So

bask in its rays; but if they preferred the dark, long, brick corridor to the open air and green sward and sunlight, they must take the consequences. in reference to religion, the Sun of Righteousness is shining, and every one that comes under His beams re

joices. He shines for every person in the world; but God gives to each one liberty to choose whether he will go in the sun, or stop in the shade. Hitherto you have preferred the shade. You believe the Bible, you say; and those comrades of yours in the corridors believe that the sun is shining; but, like them, you have not come into the warmth and light."

"No, that is true; but how am I to do it?"

"By exercising the power which God is willing to give you; by believing in Christ. You have never yet

tried to believe in Him: and therefore you cannot say you are not responsible for your lack of faith; for you do not know that you do lack power to believe. God has given the men down-stairs limbs by which they can walk to the sun-light; and He has given you a heart by which you can believe unto salvation, through His promised grace."

"The fact is, Sir, I don't think the importance of the thing ever fixed itself on my mind before."

"Well, be thankful if you see the need of deeper thought on the subject You are an old sailor: just tell

now.

?

"True; you would be responsible for your unbelief: so in reference to the affairs of your soul. The flag of danger is hoisted, the flag of salvation too: if you will not heed them, the fault is yours. If you will, you may be saved ; or, in the words of St. Paul, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'"

"This is a thing I shall think about till you come round again, Sir: anyhow, I sha'n't trifle about it again. It seems something terrible to me, looking at it in your way; and yet my mind was peaceable enough about the future before. You see I did not know, I did not think: everything seemed great about me, and I felt safe: just like a Muscovy duck that I have seen washed overboard at sea; it swam so proudly in the waters as the ship dashed on; it was free from coops and the knife. I felt free like that, bound by no creeds, but swimming where I liked."

"That is rather a strange illustration, Green; but, as you have given it, let us press it a little further. Did you ever think that though that poor bird was free from coops, free on the broad waters, swimming proudly enough, yet that it would never reach a shore of safety, never meet its mate, but must ultimately perish on those waters?"

Bless me, Sir, how the things turn against me: you mean that in my freedom I shall be lost."

"No, I do not mean that exactly; for, thank God, there is a refuge for you. If you stayed on the troubled waters of unbelief, you could reach no shore of safety; but Jesus, who of old walked on the waters to His disciples, comes now to you, and will guide you to Himself, if you are willing. Now, I must leave you. Say these two prayers very earnestly from your heart: God be merciful to me a sinner;'

C. H. K.

"Ah! that would be my look out."

ALONE IN DEATH AND

JUDGMENT.*

WE all speak of death familiarly, as if we knew what it was, as if we had taken its measure and weighed its import. But who amongst the living can tell us what it is? There are some points in the subject which are only painful, only humiliating; not practical, and not profitable. But there is one point which is truly and deeply so: I mean, that in death we shall be alone, and shall feel ourselves so to be. Friends may or may not be around us ; they will have ceased to be with us. We must feel that we are going, and they (for the present) staying; we have that in hand with which they cannot intermeddle; we have that in prospect, which is only for us, not for them; to give in an account, in which their names indeed may occur, but not as the debtor, only as creditors; they may have been sinned against, and they may have forgiven, yet are we not hereby justified; for no man may

deliver his brother from the consequences of sin even against himself, nor make agreement unto God for him. Often, indeed, the presence of mourning friends must be an aggravation, rather than alleviation, of the pains of dying. We shrink instinctively from the thought of dying in solitude: in proportion as it is the latest moment of human companionship, it is clung to with tenacity, though we know that it is the latest, and even then superficial, if not illusory. Already is the soul, if consciousness be granted and truth felt, alone with God; viewing itself as in His sight, and preparing for a yet closer access. The words of a Christian friend may suggest thoughts of solemnity or of hope; his prayers may encourage, comfort, and help: but he is no longer with us as he once was: he speaks to us as departing, as going, and that alone: he prays for the dying

* From Memorials of Harrow Sundays. By Charles John Vaughan, D.D. Second Edition. London: Macmillan and Co.

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man as for one in circumstances not his, circumstances different from any others, and in which there is no partaker.

In death we shall be alone; and can we follow the soul one step further, and see it standing in judgment before the throne of God? Whatever be the actual meaning of the word judgment as applied to that last act of decision and discrimination by which the eternal state of each one of us is to be determined, thus much we may say of it, that it will be an individual act; that neither nations, nor churches, nor families, will, in that sense, be the subjects of judgment, but the soul itself, and by itself; that, in the strictest meaning which can be given to the words, "every one of us shall give account of himself to God."

You must all die alone; you must all be judged alone. Do not hide from yourself these two certainties. It is most important that you should well remember them. They have a direct bearing upon your life here and now. If you are to die alone, if you are to be judged alone, must it not be good for you sometimes to live alone; to practise it as a thing which has to be learned, and cannot be learned too early?

There are two senses, at least, in which you ought all of you to practise the being alone.

But

First. One of these is, being alone in prayer. I do not mean that you must necessarily be in a place by yourselves in order to pray: if this were essential to prayer, then the poor and the young, in most cases, could never pray. I mean that in praying, whether by yourselves (which is, no doubt, a great advantage) or in the presence of others, you should try to shut out the recollection of any other presence than that of God: you should feel yourselves to be alone with a Father who is in secret; as much alone with Him as if you were in a waste wilderness: upon your being able so to feel depends the question whether your prayer is a

unseen. Many a soul had drunk at it and been refreshed, and it had become within him a well of living water. And, besides this, after three centuries, beneath the arid sands the stream still survived; and now it rises again to the upper air, sparkling in the sunlight, and offering refreshment to the thirsty soul.

Dr. M'Crie, the Scotch historian, had learned from the will of one Thomas Bassinden, printer in Edinburgh, who died in 1577, that an English version of this treatise must have existed previous to the death of Bassinden. This statement induced the Rev. John Ayre to search for a volume which he thought might still survive in the English language. In 1843 or 1844 he succeeded in discovering it, and in 1847 he reprinted it; stating in the Introduction that no copy of the original Italian work was known to exist. This republication awakened a new interest in the subject, and led to the discovery by antiquaries of three copies in Italian, of one in French, one in German, and of a copy of the Croatian version, as well as of several English copies.

It was found that there was in existence also a manuscript English translation of the book, in the library of the University at Cambridge. This version was made from the Italian by Edward Courtenay, the twelfth Earl of Devonshire, in 1558, whilst lying a prisoner in the tower. Its interest is increased by the fact that King Edward the Sixth, of England, had evidently read, and in two places had written in it.

The English translation, which has been republished in London, was made from the French version, and printed at London in 1573. An Italian version has also been re-issued at Pisa, and at Florence; thus giving it again to the land of its birth. In German, Dutch, Danish, and French, it has likewise renewed its race; and recently it has been given also to the

11

American public. The lost stream will soon flow broader and deeper than

ever.

Yet

But who was the author of this book? It bears the name of no writer. To proclaim the precious truth of salvation by Christ's death alone was too dangerous a deed in Italy, three centuries since, to make evangelical authors anxious to be known. They wrote for Christ, not for fame. there can be scarce a doubt that the author of the " Benefit of Christ's Death" was an Italian scholar and Professor, Antonio dalla Paglia; or, as he ordinarily called himself, and is called by others, Aonio Paleario. (To be continued.)

THE NEW AMERICAN PLOUGH.

THE "Western Christian Advocate" gives a very interesting account of this invention, and of the uses to which its inventor is applying the proceeds of his skill.

The Rev. James Peeler, now of Louisville, Ga., was for sixteen years a laborious, zealous, and useful "Travelling Preacher" in the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America. His health having failed, he was obliged, at the expiration of that period, to locate, as it is called. He settled on a small farm. He was a poor man; his itinerant Preacher's life had not resulted in the accumulation of wealth. He had a family to provide for, and he cast about for some employment, some means of earning his bread, and he had recourse to the plough. He thought he could make an implement of that kind better adapted to its uses, more effective, and cheaper than any he could procure; and thereupon he constructed a plough himself. The good man had no more idea of taking out a patent for that plough than he had of reaping wheat or navigating the water with his plough. But his neighbours saw extraordinary merit in this simple but effective contrivance for agricultural

12

purposes, and induced him to enter it for a patent. The patent was granted 21st June, 1859; and in every portion of the United States where the plough has been introduced, it has excited unusual interest, proved a great favourite with the people, and in most instances seems destined to supersede all the other varieties of ploughs. So extraordinary was the success of the plough in practice, that the patent acquired a marketvalue almost without a parallel in the history of patented implements in America. Mr. Peeler has actually sold out rights-state, county, and territorial rights-to his patent, to an amount exceeding five hundred thousand dollars!

Finding himself growing unexpectedly rich, this worthy man made it the subject of reflection and earnest inquiry: "I am becoming rich. I don't need all this money; no reasonable wants of my family require so much money. Why, then, was the money deposited with me? Why did I make a plough? Who arranged all the circumstances of the case ?"

He concluded the whole matter was providential. Thenceforward, after decently providing for his family, he devoted his gains to the cause of Missions, the building of churches, &c. To these various interests Mr. Peeler has already given, in the aggregate, hundreds of thousands of dollars and the work of doing good still goes on, and is to go on; for Mr. P. said to the writer who gives these facts: "I will not trust myself with a large amount of money. It belongs to God; and I shall administer it as I go along to promote the best interests of man.'

What he has given is only the beginning of what he intends to give, as the patent will probably become more and more productive as it becomes more and more extensively introduced. Much of the proceeds of sales of the patent consists in obligations for money, payable in sums from year to year. The amount of those payments

depends, in some cases, on the success of the patent. So that Mr. Peeler's benefactions will depend, as to their ultimate amount, on the success of his patent in the localities thus contracted for. Some of the larger and most productive States are still held by Mr. Peeler. We are not fully informed as to the various benefactions paid, and to be paid, from the proceeds of this patent. Some of these donations, which have come to our knowledge, are as follows:-To be paid out of profits in hands of agents and assignees, to be applied to educational purposes, under the direction of the Conferences, in Illinois, 4,000 dollars; in Missouri, 4,000 dollars; in Minnesota, Hamline University, 5,000 dollars; in Indiana, Asbury University, 5,000 dollars; in Wisconsin, to Lawrence University and other institutions, 4,000 dollars; in Iowa, Wesleyan University and others, 4,000 dollars; and in Ohio, Ohio Wesleyan University, 7,000 dollars, payable in annual instalments of 1,000 dollars per annum, beginning 1st October, 1861, out of any profits that may accrue and if the success be adequate, the assignee designs aiding the Ladies' Home Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cincinnati. Mr. Peeler's heart is large enough to multiply these donations; and this he will do as soon as his means shall adequately increase, so as to enable him to execute as well as to "devise liberal things."

A writer remarks, in relation to the simplicity of the Peeler plough :

"A straight piece of board for a beam, an upright wooden piece and handles,-fifteen cents' worth of lumber, make the wood-work. Four simple iron bars bolted to the beam, and crossing in pairs below, so as to act respectively as braces and counterbraces, make the iron-work. The plough may carry two blades, one to turn the soil, and the other to subsoil at the same time, by the same hand,