of the veracity of our correspondent, and of his means of information, sustains us, not only in publishing his statement, but in giving it all the prominence in our power. All Christendom knows in what place the MADIAI suffer durance, but no one can tell where these five Christian females are languishing at the present moment, whether in pits or graves, these ladies are consigned to worms, or laden with irons. But the agents and accomplices in this crime well know. The familiars, the inquisitors themselves, and the jailors, all know. It is known, undoubtedly, in the Vatican, and in the Tuilleries it can be no secret, or instead of 'CONSTERNATION' which the reading of our communicated article produced there, we should have heard of indignation; and he who, after long entreaty, liberated ABDEL-KADER, would have set the whole machinery of police in action to trace out the sufferers, and to set them free. But the exposure has only elicited an evidence of guilt; it has not drawn forth the least sign of justice or humanity."

A HUNDRED MINISTERS WANTED IN AMERICA.

(From the Philadelphia Presbyterian.) THE "Presbyterian Herald," whose editor is connected with the Western Committee of the Board of Missions, and who, from his position, may be supposed to be thoroughly acquainted with the wants of the West, thus speaks of the vacant churches and need for ministers in that great field :

"A glance through the Minutes of the General Assembly reveals the fact, that there are in the West two hundred and ninety-one Presbyterian churches which have neither pastors nor stated supplies. They are distributed as follows:-In the Synod of Kentucky, 35; Synod of Cincinnati, 21; Synod of Northern Indiana, 33; Synod of Illinois, 46; Synod of Missouri, 41; Synod of Nashville, 12; Synod of Memphis, 22; Synod of Mississippi, 22; Synod of Alabama, 24; and the Synod of Texas, 8. In these Synods

we find one hundred ministers marked as not engaged in the regular and stated work of the ministry. This number embraces the superannuated, the infirm and out of health, and those who are engaged in secular pursuits, together with such as are out of a place for stated ministers, by this statement, is shown to preaching. The number of unemployed be very small. Most of those who have taken ordination vows upon them are engaged directly or indirectly in their covenanted work. The great West, after deducting such as really are unable to labour, shows comparatively a small number of drones, who feed upon the fatness produced by other men's labours, whilst they refuse to bear their proportion of the heat and burden of the day. The list of vacant churches, however, is alarmingly great. After making all due allowances for such churches as are so small and unpromising as not to authorise the bestowal of regular pastor labour upon them, we are still forced to the conclusion that at least one hundred ministers are now wanted, in addition to those we already have, to enable our branch of the Church to successfully fill up the places where she has already planted her standard in the West, to say nothing of the new fields which are constantly opening before her in this wide territory, where new churches may be organised. This single fact shows that the harvest around us truly is great, and the labourers few, and that the Church has need to send up her cry to the Lord of the harvest to send into the field a great addition to its present number of reapers."

Referring to this, the "Banner of Ulster" says,

"On looking over the Minutes of the last Meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, there appear to be in this country only some five or six vacancies, while there are not fewer than one hundred probationers. The above ought to be worth the consideration of many of our young friends.”

mine elect;" the name of Israel was given to Jacob at Peniel, where he wrestled for, and obtained the blessing. Its meaning

shows us this; for it signifies a prince, a prevailer with God. It has been given to many, once like Jacob, deceivers, but since returned to the Shepherd of their souls; it is given to all in the Church of God, because every member of that Church is, by nature, like Jacob, far from God; far alike from his righteousness and from his obedience, and because all of them are brought one by one near to God, near to his presence, and to his righteousness, each one is made to plead with him in Christ's name and to prevail, and then to receive salvation, and with it a new name, the name of Israel. This then is a universal test, by which to discern who are, and who are not, the children of God. Yes, this is what makes God's Israel a peculiar people, a people set apart for God himself-a people who have wrestled with the Angel of the Covenant, and have prevailed. They are all individually precious unto God for the sake of his Son; whatever they be in your sight, whatever they be in the world's sight, they are very dear to Him: David their king is as God, yea, for he is God. Let us then ask you one question: "Who among you are of the Israel of God?" Answer this question, not to man, not so as to pacify conscience, which it may be is half asleep, but look up to God and answer it to Him from out of the depths of your heart, remembering, that they are not all Israel which are of Israel, and that there is such a thing as coming before Him as his people come without being his regenerate ones. But if you answer, that you do hope you are the children of God, then let me ask another question: what grounds have you for thinking so? Has the Lord ever taken you aside as it were, and revealed himself unto you? Has He ever made his great and terrible name to be heard? Have you ever been shut up as it were with God? Have you ever been left alone with Him? Have you wrestled with Him? Have you obtained the blessing? Has He given you a view of his saving glory? Has He whispered in your ear the new name? Ah! fellow-sinners, it's time you knew this, for nothing that man can give you will benefit you in the day of God. No, He is not mocked. He knows well who are his own, and they are only those who have wrestled with Him, and "made supplication:" on them his heart is set, on them his eye delights to rest, and concerning them what does he say here? "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." They may be lightly esteemed on earth, and they are despised and looked down upon by the great ones of the world, but what does Solomon say in one place? "I have seen servants riding upon horses, and I have seen

princes walking on the earth." Ah! it is the servants who are riding on horses in this world, being clothed in fine linen and seeming to have all things at command, while the sons and daughters of the king walk abroad despised and unknown, ofttimes being accounted the offscouring of the earth. Yet, though hidden under a veil, and trodden down by the foot of violence, or stained by the breath of slander, yet are glorious things spoken of thee, thou Church of the living God! Glorious promises are made to her, blessed prospects lie before her, and our text is not only one among many given to encourage her on her way, but it is one which comprehends all the glory and honour which await her; for what does it declare? "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." To be saved! Oh, to be saved is a wondrous thing! What in all the universe is once worthy to be compared to being saved? Consider what it is. It is to be completely and eternally redeemed and delivered. To be delivered from all that man is under of evil and of sin now, and from all that is to be feared as the just and certain consequences of sin to all eternity. To be saved is to have a present, a full, a free, a final discharge from all the guilt which lies upon us; it is to have iniquity blotted out for ever and ever. They that are saved are those to whom God speaks peace, on whom He ever looks in love. 'Tis to have the sealed evidence in the heart and in the conscience that He who passeth by iniquity hath, as a thick cloud, blotted out all our sins, and cast them into the depths of the sea for ever. Israel is the only people which is thus pardoned; there are none else who have passed from death unto life, none else have peace or joy or hope in the world. Multitudes there are who have a false peace; but it springs from the deadness of their consciences, the blindness of their understandings, from the callousness of their hearts, from their never having discovered that there is no peace to the wicked. To such God says, "There is no peace." There is only peace to those who have turned to the Lord their God, and who have wrestled with the angel of the covenant and received the blessing. Oh! then, examine your peace, I entreat of you. Can it be shaken ? Try it well, for the day is coming when nothing but the things which cannot be shaken will remain. That will be the most awful day that the hypocrite ever saw; for everything but what is of God will fall to pieces, and be swept away for ever; all but a real, true, Divine pardon, accompanied with that peace and rest in God which passeth all understanding, will pass away. All hearts will then be fainting and failing, and the hope of the hypocrite and formalist will be tottering to ruin; but yet

even then, "Israel shall be saved." Favoured land! Thrice-happy Israel! to whom the Lord speaks peace, and to whom he gives the full assurance of everlasting salvation. See that you refuse and reject all peace but what comes from Him directly. Are there none among you who, though refusing to come to God to be pardoned, yet listen with delight to the minister's voice? Do you not love to hear him preaching about peace to you? The sound is pleasant in your ears, though you scarce understand its meaning. Alas! it satisfies you, and encourages you to sleep on. Sinner, it won't satisfy you long. That voice will one day die away upon the ear, it will be hushed in death and silent at the judgment, and where will you be then? Nothing but an unpardoned soul will then remain to you,-nothing but a portion among them that are cast out from the presence of Jehovah. Oh! were this but believed! The world does not believe that there is one people upon the earth who are to be certainly saved, and another people who are to be for ever lost. We need not go so far as the world to seek for this awful spirit of Infidelity. It is spread through the very Church of the Lord. Very, very few among believers are continually and abidingly persuaded that there is a hell for the ungodly; it is they who confirm you in your unbelief oftimes: you and they seem to come to some mutual understanding that there is some mistake on this point, and that surely the Bible does not exactly mean what it says. Well! And what of that, O sinner! for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Israel's salvation from the power of sin, is also included here. When the guilt of it has been washed away, and the curse rolled off and removed for ever, the yoke of the prince of darkness is also broken. He has power to hold sinners in subjection, in many ways; he does so by blinding their understandings, by searing their consciences, by filling their hearts with hatred to God, with unbelief of his truth, and disregard of his threatenings. By these means he hushes the soul into quietness. The strong man has hushed the soul to sleep, and no creature can disturb Satan's authority, until a stronger than he comes in to break the chains from off the sinner's neck.

Till then he is bound, and the most awful fruit and proof of this is, that he does not know that there is such a thing as the yoke of Satan. None know this fully till the hour of deliverance. Saved souls know it well. Most of them have not escaped it without many an awful struggle; but, blessed be God, they also know One who hath broken off these gates of brass, and burst the iron chains of sin. He it is who

VOL. V.

comes in the day of effectual calling, and plucks them from the paw of the lion; tears them from his grasp, and gives deliverance from the prince of darkness,-from him who is deceiving the whole world. Yes, deny it if men will, still he deceiveth THE WHOLE WORLD; aye, and he is visibly gathering, in these days, the whole world together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Men are joining hand in hand under his direction, and they will soon prove by their deeds that they are plotting against the Lord, and against his anointed. They think it a very easy thing to put down the work of God, and to overset the kingdom of God, which is yet an everlasting kingdom; and they are saying among themselves, "Oh! Israel will soon be exterminated, we shall soon hear no more about that despised and pestilent race of the troublers of the earth; there will be a full end made of them."

And does this intimidate God's people? Ah no! For the Lord is saying, "Israel shall be saved with an everlasting salvation," and that not only from the rage of Satan, but from that awful spiritual sleep by which he is making the whole world dead to God; not merely in a state of weakness or indisposition to serve God, but dead-dead to his truth, dead to his love, dead to his service and his will, The Lord's children are all in this state when he finds them, but he passes by in mercy, and says unto them, Live. Then begins another and a glorious part of the great salvation, for while he breaks the yoke of Satan he breathes a new and an immortal life into the soul, which soon begins to find by blessed experience, that that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ; and it is the introduction of this new and vital principle into the soul that forms the broad, excellent, and supernatural foundation of a believer's holiness. Holiness is not a thing raised from the ruins of a man's former nature. It is founded in a new creation, a new creature; and, believers, this is indeed a grand and glorious foundation for a believer's obedience while he runs his race in newness of life. Were it not for this we might well despair, for we might persuade and persuade till the end of the world, and we would never persuade dead people out of their graves, or persuade a child of Satan into the image of God. When the Lord does the work he enables as well as persuades. suasion of God is omnipotence: He says with the voice of command, "Come out of your graves,"-" Ye dry bones hear the word of the Lord." And look to the results and effects of this persuasion. They are in this world unspeakably precious; they are light in the understanding, peace

I

The per

n the conscience, tenderness of heart, renewal of the will, conformity in the whole man to the image of the Son of God, and a continual and continued-to the very end continued-conflict with the devil, with the world, and with the old man, and then a final victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the results of this work on the believer's soul do not stop here. They follow him out of the world as well as keep him while in it. See him pass the gates of death, escape the yawning pit, cross the gulph of perdition, and as he crosses see where he should for ever have had his portion. See him disappoint the malice of Satan, who can but gnash his teeth upon him as he sees the prey delivered from his hand. The angels of the Lord conduct him into the presence of the Lamb-we see no further.... He has gone beyond the veil, he is passing on to join the General Assembly and Church of the first-born,-he is numbered among the just made perfect, and dwells for ever with God, the Judge of all, and with Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. Do you long to follow him? And if you do, are you in real earnest ? Oh! are you in earnest ? Alas! few of us are. In one sense none of us are. No, we are all treating salvation like a dream; we never, never preach about it as it is in reality. Sinners, take not man's account of it; but oh! believe that it is infinite, that it is boundless, it is high as heaven, and unless you arise, unless you fly, unless you embrace it, you will perish, eternally perish. Awake, then, and arise, awake, and arise! and then Christ himself shall give you light. Awake! awake! call upon his name, for he hath said, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, the same shall be saved."

A NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY. ONE Sabbath evening, on looking over the roll of my class, the name of Ann among others, had to be marked as among the absentees. I took a note of it on the visiting-list, intending to call during the week according to custom; but afterwards, as the girl's house was a very little out of my way, and not being in a visiting mood, I thought there could be no great harm in delaying a week: besides, it occurred to me that good reasons could frequently be given for non-attendance, and it was likely she would be there on the succeeding Sabbath, as she was so regular in her attendance. With these and like excuses, my Sabbath teacher's conscience was lulled asleep. The Sabbath returned again, and being prepared for its evening duties, I found myself once more in the school with the children around

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me; and though feeling a little, a very little uneasiness on seeing that Ann still absent, it soon wore off, and was forgotten in the excitement of teaching. The lessons were concluded, and we were just about to engage in praise before dismission, when a neighbouring teacher stepped across the floor, and said very seriously-" Have you a girl in your class of the name of Ann 'Yes; what of that ?” "I have something to tell you about her,” said he, hesitating. "What is it ? what is the matter?" said I, with a presentiment of there being something wrong. "She is dead." "Dead!" "Yes; she died four days ago. She was buried yesterday. Her brother is in my class, and brought word last Sabbath that she was ill and wished to see you, but I forgot to say so." "Oh! if you had only told me,-I wish you had told me." "I am very, very sorry I did not." My heart sank within me:-I could not speak. Dead!-gone from this world for ever; gone from any power or means I could use. Is she saved or lost ?—a sinner in hell, or a saint in glory? Dead, and I not at her deathbed. Have I done my duty to her? have I done all I could? Ought I not to have called at once, and then some opportunity would have been afforded of smoothing the pillow, and speaking peace and comfort to this dying scholar? now, it was too late! The thought was bitter anguish. Does not conscience in such cases often tell us that it is not want of time, but inclination, that makes us neglect our duty? We know our duty, but do it not.

But

At

I could not call on the mourning parents that evening, but next day took the first opportunity of doing so. On knocking gently at the door, it was opened, and I went in-but found only the mother and two or three of the younger children present. For a few minutes nothing was said. last, I spoke ;-"So Ann has gone to her rest." "Yes, Sir; she is gone." "How did she die ?" "We don't know, Sir; we hope she is in heaven." "Had she much pain ?" "Vera little; she just sleepit awa." "Was she happy in her mind? "We hope sae. She could speak but little, and was vera dull o' hearing for three days before her death, and when we had anything to say, we had to cry vera loud, and could hardly make her understand." "I am very sorry I was not here to see her." thought you might have come," said the mother reproachfully ;- we sent you word, but you didna come. Puir thing! Annie was fond o' the Sabbath class, and would not stay away wet or dry:"-and she burst into tears. I explained as well as I could why I had not come when sent for, but could not excuse myself. After some further

"Ay, we

conversation on the state of mind, and the death, of my scholar, and after endeavouring to turn the mind of the mother to the rich consolations of the Gospel, my sad visit ended.

And now, why do I write this? It is to urge on my fellow-teachers earnestly, most earnestly, to call on absentees the very first spare time they have-if possible, the next day, and never to let light excuses induce them to defer doing so. It is well to visit all scholars, but the absentees ought to hold the first place. Visiting is a check to the wandering and careless; and where illness is the cause of absence, the sick or death bed affords opportunities of pressing home the truths of the everlasting Gospel that are not lightly to be neglected; and by proper and prompt visiting of these absentees, not only will the attendance of a class be better kept up, but Sabbath teachers would never have in this respect cause to lament, as I do, a neglected opportunity.Sketches from Sabbath-school Life.

A CANDID MIND.

THERE is nothing sheds so fine a light upon the human character as candour. It was called whiteness by the ancients, for its purity and beauty; and it has always won the esteem due to the most admirable of the virtues. However little sought for or practised, all do it the homage of their praise, and all feel the power and charm of its influence. The man whose opinions make the deepest mark upon his fellows; whose influence is the most lasting and efficient: whose friendship is instinctively sought, where all others have proved faithless, is not the man of brilliant parts, or flattering tongue, or splendid genius, or commanding power; but he whose lucid candour and ingenuous truth transmit the heart's real feelings pure and without refraction. There are other qualities which are more showy, and other traits that have a higher place in the world's code of honour; but none wear better, or gather less tarnish by use, or claim a deeper homage in that silent reverence which the mind must pay to

virtue.

As it is the most beautiful, so it is the safest of moral qualities. None fall into so few mistakes-none darken and deform themselves with so little falsehood and wrong -none so free from the pain of doing wrong, as those who walk amidst the pitfalls and miasmas, passions and errors, of our tainted life, clothed habitually with candour. The rare and comely union of prudence and of principle, of firmness and forbearance, of truth and zeal, of earnest ness of feeling and discrimination of views,

is to be found only in minds pervaded and enlarged by candour. To love and to seek, in all things, the truth-to choose and adhere to, before all the solicitations of passion, or the power of prejudice, or the force of public opinion, or the claims of interest or power, whatever is right and true-to believe, at every juncture of experience or thought, that nothing is so good, or desirable, or trustworthy, as truth-to scent the truth amidst all the unpopular disguises which too often disfigure it in this worldthis must be safest and best, whatever we may think of it, if God really reigns, and there be an eternal distinction between truth and falsehood, right and wrong. In nothing have men so vital an interest as in truth. Nothing should we so earnestly strive to get at, or hold fast when obtained. Buy the truth, and sell it not."- Green Leaves.

to

HOW IT WORKS.

BELIEVING it to be the clear duty of " every one to give, and give statedly, and as God prospers him, I resolved, on the 1st of January, set apart for charitable objects, onetenth of all I should receive, supporting my family and bearing all other expenses from the remaining nine-tenths. I believe that in the working of the system there is internal evidence that it is from God. I feel somewhat When I am solicited for charity, I have not in more than before, that all I have is the Lord's. but rather, acting as a steward of God, to judge each case to adjust the claim with selfishness; as to the merit of comparative claims. My account at the end of the year showed exactly the balance I had remaining, which was consecrated to God. There is no difficulty in every man's practising a system adapted to his own circumstances, some giving more and some less than one-tenth; and I believe every one will find, in the conscientious adoption of this system, a blessing to his own soul; while, if universally carried into effect by the people of God, it would, without burdening any, supply all the stores of Christian benevolence.

LIFE AND DEATH IN LONDON.

FEW know that in every seven minutes of the day a child is born in London, and that in every nine minutes one of its inhabitants dies! The population of London is, roundly, 2,362,000 If the averages of the last fifty years continue, in thirty-one years from this time as many persons as now compose its population will have died in it, and yet in about thirty-nine years from this time, if the present rate of progress continue, the metropolis will contain twice as many persons as it

does now.

The whole population of Liverpool, in 1851, numbered 255,000; while the increase of inhabitants in the Metropolis between 1841 and 1851 was 413,000. It is truly marvellous! Where it will stop, and