382
Contoponituct.
OPEN AIR MEETINGS.
BY BDWARD PAYSON HAMMOND
In the State of Maine, during the
spring of 1862, open air meetings were
held which were blessed of God in the
conversion of soals.. During a series of
meetings in Lewistown, Me., I became
deeply interested in an editor of one of
the papers of that city. He had been
anxious about his soul, he told me, since
ke chanced to attend an open air meet
ing in Portland some two months be
fore. He soon found peace in believing,
and has since joined the church. This
editor, in his own paper, gave a short
sketch of the very meeting which was
blessed by the Holy Spirit to lead him
deeply to feel that he was a guilty sinner
against God. .
I remember that some of the good
ministers in Portland were, at first, a
little troubled with regard to the out
door services, but when some of them
fold& how distinctly God was setting
his seal upon them, their objections
disappeared. The editor referred to
says:
"About seven o'clock, on a clear still
evening, we heard the voices of children in
sweet and silvery tones, apparently led by
a strong masculine voice. We listened for
a moment in surprise and wonder, and then
made our way in the direction from whence
the sound proceeded, and in front of the
Custom House, found the'preacher engaged
in solemn exhortation to sinners, the sing
ing having ceased. The scene was an
unusual one for the staid and quiet city of
Portland, and we were in doubt for a few
moments as to how so unusual an occurrence
would be received. In a short time, a large
number had gathered to hear the appeal of
the man of , Go(; We were apprehensive of
scoffing ansl jeers from the roughs,' who
will always be found on such an occasion ;
but not a word or a lisp did we hear to
break the solemnities of the hour. Every
one was deeply, seriously interested ; and
we doubt not, that some who,werepresent
were made fully and sensibly aware of their
sinful condition, during the few minutes'
exhortation addressed to them. After his
entreaty was ended, he broke_forth into the
well known hymn—
Word& the Lamb, &e.'
in which he was joined by the children with
which he was surrounded, and moved, for
ward to the church, the whole singing
joyfully, and making melody that we have
rarely heard surpassed. The scene was
novel and startling, and the earnest appeal
was responded to with great unanimity ;
hardly a man who had witnessed the occur
rence failed to accept the invitation, and
the crowd followed the preacher to the old
Payson Church."
At Bruns wick, open air meetings were
held on the Green. When these meet..
ings commenced, fear was expressed
with regard to the results, tut when it
was found that God was blessing them
with the presence of his Holy Spirit,
the ministers and professors from Bow
doin College were ready to help on the
good work with all their powers. At
one, of these meetings, while a student
who had been a Romanist was telling
the story of his conversion, an infidel
student was brought under conviction
of sin, and in a week irom that time
told to a similar audience, on the same
ground, that he had Oben led by the
open air services, and+ especially by the
words of the converted Papist, to re
nounce his infidelity and to believe in
the Lord Jesus.
At one of the open air services some
four hundred persons from Lewistown,
mostly young converts, had come a
distance of twenty miles to be present .
The singing of the large audience, led
by Dr. Adams, the well-known pastor
of 'the college chuitch, was delightful.
Some of the professors and students
spoke with great power, making all to
feel, as Dr. J. J. Carruthers, of Portland,
who took part in the meeting said, that
"these apostolic methods of reaching
and saving men may be- now wisely
employed"
In looking over "A Pastor's Jottings,"
a book just published by the New York
American -Tract Society, I was much
pleased - with an - account of two -open
air meetings held near London. Those
who have. become interested in this
subject of open air preaching will enjoy
reading this graphic description :
OPEN AIR SERVICES.
I had the pleasure, many years since, to
attend the anniversary meeting of one of
our associations, in a village about twelve
miles west of London, then blessed with the
able labors of a son of the venerated Andrew
Fuller. Beautiful, indeed, was the locality,
for nature had invested it with some of her
moat lovely and ever-fascinating aspects ;
but alas, its inhabitants were very generally
under the influence of unsanctified influ
ences, and were especially addicted to
violations of the holy Sabbath.
it: WAS thought desirable at one of the
meetings of the association, with a view of
attracting public attention, to hold a special
service on the evening of the second day,
on the Village green. About six or seven
o'clock, a far larger congregation had assem
bled than the church edifice could have
oontained ; many highly respectable persons
attended, some were in their crested car
riages, but the larger number were persons who
never worshipped God in any form. The
preabher was the Rev. J. H. Hinton, eminent
for piety and learning, for zeal and useful
ness. His pulpit was a chair, and his
sounding-board the canopy of heaven.
Deep and solemn silence pervaded the
crowd, while he offered a fervent prayer.
\Tone of the assembly appeared disposed to
`er the shadow of opposition to the solemn
ice, but rather seemed to say; " We are
ere present before G'md, to hear all
that are'cointuauded thee of him.'/
. -an d praise being ended, the preach
er read for his- text, " Herein is love ; not
that we loved God, but that he loved us,
and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our
sins." I John, 4: 10. The shades of even
ing, before the worship closed, had en
wrapped the earth in darkness ; but not an
individual appeared to move. Many a tear
was shed, many a devout prayer was offered
to God, and if an inference might be drawn
from the silence and undivided attention of
the people, many of the hundreds of persons
present sang with the understanding and
the heart, after the sermon, the language of
the sainted Watts :
"Blessing forever on the Lamb
Who bore the curse for wretched men;
Let angels sound his sacred name,
And every creature say, Amen." .
Such a scene must have impressed th . e mind of
every minister of Christ present with a conviction
that out-of-door preaching has no insuperable
digiculties ; it must have powerfully affected many
hearts; nor is it too much to hope that some will
curry the holy impressions they then received into
the world of eternal glory.
It was my happiness, two or three years
after the occurrence I..have described, to
originate and .assist in another interesting
service of a similar character.. Some five
miles south of London Bridge is a vast plain
known as Blackheath. Here, and in Green
wich Park, which adjoins the heath, the
inhabitantit of the British metropolis, from
time immemorial have been accu,tomed to
congregate • for recreation and pleasure in
all their varied forms. A somewhat elevated
site on the heath, distinguished by the late.
Lord Dartmouth, who planted some trees
upon it, is called '° Whitefield's Mount," it
being the hallowed spot on which. that
eminent servant of Christ, a century ago,
addressed five, ten, or fifteen thousand
persons at a time, on the infinite realities of
the eternal world. Multitudes now in
heaven were• born to God on that lovely
heath. Many who went to gratify an idle
curiosity, and others who went even to per
secute, retired from the service to pray for
the pardon of their sins. The spot is always
regarded with a hallowed interest by Chris
tians of every class.
It was resolved, as religion was awfully
neglected in the neighborhood, as thousands
on every Monday evening resorted to the
heath, and as open air preaching had been
recently revived in the district around, to
endeavor again to collect congregations on
"The Mount ;" and Dr. F. A. Cox kindly
consented to open the campaign. Perhaps
at the commencement of the Service some
five hundred persons were assembled ; the
singing soon attracted many others, and
probably when the preacher reads his text
we had around us two thousand quiet and
attentive hearers. His theme was admirably
appropriate: "I thought on my ways, and
turned my feet unto thy testimonies."
Pea. 119: 59.
As I walked away with the excellent and
beloved doctor after the service through the
park, we observed two young women trying
to overtake us. We stopped till they came
up, when one of them introduced herself as
a member of one of our churches, and said
that the other was a stranger to her ; that
she had invited her on the heath to hear a
sermon, and that she had often heard of the
preacher, she had been induced to listen,
and now wished to talk further on the
subject. The girl, who had stood bitterly
weeping, told us a most interesting story.
Shelived on the other side of the city, near
the preacher's ownychurch ; she had never
before thought of her soul; she had that
evening come down to the heath simply in
pursuit of pleasure. Her heart was indeed
broken under a deep sense of sin. We
Liked in the park some quarter of an hour.
She afterwards again and again visited Dr.
C kx at his own home ; and after a few weeks
ho received her into the church of which he
was - so long pastor. Truly this was the
Lord's doing, and encourages us in the
morning to sow our seed, and in the evening
not to withhold our hand; knowing not
which shall prosper. this,or that, or whether
both shall be alike good.
BROWNING-'S DEATH OF ST. JOHN.
SECOND PAPER
Without stopping to dwell on the
setting of the story, which is very artis
tically yet naturally done, we bring the
reader to the side of the dying Evange
list, who, with three or four fellow-
Christians, had taken refuge from the
rage of persecution in a deep cave.
Roused from dying stupor by the voice
of one of thesa brethren, pronouncing
the words, " I am the Resurrection and
the Life," the Apostle " opened his eyes
wide at once and sat np and looked at"
the company. The peculiar interest of
his approaching •death arises from the
fact that when he has gone, the last
witness of the great events of the Gospel
history will disappear frozn the earth.
There is left on earth
No one alive who knew- (consider this I)
—Saw with his eyes and handled with his
hands
That which was from the first s the Word of
Life,
Row will it be when none more saith saw' 7
The declarations of the living Sohn
were generally sufficient. His testimony
was received. Much of the Lord's life,
he says, had grown
Of new significance and fresh result ;
What first were guessed as points, I now knew
stars,
And named them in the Gospel I have writ
Even men who insisted on explana
tion as a condition of believing, and the
young ones, who in their strength 'and
their impatience asked : " Where is the
promise of his coming?" under his
teachings, he thinks, in the main believ
ed. But recently going to sleep, as he
says, with the thought; that
We had the truth, might leave the rest to God
Yet now I wake in such decrepitude
As I have slidden down and fallen afar
Past even the presence of my former self
Grasping the while. for stay at facts which
snap,
Till I am found away from my own world,.
Feeling for foothold through a blank profound,
Along with unborn people in strange lands,
Who say—l hear said, or conceive they say--
Was John at all, and did he say he saw ?
Assure us ere we ask what he might see?
The dying apostle asks, uAnd how shall
I assure them ?" His own convictions
are not merely based in history; to his
quickened moral sensibility, in which
these doubters do not share, the great
truths of Christianity are ever under
going reiteration and illustration in the
world. Ito says
To me, that story—ay, that Life and Death
Of which I wrote ' it wa—to me, it is;
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1864.
Is here and now : I apprehend naughi else.
Is ,not God now i' the world his power first
made ?
Is not His love at issue still with sin,
Closed with, and cast, and conquered, crucified
Visibly when a wrong is done on Ear h ?
Love, wrong, and pain, what see I els around?
Yea, and the Resurrection and Upris
To the right hand of the throne—wat is it
beside,
When such truth, breaking bounds, verfloods
my soul,
And, as I saw the sin and death, eve so
See I the need yet transiency of both,
The good and glory consummated thehce ?
I saw the Power ; I see the Love, oncelveak,
Resume the Power; and in this word' lees,'
Lo, there is recognized the Spirit of both
That moving o'er the spirit of man, unblinds
His eye and bids-him look.
These inquirers whom he recognizes
as" the children, His beloved ones, tool'
yet who are not capable of recognizing
these great contemporaneous manifes
tations and proofs of the truth, need to
study the historic facts of Christianity,
until " that Life and Death" becomes
their " world," as it is John's.
Here the poet, catching the very tem
per of his inspired Hero, introduces that
favorite theme of the. beloved apostle,
which gave such honied s weetnestfr to his
fetters and exhortations, and which in
vests the memory of his serene old age
with such an unwonted charm—Chris
tian love. This spirit of love, of which
John was the embodiment, is all that
gives value to life : grasping it, we ob
tain all that is worth having : the gos
pel doctrine of love is the grand solu
tion of life's questions. Says the apos
tle, in Browning's paraphrase,
For life, with all it yields of joy and woe,
And hope and fear,—believe the aged firiend—
Is just our chance o' the prize of fearning
love, !
How love might be, bath been indeed,' l and is ;
And that we hold thenceforth to the uttermost
Such prize despite the'envy of the world,
And having gained truth keep truth; that is
all,
The chief argument of the poem is here
stated. Men by skepticism lose all
things, because they lose hold of the
grand manifestation of love in the gos
pels.
The apostle is next described as anti
cipating and describing faithfully the
false prinCiples of philosophy which lie
at the foundation of the Straassian and
Tuebingen speculations on the histori
cal character of the Gospels and Epis
tles. Thus the poet makes him speak :
One listens quietly, nor scoffs but pleads
Here is a tale of things done ages since ;
What truth was ever told the second day ?
Wonders, that would prove doctrine, go for
naught.
Remains the doctrine, love; well, we must
love,
And what we love most, power and love in one,
Let us acknowledge on the record here,
Accepting these in Christ : must Christ then
be ?
Has He been ? Did not we ourselves make
Him?
Our mind receives but what it holds, no more.
First of the love, then ; we acknowledge
Christ—
A. proof we comprehend Hislove, a proof
We had such love already in ourselves,
Knew first what else we should not recognize.
'T is mere projection from man's inmost mind,
And, what he loves, thus falls reflected back,
Becomes accounted somewhat out of him ;
He throws it up in air, it falls down earth's,
With shape, name, story added, man's old
way.
How prove you Christ came otherwise at least?
Next try the power : He made and rules the
world :
C.?rtes there is a world once made, now ruled,
Unless things have been ever as we see.'
But the new question's whisper is distinct,
Wherefore must all force needs be like our
selves ?
We have the hands, the will; what made and
drives
The sun is force, is law, is named, not known.
Go back, far, farther, to the birth of things ;
Ever the will, the intelligence, the love,
Man's l—which he gives, supposing he but,
finds,
As late he gave head, body, hands, and feet,
To help these in what forms he called his gods.
First, Jove's brow, Juno's eyes were swept
away,
But Jove's wrath, Juno's pride continued long;
At last, will, power, and love discarded these,
So law in turn discards power, love, and will.
What proveth God is otherwise atlpast ?
All else, projection from the mind of man!'
Miracles according to this philosophy
are not needed any longer in proving
the truth of the Gospel. They bad their
use once. [The apostle is not repre
sented as aware of the latest phase of
advanced rationalism, which, speaking
in Dr. Shenkel of Baden, asserts that
"miracles are the dark shade which has
been cast upon the bright splendor of
the activity of Christ."] They have
been superseded by the fruit of the book
itself they were designed to prove.
Says the contemner of miracles :
You stick a garden-plot with ordered twigs
To show inside lie' ems of herbs unborn,
And check the careless step would spOil their
birth ;
But when herbs wave, the guardian twigs may
It is no longer for old twigs yo look
Which roved once undeineath lay store of
seed
But to the herb's self. . This book's fruit is
plain,
Nor miracles need prove it any more
Of this John says :
This might be pagan teaching: now hear mine
I say that as the babe, you fend awhile',
Becomes a boy and ELt to feed himself,
So minds at first must be spoon-fed with truth :
When they can eat, babe's nurture is- with-
drawn.
I say that miracle was duly wrought
When,save for it, no faith was possible.''•
So faith grew, making void more miracles
Because too much. They would compel, not
help.
DR. JENKINS CALLED TO RONTEDAL.-
We see it stated, in the secular papers,
that " the Presbyterian Synod of Mon
treal has decided to call the .Rev. John
Jenkins, D. D. to St. Paul's Church in
that city." We presume the Doctor
has been callea as slated, but, us every .
Presby etian - knows, by domaody other
than the )Synod.
t4ditortio gablt.
STANTON.—The Church and the Rebellion :
a Consideration of the Rebellion against
the Government of the United States,
and the agency of the Church, North and
South, in relation thereto. By R. L.
Stanton, D. D., Professor in the Theologi
cal Seminary of the Presbyterian Church,
Danville, Ky. New York : Derby & Mil
ler. 12mo. pp. 562. Philadelphia, for
sale by Martien.
The tone of this volume, especially
as emanating from the other branch of
the church in' Kentucky, is most wel
come from its healthfulness, its uncom
promising loyalty and its high and
bold anti slavery position. The aim of
the accomplished author is to put the
blame of the rebellibn, so far as it rests
upon the church at all, on the right
shoulders, viz.: the champions of ex
treme pro-slavery views in the pulpits
and professors' chairs of the South,
with their sympathizers in like posi
tions in the North. The part perform
ed by such men as Drs. Thornwell, Pal
mer, Robinson, Stiles, Ross, and others
is portrayed-in bold colors and exposed
in its anti-scripturalness and criminali
ty with an unsparing hand. Many val
uable and curious facts, not to be found
readily elsewhere, illustrative of the
deliberate purpose of this class of men
in the South to poison the minds of the
people against the North and the Union,
and to prepare 'them - for secepion, are
even. Cases involving the relations of
the church_ and the government like
that of Dr. McPheeters• are discussed,
the Providence of God in the rebellion
from the inverted Southern point of
view, as well as from that of the en
lightened author himself; is stated; the
action of the Presbyterian Church on
Slavery is given from the earliest times,
turning off, of course, after the division,
into the history of the other branch,
the broad inconsistency of whose action
up to 1849, with that of earlier times is
clearly exhibited, and the subterfuges
of the supporters of such action exposed
and denounced; the concessions made
to southern opinion by the action, in
stead of tending to hold the Union to
gether, are declared to have hastened
the disruption. The action of 1864 is
described, defended and applauded.
The interest of a large part of the
volume, it will be seen, is local and de
nominational : a criticism might justly
be made also upon the absence of a felt
unity in the miscellaneous materials
brought together, but the facts and dis
cussions are of great value, and will go
far to settling truthfully andiffinally the
grave_question of the responsibility for
this great and bloody national convul
sion.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S BOOKS
BustmELL---Nature and the Supernatural,
as together constituting the one system of
God. By Horace Bushnell, New edition.
New York : Charles Scribner. 12mo.
pp 528. For sale by J. B. Lippincott &Co
AB a contribution towards meeting
recent movements of scientific infidels
like Strauss and Renan,who are spread
ing their leaven by cheap and popular
editions of their anti-Christian lives of
Christ, Dr. Bushnell has put forth a
cheap edition of his well known and
very able work in defence of miracles.
In this, as in other attempts of Dr.
8., for the defence of revealed religion,
great as in some respects his services as
a champion must be acknowledged to
be, his work is marred by some eccen
tricity which goes far to neutralize its
power. In the'l4th chapter he gravely
argues that " miracles and spiritual gifts
are not discontinued." If the miracles
for which Dr. B. contends are nowise
different in essence from modern mar
vels they are not worth-the argument.
So, in-his " God in Christ," the author's
argument for the divinity of Christ
would be almost as good for the divinity
of every Christian.
CHRIST AND HIS SALVATION ! in sermons Va
riously related thereto. By Horace Bush
nell. New York : Charles Scribner. 12tno.
pp 456. For sale by J. B. Lippincott & Co.
Dr. Bashnell's sermons must ever be
favourites with the thoughtful, cultured
Christian reader and preacher. yhey
are original, fresh, suggestive and quick
ening to such minds. Their literary
excellence is most marked. There is
the glow of real, if not of commanding
g9nius in their construction and devel
opment. Views of duty and experience
are presented of a most instructive
character, and errors are skilfully and
swiftly exposed. All the outlying
truths of Christianity, until you come
to its very heart in the sacrificial blood
of Jesus, are upheld and illustrated
with singular grace and acceptableness.
But Dr. Bushnell acknowledges no real
connection of the sufferings of Christ
with - divine justice, and has no true
sympathy with "the article of a stand
ing or a falling church'' justification by
the vicarious atonement of Christ.
'There is every, thing in his teaching
that evangelical Christianity demands
save this vitalizing, essential, supreme
truth ; and it is painful to see how he
almoz-t recovlizes and yet fails to grasp
Sertuurt XII
PRIME.—The Power of Prayer, illustrated
in the wonderful Displays of Divine Grace
at the_Fulton Street and other meetings
in New York and elsewhere, in 1857 and
1858. By Samuel Ireneus Prime, author
of " Travels in Europe and the. East."
New and enlarged edition. New York :
Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp 418. _
This is a wonderful record of factrin
which the prayer-hearing God is shown
to be true to his nature and his promis
es in events of our own time. it has
acted, and doubtless will continue to
act, as a powerful stimulus to the faith
and prayer of God's people all over
Christendom, having been re-published
in England, translated in two different
versions in France, and published in
the East. The present edition contains
four additional chapters, bringing into
view the power of prayer in that won
derful field for the display of divine grace,
the Army of the United States. We
cordially recommend it to our readers
who may desire to 'cultivate a spirit of
prayer.
TICKNOR & FIELDS' BOOKS.
CHILD.. Looking towards Sunset. From
sources old and new, original and selected.
By L. Maria Child. Boston : Ticknor &
Fields. Square 12mo. Fine cloth gilt
bevelled edges, gilt top, tintectipaper. pp
455. For sale by J. B. Lippincott & Co.
This is one of the books so rarely is
sued from our presses, which it is a luxu
ry simply to hold in one's hand. There
is an exquisite grace and finish, without
any extravaginceobout all the externals
that at once created a strong prejudice
in favor of the aontents. These contents
are in fact, as choice as the exterior
would lead us to expect, being a miscel
lany of Original and. Selected articles
upon topics connected with our every
day life, especial reference being had to
old age, gathered by the accomplished
authoress with consomme skill and
taste. Nothing but gems are admitted
within this casket. Besides the contri
butions of the author,we have such names
as Bryant,Dickens, Barns, Wordsworth,
Uhland, Hood, Heber, Tennyson, Jean
Paul,Wbittier, John Sterling,Mrs. Stowe,
Henry Ward Beecher, and others as a
guarantee of the quality of the mate
rial. One cannot go amiss for half-an
hour of the best miscellaneous reading
in opening at any part of the book.
At the same time it must be noted that
the mild but decided dislike of lif.rs.
Child to New England orthodox is not
concealed in these articles. As a parlor
table ornament, as a gift to a friend, or
as the companion of one's stray half
hours, with the single, -bat grave, ex
ception referred to, we know of nothing
that surpasses it in the issues of the
press for many months. •
A. NEW ATMOSPHERE. By Gail . Hamilton.
Author of " Country Living and Country
Thinkog." Boston: Tickhor &
l6mo. pp 310. Bevelled boards, red
edges, tinted paper. For sale by J. B.
Lippincott & Co ;
The well-known newspaper essayist
and magazine writer has, in this volume,
dispensed with the inadequate and un•
satisfactory method of unfolding her
views afforded by those channels, and
has wisely given herself the range of
a whole volume. We notice a decided
advance in the intensity, breadth and
volume of her thoughts as here expres
sed. She seems to be swayed by a just
sense of a mission to her contemporaries,
and with new dignity and force she
urges her views, with illustration and
argument, on her readers. What those
views are, is doubtless already under
stood in general. The new atmosphere
she would have diffused, is one of
healthier, truer appreciation of the
sphere of woman in America. A higher
degree.of independence, a liberation of
woman from all merely mercenary res
traints in the solemn business of marri
age, the admission of the capacity of
woman for self-support, and justice to
her in the various spheres of labor al
ready opened, as well as in opening new
ones, to her skill and industry—these
are some of the ends aimed at in the
vigorous, ardent, bold, witty and versa
tile rhetoric of one, who in her own
great success well illustrates the posi
tion she would gain, so far as talents
and character admitted, for all her sis
ters. We recommend the book as at
once the most earnest and able of all
yet produced by the fertile pen of the
author.
JAMESON. Sacred and Legendary Art. By
Mrs. Jameson.
Vol. I. Containing Legnds of the Angels
and Archangels, the Evangelists, the
Apostles,'the Doctors of the Church, and
St. Mary Magdalene, as represented in
the Fine Arts.
Vol. 11. Containing the Patron Saints, the
Martyrs, the Early Bishops, the Hermits
and the Warrior Saints of Christendom,
as represented in the Fine Arts.
Boston : Ticknor & Fields. Blue and gold
edition, pp. 417, 420.
The reputation of Mrs. Jameson, as
an appreciative and accomplished critic
of works of art, has long been estab
lished. The themes of these elegant
and compact volumes are novel and
curious, as well as exceedingly instruc
tive. - They, show us an aspect of Ro
manism which has given it, perhaps,
half of its power with the aesthetic as
well as the ruder classes of people. They
furnish, too, a luminous emninentary
upon such poets as. Spenser, 'and reveal,
in fact, the sources of much of the in
spiration of early literature and art.
A handsome engraved portrait of
Leonardo da Vinci accompanies the
first volume.
MARTIENS' BOOKS
A batch of excellent books for young
persons in bright vermillion covers, with
gilt backs and illustrated, has just
come from the press of W. S. & A. Mar
den, of this city. We note:
MARGARET'S SECRET and its Success, by Mrs.
Carey Brock, author of " Working and
Waiting." 12mo, pp. 340.
Margaret is a wise and patient Chris
tian girl, the eldest in a large family,
which a stop : mother enters, bringing
the usual trials of such a change to the
younger members, aggravated by harsh
ne's of temper. Margaret's "Secret" is
found in the verse of Solomon : "A soft
answer turneth away wrath" and her
great success in practising upon it is
admirably told.
Joszku rug JEW. A Tale founded on Facts,
By the author of Mary Mathieson. 12 mo
pp. 303
A story of deep interest the scene of
which is laid in Germany in the time of
the wars of Napoleon. The consoling
po'wer of Christianity is illustrated in
contrast with theunsatisfactory creed of
the Jew.
Row CHARLEY Helped his Mother. By Ruth
Buck. 18mo. pp. 195.
TEE Two 0017E011,5. By Catharine M. Trow-
bridge. Author of Frank and Rufus. 18-
mo. pp. 201.
JENNIE'S BIBLE Verses. By Catharine Al
Trowbridge. lBmo. pp. 153.
THE POOR WEAVER'S FAMILY, A Tale of
Silesia. From the German. By Mrs.
Sarah A. Myers. 18aio, pp 121
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, N. Y.
Depository, 929 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.
CHRISTIAN HOME LIFE. A Book of Examples
and Precepts. 12mo. pp. 299. 80 cts.
In thirteen chapters, as many topics
illustrating the nature, necessities and
opportunities for good in the life of the
household are unfolded and illustrated,
by example and the precepts of eminent
Christian writers, forming a volume of
great value and attractiveness. All who
would make home happy by cultivating
household piety will derive - ranch assis
tance in their work from this volume.
The Tract Society have also issued a
number of smaller volumes for Sabbath
schools and young persons, all of which
may be cordially recommended as suited
to their object. We give the titles and
prices:
At 50 cts, each: DORA HAMILTON. BLOOM
OF YOUTH.. PLEASANT PATH. WALTER MAR
TIN.
At 35 cts : JOHNNY. At 30 eta., each:
MADELINE. A LITTLE MORE.
At 25 cis.: JEWS IN BETHANY. At 20
cts.: U. S. PRIMER. At 15 cts. each: OUR
KATIE. MARY'S FALSEHOOD. SCOTLAND.
OALIFORNIA-THE MOUNTAIN REGION
Rev. Dr. Kendall, in a letter to The
Evangelist, gives the following sketch of
our church work in the district named:
At Sonora there is a good house of
worship ; the congregation is largp, and
had a large proportion of females and
children, which are far too scarce in this
State. These elements represent home
comforts, permanency and the material
with' which to form and teach the Sab
bath school, which I was glad to learn
was in a flourishing condition, and
which cannot fail to be a source of
strength to the church.
In Columbia a pleasant revival of re
ligion has been enjoyed within a few
months past. A former church edifice
having proved inadequate to the wants
of th congregation, they have just
built a new one, more attractive and
commodious than its predecessor, an
honor to the people, and an ornament
to the town, which will be ready for
dedication in a few weeks. Aside from
causes just, mentioned, [the decline of
population on account of partial ex
haustion of the mines, and insufficient
supply of water,] everything looked en
couraging in these two churches. They
seem to be acceptably served by their
pastors, and harmonious among them
selves.
At Murphy's, fifteen miles from Co
lumbia, we have another church, one
of the latest formed in the State and
still very small. The pace was never
large, for it could never be called a min
ing town, but it has some elements of
prosperity which do not belong to pure
ly mining towns. The Church work
here is laying foundations hard and slow,
yet necessary and important. A large
population, at least several hundreds,
needing the Gospel, and, a few taking
great delight in its ordinances, make
•
the presence of our missionary a neces
sity. Without him there would be no
one to warn the wicked, visit the sick,
or bury the dead.
My journey has led me along among
the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevadas,
and through the mining towns 100 miles
in extent or , more. In Vallicita, Angel's
Camp, Mokelumne Hill, Jackson, Sta
ters, Amador, Latrobe; Folsom and Lin
coln; I know not what religious influ
ence may be on the people, but with the
exception of Congregational churches
at Mokelumne Hill and Folsom, I do
not learn that there are any Calvinistic
churches of any name. Yet in them all
are many hundreds of souls—great num
bers of them unquestionably walking
unconcerned in the way to death. Tbere,
are many other towns of like extent in
the State, but the whole population is
so small that many places aro too fee
ble to support anainister of the Gospel
or to commeno. tlicru , 3ctv the Cht . "
fOP aid ; and yet.. a, cannot c2ll
- their we.- is wit.'..out pain.