stant industry, appear to all men to be honest, lest I should bring reproach upon thee, O Lord! and may I be honorable in my dealings with all mankind!]

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men." [May the God of peace enable me to live peaceably with all mankind. May I rather suffer wrong than be over-righteous in exacting what mere justice awards me, and by civility, courtesy, and all manner of kindness rather propitiate than irritate the evil tempers and dispositions of men.]

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." [O Lord! this is a lesson not easily learned. May I in spirit and in truth cultivate this temper; and when I am injured by my fellowman, may I not take thy weapons into my hand, nor assume what belongs to thee, the avenger of them who suffer righteously. May the example of thy martyr Stephen, and of my Saviour, be ever before me in such times of trial. And when I have an opportunity of requiting good to them who have injured me, may I do it not in appearance only, but in reality and with all my heart! Lord Jesus, may these excellent precepts, all of which my soul approves, be written on my heart, that I may from the heart yield obedience to them all!"]

This is a pretty fair specimen of that communion with God, and with his Son Jesus Christ, enjoyed in reading his word and in calling upon his name. This is a way of reading the holy oracles which commends itself to all; and incomparably transcends all commentators in giving to the mind the true meaning of the word, and in confirming it in the faith of all its exceeding great and precious promises. Prayer without the use of means necessary to the object desired, and the use of means without prayer, must be equally unsuccessful to the attainment of christian excellence.

STEPHEN GIRARD'S WILL.

EDITOR

STEPHEN GIRARD, late of Philadelphia, the most opulent individual in the United States, as is generally conceded, in his last will and testament did, among many other very benevolent and liberal bequests, appropriate the sum of two millions of dollars to the founding of a college for the education and maintenance of orphans. This most benevolent and judicious appropriation has deservedly excited much attention; and one of the provisions for the education and training of the orphans admitted into this institution, more than any other, has attracted the attention of all, and elicited many curious conjectures and remarks from the editorial corps, religious and political. The provision to which we allude is in the words following:

"Secondly, I enjoin and require that no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the

suid college; nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visiter, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college. In making this restriction, I do not mean to cast any reflection upon any sect or person whatsoever; but, as there is such a multitude of sects, and such a diversity of opinion amongst them, I desire to keep the tender minds of the orphans, who are to derive advantage from this bequest. free from the excitement which clashing doctrines and sectarian controversy are apt to produce; my desire is, that all the instructers and teachers in the college shall take pains to instil into the minds of the scholars the purest principles of morality; so that, on their entrance into active life, they may, from inclination and habit, evince benevolence towards their fellow-creatures, and a love of truth, sobriety, and industry, adopting at the same time such religious tenets as their matured reason may enable them to prefer."

This, for the reasons assigned, is one of the wisest provisions in the whole establishment. Were it not for this exclusion, in a few years this immense capital, in an indirect way, would be building up the interests of some of the aspiring sectarian institutions in the country. But what a reproof is here to the spiritual rulers of this age! The first truly charitable and useful institution (I mean first in magnitude) in these United States, erected by one whom the clergy call a Deist, has to preclude even from its premises that very cast in society whose calling ought to have given them not only free access within its walls, but have made them guardians of its interests. How is this, gentlemen, that the Ruler of the Nations permitted this aforesaid Stephen Girard to amass, in a long life, by his own exertions, such an immense. fortune, and then to lay it up for the poor of many generations-for the very persons for whom God has the most tender care, (for he is the orphan's stay,) and not only did not permit you to be his instrument, but permitted this "deist," as you call him, to will and bequeath to you a place without its walls? For what misdeeds of yours did. he thus proscribe you? For none!' you say. Yes, for your sectarian zeal and efforts to seize the infant mind and pollute it with schismatic dogmas. He respected your calling and professions; but dare not think of meeting the Judge of all unless he had secured the fatherless from your sectarian influence! Tell it not in Gath! But think, we beseech you, how this reflects upon your course-and try to amend your ways! EDITOR.

DEAF AND DUMB, UNABLE TO KNOW GOD BUT BY TEACHING.

Dear brother Campbell,

NEW LISBON, January 3th, 1832.

AS we have no meeting in this place to-day, the Baptist meeting house being occupied by the Reformed Methodists, I take my pen in hand to write to you.

In the fourteenth Report of the Directors of the American Asylum at Hartford, for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, exhibited to the Asylum, May 8th, 1830; speaking of a valuable improvement introduced in the mode of instruction, they say, "The value of such a blessing can only be fully estimated from the

fact, which all the experience of the Asylum serves to establish, that, without instruction, the Deaf and Dumb are never led, by the consciousness of their own intellectual operations, or by the contemplation of the works of Nature, to even a glimpse of the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, or of their moral accountability to him."-p. 17, 18.

The following from the Appendix of said Report, are specimens of uncorrected original composition;

"By a young Lady, 14 years old, under instruction 4 years.

"A STORY.

"A few years ago, my brother's name was Benjamin. I think that he was two years old. He was very pretty. I loved him very much. He was playing about the room and yard. When my mother went away I always kept him from the dangers. One morning my father was absent. My sister Tryphena went to school. The tin basin was full of beans. I sat on the chair near my brother to choose many beans for they were good. I looked at my brother Benjamin who was running from the window to the yard and fro. He was very cheerful. The kettle was hung over the hook, and the swill was in it in order to feed the hogs or pigs. He went to the fire place near the kettle, but I told my mother that her son did so. She forbade him; he left it, and he was again playing about the room and yard. A few minutes he again went to the fire place near the kettle; he stretched out his hands and pulled the border of a kettle. It was almost upset the water was hot to pour from the kettle to Benjamin's. arm, fingers, and left or right cheek which were scalded. He cried very much. My mother discovered him crying, and she ran and seized him. She cast his clothes off; she threw water upon his body for his arms, fingers, and cheek were scalded. She brought him to the parlour, and she put him in a cradle. I saw the floor was watery. My mother wept very much She sent a man to go to the store to bring some oil. He ran from it to the store, and brought a bottle or flask of oil. He returned from it to the house, and gave it to my mother. The cotton was covered with oil; she put it on his arm, fingers, and cheek, which were wrapped by the pieces of cloth. At noon my father and sister came home, and they saw Benjamin who was in a cradle. They were very sorry. She took much good care of him two or three days. In the twilight an old lady came to the parlour, and she sat on the rocking chair, and brought him to her on her lap. My mother went and stood on the floor near the window. She wept very much. My father, sister, and myself saw Benjamin because he was dying. Several hours he was very peaceful, and he died. He lay down on the bed. My parents were grieved for the loss of their son. My mother went to the bureau, and chose a white frock and cap. He wore white frock and cap. In the morning several men went and gathered some tansies; they sprinkled him with the tansies on his body. In the afternoon he was put in the coffin, and it lay down on the table. Many persons came to the house and assembled to visit him. They heard that a minister prayed to God and Jesus

Christ. Then they attended the funeral; they road in the coaches or stages or chaises. My mother, sister, and myself wore black gowns and black bonnets. We rode in the stage. We arrived at the burying ground. Benjamin was buried in the grave. We returned home We were very sorry that he would never see us,"

"By a Young Man, 21 years old, under instruction three years and

nine months.

"ON INTEMPERANCE.

"Mr. R formerly was a good man, but when he had married he be came intemperate. Several years ago he went with many men to raise a large barn for Mr. K. When they had raised up the barn, he ascended on the frame. Some men left it and went a little distance

to drink rum. While they were drinking, he fell from it; his father ran with several men to assist him, and laid him on a board near the barn, his head was bruised. One of them took some rum to bathe his head, he could not speak on account of falling from it. After they had finished the barn, they carried him home on a large sled. When they carried him to his house, his wife was very sorry for him, and took care of him. In a few weeks he recovered his health. After he became well he was engaged in his farm. But a few years ago he became a drunkard.

"Two years ago he repaired the shingles on the roof of his building. In the afternoon he fell from it, and broke his leg, but in a few days he died in October, 1828. His wife had no child. She returned to her family.

"Common drunkards in the state of New Hampshire are more intoxicated than beasts. Rum makes them boast or angry. I know that some of them used to swear or passion on the Sabbath day. The Scriptures say that the drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven, unless they are converted to christianity. They think that some ardent spirits are useful and necessary, But it is false, I must confess, when I was a little boy I worked on the neighbor's farm with several men in the forenoon. While I was sick, they offered me a glass of rum, I said that I did not wish to drink it, lest it would make me increase sickness, and they said no it will make me well. When I drank half of it. But in the afternoon it made me much increased sickness, and I said to them, that I wish to go home, and they permitted me to go. When I came to my house, I laid down myself to my bed. Now I am glad to be a member of the Temperance Society." How simple and unaffected the language of nature. that no stream can rise higher than its fountain head! that education both makes and spoils the man!

How true it is

How true, too,

I have just room to add, (from my common-place book,)

MR. WIRT'S PRAYER.

"That this truly noble and benevolent plan may be placed under wise and judicious direction, that it may be crowned with success by him who alone has power so to crown it, and that the kingdom of the

Redeemer may come, is the fervent wish and prayer of your fellowcitizen, WM. WIRT."

Thus wrote the Hon. William Wirt, late Attorney General of the United States, Feb. 16th, 1831, to the Rev. John Breckenridge, enclosing in his letter 50 dollars to promote the cause of Sunday Schools.. For this cause his prayer was offered, in connexion with the coming of that kingdom which came about eighteen hundred years ago! F. W. E.

HISTORIC PROPHECY.

The prophetic portions of the Divine Oracles have long been before us as a subject of occasional examination, and for some time past of more intense and systematic meditation. The reward of our toils in this most interesting field of sacred literature, has been a deeper conviction of the possibility of arriving at a very certain knowledge of the import of a very large portion of the prophetic writings, and that some momentous events are just at hand. We shall proceed to lay before our readers the results of our investigations, expressing confidence and diffidence when and where we feel either of them; and thus afford to our readers, as soon and as far as possible, any aids in our power to their examinations of this increasingly interesting portion of revelation.

NO. I.

Happy they who read and understand the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand."

HISTORY, strictly so called, is the record of the past; but prophecy anticipates the future. The historian and the prophet divide between them the empire of time. The past is under the dominion of the historian, while the future belongs exclusively to the prophet Every moment of time diminishes the empire of the prophet, and adds to that of the historian: for all history was once, in a certain sense, prophecy; and all prophecy will yet become history. The page which records the birth of time, foretells its termination; and the pages, which narrate the creation of man, hold forth the future fortunes of his race.

As the whole destiny of man is connected with, depends upon, or is wrapped up in the person, mission, and kingdom of the Messiah; so we find the testimony concerning him the burthen of all prophecy, and the affairs of man's redemption, as developed in the Jewish and Christian dispensations, entwine themselves around the destiny of every nation and people on the whole chart of prophecy. Kingdoms, empires, and people, occupy a space on this chart proportioned to their connexion with, or opposition to, the Messiah and his kingdom. Hence only the kings and kingdoms of this world which come in,con