have now little conception Feeling that we are acting with reference to the bar of Jehovah, how earnestly should we seek that honor which cometh from God only. What holy circumspection would mark our habitual conduct. With what noble indifference should we look up. on the censure and applause of mortals, and upon all the fleeting things of this world. Shall not these considerations be engraven on our minds, and urge us to a diligent improvement of our time, our talents, and all our ac tive powers, in preparation for the last great day?

I repeat it, Christians, the time is short. Your moments are too invaluably precious to be trifled away in unworthy pursuits, or negligence, for they will certainly be few, and on them rest consequences lasting as the existence of your souls. Your Savior speaks to your souls: work while the day lasts, for the night cometh wherein no man can work. Oh, let it be realized, that what you do for him, must be done quickly. Should you neglect present opportunities of glorifying Him, you may never be indulged with more on earth, for death may be at hand to convey you hence. Your days, with all their toils and sorrows, are transient, and will soon give place to the rest of Canaan, your everlasting home. Be not weary in well doing; nor suffer your minds to faint because of crosses and triais: for they belong to this state of probation, and are especially the portion of pilgrims and strangers here. What, though with David you ascend mount Olivet, weeping as you measure your weary steps, yet shortly VOL. XI.

*7

your feet will stand on the verge : of Heaven, and walk the streets of the New Jerusalem.

My friends,are you heavily oppressed with numerous and complicated afflictions? Do you groan under a weight of sin? Turn your eyes, then, from this valley of woe to those regions of glory to which you are hastening, where millions of holy spirits forever encircles the throne of God, and mingle their ceaseless hallelujahs; where the character of the Deity presents its transcendant charms without a veil,, filling the bosoms of saints and of angels with considerations too mighty for utterance; where pleasures immeasurable and eternal flow without ceasing from the exhaustless river of life, far surpassing the comprehension of finite creatures, and such as the language of heaven alone can adequately describe. O the infinite value of that blood, which was shed by the compassionate Savior, to purchase this amazing bliss for worms of the dust! ( the boundless mercy, which can raise ruined sinners from the gulf of everlasting perdition to share in the exalted employments and felicities of angels. Say, Christians, is not your Redeemer altogether lovely, worthy of your perfect confidence, your unreserved obedience? Do you not rejoice in prospect of the hour, when, far from the tempestuous winds and storms of this unfavorable clime, you shall find that rest, which remains for the people of God? And when,from the heights of the celestial Zion, you shall take a retrospect of your wanderings in this waste howling wilderness, will you regret your labørs

and sufferings in the cause of your Lord? If tears could be found in heaven, you would ingenuously weep to think how much time you had wasted, how many opportunities of doing good you had neglected, how many duties you had entirely omitted,how many others had been very coldly performed, and in how many various ways you might have advanced the honor of your Divine Master, which, alas! you failed of entering upon. Were these considerations familiar to your minds, unquestionably you would exhibit lives more honorable to God, more ornamental to your profession, and conducive to the best interests of immortal man; while you would, of consequence, be abundantly more acquainted with those sublime comforts of your holy religion, which are usually enjoyed by such as cultivate the power of godliness, and render uniform obedience to the requirements of the Gospel.

But, after all these motives to ardent engagedness in the best of causes; motives, which ought constantly to retain a commanding influence over your hearts, do you, my friends, wish for more? If so, more I present you. Direct your eyes to Calvary; and survey that cross

on

which are suspended your hopes of heaven. Whom see you there, loaded with ridicule and insults of rebels, oppressed with anguish and agony unutterably severe, and meekly sinking into the arms of death? Ah! Chris tians, it is your Lord. To these sufferings he voluntarily submitted, that he might procure

pardon, peace and salvation for guilty men, who were obnoxious to the tremendous curses of a broken law; and exposed to all the interminable horrors of endless death. Through his meritorious passion, mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have embraced each other; the gate of heaven is unbarred; and the tree of immortal life extends its fruit to a destitute famishing world. Ye humble votaries of the cross of Christ; pe followers of the man' of sorrows, when you contemplate this melting scene do not your hearts yield to a heavenly influence, and burn with a sacred flame? And do you not resolutely determine, that by divine aid, you will shake off inactivity, and be co-workers with God, in accomplishing his purposes of love and grace? Come, then, and consecrate yourselves anew tổ the service of your Beloved, and henceforth let every day bear to heaven a favorable report of your efforts to extend the conquests of Immanuel, and promote the spiritual welfare of beings destined to live forever. Thus you will constrain sinners to recognize the excellence of Christianity, and prevent their taunting cry: What do ye more than others? Thus you will manifest your cordial attachment to the Savior, bring glory to your God, be blessings to the church and the world, and increase your imperishable felicity in the kingdom of heaven, where departed saints rest from their labors and their works do follow them.

CLEORA

(To be continued.)

ΤΟ THE IGNORANCE OF RE

SOME PARTS OF OUR COUNTRY.

In the autumn of 1814, a narrative of the religious state of that part of New York, which lies between the western line of Connecticut and Hudson's River, was drawn up for the information and at the request of a number of ministers; and from it are taken the following facts, which the writer himself witnessed.

"I HAVE already mentioned, that one object in my journey was to ascertain to what extent the poor people of this region were destitute of the Bible. For this purpose I made, in many places, and in this town* more than oth ers, particular inquiry.

"As I was riding on a road, which leads through the central - part of the town, I came to a small, poor house, and, as was my custom, rode up to it, to ascertain whether the family had a Bible. As soon as I reached the door, I saw two small children playing together in the house, one of whom was a boy, according to appearance about 8 years of age, very active and sprightly. I bade them good morning, and was immediately answered by the little boy, with great promptness and confidence. I inquired, if his parents were at home? To which he replied in the negative. I thought, however, I would proceed to discover, if possible, the object of my visit; and accord

The town here alluded to is Philipstown in Putnam County, opposite West Point.

To this question, he seemed to be at a loss to give me any an swer; stood with his eyes fixed upon me, and, with much expres. sion in his countenance, said, “A what, Sir?" I gave answer, by stating to him what I meant by the Bible; telling him I meant that good book, which good peo ple commonly read on Sundays; and then renewed my question. He continued to appearance equally amazed, and completely at a loss to give me any answer, Anticipating, what might be the cause of his silence, I spoke to him affectionately, and said, "my little friend, have you never heard of the Bible?" To which he immediately answered, "No Sir." To hear such an answer, from one living in this Christian laud, much surprised me; and thinking, that probably these children had never been taught the great truths of the Christian religion, I determined to spend a little more time with them, and proceeded to make other inquiries, such as the following:"Do you know who made the sun, and moon, and stars; the mountains, trees, and men, and every thing else you see about you?" To which he answered, "No Sir"-"But, have you never heard of God, who made you and all things?" "No Sir.""Well you know that peopie die, and that you must die too, before a great while; have not your parents ever told you, where you and they must go, when you die." He answered again, with

the same simplicity, “No Sir.". "But, have you never heard of heaven and hell?" To which he continued to answer, "No Sir." These are some of the quese tions which I put to him, and are sufficient to show, that what I have said respecting the religious instruction of many chil dren in this town, is not without some foundation. After I had finished interrogating my young friend, I endeavored to give him some account of the great truths of religion, and his own interest in them; requested him to ask his parents certain questions on the subject, and thus left him. That the boy was not intimidated, aud therefore unable to answer my questions properly, was evident from his whole behavior, and will appear so to all, when they are told, that on my leaving him, he seemed anxious to know who I was, and asked with much boldness, "What may I call your name, Sir?" Besides, children brought up as he had been, are not usually troubled with bashfulness.

"How far this instance may be taken, as a fair representation of the moral state of children gene raily in this town, or rather those parts of it, usually denominated "The Mountains," I will not presume to say. I hope there are but few such instances: yet from what I have seen and heard, I have reason to fear there are many such.

"From the inquiry made, it also appears, that a large proportion of the poor families in this town are destitute of the Bible: "The following statement is taken from the journal, which the writer kept while riding through this town, and in which

he wrote the names of all such heads of families as he found either entirely destitute of the Bible, or possessing only a small part of it. The names of the heads of those families, which were found destitute, will here be represented, for obvious reasons, by numerical figures.

"The first had no Bible; 2, part of the Old Testament; 3, a Testament; 4, no Bible; 5, a part of the Old Testament; 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, none; 11, a part of an old Bible; 12, none.

"The first and last of these. families are not more than eight miles asunder. The houses on

the road are at some distance from each other, and those referred to above form a large proportion."

the same county, the writer of the narraIn his description of another town, in tive above mentioned, has given an ae count of another instance of a family des titute of a Bible, the particulars of which he relates as follows:

"As I was riding on a road, which is travelled but little, I came to a poor log house; and, perceiving that a family resided there, alighted with a view to gò in and ascertain whether they had a Bible. Accordingly I walked up to the door and knocked, when a person within bade me walk in. On entering the house, I saw a black woman, with three little children, one of whom she held in her arms, sit ting by the fire. The wománi, the children, and every thing about me, bore marks of extreme poverty. After making some inquiries respecting the health of herself and family, I asked her, if she had a Bible?—to which she answered, that she had not. I inquired, if she, or

any one of her family, could read? and was answered in the negative. I then made several observations to her, on the importance of being acquainted with the great truths contained in the Bible; of her own and her children's interest in them; of the judgment of the great day to which she was hastening, and the reward of the wicked and the good, which awaited them in a future world: reminding ber, that though she was poor in this world, yet, if she was with out an interest in Christ, she would be infinitely poorer in the world to come; and that her poverty here was of little consequence, if she knew what it was to have a treasure in heaven.

"All this time she hung her head, and appeared very attenLive, as well as affected, with what was said.

mined several times to try and learn to read; but said she was very poor, and had to work hard, to help support herself and family, and on that account could find no time; that she, however, went to the neighbors' and got them to read it to her, and in this way and attending meetings she had endeavored to obtain some knowledge of the Bible, I encouraged her to pursue this method, and concluded by asking her, if she would endeavor to have her children taught to read the Bible, and labor herself to have others read it to her constantly; in short, if she would make a good use of it, should I give her one. To this question I received no answer, but a flood of tears; as if she thought I suspected she did not really love the Bible, and doubted whether she would make a good use of it. After a short time, composing herself, she answered in a very humble manner, that she would try. I then promised to furnish her with one, and directed her to some means for obtaining it. On my leaving the house, she followed me to the door, and with tears in her eyes thanked me for calling, and said she hoped the Lord would bless me for what I had said and done.

"When I had finished what I had to say, she very humbly and solemnly replied, that though she was poor and unworthy, and had no learning; yet she hoped God had taught her these great things by his Holy Spirit, changed her heart, and made her to love him; or in words to that amount, for I cannot now remember exactly those she used. I was much disappointed to hear such an answer from her, for I had addressed her, as one whom I supposed not only ignorant of divine truth, but opposed to it. I next made some inquiries respecting her experience, and received very satisfactory answers. She observed, that she had often grieved, that she could not read the Bible, and that she had none in her house; that she had deter

"Thus I left her. I have seldom seen so strong marks of grace in any person. Her whole deportment was that of a hum. ble, broken-hearted Christian; in short, of one who seemed to be possessed in an eminent degree, of that charity which vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, be, haveth itself not unseemly."