For the Christian Journal. The Dairyman's Daughter. No means are perhaps more efficacious in the promotion of virtuous and religious sentiment than the diffusion of choice tracts. These little messengers of truth operate like charms, and impreceptibly insinuate themselves into the hearts of every description of persons. Of the verity of this assertion, daily experience furnishes abundant testimony. The excellent tract of The Dairyman's Daughter has furnished frequent instances of the kind; and the following incident, which is stated to have occurred in Alabama some four or five years ago, and the account of which we have copied from a recent paper, may be adduced as another, and not the least interesting one.-Such effects will not fail to stimulate the exertions of those who are already engaged in tract societies, and must prompt others to connect themselves with these laudable institutions. As I was travelling alone, after having borne the fatigues of a long day's journey, in which I had scarcely seen one human countenance, I reached, late in the evening, a small log cabin in the midst of a lonely forest, which was occupied by a poor man, his wife, two or three females almost grown up, and some boys and girls of smaller size. There was no alternative, here I must stay, or camp in the forest. The good man kindly received me for the night, and the countenance of his wife and family bade we welcome. After partaking of a coarse but kind repast, we were all seated around a good fire, which, by the assistance of a pine knot, lighted the whole cottage. I surveyed the scene around me. All seemed clean, ignorant, innocent, neat. There was not a book in the cabin of any description. I cast my eyes upon a board which served as a shelf; I saw something in the form of a pamphlet. I took it down and found it to be a copy of the tract entitled the "Dairyman's Daughter." I asked if I should read it aloud, which was granted. I proceeded:-before I had advanced far, the good woman dropped her needle, the girls their knitting, and all were solemnly attentive. In a few minutes, they all, at the same instant, drew up around me, some at the back of my chair, some at one side and some at the other; and when I had finished, every soul in the cottage was in tears, and the good woman and one of the girls were sobbing aloud; and the former ran up to me, seized the little pamphlet, pressed it to her bosom, and exclaimed, "Oh, did I ever think that this little book contained such glorious things! I would not take a world for it!" Upon inquiry, I found that no member of the family could read, and the tract had been left there by some perunknown to the family, and had not been deemed by them of any account whatever until that moment, as they knew nothing of its contents. son, I have heard some pulpit eloquence, but never did I see the hearts of all present so completely prostrated as were those of this little family, at listening with attention to that fine tract, the Dairyman's Daughter." For the Christian Journal. WE extract from a recent European publication the following instance of reverence in worship in a Mahomedan, as a good lesson to professors of every religious denomination. The Religion of Mahomet. A striking circumstance occurred during my residence at the court of Morocco in the year 1811. The sultan Mulai Soliman, conformably to his usual practice, visited the public mosque of Sair Yousif on a certain Friday, but being a little after time, the area of the mosque was crowded with worshippers to the very portico. It happened also that the congrega tion were in the act of adoration, (in a prostrate posture) and the sultan could barely find room for the ceremony by squeezing his body amidst a motly group, who occupied the threshold, and that with great inconvenience, for his head, in lieu of touching the ground, repeatedly came in contact with the heels of a slave, who occupied the space before him. This man finding himself molested, left off the devotion to inquire into the occasion of it, but instantly recognizing the features of the sovereign, he started upon his feet, and would have retired on one side, had he one side, and the other on the other of their departed husband, and were quickly enveloped in flames. No ap existed, intoxicating drugs were not employed, nor were the bamboo levers used to keep them down on the pile, and in a few moments they died without a struggle. After this the ery of "Hurree Bol" became louder, the immediate relations seemed to exult in the deed which they had just performed, and I, perfectly horrified, left the not been restrained by the forcible grasp with which the sultan held his hayk, and again dragged him involuntarily into the posture he had quitted.-pearance of force or undue persuasion When prayers were over, Mulai Soliman desired the attendance of the slave's master, whom he reprimanded for not inculcating into the mind of the vassal a true knowledge of the "law of God." To the slave he said, "mark these words, which have a relation in common to the class you belong to:on the throne-in the palace-in the city, or in the field, you shall know me for the sovereign commander of the faithful, by day or night; but in the mosque, or at devotions, you shall know me as what I am-neither shall you know your own master; for, before God, the prince and the slave are equal, and must meet judgment according to their several actions without distinction of rank." scene. Proclamation of the Viceroy of Canton. A singular proclamation, issued by the Foo-yuen, or Sub-Viceroy of Canton, Dec. 28, 1822, translated by Dr. Morrison, exhibits the character of his Excellency Ching in a very flattering light. The objects of this proclamation are stated in eight words: Encourage industry, establish education, praise virtue, repress vice. The proclamation is introduced by the following declaration:-" Ancient rulers (says the Foo-yuen) thought that if one man was unreclaimed, it must be some fault in the ruler. I commenced life (adds he) as a Che-heen magistrate, and in Canton province I served twenty years. I was remov am placed here in the situation of Foo yuen, bearing also the office of Censorgeneral, General Adviser of his Imperial Majesty, and a Captain empowered to call forth the army of Canton. Music and women, goods and gains, revelry and avarice, have no charms for me. My only, constant, unremitted, heedful, anxious desire (which I dare not decline to cherish) is, that I may look on national affairs as if they were my domestic affairs, and the affairs of the poor people as if they were my own personal affairs.' FROM the same publication we extract the following account of a Suttee, contained in a letter dated from near Serempore, Feb. 4th, 1824. Noticing a crowd of natives proceeded to Shan-tung and to Honan; and now I ing in the same direction, I inquired the cause, and was informed that a certain sircar having died, his two wives proposed to be burned with his body. I joined them, and on arriving at the place where the sacrifice was to take place, I found a great number of people assembled, the pile prepared, and the two women engaged in worshipping, for the last time, the sacred Ganges. They were surrounded by their relations, and seemed to entertain no apprehensions of their approaching fate, nor was any feeling testified by their friends who were near them. When they left the river, myself and a friend by whom I was accompanied, inquired of them whether they were about thus to immolate themselves of their own free will, to which they replied in the affirmative. The elder of the women was fifty, the younger about forty years of age. The cry of "Hurree Bol" commenced, they calmly ascended the pile, and taking an adieu of their friends, they laid themselves, the one on the Hard Steel cut by soft Iron. The cutting of hard steel by means of soft iron, formed into a round thin flat plate, and mounted on a lathe spindle, has been the subject of experiment by M. M. Darrier and Calldon, who found, that with a less velocity than thirty-four feet and a half per second, given to the circumference of the soft iron plate, the same had no action on hard steel; from which point, as the velocity increased, the action commenced and increased, until, with seventy feet velocity, the steel was most rapidly ed; from which, and several other expeworn away, without the iron being affect. riments, they conclude, that the force of percussion of the whirling iron displaces and tears off the articles of steel, (as happens in striking a light with a flint and steel,) and that this effect, so useful in sawing hard steel plate to any required shape, or in sawing out slits in it, is not occasioned by the softening of the steel, as some had supposed. With velocities from 130 to 100 feet per second, they found the soft iron edge to act rapidly on a rock crystal presented to it, and on agate, but the cut surfaces of these were too uneven and rough to promise any advantage to the lapidary from this mode of acting. Diamonds. The largest diamond in the world is the great diamond of Portugal. It was found in Brazil, is yet in its rough state, and weighs 1680 carats. Some persons sup. pose it to be only colourless topaz. The largest undoubted diamond belongs to the Great Mogul; it weighs 280 carats. The next is the Brazilian diamond, belonging to the King of Portugal, weighing 215 carats. An oriental diamond, formerly belonging to a Persian Sultan, now in possession of the Emperor of Russia, has not the least flaw or fault, and weighs 193 carats. It was bought by Catharine for 90,000 in cash, and an annuity of 4000%. (17,760.) It is about the size of a large pigeon's head. The next is the celebrated Regent diamond, called also the Pitt diamond, (after the gentleman who brought it from India.) It was bought for 100,000l. and remains in the crown jewels of France. In the crown jewels of France are 42 diamonds, worth, at a low computation, $6,500,000! Admeasurement of Dew. The depth of water produced by dew, at Vivieres, in the department of Ardeche, in France, during the year 1823, has been carefully ascertained by M. Flaugergues. On 125 mornings appreciable quantities of dew fell, which nevertheless amounted to only 242 French inches, or the 1-152-5th part of the depth of rain which fell there (on 132 days) during the year, and amounted to 36-90 inches. The least depth of dew in March was 059 of a line, and the greatest in October 749 of a line: the fewest dewy mornings were, two in January, and the most, nineteen in October. Ordinations. An ordination was held in Charleston, South-Carolina, on Sunday the 6th of Feb. 1825, when the Right Rev. Bishop Bowen admitted to the holy order of deacons, Mr. Philip Gadsden and Mr. Edward Thomas, both recently of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Epis. Church. The sermon was preached by the Rev. A. Gibbes, assistant minister of St. Philip's church, Charleston. A MISSIONARY HYMN. "And far its beauteous tow'ring spires; "No temple cheers our solemn day, "No altar burns with hallow'd fires: "Our harps, that once with joy we strung, "When Zion heard their symphonies, "Neglected, tuneless, long have hung, "In silence, on the silent trees: "Ah, how shall Zion's aliens sing, "Or touch their harps with cheerful hands "Shall anthems to the holy King "Be sung in yet unhallow'd lands?"O God of Salem's happy seat, Its shrines and altars still extend, Our desert to its utmost end. And aliens, to thy realm restor❜d, Obituary. We have heard indirectly of the decease, a few weeks since, of the Rev. PHILO SHELTON, one of the oldest presbyters of the diocese of Connecticut. We would be gra tified to be enabled, by the favour of some of our friends to whom he was better known, to insert in our next number, an obituary notice of this venerable and truly excellent servant of the altar. We believe that he received his ministerial commission at the first ordination ever held in our Church. We cheerfully comply with the request of a friend, in giving place to the following brief notice, from a Connecticut paper, of MISS BETSEY CHURCH, who died at Norwalk, Connecticut, on the 8th of October last, aged 54. "It will be no unmeaning panegyrick to say, that in the death of this truly ex cellent woman our community in general, and the church of which she was a member in particular, have suffered a loss which we cannot expect soon to have repaired. As a christian and a philanthropist, if she had any equals, she certainly had no superiors. In her life was seen a practical illustration of the great christian virtues, faith, hope, charity; while in her death was witnessed the glorious triumph of these virtues over the king of terrors. Imbibing deeply the spirit of her Lord and Master, she, in humble imitation of him, went about literally doing good. Like him also, her benevolence was in a special manner directed to the poor and needy: these she had always with her, because she was with them. Duly sensible of the uncertainty of life, she constantly viewed death as near and certain. She therefore carefully watched his approach, and when he came she met him without fear, for she was ready. Let all be admonished, if they would die in peace, to be also ready. Let all be exhorted, if they would enter into rest, to go and do likewise." States. With an Introduction, Notes, and an Essay. ByGregoryT.Bedell,A.M.Rector of St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia. Remarks on Washington College, and on the "Considerations" suggested by its Establishment, From the Press of T. & J Swords, The State of the Departed, set forth in a Funeral Address, delivered at the Interment of the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, D. D. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York, and Rector of Trinity Church, in the city of NewYork, on Friday, the first day of March, 1816, in Trinity Church, in the city of New-York; and a Dissertation on the same Subject. By John Henry Hobart, D. D. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York. 3d edition. Exercises on the Syntax of the Greek Language. By the Rev. William Nelson, D. D. Corrected and enlarged To which are subjoined, Exercises in Metaphrasis, Paraphrasis, Dialects, and Prosody: together with an Historical Sketch of the Dialects; the Doctrine of the Middle Voice, with Explanatory Examples; a Statement of Opinions respecting the Greek Accents; and two Appendices, illustrative of the leading Principles of the Greek Syntax. By Charles Anthon, Adjunct Professor of Languages in Columbia College, New-York. A Plea for Religious Charity Schools. A Sermon, preached in Trinity Church, and St. Paul's and St. John's Chapels, NewYork, for the Benefit of the New-York Episcopa! Charity School. By Benjamin T. Onderdonk, A. M. an Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, New-York; and Professor of the Nature, Ministry, and Polity of the Church, in the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. An Address, delivered before the Trustees, Professors, and Students of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, on Occasion of the Opening of the said Seminary after Vacation; in Trinity Church, New-York, on the Evening of the Festival of All-Saints, Monday, November 1, 1824. By Benjamin T. Onderdonk, A.M. Professor of the Nature, Ministry, and Polity of the Church; and an Assistant Minister of Trinity Church, New-York. In Press-By T. & J. Swords. Village Sermons on the Chief Articles of Faith, &c. on the Christian Character, and on some of the relative Duties. By the Rev. Edward Berens, M. A. late Fel low of Oriel College. The Constitution and Canons of the Pro testant Episcopal Church of the United States, as set forth, altered, and amended, from the organization of said Church, in 1789, to the close of the General Convention, in 1823. To the Editor of the Christian Journal. THE PRINCIPLE on which Bible Societies (strictly so called) are founded, and the actual operation of these institutions having, of late years, become subjects of wide discussion and of increasing interest, I avail myself of the privilege reserved to me in your notice of Dr. Miller's reply to my first communication,* to offer some additional * See the Christian Journal for February, p. 47.-Dr. Miller was not contented with inserting his reply in the Journal, because "the remarks which he answered had been stricken off on a separate sheet, and cireulated far beyond the sphere of the Journal itself:" he therefore sent it, with a few prefatory observations, to the New-York Observer, a liberal paper, the principle of which is, if I am rightly informed, to exclude every thing of a controversial nature. Had the Editor of the Observer inserted at the same time, the remarks of the Journal on Dr. Miller's communication, or the piece of Catholicus, to which he replied, no censure would have attached to him; but under present circumstances, I must be allowed to say, that it was not honourable to publish one side of a dispute, without giving any facts by which ordinary readers might judge of the fairness of the reply. I must also be allowed to say, that it does not seem very honourable to give wider currency to a communication which was proved, in the accompanying editorial remarks, to contain erroneous statements with regard to the opinions of Bishop Hobart. "If I have understood the scope of what has been said and written against Bishop Hobart," says Dr. Miller, "it is not that he is zealously attached to his own Church-not that he admires and loves the Book of Common Prayer, and is earnestly desirous of putting it into the hands of every human being to whom it can possibly be conveyed: for all this, I have never heard him blamed by any one: but for being unwilling to unite with any society, the object of which was to circulate the word of God alone." Had Dr. Miller examined carefully 'what has been said and written' against Bishop Hobart, he would have found that his opponents go much farther than he supposes. Bishop Hobart has been accused of making the Prayer Book a "substitute for the Bible;"of holding the opinion that a knowledge of Scripture will be more promoted by the distribution of the Prayer Book, than of the Bible itself,"-" of pointing, out a book which will answer the purposes of the Bible;"-of labouring to destroy the only instrument by VOL. IX. [VOL. IX. remarks on the merits of the question which has been agitated, and by way of strengthening these remarks, to in troduce the opinions of an American prelate, who stands deservedly high in the estimation of all who know and can appreciate his character, for soundness of principle, consistency of conduct, ar which the glad tidings of salvation could be conveyed to millions who were ready to perish;" of attempting to "stem that pure river of the water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb," &c. &c.-(See the first Letter of the Churchman of the Diocese of New-York' to Bishop Hobart, where these charges are preferred, pp. 15, 16, 17, 18, 47, 50, 78, 79.)-Some of these are the very objections made by the opponents of Creeds and Confessions, and as Dr. Miller had answered them very ably, (pp. 39, 41, of his Lecture,) I surely had a right to bring forward his sentiments as a valid argumentum ad hominem to those who agreed with him in uniting with the Bible Society. Dr. Miller further remarks: "If I believed, indeed, that the peculiarities of the Church of which I am a member, were essential to salvation; or that it was impossible for a serious inquirer to understand the fundamental doctrines of Scripture, without the assistance of my formularies and expositions, my conduct would be different. But as I believe neither, I am, of course, not embarrassed with any of the consequences of such belief." Such were the Professor's opinions in the winter, while addressing Episcopal editors; in the preceding summer, however, white addressing Presbyte rian students, he had used what, to me, seems somewhat different language. The doctrines contained in the Westminster Confession, he observes, "I believe to be the radical truths which God hath revealed in his word: and while they are denied by some, or frittered away or perverted by others who profess to believe that blessed word, I am verily persuaded they are the fundamental principles of the plan of salvation,”—in other words, that they are essential to salvation, Again, he says, that Confessions of Faith "serve an important purpose, as accredited manuals of Christian doctrine, well fitted for the instruction of those private members of Churches, who have neither leisure, nor habits of thinking sufficiently close, to draw from the sacred writings them selves consistent system of truth,"-that is, to understand without such helps the fundamen tal doctrines of Scripture.-Compare Christian Journal, Feb. with the Lecture, pp. 39. 35, t [Bishop Ravenscroft.] See Postscript. 17 |