to him by the irons! He grew almost had reached that shocking state of distracted, wished for the means of put-putrefaction that it could hardly be ting an end to his miseries by death, removed, the monsters took it from and could not move without witnessing him; but he became very ill, in consesome new stage of putrescence it at quence of what he had endured, and tained, or breathe without inhaling the only by a singular interposition of Proputrid effluvia that arose from it, while vidence was set at liberty, and thus remyriads of flies and loathsome insects stored to health. J. R. rested on it. At last, when the body Biography. SKETCH OF MR. DAVID MACK. We largest he ever saw, and that a kind Providence continued to give the most bountiful returns to the labour of his hands. He frequently walked six miles through the woods to another settlement, to do a day's work for a little money or meat; and once, when he lost his way in the woods, he climbed a tree, to avoid the bears and wolves, and there spent the night. While clearing his land, he returned to Hebron, his native place, to work a month in the hay season, for ten dollars,-an extra price for those days. As a multitude of the original Readers of the CHRISTIAN'S PENNY MAGAZINE, both old and young, have already left their native land for the Colonies, or the United States, it may not be amiss occasionally that these pages should do somewhat towards preparing others who are to follow, by supplying them with facts illustrative of the progress of Colonial Life; and this we purpose to do on the present occasion. scarcely know how we can better accomplish our object, than by giving them the substance of the interesting history of Mr. David Mack, which has been recently published by the American Tract Society. We shall pass over the early years of his history, and proceed at once to business. When he removed to Middlefield, Massachusetts, his property consisted of a bush farm, a poor horse, an axe, and his wife and child. He purchased his land at Becket, in 1773, for a horse valued at forty dollars, when returning from his first trading adventure, which was among the Indians on the borders of Lake Champlain. He cleared two acres, which he sowed with grain, and built a log house in the summer of 1774, which was preparatory to his re-journey) sixty miles were as long as, in moval the following year; and he said many cases, six hundred miles are now. the first crop he gathered was the Thus it was not much that he had It was six years after he began to clear his farm before he owned a yoke of oxen, and these he bought with the skins of deer which he caught in the hard winter and deep snows of 1780a winter "of which our fathers have told us.” And then needing some iron work to make his new team available, as he could not pay down, and would not ask a stranger to trust him, he went to a blacksmith with whom he was acquainted, living sixty miles from his home, and settled the bill the next spring with maple sugar; and all this, too, when (in the time occupied for the to begin with, and he made it, like the faithful steward, to gain five and ten, and then again it was increased to hundreds and thousands, in return for his fidelity in a little. "His root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night on his branch." He was industrious, economical, and faithful; so prompt in the payment of his debts, that no one, in any instance, during his long business life, called for money due from him without his paying it,a peculiar excellence, and worthy of all imitation. He found that honesty was the best policy at all times and places, and that the only thing needful for an enter prise which could not prosper by integrity, was its discontinuance. He was a merchant, as well as a farmer; and he established many young men in the mercantile business in the adjacent towns. He also established in business the first blacksmith, the first boot and shoemaker, and the first saddle and harness-maker, who followed their respective trades in Middlefield. It was his rule to take an account of stock yearly, and to keep an accurate account of each branch of his business; and when any proved unproductive, it was relinquished. In this way, from small beginnings, he rose to affluence; his basket and store were replenished, and his barns filled with plenty. And what did he do with it all? Did he spend it for display, and the indulgence of vanity and pride? No. Did he lay it up for his children? No. When they left the paternal roof, he gave them a respectable outfit, but not enough to make them indolent, or lax in their efforts. If they wanted more, like him they must labour for it. The rest of his property, except what he needed to support him in old age, was employed in objects of benevolence. This is the more remarkable, as in his day it was the custom less than now to promote benevolent enterprises. In this he was, as a good steward must always be, in advance of the times in which he lived. In large sums he bestowed more than eighteen thousand dollars; and his smaller offerings, here a little and there a little, to promote human welfare, are supposed to have been not less than eighteen thousand dollars more. He was one of the founders of the Hampshire Missionary Society, and he made himself, by his contributions, a life member of twelve benevolent societies; and, at a period when it was regarded as doubtful whether all the Missionary Societies in the country could support one missionary in a foreign land, he removed that doubt by a donation of one thousand dollars, which at that time was an almost unparalleled act of liberality. In his charities he sought not the praise of men; he imparted from love to Christ, and the souls for whom Christ died: he remembered how the Lord Jesus had said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He did it because he wished to be a faithful steward, both in doing good to those who are far off and to those who are nigh. He aided very many young persons in attending school, and others in acquiring a liberal education. He was fond of distributing tracts when travelling, and within a few years circulated many volumes of the " Evangelical Family Library." In the year 1814 he presented each of his children with a set of Scott's Family Bible, which cost him three hundred and sixty dol lars. He left for the church and society of which he had so long been a member a fund of three thousand dollars, for the support of the Gospel in all coming time. He made two wills, at an interval of twenty-eight years, in which, of course, he appointed another as the executor: but he lived to be his own executor, paying his bequests, and settling his accounts to the uttermost farthing, so that, in fuifilling his last testament, nothing remained to be looked after when he was gone, but his wearing apparel, the large Bible, Scott's Family Bible, a Psalm-Book, the case in which he had kept them, and the spectacles with which he had read them. Not a pound-no, not a penny, has been found hid in the earth or laid up in a napkin. And after all was done, his hope was in Christ alone. He felt himself to be nothing but a sinner saved by grace; and like Paul, pre eminent among sin ners so saved, as being chief. His days were prolonged, not only while a thousand fell at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand, but while twenty-five hundred millions of our race died! He lived till satisfied with long life. When his pastor asked him, near its close, if his life seemed short, he did not say, like Jacob, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been," but he said, "When I look at my life, taken as a whole, it seems short, like a handbreadth before me; but when I look at the gradual and astonishing changes which have taken place, and when I trace them from the commencement to the great result, and when I look at my posterity, my children's children, I almost feel that I have lived for ever!" Reader! such are the facts of the history of this remarkable man. What say you? Is there not much here deserving of imitation? Does not the history present a striking exemplification of fervour of spirit, combined with diligence in business? Suppose all the world were Christians, and each individual such as Mr. Mack,-what think you would be the issue? posing that all, or nearly all, already denominated Christians, and professing to be such, were to be governed by similar principles, would it not put a new face on society, and bring the power of example to bear on an ungodly world, with a force such as, at present, men have no conception of? Depery. LUTHER AND THE POPE'S CURSES. THE Rev. J. D. Smith, of Kingstown, Ireland, has just issued a Second Edition of "The Rhine and the Reformation; or, Europe, Past and Present," published by Mr. Snow, which is an expansion of two lectures delivered at the Rotunda, Dublin, giving the results of a tour on the Continent during last summer. Mr. Smith has done Or even sup wisely in working his materials up into this handsome manual, which we consider a valuable contribution to the cause of Protestant Literature. It comprises the gems of the entire period incorporated-as men of Mr. Smith's make of mind know how to incorporate them-with material derived from the passing hour, penetrated by a stream of Protestant life and patriotic spirit As might be supposed, Luther figures largely on the occasion. The follow. ing choice piece of resistance to the Pope deserves to be extensively known in these times. The subject in hand is the List of Curses published by the Pope, and Luther's Reply, which runs thus: The Pope-Leo, bishop. Luther- Bishop!-yes, as the wolf is a shepherd: for the bishop should exhort according to the doctrine of salvation, and not vomit forth imprecations and maledictions. The Pope-Servant of all the servants of God. Luther At night, when we are drunk; but in the morning our name is Leo, lord of all lords. The Pope-Roman bishops, our predecessors. have been accustomed on this festival to employ the arms of righteousness. Luther-Which, according to your account, are excommunication and anathema; but, according to St. Paul, "Long-suffering, kindness, and love,' 2 Cor. vi. 6, 7. The Pope-According to the duties of the apostolic office, and to maintain the purity of the Christian faith. Luther-That is to say, the temporal possessions of the Pope. The Pope And its unity, which consists in the union of the members with Christ, their head, and with his vicar. Luther-For Christ is not sufficient: we must have another besides. The Pope-To preserve the holy communion of believers, we follow the ancient custom, and excommunicate and curse, in the name of Almighty God, the Father. Luther Of whom it said, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world," John ii. 17. The Pope-The Son, and the Holy Ghost, and according to the power of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and our own Luther-Our own! says the ravenous wolf, as if the power of God was too weak without him. The Pope-We curse all heretics- | Garasi, Patarins, Poor Men of Lyons, Arnoldists, Speronists, Passageni, Wycliffites, Hussites, Fratricelli. Luther-For they desired to possess the Holy Scriptures, and required the Pope to be sober and preach the Word of God. The Pope-And Martin Luther, recently condemned by us for a similar heresy, as well as all his adherents, and all those whosoever they may be, who show him any countenance. Luther-I thank thee, most gracious Pontiff, for condemning me with all these Christians! It is very honourable for me to have my name proclaimed at Rome on a day of festival, in so glorious a manner that it may run through the world in conjunction with the names of these humble confessors of Jesus Christ. The Pope-In like manner we excommunicate and curse all pirates and corsairs. Luther-Who can be a greater corsair and pirate than he that robs souls, imprisons them, and puts them to death? The Pope-Particularly those who navigate our seas. Luher-OUR seas!-St, Peter, our predecessor, said, "Silver and gold have I none," Acts iii. 6.; and Jesus Christ said, "the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, but ye shall not be so,' "Luke xxii. 25. if a wagon filled with hay must give place on the road to a drunken man, how much more must St. Peter and Christ himself give way to the Pope? But The Poue-In a like manner we excommunicate and curse all those who falsify our Bulls and our Apostolical Letters. Luther-But God's letters, the Holy Bible, all the world may condemn and burn. The Pope-In a like manner we excommunicate and curse all those who intercept the provisions that are coming to the court of Rome. Luther-He snarls and snaps like a dog that fears his bone will be taken from him. The Pope--In like manner we condemn and curse all those who withhold any judiciary dues, fruits, tithes, or revenues, belonging to the clergy. Luther-For Christ has said, "If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also," Matt. v. 40, and this is our commentary. The Pope-Whatever be their station, dignity, order, power, or rank; were they even bishops or kings. Luther "For there shall be false teachers among you, who despise dominion and speak evil of dignities," says Scripture, (Jude 8.) The Pope-In like manner we condemn and curse all those who, in any manner whatsoever, do prejudice to the city of Rome, the kingdom of Sicily, the islands Sardinia and Corsica, the patrimony of St. Peter in Tuscany, the duchy of Spoleto, the marquisate of Ancona, the Campagna, the cities of Ferrara and Benevento, and all other cities or countries belonging to the Church of Rome. Luther-O Peter, thou poor fisherman! whence didst thou get Rome and all these kingdoms! All hail, Peter! king of Sicily! and fisherman at Bethsaida! The Pope-We excommunicate and curse all chancellors, councillors, parliaments, procurators, governors, offi cials, bishops, and others, who oppose our letters of exhortation, invitation, prohibition, mediation, execution. Luther-For the Holy See desires only to live in idleness, in magnificence, and debauchery; to command, to intimidate, to deceive, to lie, to dishonour, to seduce, and commit every kind of wickedness in peace and security. Oh, Lord, arise! it is not as the Papists pretend; thou hast not forsaken us; thou hast not turned away thine eyes from us! Thus spoke Leo at Rome, and Luther at Wittemberg. The Pontiff having ended these maledictions, the parchment on which they were written was torn in pieces, and the fragments scattered among the people. Immediately the crowd began to be violently agitated, each one rushing forward and endeavouring to seize a scrap of this terrible Bull. These were the holy relics that the Papacy offered to its faithful adherents on the eve of the great day of grace and expiation. The multitude soon dispersed, and the neighbourhood of the cathedral became deserted and silent as before. The Letter Box. PRAYER-MEETINGS. To the Editor of the Christian's Penny Magazine. SIR,-I know that you are always wil- The meeting I refer to is held either ling to receive such communications as tell of any measure of good being done, or which may serve to supply hints to those who are engaged in doing good. For these reasons, but more for the latter than the former, I beg to trouble you with a brief account of what has proved to us to be an interesting and useful plan of conducting a weekly prayer meeting. Perhaps social meeting should be its designation, rather than prayer-meeting; but for reasons I need not here further allude to, we have continued the use of the former term. at our school-room or at some cottage. Most frequently we go from house to house, choosing the largest rooms we can obtain. In conducting it, we contemplate the following things: Christian intercourse, public prayer, the improvement of our young people in Biblical knowledge, and the preparation of our teachers for their work in the Sunday-school. It is needful to state that we use, in our Sunday-school, the "Notes of Lessons" issued by the Sunday-school Union, each teacher of the Scripture |