ward was murmured in the place of the Casars. In the dead of night, in the depths of the catacombs, it trembled in subdued melodies, filled with the love of Jesus. Sacred music has power without a ritual. In the rugged hymn which connects itself, not alone with immortality, but also with the memory of brave saints, there is power. There is power in the hymn in which our fathers joined. Grand were those rude psalms which once arose amidst the solitudes of the Alps. Grand were those religious songs, sung in brave devotion by the persecuted Scotch, in the depths of their moors and their glens. The hundredth psalm, rising in the fullness of three thousand voices up into the clear sky, broken among rocks, prolonged and modulated through valleys, softened over the surface of mountain-guarded lake, had a grandeur and a majesty, with which mere art is poverty and meanness. And while thus reflecting on sacred music, we think with wonder on the Christian church on its power, and on its compass. Less than nineteen centuries ago, its first hymn was sung in an upper chamber in Jerusalem; and those who sung it were quickly scattered. And now, the Christian hymn is one that never ceases—one that is heard in every tongue; and the whisper of that upper chamber is now a chorus that fills the world. From the "Greenville (S. C.) Patriot." AN INTERESTING INCIDENT. pair of pistols with him. Inquiring what he was doing with arms, he said he carried them to protect us, as he had heard that robberies had been committed on our road. I said to him- Give me the pistols; I will take care of them. He did so, reluctantly. "In pursuing our journey through a dismal looking forest, a man rushed into the road, caught the horses by the bridle, and demanded my purse. I said to him with as much selfpossession as I could command —' Are you not ashamed to rob a woman? I have but little money, and that I want to defray my expenses in visiting prisons and poor-houses, and occasionally in giving to objects of charity. If you have been unfortunate, are in distress, and in want of money, I will give you some.' Whilst thus speaking to him, I discovered his countenance changing, and he became deadly pale. My God!' he exclaimed, 'That voice!' and immediately told me that he had been in the Philadelphia Penitentiary, and had heard me lecturing some of the prisoners in an adjoining cell, and that he now recognized my voice. He then desired me to pass on, and expressed deep sorrow at the outrage he had committed. But I drew out my purse, and said to him 'I will give you something to support you until you can get into honest employment.' He declined at first taking anything, until I insisted on his doing so, for fear he might be tempted to rob some one else before he could get into honest employment." Had not Miss Dix taken possession of the pistols, in all probability they would have THE Greenville (S. C.) Patriot relates the been used by her driver, and perhaps both of following incident of Miss Dix: -— them murdered. "That voice!' was more powerful, in subduing the heart of a robber, than the sight of a brace of pistols. INFLUENCE OF A SMILE.. The other day, in conversation with Miss Dix, the philanthropist, during her visit to Greenville, a lady said to her, "Are you not afraid to travel all over the country alone, and have you not encountered dangers and been in perilous situations?" "I am natu- IT is related in the life of a celebrated rally timid," said Miss Dix, "and diffident, mathematician, William Hutton, that a relike all my sex ; but in order to carry out my spectable-looking country woman called uppurposes, I know that it is necessary to make on him one day, anxious to speak with him. sacrifices and encounter dangers. It is true, She told him, with an air of secrecy, that her I have been, in my travels through the differ- husband behaved unkind to her, and sought ent States, in perilous situations. I will men- other company, frequently passing his evention one which occurred in the State of Mi-ings from home, which made her feel exchigan. I had hired a carriage and driver to convey me some distance through an uninhabited portion of the country. In starting, I discovered that the driver, a young lad, had a tremely unhappy; and knowing Mr. Hutton to be a wise man, she thought he might be able to tell her how she could manage to cure her husband. The case was a common one, and he thought he could prescribe for it without losing his reputation as a conjurer. "The remedy is a simple one," said he, "but I have never known it to fail. Always treat your husband with a smile." The woman expressed her thanks, dropped a courtesy, and went away. A few months afterwards, she waited on Mr. Hutton with a couple of fine fowls, which she begged him to accept. She told him, while a tear of joy and gra'itude glistened in her eye, that she had followed his advice, and her husband was cured. He no longer sought the company of others, but treated her with constant love and kindness. From the "Home Journal." WHAT IS GOD? In the early meeting of one of the committees of the Westminster Assembly, the subject of deliberation was to frame an answer to the question, "What is God?" Each man felt the unapproachable sublimity of the Divine idea suggested by these words; but who could venture to give it expression in human language! All shrunk from the too sacred task in awe-struck, reverential fear. At length it was resolved, as an expression of the committee's deep humility, that the youngest member should make the first attempt. He consented; but begged that the brethren would first unite with him in prayer for Divine enlightenment. Then, in slow, solemn accents, he thus began his prayer:"O God, thou art a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in thy being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth." When he ceased, the first sentence of his prayer was immediately written down and adopted, as the most perfect answer that could be conceived; as, indeed, in a very sacred sense, God's own answer, descriptive of himself. This individual, it is supposed, was George Gillespie. teachers is a defect of purpose. Their pur pose in teaching, to render it effectual, should be well defined in their own mind. Second-There is often a deficiency in method. For instance, an anecdote told ou of place an illustration dwelt upon unti the point to be illustrated is lost sight of, and the time lost for the intended application of some solemn truth. Third - A deficiency in clearness. Teachers should study their lessons, and get a clear perception of their duties before engaging in them on each successive Sabbath. Language and phrases should not be used to which the children are unequal. Fourth-A want of interest. Teachers, generally do not make the subject of their teaching sufficiently interesting to their chil dren. Carefully avoiding the ridiculous, they should seek to clothe the truth in a form likely to be most attractive to the infant mind. Fifth-Teachers are deficient in applying their teaching to their pupils. They should be acquainted with the temptations, duties and employments of their children. Out of these they should make their personal applications, and from them they should draw their lessons of illustration and instruction, thus making their teaching applicable to the children's own conduct. -[Sunday-sch. Jour. WILLIAM WIRT. MR. WIRT was of a tall, commanding appearance, and easy carriage. His features were classic, resembling in no little degree those of the German poet Goethe. His voice was sweet and melodious; his laugh gay, but not boisterous; his conversations highly attractive; and his manners gentle, unstudied, courteous and winning. Fond of society, he at one time, during youth, was endangered by love of social gayety. He was a lover of Bic and poetry; at the latter he even made e playful attempts himself. In speaking, PRACTICAL DEFECTS OF TEACHER his gestures were graceful; his oratory 1 smooth, polished, chaste and elegant: it won charming-Patrick Henry's by storming the hearts of the audience. He was not acquainted with the Greek, but in knowledge of the Latin he was unusually proficient. On his journeys he was wont to carry with him a pocket edition of Horace for company; but Seneca was his favorite. His published letters abound in well-timed classical allusions. Mr. Wirt's cast of mind was religious. In his youth, wrought into enthusiasm, he was on the eve of becoming a Baptist preacher. These feelings, however, subsided, and his religion became more calm and subdued. Throughout his life he was a student of theology, a science which he much admired. His piety, when his religious views had become settled, was practical, leading him to act, rather than to dispute on mooted points of theology; yet he was not a fanatic. "I do not think," says he, "that enthusiasm constitutes religion, or that Heaven is pleased with the smoke of the passions, any more than with the smoke of rams or bulls. There is a calm, steady, enlightened religion of the soul, as firm as it is temperate, which I believe is the religion of heaven. Its raptures are those of the mind, not of the passions; its ecstacies are akin to those of David. -[ De Bow's Review. HOW JOHN KNOX GOT A WIFE. KNOX used to visit Lord Ochiltree's family, preaching the Gospel privately to those who were willing to receive it. The lady and some of the family were converts. Her ladyship had a chamber, table, stool and candlestick for the prophet, and one night at supper says to him-" Mr. Knox, I think you are at a great loss by want of a wife" (he was then a widower); to which he said“Madame, I think no body will take such a wanderer as I;" to which she replied "Sir, if that be your objection, I'll make inquiry to find an answer against our next meeting." The lady accordingly addressed herself to her eldest daughter, telling her she might be very happy if she could marry Mr. Knox, who would be a great reformer, and a credit to the church; but she despised the proposal, hoping her ladyship wished her better than to marry a poor wanderer. The lady addressed herself to her second daughter, who answered as the eldest. "Sir, I have been considering upon a wife for you, and find one very willing; to which Knox said-"Who is she, Madame?" She answered-"My youngest daughter, sitting by you at table." Then addressing himself to the young lady, he said "My bird, are you willing to marry me?" She answered "Yes, sir; only I fear you'll not be willing to take me." He said-"My bird, if you be willing to take me, you must take your venture of God's providence, as I do. I go through the country sometimes on my foot, with a wallet on my arm, a shirt, a clean band, and a Bible in it; you may put something in it for yourself; and if I bid you take the wallet, you must do it, and go where I go, and lodge where I lodge.” “Sir," says she, "I'll do all this." "Will you be as good as your word?" "Yes, I will." Upon which the marriage was concluded, and she lived happily with him, and had several children by him. She went with him to Geneva. As he was ascending a hill, as there are many near that place, she got up to the top of it before him, and took the wallet on her arm, and sitting down, said, "Now, good man, am I as good as my word?" She afterwards lived with him when he was minister at Edinburgh. A SINGLE SENTENCE. On the 8th of February last, there died in Edinburgh a venerable Baptist pastor, Mr. James Alexander Haldane, in his eightyfourth year. In his early life he commanded the man-of-war Melville Castle. While engaged in an action one day, the decks of the ship were cleared by the broadsides of the enemy. Captain Haldane ordered a fresh set of hands to be "piped up," to take the place of the slain. The men, on seeing the mangled bodies of their comrades scattered over the deck, instinctively drew back: at which their commander poured forth a volley of oaths, and wished them all in h―ll. One of the seamen, who had been religiously eduThen the lady spake to her third daughter, cated, shortly afterwards said to the Captain, about nineteen years of age, who very frankly in a respectful and serious manner, "If God said- Madame, I'll be very willing to marry had heard your prayer just now, where should him, but I fear he'll not take me;" to which we have been?" The engagement terminated, the lady replied, "If that be all your objec- but a greater victory had been achieved over tion, I'll soon get you an answer." Next Captain Haldane than by him. The old sailnight, at supper, she said to Mr. Knox-or's words were winged by Him who never smites in vain; and from that day the gallant "But the most refreshing service of the and reckless officer became a changed man. Sabbath was that of the evening. Then we He lived to preach the Gospel for fifty-four attended the chapel of the Hon. and Rev. years. Among the early fruits of his minis- Baptist Noel. After a most humble but try was the conversion of his brother Robert, pointed and practical presentation of the now well known as an able, learned, and pi- truth that they who keep his commandments ous commentator. Robert went to Geneva; are Christ's friends, he announced the immeand during a sojourn there of several months diate approach of the communion of the Lord's (about 1814), he labored with unwearied as-Supper. Of course, we were again, for the siduity to reclaim the pastors and theological third time, unfurnished with the token," students whom he met with, from their ra- even if our Baptist brethren will permit us to tionalistic errors, to indoctrinate them in the come, after gaining the token. And why evangelical faith, and to lead them to seek a should we expect that our Baptist brethren in personal interest in the Saviour. The blessing a foreign land should do for us what our own of God was with him. A considerable num- at home refuse? We thought we would again ber of young men became hopefully pious; leave. But, no. Brother R. inquired whether and among those in whose conversion he had we had not better remain, if only to look upa main agency, were Frederick Monod, on a scene so dear to any true Christian, and now one of the pillars of the evangelical especially Christian clergymen, as we were, church in France; Felix Neff, the devoted in a foreign land. We did so, and were inyoung pastor of the High Alps, whose mem-vited to a seat in the body of the church. It ory is held sacred in both hemispheres; and Merle D'Aubigne, the eminent historian of the Reformation. To pronounce these names is to show how impossible it must be for any created mind to gather up the results of that single conversion on board the Melville Castle. And that conversion was brought about through a single sentence addressed by a sailor to his commander, firmly, but courteously re-to us, a member of the church, we were told, proving him for his profanity! This case, it is conceded, is a strong one. But is it not instructive? Does it not shame our remissness in the duty of bringing men to Christ? Does it not hold out the amplest encouragement to fidelity and zeal in this most important work? "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." How glorious a crown, then, will adorn the brow of that poor seaman, who maintained his loyalty to Christ at the hazard of offending his commander, and whose faithfulness has already told with an efficacy so powerful and so auspicious upon the church and the world. ENGLISH BAPTISTS. was soon plain that we had been put in the midst of the communicants. What to do we knew not. Presbyterian ministers without a token,' in the midst of a foreign Baptist church. "As persons generally do when in close quarters, we began to look about as to the next step, and on inquiry of a gentleman next that as we were strangers unexpectedly there, we might send our cards on the plate to, the pastor, who would furnish us with tokens.' We then told him the whole truth — that we were clergymen of another denomination, strangers and foreigners, from America. Ah, sir, we are happy to see you; we hold no close communion sentiments; and just put your cards on the token plate, that will be sufficient.' "We can't write the comfort which this an nouncement gave us. The service was truly solemn and strengthening, and I need not say unusual to me. I never before had joined in this precious ordinance with my Baptist brethren, and it appeared as if I could sympathize with them in an increased degree, and view them as brethren in a new light. But REV. H. S. OSBORN, of Hanover county, still I had some misgivings as to the real exVa., writing from England to the Philadel-tent and value of this variation from the phia Observer, gives an account of the manner course pursued by our American Baptist in which he spent one of his Sabbaths there, brethren. where, it appears, that the "token" is still used in all churches for admission to the Lord's Table. We give an extract: : "After service, we spent a short season with Mr. Noel. We expressed to him the satisfaction we had enjoyed so fully, in being 66 Permitted to unite thus with brethren; but we thought it strange, being Presbyterians. "Why, sir, our Baptist brethren in America must be very bigotted." "But," I replied, "is this open sentiment general with youhow is it throughout England ?” “Why, sir, it is getting to be general, if it is not so already. It is so in all our large towns. Perhaps there are some places in the country, where they are a little independent and highminded; but we welcome all who love the Saviour." We felt it was a welcome, especially as, after the communion service, the gentleman next us, in a very agreeable and hearty manner, remarked - “I hope, sir, it has been a refreshing time;" and shaking hands cordially with us; bade us good night. I cannot tell what the cause of Christ, or of the Church under Mr. Noel, and churches under other Baptist ministers in this city, lose by this holy and comforting union, but I think I can tell what is lost in many of the churches in America, by a contrary, or, as Mr. Noel styles it, "bigotted" course. May the Lord grant us more of the spirit of love, Christian charity, more precious than mere chilly formal faith in doctrine, based upon a stubborn opinion of infallibility, or more even than a hope of heaven, so rayless, so like an icicle, as to freeze all Christian friendship that would approach it. "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity." For The Casket. THE BIBLE NECESSARY TO RELI- BY A. C. DAYTON. PHILOSOPHERS have said that man is, by nature, a religious being. So he is. God made him religious; made him to love, adore and worship the great Creator. His nature forces him to some religion; but, alas! how false and horrible is that which, in the darkness of his depravity, he stumbles on. Man is a religious being. I see the evidence of it in the worship of the ancient Egyptian to his crocodile, of the Greek to his Jupiter, of the Romans to their thirty thousand gods, of many nations to the sun and moon and dazzling stars of heaven. I read the proof of it in the history of those in ancient times, who made their children pass through fire unto Moloch. I read it in the terraced temples of the ancient Mexicans those four square pyramids, remnants of which are standing yet, monuments of the ten thousand human victims which bled upon their summit, a horrid offering to the Aztec gods. I see the proof of it in the lofty temples and magnificent worship of the gods of Asia; in the tortures of those who hang themselves on hooks of iron, and offer up the life of the body for the sin of their soul; in the crushed and mangled corpses which strew the way where Juggernaut has passed. Oh, yes! there is abundant evidence that man is a religious being; that he is prone to worship something; that he has in him an instinct of adoration. But there is equal evidence, that without the Bible this instinct always leads him wrong. Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. It is only the glorious sunlight of this book that can dispel the gloom; that shows to man the true object of his worship - the one living and true God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the God in whom we live and move and have our being, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways. Without it, there is no true religion. Human nature is bad, at best. Even with the Bible to guide it; with all its threatenings to deter from vice, and all its promises to attract to virtue-with all its authority as the command of Deity, and all its motives, awful as eternity, operating with full force upon man's depravity, he is still prone to run into the extreme of wickedness. Even when thus restrained, fenced in, and bound to virtue, he will ofttimes break over all impediments, and madly run his course of sin and ruin. But when there is no guide to teach the right -no motive to enforce the right, or to repel the wrong, what can we expect? Then, the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart are only evil, and that continually. Then he works all manner of iniquity with greediness. Of all the so called systems of morality, the Bible only begins by cleansing the fountain. It purifies the heart. It forbids not only the overt act of sin, but the secret and unexpressed desire to do wrong. This, only, has a God who knows all hearts, and sees all actions, and who will punish every sin. This, only, has a life of holy bliss beyond the grave, for those who walk uprightly, and endless suffering for those who disobey its heavenly F |