly, 66 Father, may a child take the sacrament?" "Yes, my dear," said the father, unable to restrain his feelings, "you may come; for Jesus said, 'Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."" She then went round on the outside of the railing, and kneeled down, sobbing as if her little heart would break. It was a moving scene, and the congregation was melted into tears, while some cried out aloud. The presiding elder, James Quinn, of blessed memory, in the full gush of his benevolent heart, when he saw the weeping peni