understanding and the heart, and where it is thus fixed-a sigh, a groan, a tear, will be heard and approved-while the expression of animal passion is heard but afar off. Sermons are listened to, and sometimes applauded. Sermons preached, which, in other Circuits, have been like sharp arrows, and have led to the cry now fall powerless. "What must I do, or whither flee, To escape the vengeance due to me," There must be a cause, and that cannot in our Saviour be; nor in a want of the Spirit's power; nor in the suitableness of the means, when scripturally used, to answer the end. But when professors walk after the flesh-neglect the means of grace-and think they pay their leaders or ministers a compliment, by their occasional attendance; and lay out, on unnecessary things, what should be devoted to God, and given to His cause no wonder the Societies are low. Oh, that we all might be aroused to feel the weight of that awful denunciation, "Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion." After all, there are a few consistent and pious members, who feel deeply, and weep bitterly, and pray fervently for a better state of things; and, with their ministers, are crying, "Spare and revive thy people, whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood." Were it not for these Noahs, and Moseses, and Daniels, and Jobs, I should fear the Societies would be forsaken and the Circuit perish; O, that that sweet promise might be soon fulfilled, " At even-tide it shall be light." FIDELIS. RELIGION AN ELEMENT OF EDUCATION. RELIGION Should be regarded as the most essential element in education, and should hold its due prominence in every institution of learning. The sublime truths of Christianity should be clearly taught, its doctrines explained, and its precepts urged. A religious atmosphere should surround every temple dedicated to science and literature, from the district school-house up to our colleges. I plead not, indeed, for the limited religious creed of a single sect. In the present state of things, it would be exceedingly unjust somewhere, if not utterly impracticable, to adopt such a course of instruction in our public institutions of learning if desired. But I plead for religion, in its broad, catholic spirit, as taught and illustrated by its Divine Author. Let blind bigotry and narrow-minded sectarianism, be expelled alike from all our institutions of learning held in common, and be buried in the grave of oblivion. But let religious truth, as presented in the Bible, be brought to bear, with mighty power, upon the heart and the conscience of every individual. It is not the presentation of abstract truth merely, cold and lifeless, that is called for, but truth exhibited in its practical bearings, as applicable to man, linked by ten thousand ties to his fellow-man, and as a creature of God, to whom he is accountable for all his conduct; truth which shall bear with salutary effect upon the practice, in all the varicus walks of life, and in all the intercourse of man with man. FEW THINGS IMPOSSIBLE. "It is impossible," said some, when Peter the Great determined to set out on a voyage of discovery, through the cold, northern regions of Siberia, and over immense deserts; but Peter was not discouraged, and the thing was done. "It is impossible," said many, when they heard of a scheme of the good Oberlin's. To benefit his people, he had determined to open a communication with the high road to Strasburg, so that the productions of De la Roche, (his own village,) might find a market, Rocks were to be blasted, and conveyed to the banks of the river Bruche, in sufficient quantity to build a wall for a road along its banks, a mile and a half, and a bridge across it. He reasoned with his people, but still they thought it was impossible. But he seized a pickaxe, put it across his shoulder, proceeded to the spot, and went to work, and the peasants soon followed him with their tools. The road and bridge were at length built; and to this day the bridge bears the name of the "Bridge of Charity." "It is impossible," said some, as they looked at the impenetrable forest which severed the ragged flanks and deep gorges of Mount Pilatus in Switzerland, and hearkened to the daring plan of a man named Rupp, to convey the pines from the top of the mountain to the Lake of Lucerne, a distance of nearly nine miles. Without being discouraged by their exclamations, he formed a slide or trough of 24,000 pine-trees, six feet broad, and from three to six feet deep; and this slide, which was completed in 1812, was kept moist. Its length was 44,000 English feet. It had been conducted over rocks, or along their sides, or over deep gorges, where it was sustained by scaffolds; and yet skill and perseverance overcame every obstacle, and the thing was done.-The trees slid down from the mountain into the lake with wonderful rapidity. The larger pines, which were one hundred feet long, ran through the space of eight miles and a third in about six minutes. A gentleman who saw this great work, says "Such was the speed with which a tree of the largest size passed any given point, that he could only strike it once with a stick as it rushed by, however quickly he attempted to repeat the blows." Say not hastily, then, of anything, "It is impossible." It may not be done in an hour, or a day, or a week; but perseverance will finally bring you to the end of it. "Time and patience," says a Spanish proverb, "will turn a mulberry-leaf into silk." "It is impossible," say some, that ever the world should be converted to God. So it would be, if it depended upon them. But then, has not God promised that it shall be done? Are idols to be destroyed, and ignorance, superstition, and cruelty to be removed from the heathen world; and the love of sin from the heart of the unconverted, and indifference and coldness from the souls of Christians? Well, "the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this ;" and that zeal is equal to the conquests of millions of worlds, and to the conversion of the whole party of God's elect. Christians! perform your duty, remembering That what is impossible with men, is easy to God. WAR AND DEBT. THEIR exact amount it is impossible to ascertain, because governments often conceal the sum total of their obligations. Charles II., in 1660, commenced the debt of this country, by granting life annuities for money furnished to support his habits of extravagance and profligacy; but, on the abdication of James II., in 1688, it amounted to £650,000. William III., passionately fond of war, and deeply interested in the intrigues and contests of Europe, not only multiplied taxes, but augmented the debt more than £20,000,000. The Spanish war, under Queen Anne, from 1702-13, added £37,500,000; and the nine years' war, 1730-38, under George II., £31,500,000. The seven years' war, 1756-63, added to the taxes of England £35,000,000; and to her debt £71,500,000. The first war with America cost us, in taxes, £48,000,000; and in loans £103,000,000. Nine years' war with France, from 1793 to 1802, added £180,000,000 to the taxes, and £292,000,000 to the debt; while her subsequent wars with Napoleon, 1803-15, cost us in loans £336,000,000, and £226,000,000 in taxes; carrying her entire debt, in 1815, to the enormous sum of £865,000,000. In 1832 the debt amounted to £759,333,312, exclusive of unfunded debt, and the annual charge of £27,793,951 upon the debt. The Army cost, the same year, £7,216,292; the Navy, £5,689,858; the Ordnance, £1,472,944; or the sum of £14,379,094 spent upon the war establishment in one year; but who can tell the amount of human suffering the horrible carnage-the detestable atrocities committed in these wars-language would not be strong enough to depict it; and the mind of man would revolt from its terrible relation. Christian man opposed to Christian man-what an unchristian position-how different from the conduct of the Great Master. Christians, what are you doing to cause the sound of war for ever to cease? This question must not be lightly answered; all war is anti-christian; has been the scourge of the world. Myriads of human beings have been offered up to this Moloch; and, unless the subject be grappled with, this destroying angel will still stalk through the world, and leave in its train misery and wretchedness. WORDS IN SEASON. "A word in season, how good is it." I RECOLLECT at a meeting in south Carolina the power of the Highest was present to heal. On going one day into the room where inquirers, so called, were assembled, I saw an interesting young man who had evidently come into the meeting through mistake. After conversing with many, I came to him, and perceiving that he seemed as one astonished, I observed, "This is an inquiry meeting; are you willing to be conversed with, Sir?" "No, Sir!" replied he, "I am not." Very well," said I, "I will not converse with you, as you do not desire it—but remember, Sir, you have a soul,-you must die, and you must go to the judgment bar." Having said this, I passed on to converse with others. About two weeks after, I met with a brother minister, who asked me if I recollected the young man in the inquiry meeting who did not wish me to talk to him. "O yes," said I. 66 "Well," said he, "I received that young man into Church-fellowship last Sabbath, and he told me it was that remark you made to him which was blessed to his conversion!" 66 A sweet little girl, about five or six years of age, Ann Elizabeth R—, went home from worship one day after children had been addressed, much impressed. At table, after telling her father, who was a very irreligious man, something about the worship, she said to him"Papa, do you pray?" Not liking the question, he replied, in an angry manner, "It is your mother, or your aunt Sally, that put you up to that, my little girl." No, papa," said she, "the preacher said we ought all to pray. Papa, do you pray?" Yet more angry, he replied "Well, you and your mother, and your aunt Sally, may go your way, and I will go mine." The dear little girl, looking up in her father's face, with much simplicity said,-" Papa, which way are you going?" The word reached his heart. Immediately he burst into a flood of tearsarose from the table, rushed into another room, and begged his wife to pray for him. "O," said he, " do you think that such a sinner as I am can be saved?" HYMN OF THANKSGIVING FOR THE HARVEST. Better than life, O God of love, Oh! as from calm, clear, sunlit sea, Glories that glad the view rebound; So shall ascend from earth to Thee, Who hast the year with goodness crown'd, Pure as the sun's reflected rays. For seed-time never came by chance; Never by chance came summer time; Never did harvest weeks advance, By accident to bless the clime: The seasons go, and come and go, There's not a beam from heaven above: There's not an earth-refreshing shower; There's not a blade of grass, or flower, The poor to hope, the sad to smile; Better than life, oh, God of love, Thy blessing and paternal care; JOHN SWAIN. THE SEVEN SLEEPING CHRISTIANS. THERE is an ancient fable, told by the Greek and Roman churcheswhich, fable as it is, may, for its beauty and singularity, well deserve to be remembered--that in one of the earliest persecutions to which the Christian world was exposed, seven Christian youths sought concealment in a lonely cave; and there, by God's appointment, fell into a deep and death-like slumber. They slept, the legend runs, two hundred years, till the greater part of mankind had received the faith of the gospel, and that church, which they had left a poor and afflicted orphan, had kings for her nursing fathers, and queens for her nursing mothers.' They then at length awoke, and entering into their native Ephesus, so altered now that its streets were altogether unknown to them, they cautiously inquired if there were any Christians in that city? "Christians!" was the answer, "we are all Christians here!" and they heard with thankful joy the change which, since they left the world, had taken place in the opinions of its inhabitants. On one side, they were shewn a stately fabric, adorned with a gilded cross, and dedicated as they were told, to the worship of their crucified Master; on another, schools for the public exposition of those gospels, of which, so short a time Lefore, the bare profession was proscribed and deadly. But no fear was now to be entertained of those miseries which had encircled the cradle of Christianity; no danger now of the rack, the lions, or the sword; the emperor and his prefects held the same faith with themselves, and all the wealth of the east, and all the valour and authority of the western world, were exerted to protect and endow the professors and the teachers of their religion. But joyful as these tidings must at first have been, their further inquiries are said to have met with answers which very deeply surprised and pained them. They learned that the greater part of those who called themselves by the name of Christ, were strangely regardless of the blessings which Christ had bestowed, and of the obligations which he had laid on his followers. They found that, as the world had become Christian, Christianity itself had become worldly; and, wearied and sorrowful, they besought of God to lay them down to sleep again, crying out to those who followed them, "You have shewn us many heathens, who have given up their old idolatry, without gaining anything better in its room; many who are of no religion at all; and many with whom the religion of Christ is no more than a cloak for licentiousness; but where, where are the Christians?" And thus they returned to their cave; and their God had compassion on them, releasing them, once for all, from that world for whose reproof their days had been lengthened, and removing their souls to the society of their ancient friends and pastors, the martyrs and saints of an earlier and a better generation. PREACH SERIOUSLY.-Of all preaching in the world (that speaks not stark lies) I hate that preaching which tendeth to make the hearers laugh, or to move their mind with tickling levity, and affect them as stage players used to do, instead of affecting them with a holy reverence of the name of God.-Baxter. |