Page images
PDF
EPUB

entrusted to their care, with this injunction: "Take this, and train it up for me." They have not done it. Parental affection is almost agonized at the recollection of past neglect, and the dreadful anticipation of the grave, over which they must ever weep with hopeless grief.

But God in tender mercy hears the cry of his chosen. God is a Father, and he pities a parent. He averts the dreadful stroke. He spares the child. And the hearts of Christian parents are melted and subdued by gratitude. If any thing can reach them, this will.

But, what is the effect of such a visitation upon the household, who receive it? Religion resumes the place in that habitation, from which she was removed. Enter the dwelling,—you cannot fail to see her there. She is conspicuous from morning to night. If business calls, it does not call away from her. Her light is in the path. Her shield protects, and her smiles cheer and bless. In that family now, she in reality presides. At the altar, her mantle falls on every sincere worshipper. The blessing invoked at the table, is not an unmeaning formality. The words that are uttered, are felt in the heart. At the fireside her presence is acknowledged; and if the stranger enters their gates, he finds that Israel's God is there. In short, the spirit of religion in that family, is revived. The sick one slowly recovers; and were it not for the uncertainty of a sick-bed repentance, there would be hope, that the sufferer had found, in the sickness of body, the life of the soul. Others in the household, brothers, sisters or domestics, have sympathized in the sorrow, have seen religion restored to her throne in the heart, have listened to the counsel which now has been given them, and have profited by the prayers offered up in their behalf.

They have repented, and embraced the Saviour; and it might be literally said of the fruits of this affliction, as of the restoration of Dorcas, "many believed in the Lord."

Now this is, strictly speaking, a family revival of religion. And such is the kind of revival that we most need.'

The arrangement of Providence which divides the many millions of the human race into the various family circles, which go to make up the great aggregate of human society, furnishes the clue, to the most powerful causes, which can be brought to bear upon the moral and social improvement of man.

Here, we apprehend, is the basis, on which the universal spread of the gospel must be laid. It is to carry home to the fireside, to the social and endearing influences of domestic life, a more constant, uniform and affectionate interest in the salvation of every individual embraced in the family circle. Let us begin at home.

Suppose every Christian in the world should engage heartily in duty, with the impression that the little circle with which he is associated in daily intercourse, constitutes the appropriate part of the vineyard for his culture. As he cannot by any possible means, reach the thousands and the millions who are removed beyond the sphere of his personal influence, let him remember that God designs him more especially to labor for those whom he can reach. In this way, every portion of the soil will have its cultivators, and no part of the vineyard be neglected. But when it seems to the Christian that he can act for God, any where but at home, when his Christian neighbor feels so too, and all the church with which he is connected, sympathize in the almost universal reluctance, to act immedi ately for the friends among whom God has placed them, the whole ground is more or less neglected. Each looks away from his own, while it is utterly impossible that he can properly attend, and do justice, to another's.

It is probable, there is scarcely a Christian family in the land, that does not embrace some two, three, or half a dozen who are living in impenitence and sin. Were they, the especial objects of the prayers, the efforts, and the Christian counsels of those with whom their lot is cast, how would it tell upon the increase of the churches, throughout our country. Parents, children and domestics would come under the tender and constant influence of Christian intercourse, made more intimate and impressive from those endearing sensibilities with which social life invests it.

PAYSON.

THE SUMMARY.

UNPUBLISHED ANECDOTES OF DR. universal favorite, Cecil's Remains. It is difficult for us to express the interest we have felt in looking over the pages of this little work. A gentleman, in speaking of it, remarked, that the great characteristic of Dr. Payson's mind, was a sanctified im agination. His powers of conception were very extraordinary, and they were wholly employed in throwing light upon the pure, spiritual truths of religion. This constituted a great portion of the charm of his preaching and of his conversation. A large proportion, however, of these strik

There has recently been published in Boston a work, entitled, Payson's Thoughts, which consists of a selection of strongly characteristic and striking passages, from his unpublished writings. They are selected and arranged with unusual judgment and taste; the materials having been procured from remembered conversations, addresses at private meetings, Bible classes, &c., and from extracts from his unpublished discourses. The book is similar in its character to that

ing thoughts, were awakened by the impulse of the moment, and were not preserved.

We will give one extract only, from the book, which will serve as a specimen of the clearness, and beauty, and truth, which often characterize his illustrations.

"We must not expect that all persons will see the truths of religion with equal distinctness, or feel an equal degree of joy, on being first brought from darkness into God's marvellous light. While some pass in a moment from the deepest distress and anguish, to the most rapturous emotions of joy and gratitude, others are introduced so gradually into the kingdom, that they are hardly able to tell when they entered it. The subject may be illustrated by the different views and emotions which would be excited in three blind persons, of whom one should be restored

to sight at midnight, another at dawn, and the third amid the splendors of the meridian sun. The first, although his sight might be as perfectly restored as that of the others, would yet doubt, for some time, whether any change had been effected in him, and tremble, lest the faint outlines of the objects around him which he so indistinctly discovered, should prove to be the creations of his own fancy. The second, although he might, at first, feel almost assured of the change which had been wrought upon him, would yet experience a gradually increasing confidence and hope, as the light bright ened around him, while the third, upon whose surprised and dazzled vision burst at once the refulgence of mid-day, would be transported, bewildered, and almost overwhelmed with the excess of surprise and joy and gratitude."

The illustration is not only striking and beautiful, but the sentiment is admirable. It is the only really liberal view of conversion which can be taken. And how few take it. Half the Christian world insist that all shall be converted at midnight; and the other half believe no changes are genuine, but what are attended by the excitement of the burst of light at noon-day.

But to return to Dr. Payson. His astonishing knowledge of human nature, and especially of the human mind, in respect to religious feeling, gave him great power; and almost every one who was ever under his pastoral charge, has some story or other to tell of dexterous management, or touching appeal, or striking metaphor, to remove a difficulty or suit an emergency. Although now, while we write this paragraph, it is but a day or two since this book came out, we have been casually in company with three or four different individuals who were under his charge, or personally acquainted with him. They tell us the following stories, which, we believe, have not before been published.

One day, he went to visit a mother, who was disconsolate from the loss of

a child. He said to her as follows:

"Suppose now, some one was making a beautiful crown for you to wear; and you knew it was for you, and that you were to receive it and wear it as soon as it should be done. Now, if the maker of it were to come, and, in order to make the crown more beautitiful and splendid, were to take some of your jewels, to put into it,-should you be sorrowful and unhappy, because they were taken away for a little while, when you knew they were gone to make up your crown?"

The mother said, that no one could conceive of the relief, the soothing, quieting influence which this comparison had on her mind.

On another occasion he went to see a sick person, who was very much troubled, because she could not keep her mind all the time fixed upon Christ, on account of the distracting influences of her sufferings, and the various objects and occurrences of the sick room, which constantly calloff her attention. She was afraid she did not love her Saviour, as she found it so difficult to fix ber

ed

mind upon him. Dr. Payson said,"Suppose you were to see a little sick child, lying in its mother's lap, with its faculties impaired by its sufferings, so that it was, generally, in a troubled sleep; but now and then it just opens its eyes a little, and gets a glimpse of its mother's face, so as to be recalled to the recollection that it is in its mother's arms; and suppose that always, at such a time, it should smile faintly with evident pleasure to find where it was,-should you doubt whether that child loved its mother or not?"

The poor sufferer's doubts and despondency were gone in a moment. A gentleman, who saw and con versed with Dr. Payson in Boston, when he visited this city, towards the latter part of his life, was led, by his preaching and conversation to a considerable degree of serious concern for his soul. His wife was still in a great measure indifferent to the subject. One day, meeting her in company, he said to her,

Madam, I think your husband is looking upwards,-making some effort to rise above the world, towards God and heaven. You must not let him try alone. Whenever I see the husband struggling alone in such efforts, it makes me think of a dove, endeavoring to fly upwards, while it has one broken wing It leaps and flutters, and perhaps raises itself a little way, and then it becomes wearied, and drops back again to the ground. If both wings co-operate, then it mounts easily."

How many such families there are in the world, with one broken wing. It seems as though an irreligious husband, whose wife, and perhaps children, are struggling to raise the family to God, would not dare to go on, acting as a dead weight, to bring, not only himself, but those connected with him, again and again to the ground.

Probably, hundreds and hundreds of reminiscences, similar to these, are floating in the minds of those who were under Dr. Payson's pastoral charge. We wish some friend of his in Portland, would collect us a chapter or two, now and then, and send them to us.

AMERICAN QUARTERLY OBSERVER. The Number for January, is of a highly interesting character. Art. I. is on War, and a Congress of Nations, written by President Allen, of Bowdoin College. It gives a very forcible and lucid exposition of the evils, and of the miseries, of war. The extent to which "the people," have submitted to expense and suffering, to gratify their rulers' love of power, is astonishing. The late American war of three years, cost a hundred and fifty millions of dollars. The annual military expenses of Europe, now, in time of peace, is four hundred millions of dollars, and nine hundred millions in war. The whole cost of wars in Europe, for twentytwo years, has been estimated at twelve thousand millions of dollars; which would make about twenty-five dollars for every member of the human race. Twelve thousand millions of dollars, expended by Christian nations in mutual murder!! In what a different state would these countries now be, if these immense sums had been employed for useful public purposes. Dr Allen is of opinion, that though efforts for organizing some general tribunal for the settlement of national disputes have heretofore failed, the time is approaching, or has, perhaps, arrived, when the progress of light and knowledge throughout the mass of society, justifies hopes of

success.

The other articles in this number of the Observer, are of a highly interesting character. The work is fast acquiring reputation.

THE

RELIGIOUS MAGAZINE.

No. V.

FEBRUARY, 1834.

THE BONETOS.

A STORY OF A SEA-FIGHT.

From the Journal of a Traveller.

(Monday morning, Sept. 2, 1833.)

YESTERDAY morning, very early, we were surrounded by an immense shoal of Bonetos. They are a small fish, resembling, in size and shape, the common shad of our rivers. Their colors, however, are very different. The wind almost entirely died away on Saturday. During the night, the sea settled down into almost a perfect calm, and the Sabbath sun rose upon the bosom of the deep, alinost as it would upon the surface of a smooth and tranquil lake. A very gentle zephyr played upon the sails, and served just to keep the ship in sufficient motion to obey her helm. The fish that thronged around us in immense numbers, from stem to stern, came up playfully to the very surface of the water, as if delighting to display their rich and ever-varying colors. Their backs were generally of a darkish brown. Their sides and breast of varying hues, but generally of a shining, silvery blue. Now and then; they would turn up, in such a manner as to give us the distinct side view in profile. It seemed to be their object to keep pace with the ship, and to occupy themselves, in their gentle passage through the water, in the practice of every evolution within the compass of a fish's powers. Now darting at each other, with the swiftness of an arrow, again rising quite above the surface of the water, as if to taste the other element a moment.

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »