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out upon us, instead of wishing to curtail the time of prayer, we should rather feel tramelled by our own present limits, and desire more lengthened opportunities of unitedly wrestling with our God.

Our prayer meetings might be improved if our prayers were more specifically confined to certain topics; and in order to this, it would be well if the missionary intelligence were read, or the short address were given, or one of the sermons of the preceding sabbath were recapitulated before prayer; the attention of the brethren who have to engage being thus directed to some special topic. This method I have tried with some degree of success, and find that the prayer leaders gradually fall in with the plan, especially if notice be given them a few minutes before they engage.

But, after all, the best, the only sure mode of improving our devotional services will be that of cultivating in ourselves, and then in our hearers, deeper devotional feelings. Abstaining from all conduct calculated to grieve the Holy Spirit, preparing for the sanctuary very reverentially, dwelling much upon the solemnity of communion with God, arranging in our own minds the order and the topics of prayer, and frequently reading in private the inspired models of supplication contained in the Scriptures, and those beautiful and fervent payers which for centuries have been the property of the universal church-prayers, some of which are contained in the English Liturgy, and others in the writings both of Conformist and Nonconformist divines. With this view, Ken, Jeremy Taylor, Leighton, R. Baxter, and others, who have committed to paper the pious breathings of their souls may advantageously be studied; and will often, by the aid of the Divine Spirit, prepare our hearts for the solemn exercise of worship when we have to lead the devotions of our flock.

Regretting that I have nothing more worthy to offer, and earnestly craving that we may have more manifestly the aid of the Holy Ghost in our assemblies, I conclude in the language of Baxter, language taken from perhaps one of the nest, though comparatively little known, addresses to the sacred Three in one, which our language contains:

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us the work which we must do in heaven. Exercise our hearts and tongues in the holy praises of our Lord. Make us the more heavenly by how much the faster we are hastening to heaven, and let our last thoughts, words, and works on earth, be likest to those that shall be our first in that state of glorious immortality where the kingdom is delivered up to the Father, and God will for ever be all and in all, of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.*" R. C. PRITCHETT.

Darlington.

PEACE MOVEMENT.

THE Secretaries of the Peace Congress Committee, the Rev. Henry Richard and Elihu Burritt, have just returned from Paris, where they have been making preliminary arrangements for the great Peace Congress which is to be held in that city in the month of August. Their reception has been cordial and encouraging.

They have

had interviews with some of the most influential men in France, who have entered with lively interest into the objects of the proposed Congress, aud who have readily offered to take a part in its proceedings. A Committee of Organisation is now forming in Paris, and will comprise members of the National Assembly, the editors of some of the leading French journals, and several of the most distinguished philanthropists and literary men in that country. This Committee will act in concert with the other National Committees, which have been formed respectively in London, Brussels, and Boston. The Americans have taken active steps to manifest their sympathy in this great movement. A public meeting, which was largely attended, was held at Boston on the 28th of March, when resolutions were unanimously adopted in favour of sending a large and influential Deputation to represent the Amreican people in the Paris Congress. A very large number of gentlemen in England and Scotland have signified their wish to attend the Congress, and it is expected that the British Delegation will be on such a scale, and of such a character as to demonstrate the deep interest taken by all classes in the establishment of permanent international peace.-Patriot, of June 7.

FRANCE.

THE POWER OF THE BIBLE,
From Mr. De Pressensé.

Paris, February 6, 1848.

OUR colporteur employed in the department of the Lozère states in his journal, that being arrived at nightfall in a small

* "Baxter's More Reasons for the Christian Religion.

village, after having enjoyed his frugal repast, he felt inclined to enter into conversation with the landlord, and accordingly intimated his wish to that effect. The landlord at once excused himself by saying that at a later hour they would have an opportunity of conversing together; adding. "At present I must leave you, for my wife and children are ready to accompany me to the meeting. We never miss it." "What meeting may that be?" "Oh, it would appear very likely ridiculous to you if I were to describe it." "What is it, then?" "Well, since your curiosity seems to be awakened, will you come along with us? When you are tired you can but return to your quarters here."

The party accordingly quitted the house together. They soon arrived at a farm in the neighbourhood, where, in a spacious kitchen, the ordinary apartment for reception in the country, our friend found a young man, of about thirty years of age, seated at a table, with a large Bible before him, and ten or a dozen persons assembled around him, seemingly deeply interested in what was going forward. The reading had already begun it was the 5th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. The seriousness and solemnity which reigned throughout was truly edifying. Our friend was also not a little gratified at finding that several present had copies of the New Testament, and followed the reader verse by verse in them. Having concluded the chapter, he made a few practical observations, with a simplicity that was truly affecting, dwelling chiefly on the 24th verse, where it is said, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." His address sufficiently proved that he was animated with a sincere and lively desire to communicate to his hearers the sentiments of his own heart, which enabled him to enjoy a peace and consolation which he described with an eloquence that was truly striking.

Never had the colporteur before heard the subject treated in a manner so novel and impressive. There was nothing in the language of the young man that savoured of the theology of the schools, but all his arguments seemed to be based upon his own personal experience.

The service being over, the colporteur rose, in order to shake the other by the hand, when great, as may be imagined, was his joy, and great the encouragement which he received to persevere in his arduous labour, by what was now communicated to him.

It turned out that the person who had contributed so largely to the edification of the party that evening had been enabled to

understand and lay hold of the truths of salvation by studying, with humble prayer. a Bible which he had purchased at the stall of a colporteur in the market-place of a town situated at a great distance from the place of his actual residence, but whither business had called him.

Nor

"The worthy man," said he, "who sold me this excellent and precious book exhorted me, at the same time, in so serious and solemn a manner, that it seemed to me as if it were the voice of God himself that spoke to me through him, calling to me, Take the book that is offered; prav, as he recommends you to do: and I will be with thee! I responded to this appeal; and the very same evening, such was the interest I felt in reading the Bible, that I devoted the greater part of the night to it. From that time I may say that I have found the pearl of great price, and ever since my precious Bible has been my constant and faithful companion. I have carried it with me whenever my duty called me into the fields; and with it I have reposed after the fatigues of the day. The more I read the greater was my desire to read more. could I keep to myself the benefits which I derive from it. I spoke of it to my aged parents, to my brother, and to my sisters, to the people employed on our farm, and to our neighbours. In fact, I could have wished to be able to tell every one how happy I was. A merciful God, who taught me how to pray, rendered every thing easy for me. My parents, who loved me most affectionately, agreed to all my proposals for reading the scriptures together; our neighbours soon joined us; and thus, for the last seven or eight months, we have held a small meeting every evening in this house, as you have just witnessed. Anxious to supply my hearers with the sacred volume, I returned to the town where I first obtained the Bible, in hopes of purchasing some New Testaments, but I could not meet with the colporteur. Some time afterwards, however, one of my neighbours succeeded in meeting with a vendor of these excellent books on the high road, and it was in this way that we provided ourselves with the Testaments, which you yourself have seen in the hands of my friends."

Thus, by means of a solitary Bible, purchased in a public market-place, and through the friendly exhortations of one of our agents, a little church has been formed in a remote corner of the country, utterly unknown to all who take an interest in similar proceedings. Facts of this description, which the Lord is pleased from time to time to make known to us, ought to convince us that the distribution of the Scriptures through the medium of colporteurs is attended by far more happy

results than we are sometimes disposed to believe.-British and Foreign Bible Society's Extracts.

STRUCTURE OF THE HEART.

"AN anatomist (as Dr. Paley observes) who understood the structure of the heart, might say beforehand that it would play; but he would expect, I think, from the complexity of the mechanism, and the deficiency of many of its parts, that it would always be liable to derangement, or that it would soon work itself out. Yet shall this

wonderful machine go night and day, for eighty years together, at the rate of a hundred thousand strokes every twentyfour hours, having at every stroke a great resistance to overcome; and shall continue

this action for this length of time without

disorder and without weariness.

"Each ventricle will at least contain one ounce of blood. The heart contracts four thousand times in one hour; from which it follows, that there passes through the heart, every hour, four thousand ounces or three hundred and fifty pounds of blood. Now, the whole mass of blood is said to be about twenty-five pounds, so that a quantity of blood, equal to the whole mass of blood, passes through the heart fourteen times in one hour; which is about once every four minutes.”—Buck's Practical Expositor.

PELAGIANISM.

(From Professor Stowell's Work "On the Holy Spirit.")

"IT might not be difficult to show that there was much in the state of opinion and of morals at the time to excuse, though it did not fully justify, the stand which was made by the Pelagians. As opposed to the technical scholasticism which prevailed in the high-places of the church, and to the loose morality which threatened the destruction of the Christian religion, their aim appears to well-informed persons to have been praiseworthy; and the most candid of every party have confessed that their reasonings from Scripture, and their appeals to conscience were by no means destitute of force. But, as usually fares in disputes, one extreme was exchanged for another, not less distant from the truth, and equally fraught with mischiefs, though different in kind. The fallacy of Pelagianism lies in substituting the theory of human nature as it ought to be, for the history of human nature as it is; and, while zealous for morality, in overlooking the truths of the Gospel, which, besides embracing objects higher than human morality, constitute the

only spring from which a pure morality has ever flowed. In opposing Pelagianism, Augustine may have been greatly influenced by an apprehension of its practical consequences in drawing men away from their attendance on the offices of the church; but we cannot study the writings of that great defender of the orthodox faith, and not perceive that he was also moved by loyalty to Christ, and by zeal on behalf of those doctrines which embody the principles peculiar to Christianity, so largely exhibited in the writings of the Apostle of the Nations. The re-assertion of these doc

trines in their breadth and power, was the strength of the Reformation. It was the pith of Puritanism. It has won for their

successors in the Reformed Churches of the Continent, and amongst the Calvinists of England, Scotland, and America, the honour or the stigma of Evangelicalism. Without refusing this title to those Christians who do not understand, or understanding do not adopt, the metaphysical doctrines of Calvinism, and, without affirming that those metaphysical doctrines are, in all respects, a just representation of the truths concerning Divine grace which are revealed in the New Testament, we know that the followers of Augustine in the ancient times, and of Calvin in the modern times, have been the most distinguished for the maintenance of the power and grace of God in man's salvation," pp. 362-364.

A SHORT SERMON.

THE subject was Temperance; the text was, a drunken woman on her death-bed. The audience was a small one; viz., the woman's husband, who was also a drunkard.

Your

"There now," said the preacher, "you see, J-, what drinking comes to. wife is dying; there is no hope for her, she will never be better, and she will die soon. If you don't give over drinking, you will very likely be as bad as she is before long; and why not give it over? It does you no good: you are never happy, J, are you?"

Here the old man shed a tear, and said, "No, Sir, I'm never happy."

"Give it over, then, and there is some chance for you. 'Tis an awful thing to die, and a dreadful thing to die drunk. Now, J-, you'll try to leave off, won't you?"

The audience stammered out a few words, but made no answer the preacher could understand. The woman died; the man went on drinking, until he ended his career by committing suicide. This couple had been respectable, then beggared! last of all rich (unexpectedly); their money spent in strong drink brought them to their end.

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MADRAS MISSION.

VISIT TO PONDICHERRY.

PONDICHERRY is a large French settlement on the coast of Coromandel, about 100 miles south of Madras. A considerable number of the native inhabitants belong to the Church of Rome, but many of them seem to be weary of their spiritual bondage, and begin to desire a purer faith and a better hope. Our esteemed brother, Mr. Drew, visited the town in the month of April last; and, though somewhat obstructed in his purposes by the local authorities, he was cheered by his reception, and felt greatly encouraged with the result of his endeavours to plant among the people the standard of the Cross. The field is open to the Christian labourer, and appears white unto the harvest; and most gladly would the Directors, were it in their power, comply with the urgent entreaty of Mr. Drew to open a Mission there. The details of his proceedings bring to view an entirely new field of Missionary labour, and will yield to our readers no ordinary share of interest and pleasure.

It is now my privilege to detail some circumstances of great interest in their bearing on the advancement of the Church of Christ, which have lately occurred in connexion with a visit to Pondicherry the French Settlement, and stronghold of Popery in these parts. I do not know that I was ever more remarkably favoured with providential guidance than in this visit. I had at first no intention of going there, but, having determined to make a short Missionary tour, partly for change of air and health, and partly for labour, Mr. W. Thompson, who was just then leaving for England, after the loss of his beloved wife, invited me to go with him as far as Pondicherry, as the vessel touched there, and to occupy the vacant couch in the cabin. This offer I was glad to embrace, as it would take me, free of expense, in the direction I wished to go, and give me the benefit of sea air and rest for two or three days.

On my arrival at the bungalow, or place of rest for travellers, at Pondicherry, a number of Roman Catholics, when they found out my object, came round me, seeking for Tracts and Scriptures with much earnestness. I soon found that I had been brought there at a remarkable juncture. The new constitution of the French Republic had been proclaimed about fifteen days before. The words, "Liberté, fraternité, égalité," were emblazoned on the gateway of the Government-house. The inhabitants had been recently called on to elect a representative for the House of Deputies. All this had excited in the minds of the oppressed Pariahs the hope that they might obtain more equal treatment from the Government, and a determination to make an effort for getting rid of some of those marks of degradation still put upon them. They complained much of the want of love in their fellow Christians of a higher caste, and of the partiality of their priests. They stated their desire to be more fully taught the Word of God, and to have a school established in which their children would be instructed in all branches of useful learning; complaining that, although much effort is made to educate the higher classes, only the smallest amount of education is doled out to their children.

They also expressed their desire to be placed in such a situation as would enable them to enjoy all Christian privileges without distinction of rank or caste. They complained that now, in the large Romish church, a wall of a foot high has been built, from pillar to pillar, separating the aisle in which they are allowed to go, from the other parts of the church, so that, if they should pass across it even for a moment, they would be rudely and violently pushed back again. They also said that the priests never attend their funerals, nor come to their houses, although they do both for the higher castes.

On hearing these statements, I determined to hire a house in the town, and to send off immediately to Madras for a coolie-load of Scriptures, some for sale, and some to be given away. I had full opportunity of conversing with these persons, and ascertaining their views and wants. Many came to me every day. Some of them have been more or less con

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