THE MARTYRS. THE MARTYRS. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. 111 and enraptured spectators of her motions. They cease to be teachers, and become silent and humble, but enchanted worshipers. What was the eloquence of Demosthenes? The outbursting of an overflowing soul. It will produce a strong and encouraging impression What the eloquence of Logan? The plaints of a on the mind of every believer, to hear how the first wounded heart? What the eloquence of Tecumseh? Christians, having received the light of the Gospel, wilThe eruptions of pent-up revenge and indignation. lingly sacrificed fortune and life for their Savior, and There is no rhetoric like that of the stimulated spirit. proved, by their actions, that they were true followers Who would lecture on the arrangements of arguments of Him who gave his life for the salvation of the whole to the prisoner pleading for his life? Who would teach world. The martyrdom of primitive Christians is rethe inflexions of the voice, which are suitable for com-lated in sublime simplicity, and shows that the Lord of mand, to the pilot, with his eye on the headland, the life gives his followers the most triumphant victory over breakers, the midnight ocean storm, while his whole the most cruel death. soul is roused to a struggle with the maddened elements? Would you preach on the tones appropriate for supplication to Dives putting his head out from the flames of perdition, to call on Abraham for a drop of water to cool his tongue? Some Christians, from the city Scillita, in Numidia, were, in the year 200, brought before the tribunal of the proconsul Saturninus. He said unto them, "You can receive pardon from our emperors, (Severus and Caracalla,) if you turn in good faith to our gods." One of them answered, “We have done evil to nobody, nor spoken evil to any body; but for all the evil Rhetoric and logic have their uses-they do not precede, they follow thought. They may be concerned to criticise, to subdue, and chasten. But even in this of-which you have done to us, we did thank you. We fice, let them be watched with suspicion. If you have written a line with a throbbing bosom, beware, then beware how you put the rude hand of cold criticism upon it. Nature is nature's best interpreter. praised the true Lord and King for all things." The proconsul answered, "We are also pious, and we swear by the genius of the emperor, our lord, and we pray for his welfare, which you must do likewise." Whereupon Speratus said, "I know of no genius of the ruler of this earth; but I serve my God in heaven, whom no man has ever seen, nor can see. I pay my taxes for all that I buy, for I acknowledge the emperor as my These sciences find their occasions of service in the outset of the mind; but they only attend it in its groveling walks. They are earthly instruments, and fitted only for terrestrial vallies. Once wrap the soul in a chariot of flames, and like Elijah ascending the heavens,|| lord; but I can only worship my Lord, the King of all it will fling away its staff and mantle. Original. MY PARENTS' GRAVES. THERE is, remote from cities far, A lovely spot of earth, Which is, to my sad heart, more dear Than years of graceless mirth. "Tis not that wealth and taste have spread Enchantment o'er the scene For there no column rears its head, Nor weeping marble's seen. More lavish there has been; One smiling moment there; Yet sorrow to it charms hath given, Which joy could ne'er impart; kings, the Lord of all nations. Then the proconsul sent the Christians back into their prison till the next day. When they appeared again the next day, he exhorted them once more, and granted to them a respite of three days. But Speratus answered, in the name of the others, "I am a Christian, and we are all Christians. We will not forsake the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do with us as you please!" They were sentenced to be beheaded, because they acknowledged themselves Christians, and would not show to the emperor the honor "due to him." When they received the sentence, they thanked God, and arriving at the place of execution, they fell again on their knees with thanksgiving. A few years later, three young men, Stevocatus, Saturninus, Secundulus, and the young women, Perpetua and Felicitas, all yet catechumens, were arrested at Carthago. Their imprisonment and sufferings show us the most beautiful combination of the power of Christian faith with the most tender sensibility. Perpetua, a woman twenty-two years old, mother of a child, which she bore on her breast, entered the prison with the peculiar tenderness of her sex-besides the struggle against nature, which dreads death, in the most courageous-and with those sentiments of pure humanity, whose claims Christianity fully acknowledges, and which, when genuine, religion makes only more lively and tender, but which, nevertheless, must be sacrificed to the One to which all things must be subordinated. The mother of Perpetua was a Christian, Felicitas, while in the dungeon, gave birth to a child, and the jailor said to her, during her labor, “As thou sufferest now already, what wilt thou do when thou art thrown before the wild beasts?" She answered, "Now I myself suffer what I suffer, but then another will suffer for me, because I shall suffer for him. but her old father was yet a heathen. The life of his|| She begged her old father to let her have the infant to daughter was very dear to him, but he still more feared give it the breast once more; but the father would not the disgrace, that she should be put to death for her send it to her. Christian faith. As soon as they were brought into the police office, the old father came to her and urged her to deny Christ. She pointed him to a vessel which lay on the ground, and said, "Can I call this vessel any thing else than what it is?" No. "For the same reason I can say nothing else, than that I am a Christian." In the meantime, they were baptized; for the clergymen could often, by giving money to the jailor, gain free access to the imprisoned Christians, in order to perform their office. It was in this case, perhaps, not necessary, as they were yet not put in such close confinement. Perpetua said, "The Spirit told me at my baptism that I should ask for nothing else than patience." A few days afterwards they were cast into the dungeon. "I trembled," said she, "because I never had been in such darkness. O, what a hard day. The great heat from the number of the confined, the harsh treatment by the soldiers, and, most of all, I was tormented by anxiety for my child." The deacons who administered to them the communion, (the Lord's supper,) procured them for money a better room, where they were separated from the other criminals. Perpetua took now her child to her breast, felt comforted, and spoke consoling words to her friends. "The dungeon," said she, "has become a palace to me." The aged father was informed that the trial should take place. He hastened to her and said, "My daughter, have pity on my gray hairs!-have pity on thy father! If I yet deserve to be called thy father-if I have brought thee up to thy blooming age-if I have preferred thee to all thy brothers, O do not expose me to such public disgrace! Look upon thy mother-look upon thy aunt-look upon thy son, who cannot live if thou diest! Give up thy high mind, and let us not all be ruined, for none of us will dare to speak if thou diest." Whilst he said this, he kissed her hands, threw himself at her feet, called her, with tears, not his daughter, but his sovereign. "The gray hairs of my father," said the daughter, "pain me. O, that he alone in my family should not rejoice at my sufferings!" Then she addressed him, "When I stand before the tribunal, the will of God shall be done; for know, my father, that we are not our own, but God's." When this decisive moment came, the old father was again present, in order to try, for the last time, all his influence with the daughter. The governor said to Perpetua, "Have pity on the gray hairs of thy father, have pity on the tender child! Bring a sacrifice in honor of the emperor." "I cannot do it." "Are you a Christian?" "Yes, I am a Christian." Her fate was decided. Perpetua said, "1 felt for my unhappy old father as much as he did for me." They were all sentenced at the approaching anniversary of the inauguration of the young Cæsar, Gæta, to amuse the people and the soldiers by being thrown before the wild beasts. They returned joyfully to the dungeon; yet Perpetua did not suppress a mother's tender feeling. It was the custom, originating from the human sacrifices, which were ordered in the African Baal worship, to dress the criminals in priestly garments. According to this custom, they sought to make the Christian men appear as priests of Saturnus, the women as priestesses of Ceres. But it was refused in a noble manner, worthy of the free spirit of a Christian. "Voluntarily," said they, "have we been brought here, not to give up the liberty of our consciences. We have sacrificed our lives to be saved from doing such things." The heathens themselves acknowledged the justice of this claim, and yielded. Before they received the death-blow, being already lacerated, they took a farewell of each other, interchanging the holy kiss of Christian brotherhood. THE TRIUMPH. Let me go, I may not tarry, Wrestling thus with doubts and fears; Where my beck'ning Lord appears. We have travel'd long together, Hand in hand, and heart to heart, "Tis not darkness gathering round me That withdraws me from your sight, Know that I have ceased to die. Original. THE FEMALE MISSIONARY. THE FEMALE MISSIONARY. 113 for a "world lying in wickedness." The fields are still "white for the harvest," and the petition of all faithful disciples is for more laborers. May they be raised up from among the readers of these pages! The desire of encouraging any who are willing to contemplate the whole duty that God may require of them, prompts an endeavor to exhibit a few traits in the character of one who esteemed it a privilege to history, as a Christian, is short but eventful. She was the first, and is hitherto the only missionary from the United States known to have labored and found a grave in South America. ▲ TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF MRS. C. H. KIDDER. CHRISTIANITY not only elevates woman to her proper sphere, and insures her the respect to which, by nature, she is entitled, but also opens a wide field for the exercise of those peculiar talents and virtues which under the influence of a pure religion are resplendent || consecrate her life to the cause of her Redeemer. Her in her character. When prompted by ardent piety, the most retired walks of domestic life are enlivened by her cheerfulness, and hallowed by the benign influence of her devotedness to God. Her humane attentions mitigate in a thousand forms the lot of suffering humanity; they soothe the pains of sickness and the anguish of death. In no situation is she destitute of means for winning souls to Christ, while her noblest energies, combined with the highest wisdom, find ample scope in giving character to the youthful mind, and in appropriately training the immortal spirit for its present and future destinies. When, moreover, we regard Christianity not only as designed to be enjoyed, and to be practiced in order to its enjoyment, but also as the means of staying the desolations of sin, and of saving souls from death—|| when, as the only hope of a lost world, it becomes the duty of those who have proved the saving power of the Gospel to carry it to the ends of the earth-even this enterprise, than which human thought cannot conceive, nor human agency execute a nobler-this enterprise may receive important aid both from the sympathies and services of woman. Up to the nineteenth year of her age, Miss Cynthia Harriet Russell was known to an extensive circle of relatives and acquaintances, as a beloved and dutiful daughter, an affectionate sister, an enthusiastic scholar, an interesting associate, and a devoted friend. Possessed of an extraordinary vivacity of mind, and buoyancy of feeling, she was an ornament of the domestic and social circle, and her presence not unfrequently enlivened the festivities of the ball-room and scenes devoted to pleasure. Hitherto no permanent impressions had been made on her mind, by the most important of all subjects, and very little of her attention did that receive. She at length became deeply and experimentally convinced that the pursuit of happiness amid the fascinations of mirth and gayety, would end in bitter disappointment. We have her own testimony: "I sought the phantom in the halls of pleasureI mingled in the throng that knelt at the shrine of fashion-I entered the crowded gates of folly, and glided through the mazes of the giddy dance-but no, not there! With the merry music of the dance, and the heartless laugh of the dancer, a voice was mingled that whispered to my aching heart, sick of the scenes in which I was mingling, 'Immortal being, dost thou seek to satisfy the cravings of thine undying soul in joys that perish with the hour? Can the allurements of pleasure give peace to thy rational and accountable mind? It may not be! Pay not here thine adoration! Happiness dwells not within the grasp of this thoughtless throng-her abode is in a purer, brighter Those who have fixed upon the correct standard of human greatness, no longer search for examples among the annals of strife and slaughter. To be truly great, man must assimilate his Maker, and rise in the moral image of God. The day is coming in which he will not covet distinctions gained through power and conquest, and for the sake of which he has trampled upon whatever was dear to humanity. In that day, the humble virtues of the Christian will be of greater price than all the trophies of mad ambition. Then, doubtless, many a brow that has been adorned with a diadem, will, to say the least, wear a far less radiant crown than others, which || realm-her home is on high-her dwelling place in in this life never even assumed the gaudy trappings of fashion. And in view of that day, what lady would not prefer the allotments of a Mrs. Judson, a Mrs. Winslow, and others, who have suffered and died for Christ, to that of a Joan of Arc, a Mary, or an Elizabeth? It is cause of joy that females of this age have set before them the examples of many of their own sex who, from the part they have taken in the great work of the world's conversion, have secured that which is infinitely above any emolument or dignity within the power of man to confer. They may remain unnoticed in history and unknown to fame; but they have received "the honor that cometh down from God." Perhaps no age ever furnished a greater number of such examples than the present. That they may be abundantly multiplied should be the prayer of all who feel Vol. I.-15 heaven.' I turned and knelt at the feet of my Savior. I bowed at the altars of God, and happiness was mine." Her conversion took place while a member of the Amenia Seminary, Dutchess county, N. Y. She was there reviewing her whole course of study and extending her acquaintance with the mathematical sciences, for which she cherished a decided fondness. Although with this event she did not lose her relish for study, yet the objects for which she lived and learned, became entirely changed. She gave evidence to all of being a new creature in Christ Jesus, "walking in newness of life." At an early period she attached herself to the Church of which she continued a member until death. As detail is not designed in this brief sketch, many scenes of deep and tender interest connected with her life will be passed over in silence. 114 THE FEMALE MISSIONARY. The following lines were written immediately after || leges to which she would thus be introduced, but also her conversion, and are subjoined to illustrate the new the trials. She fully understood and admired the syscharacter which had now been given to all her thoughts and feelings. Like other fragments from her pen that have been preserved, they are the spontaneous effusion of a soul warm with gratitude and invigorated by hope-penned without reference to the rules of the art or apprehension of criticism. Indeed, she is not known to have ever composed a line of poetry with a view to publication. EASTER SUNDAY. Nature, rejoice, for thy Maker has risen Let thine incense of praise, like gratitude, rise; Man, let thy soul soar above its clay prison, And in rapture ascend to its primitive skies. Break forth in gladness! for death is subdued- Roll on in rapture, sweet rivers and streams! Like you, I am bound to a happier home- And my eye is fixed on a far better land, tem of an itinerant ministry, notwithstanding the inconveniences to which it subjects the family of the minister. Writing on this subject, she remarked, "Our home is in the hearts of our people;" subjoining the sentiment that although her residence might be repeatedly transferred among strangers, yet she would hope to find, even there, other homes, perhaps equally dear, while the former would in no case be abandoned, but, on the contrary, rendered sacred by the tender and hallowed recollections of the past. If, indeed, there be any philosophy in the precept of one of the philosophers of Greece, "Let no day pass without having gained a friend," then truly, a life spent in multiplying the pure and exalted friendships that subsist between the pastoral family, and a Christian congregation, is one of no ordinary privilege. In the course of the following year her husband received an appointment as missionary to Rio de Janeiro. Although such an appointment had been unsolicited, and indeed but a short time anticipated, and would of necessity involve the subject of this notice in all the consequences of a long and perhaps final separation from kindred and country, yet on her part it was cheerfully acceded to. Nor was the question of duty in her case regarded as it has been in many simi To "the home of the blessed" I'm wending my road, Where the ransomed of earth at the pearly gates stand,lar instances-as separate and independent from deter And angels shout welcome t' the city of God. To expiate sin my Redeemer hath died, Then, nature, I join thee to swell the glad song, minations already fixed. In short, she had considered the act of becoming a Christian as one of entire consecration to God, requiring every sacrifice that could be promotive of his glory. Hence, it was not a question absolutely, "Is it my duty to become a missionary?" but, rather, "Being a Christian, can I be most useful abroad?" Regarding the world as "the field, is it the order of Providence that I should occupy a foreign allotment?" She, moreover, considered the decisions of proper authorities of the Church as a satisfactory indication of the will of Providence, and suffered no personal considerations to divert her from a prompt compliance. In November, 1836, Miss Russell became connected in marriage with Rev. D. P. Kidder, and immediately thereafter removed from Wetang, the seat of her paternal residence, in the delightful valley of the Housa- The separation from her beloved friends in Rochester tonic river, to Rochester, N. Y., where her husband occurred in Sept., 1837, and was rendered less painful in was then stationed as a minister of the Methodist Epis-anticipation of a visit to her parents and friends in Concopal Church. In this new and extended field of necticut. In that visit she renewed the fond and deep Christian exertion, her feelings became deeply interest-attachments which her affectionate heart ever cherished ed. She was conscious that with her youth and brief experience as a Christian, her only hope of sustaining the responsibilities devolving upon her, would be in the Divine assistance. For that she fervently sought. She was unremitting in her attentions on the Sabbath School, the class, and the prayer meeting; while it was her pleasure to co-operate with her female friends in every practicable branch of benevolence and Christian Mrs. Kidder had anticipated much satisfaction from effort. Her visits to the poor and afflicted were not un- the voyage at sea. Unfortunately, by the protracted frequent; and to what extent, in the discharge of these affliction of sea-sickness, this was greatly diminished. varied duties, she became endeared to a numerous and But notwithstanding being thus very much reduced in affectionate people, let their remembrance bear witness. health and spirits, she was deeply alive to the various In entering into the responsible relations of a pas-interesting phenomena which successive changes of tor's wife, she had contemplated not only the privi- latitude developed, both in the sky and in the waters. towards her relatives; and after a few weeks, accompanied by one of her sisters, bade a tender farewell to the home and scenes of her childhood. A month elapsed, while engaged in necessary preparations in the cities of New York and Boston, after which, on the 13th of November, we embarked from the latter port for our foreign destination. THE FEMALE MISSIONARY. 115 Indeed, so powerful was the impression made upon her|| try, conjointly with the performance of other duties, it mind by the vastness and sublimity of the ocean, that devolved on her husband to visit different and distant her warm fancy led her to choose, momentarily, its parts of the Brazilian empire. His first tour was to "dark unfathomed caves" as a resting place for her the province of S. Paulo; and with this began a remains, in case, as she seemed to anticipate, they could series of duties and trials more calculated to call forth not repose on the soil of her fatherland. the peculiar energies which need to characterize the female missionary, than any situation in which she had been previously placed. Not to feel, and deeply feel the exposure and loneliness to which she was subject, saying nothing of apprehensions in behalf of the object of her hope and affections, would have been the triumph of stoicism and not of Christianity. But it was her happiness, while she fully realized the crosses of her situation, magnanimously to hear them, and find abundant consolation in the love and supporting grace of that Savior for whose sake they were endured. A letter written at the time, among other lines, contains these, which are evidence in point: The following stanzas were composed soon after she landed in Rio, while residing on the shore of the bay, in a part of that city, denominated the Gloria, but never copied out until subsequent to her death. They must not be understood to express any permanent desire of her mind, but rather a poetic reverence for that mighty element which now seemed the only material object to connect her with the scenes and loved ones of her native land; although, in other respects, the lines are proved to have been literally prophetic. We are far from home in a distant land, Our hearts are pledged, and hand in hand But, O, when the hour of death shall come, O, bury me not in Brazilian earth, Though its beauty enchants my eye; Thus far away from the land of my birth, 'Tis a solemn thing to die To be laid in a cold and narrow tomb, When thy loved one 's gone, and thou no more, When she sleeps in death, who e'er before O, yes, beloved, when thy wife is gone, And thou'lt to our friends at home return; And when thou crossest my ocean grave, And at balmy eve, on the rushing wave, On her passage out, Mrs. Kidder had made a good beginning in the study of the Portuguese language, and thus commenced qualifying herself for the especial duties of the station to which she was introduced; and notwithstanding the additional and multiplied cares which subsequently devolved on her as a mother, she attained a very free and correct use of that idiom in a comparatively short time. This was not only made of essential service in her various domestic relations, but also in the Sabbath school, and in private endeavors to instruct persons of little opportunity in reading the Scriptures and in the truths of religion. After the lapse of nearly a year, spent in acquiring a knowledge of the language and customs of the coun O, what is this drear world, when absent from thee, Ever near to thy side, thy fortune to share? But hush'd be my grief that thou art away, Though dark be my path alone in this land, Full soon he will call us, if faithful we prove To the trust he has giv'n in our pilgrimage here, To the light of his smile, in the heaven of love, Where never shall enter, parting, sorrow, or fear. February 11, 1839. Her husband had not been long returned from this tour before he commenced preparations for another and a longer absence. In the course of these it was deemed expedient to unite the mission family under one roof. This was done by a mutual removal of Mr. Spaulding's family from the Gloria, and our own from Engenho Velho to the Largo d' Ajuda. This residence was peculiarly agreeable, and calculated as much as it could have been, to lessen the inconveniences and loneliness unavoidable to Mrs. Kidder during the long voyage of her husband up the northern coast. Her dwelling was pleasantly located at a short distance from the praya, or beach. Upon the north, was the fastello hill, surmounted by the towers of the Jesuit College and the Church of St. Sebastian, strangely contrasting the relics of former age with the gay and changing pennants of the signal-staff that floated near them. West, and on the opposite side of the street, stood the Ajuda Convent, in gloomy grandeur, with its massive walls and grated windows. South, within a few steps, was the Public Promenade, or Battery, where, amid the balmy shades of the mango, the tamarind, the palm, the ever-flowering jessamine, and numberless other trees of tropical growth and beauty, it was at any moment inviting to thread the winding |