a series of selections amounting to about his couch to pour forth his mute orisons two octavo pages, the meaning of which of thankfulness, and his oft-repeated inhe seemed fully to understand. He had quiry to his fellow pupils, to the attendalso acquired considerable knowledge of ants, and to those who visited the asylum, geography, by means of maps in relief. was, "Do you know and love Jesus?" The fear of death occasionally agitated his When he received an affirmative answer, mind, and manifested itself in his conver- he seemed overjoyed. He found one day, sation. M. Hirzel felt that to take away on a table, a book in raised letters, and this depressing fear, it was necessary to asked what it was; the attendant made rob death of its sting, by teaching him the him read the title, "The Life of Christ." way of salvation, through the atonement He at once passed to the date, and finding of Christ. Up to this period he had only that it had been published some three years known God as a creator, and as the power-before, he inquired in a manner indicating ful sustainer of man, and of all worlds; mingled sorrow and reproach, "Why was but though, occasionally, the consciousness I not earlier taught this beautiful story?" of sin had disturbed him, he knew nothing Soon after, he inquired of M. Hirzel of the great sacrifice for sin. whether his mother, who had recently de estly, how it was that she had not taught him concerning the blessed Saviour? We have only to add that recent intelligence from Lausanne represents this interesting young man as still growing in knowledge, and in favor with God and man. The love of Christ still awakens emotion in his heart; his truthfulness, conscientiousness, and devotion are worthy of imitation by all professing disciples of Christ. His thirst for knowledge increases in intensity. He has been devoting some attention to sculpture, and with extraordi M. Hirzel having resolved to delay no ceased, had known and loved Jesus? On longer his instruction on this deeply inter-learning that she had, he asked very earnesting topic, commenced, with characteristic caution, by causing him to read, and explaining to him the life of Christ. Step by step, and with constantly increasing interest, they passed in review each event of that pure and holy life, and it was with the deepest sadness that Meystre read of his trial, his scourging, his crucifixion. The tender solicitude of the dying Saviour for his mother, so cruelly bereft, affected him even to tears; but when he had in imagination followed him to the tomb, and seen him deposited there, his interest ceased; the narrative seemed indeed in-nary success. That keen perception of complete; it was a story of human suffering, whose ultimate object he had not comprehended. It was at this point that M. Hirzel again called his attention. "Jesus Christ rose from the tomb on the third day," he said. "Yes, his soul, not his body," Meystre replied. "Soul and body!" Meystre started in surprise. "Did any one feel with his finger the prints of the nails in his hands and feet?" "Yes." Hope and joy irradiated the countenance of the blind deaf mute as he exclaimed, "This story is very beautiful; I wish to print it." M. Hirzel then told him of the ascension of Christ, and of the plan of redemption which brought him to earth, and as he listened to the wondrous story of the cross, tears trickled down his cheeks. Nor was the effect thus produced transitory in its character. The love of Christ, in submitting to death for sinners, had opened in his heart a fountain of adoring love, which constantly overflowed. It was the subject of his sleeping and waking thoughts. Often in the night he rose from the beautiful in form, developed in his wood turning, has here received a new impulse, and he is exceedingly fastidious in regard to the proportion of his figures. In some of the departments of physical science, as well as in other studies, where his faculty of touch can be brought to aid mental action, he has made fine progress, and there is no reason to doubt that, if his life is spared, he may yet become eminent in some of the departments of natural science. Having thus, perhaps at too great length, given our readers a tolerably full account of the efforts already made and now mak ing for the education of the blind, we propose next to pass to a class of the unfortunate, who, though possessing all their faculties, have yet lost the power of controlling them aright: the insane. trust our readers will find much to interest them in the history of their emergence from the discipline of chains, stocks, and scourges, into the mild and tender treatment of our model asylums. We THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. NOAH, A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. IN N the preceding article we saw the deep depravity into which the human race had fallen previous to the general deluge. Very strong and energetic is the language of the sacred historian on this subject: It repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth; and it grieved him at his heart. But does God repent? Is the Almighty grieved? These are questions sometimes proposed by the caviler and the skeptic. They would intimate that the Scripture is not to be depended on, or else that the character of Jehovah, like that of man, is vacillating and uncertain; and that, like ourselves, he is subject to the infirmities of passion, to sorrow, and grief, and repentance. In answer to such questions, I observe that there is no one attribute of the Almighty more clearly revealed than his immutability. I am the Lord, I change not. He is, says the apostle, the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. On the other hand, the Scriptures abound with instances wherein change of purpose is attributed to the great Supreme. Thus, on one occasion it is said, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And Samuel, in announcing this terrible truth, the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, makes this remarkable addition: And also the strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent. So alsó in after times, when the Ninevites bewailed their sins in sackcloth at the preaching of Jonah, it is said, God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. Now these apparently contradictory passages are easily reconciled, when we consider that the change here implied was on the part of man; and that this.change produced on the part of Jehovah a corresponding difference of treatment. He is unchangeable in his hatred of sin, and in his love of holiness. Hence this very immutability necessarily disposes him to view with very different feelings man delighting in holiness, and the same man yielding to temptation and running into sin. Man changes his moral character; by necessary consequence his relation to God is changed, and when He is said to repent, it implies, simply, a change of conduct on his part, in consequence of a previous change in them. This apparent change on the part of God is always founded upon a real change in the conduct or disposition of his creatures. But how can he who is always perfectly happy be said to grieve? I answer: Grief, when attributed to the Supreme Being, as well as sorrow and anger, hatred, wrath, and fury, must evidently imply something analogous to these emotions among men. They are Scriptural terms, and are often applied to God; and though they express not, says Watson, a tumultuous, much less an unjust passion, there is something in God which answers to them. In him they are principles arising out of his holy and just nature; and for this reason they are more steady and uniform, and more terrible than if they were mere emotions. The language of the passage before us, while it indicates on the one hand the amazing wickedness of man, on the other is evidence that the transgressions on their part were perfectly voluntary; that the Almighty had done everything consistent with his own perfections, to bring them back to a knowledge of himself; and that all his efforts for this purpose had been in vain. The bright example, and the warning voice of Enoch, had been unheeded: the strivings of the Holy Spirit had been resisted, until the Holy One himself declared in that fearful language, applicable alike to all ages and in all times: My Spirit shall not always strive with man. This was the state of the great mass of the human race at the period to which we have now arrived in the world's history. Wickedness abounded: the Spirit was grieved away, and ceased to strive: they had passed the boundary line of mercy, and were now away on the other side of the Rubicon of hope. It is here that we are introduced to the character of Noah. The sacred historian has just stated the determination of the Almighty in his own language: I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air. And then he adds: but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Let us dwell a few moments upon his history. He was the son of Lamech, and born in the year of the world 1056. His name, like the other Scriptural appellations, is significant. It means repose, rest, or consolation and here we may advert to a very curious circumstance connected with the explanation of the meaning of the names of the patriarchs. According to good Hebrew scholars, those names will bear the following interpretations, from which some have argued that in those names, taken in their consecutive order, there is found a clear prophecy of the coming Messiah. The interpretation is as follows: Adam, man: Seth, placed: Enos, in misery: Cainan, lamentable: Mahalaleel, the blessed God: Jared, shall descend: Enoch, teaching: Methuselah," that death shall send: Lamech, to the miserable: Noah, consolation. Omitting the names, they make the following sentence: Man placed in misery lamentable, the blessed God shall descend, teaching that death shall send to the miserable consolation. I advert to these explanations as a matter of curiosity, and not, of course, as containing any solid argument for a doctrine, which is abundantly established by the plain letter of inspiration. Of Noah's early life we have no account. Like the rest of his compeers, he came into the world with a depraved nature. The contagion of evil example was all around him the universal atmosphere was tainted with corruption; and, as we saw in a former article, there was but one man who maintained his integrity, and walked uprightly. It is very probable that Noah was indebted for his religious instruction to Enoch; that he listened to his prophetic warnings, and endeavored to follow his bright example. Nor did he try in vain. He found grace, says Moses, in the eyes of the Lord. And why did he find grace? First, I answer, because he sought it; and, secondly, because he improved that grace thus vouchsafed unto him. Had his fellow-men sought the same grace, they also would have found it; for it has ever been, as it will always continue to be, a glorious truth, that God is without partiality; and that every one who seeketh, findeth. I said he improved the grace given him he did not merely enter upon the path of the just; he continued to walk therein, and that path shone more and more unto the perfect day. This is the character given to him by pen of inspiration: He was a just man; perfect in his generation; and he walked with God. Let us analyze these expressions: a just man; that is, in its lowest acceptation, one who gives to all their due; who is honest in his dealings; who takes no advantage of the ignorance or the weakness of his neighbors; a character sufficiently rare even in our own day, and not always exemplified even by those who profess the religion of Jesus Christ. Noah was also perfect in his generation. Perfect: I have never met with any consistent interpretation of this word as applied to Noah which at all lessens the fullness of its meaning. Those who deny the possibility of man's attaining perfection in this life, do indeed contend that the word is here used with a latitude of meaning, but the amount of the argument is, that perfect does not mean perfect; a course of interpretation, which, if carried out, would throw a vail of obscurity over the whole of God's revelation, and convert the plainest teaching of the Holy Spirit into unintelligible jargon. Thus, as in the case before us, the same reasoning which would destroy the fullness of meaning in the word perfect, would bear equally against the term just, and the result would be, that the Holy Spirit has made a mistake in applying to Noah these epithets, or, at the best, has been very unhappy in his selection of adjectives to describe his character. Into such absurdities do men run when they are determined to sustain a creed at all hazards, and to make everything bend to their own preconceived notions. The plain and simple interpretation of the words in question is evidently the true one. But it is said he was perfect in his generation. Is it contended that this latter phrase qualifies, so as to lessen the force of the meaning of the word perfect? I think not. On the contrary, we shall see that the addition of these words heightens very much the admirable character of this eminent saint. tion? What was the state of that generaWe have seen that it was one of abounding wickedness; without doubt, exceeding in this respect any other generation that have ever dwelt upon our earth. when he speaks of Christ, by the Spirit, preaching to the spirits in prison when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah. His meaning is, that as with every other true minister of righteousness, Christ was with Noah, by his Spirit, and put words into his mouth, whereby those whom God had condemned to destruction (called spirits in prison) were yet allowed space for repentance; and had held out to them the way of escape from the threatened destruction. To them for the space of one hundred and twenty years Noah preached. The mantle of the ascended Enoch had fallen upon him; and while his example gave evidence of the possibility of even then serving God with a perfect heart, his All flesh had corrupted its way, is the testimony of eternal truth; but, adds the sacred writer, Noah was perfect in his generation. He had, of course, after the translation of Enoch, no one with whom he could take sweet counsel. The communion of saints, a privilege with us so common that we are apt to underrate its value, was to him unknown. There were none to unite with him in singing God's praises, or to join him in offering prayer to the Father of all his mercies. You may get some tangible idea of the meaning of the phrase, in his generation, by for a moment supposing yourself placed in the midst of the dreary darkness of a heathen land. There, solitary and friendless, take up your residence. The sky is bright above you. Inanimate nature is all beauti-warning voice is lifted up among the floods ful. The flowers and fruit proclaim God's handiwork. The birds, on quivering wing, are echoing his praises. Yea, every prospect pleases, and only man is vile. All around this loveliness is spread the pall of desolation: the milk of human kindness is unknown, or changed into the bitterness of gall; the endearing associations that cluster around the name of mother are un-ligion who, because of the obstacles in known parents, in the startling language their way, faint and grow weary in wellof the apostle, are without natural affec- doing. tion their throat is an open sepulcher: the poison of asps is under their lips: their feet are swift to shed blood: the very atmosphere is redolent with oaths, and cursings, and blasphemy. In the midst of all this, God's own voice proclaims to his servant Noah, Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation; and the testimony of the historian does but confirm this declaration when he says, Noah was perfect. Let it be observed, too, that not only was Noah without associates in his deeds of piety, he was also without that clear revelation which we have in the sacred Scriptures. In contrast with our privileges, his was but the twilight, in opposition to the full blaze of a meridian sun. There was no Bible in his day. Equally with ourselves, also, he had the cares and anxieties incident to humanity. He was the father of a family, and was doubtless concerned for their temporal as well as spiritual and eternal welfare. The New Testament opens to us another trait in his character. He was, says St. Peter, a preacher of righteousness; and to his preaching, the apostle evidently refers of the ungodly, whom he invites and entreats to forsake their evil ways, and return to their Creator and their God. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive circumstances more unfavorable to the practice of piety than those in which this man was placed, and his conduct will ever remain a standing reproach to those professors of re Let us now turn our attention to the notice taken of this man by the Almighty. Alone as he was, and unsuccessful as his preaching appears to have been, God saw him. Thee have I seen, says the Great Jehovah. The world heeded him not; perchance they ridiculed him; what then? He continued unfaltering in his course. They regarded not his warning voice; they were eating and drinking, says Jesus Christ, marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. What then? Noah's soul was doubtless grieved within him at their impenitence and impending danger, but his soul was kept in perfect peace; his record was with his God. In the strong and striking language of the historian, he walked with God. What is implied in this expression? Evidently, on the part of Noah, progressive piety; he walked. But he walked with God; implying that God was with him. The figure is taken from the journeying together of two friends; they pass on, by mutual conversation they beguile the tediousness of the way; and O! what a Friend was that! Well might Noah say, with one in a later age, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. We shall devote another paper to the history of Noah, to the Deluge, and to the re-peopling of our world by his descendants. In the meantime let us regard the character of this eminent preacher of righteousness as an example for our imitation. We are not to look upon him as a bright sun shining afar off and dazzling by his splendor. He was just and perfect, and walked with God. How was he enabled to do this? He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The same grace we too may find, for God is rich in grace toward all that call upon him. If he attained in that twilight of God's gracious dispensation this elevated character; if in that era of darkness he walked with God; if, when every example around him was evil and only evil continually, he was enabled to maintain the character of a just man, O what excuse can there be found for us if we seek not that grace whereby we also in this day of light may be enabled to follow in the path marked out by him: the path in which the Saviour's footsteps shine. And there is no higher dignity, no brighter eulogy than that which we may all through God's grace attain, when it may be said of us: Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright! And when death shall close our career on earth, we can leave behind no legacy more valuable or more endearing for our children and our fellow-men, than the simple inscription upon the stone which marks our last resting-place: He walked with God. That answers all questions relative to our destiny and our dwelling-place on the other side of Jordan's swelling flood. Now it is: Lo, I am with you always; then it is: So shall we be ever with the Lord. Forever! in the language of a recent author, to be with him a few years as John and Peter were; to be with him one Lord's day, as the beloved disciple was; to be with him a few moments, as Paul caught up into the third heavens was; how blessed! but to be ever with the Lord, not only to-day, but to-morrow; nay, neither to-day nor tomorrow, but now, now, one everlasting now! Beautifully sings the poet in the well-known lines: "Forever with the Lord! Life from the dead is in that word; AWFUL FATE OF A PIRATE SHIP. IT T was a terrible storm. The wind, with all the awful accompaniments of rain, hail, rattling thunders, and fiercely glaring lightnings, had burst down upon the liquid plains of the startled deep, in all the fury of a tropical tornado. The black heavens were in terrific commotion above; and the smitten and resilient waters, as if to escape the impending wrath of the aroused sister elements, were fleeing in galloping mountains athwart the surface of the boiling ocean beneath. Could aught human, or aught of human construction, be here, now, and survive? It would seem an utter impossibility; and yet it was so. Amid all this deafening din of battling elements, that were filling the heavens with their uproar and lashing the darkened ocean into wild fury and commotion, a stanch-built West India merchant-ship was seen, now madly plunging into the troughs of the sea, and now quivering like a feather on the towering waves, or scudding through the flying spray with fearful velocity before the howling blast. On her flush deck, and lashed to the helm, with the breaking waves dashing around his feet, and the water dripping from the close cap and tightly-buttoned pea-jacket in which he was garbed, stood her gallant master, in the performance of a duty which he, true to his responsibility, would intrust to no other, in such an hour as this that of guiding his storm-tossed bark among the frightful billows that were threatening every instant to ingulph her. Thus swiftly onward drove the seemingly devoted ship, strained, shivering, and groaning beneath the terrible power of the gale, like an over-ridden steed, as she dashed, yet unharmed, through the mist and spray and constantly-breaking white caps of the wildly-rolling deep; thus onward sped she, for the full space of two hours, when the wind gradually lulled, and with it the deafening uproar subsided. Presently a young, well-dressed gentleman made his appearance on deck, amidships, and, having noted a while the now evident subsidence of the tempest, slowly and carefully, from one grasped rope to another, made his way to the side of the captain at the wheel. "A frightful blow, Mr. Elwood," said the latter; "for the twenty years I have |