pear before Him, their last act on earth having, to be had. His declaration was-I will not send been one of hostility even to the death. But if them fasting to their own homes, lest they faint they are not Christians, then the blow which sent by the way. A present supply was required, them into eternity, was one which forever cut and that supply was mercifully furnished. Yet them off from the hope of salvation, which smote we find him soon afterwards reprimanding some the soul as well as the body, and consigned it to of these people, because they followed him for the eternal death. To slay a christian is to smite sake of the loaves and fishes. Here we have a Christ himself; to slay an unbeliever is to plunge plain intimation that the duty of charity extends a fellow being into perdition. Terrible alterna- to the cases of immediate and pressing necessity, tive! Yet all who fight, not only strike such a where the means of satisfying the wants of nablow but expose themselves to the risk of dying ture are not at command; but that a voluntary in the very act of striking it. May all chris-reliance upon eleemosynary supplies ought not tians soon acknowledge the universal obligation to be encouraged. We do not find that the imof the command 'Love your enemies and do mediate disciples of our Lord were often, if ever, good to them that hate you.' Without waiting supplied with provisions, without previous labour for others, may they at least, by obeying the and care. When, after they had toiled all night precept, fulfil the prediction of the sacred book, and taken nothing, he condescended to direct and beat their swords into ploughshares, and them where to cast their net, the exertion of their their spears into pruning hooks, thus manifest-physical powers was still required to bring their ing that Christianity is indeed, as the angels heralded it, peace on earth and good will to men."

About two days before his death, on awaking, Dr. Gordon said:

"I have been thinking of God as a shepherd. The shepherd sends out his dog when a sheep has wandered from the fold, to bark at and frighten, and sometimes to bite the wanderer, in order to bring it back. So afflictions and pains are the dogs which our Shepherd sends to bring us back to Him. Some of us are stubborn sheep. I was one of these, and the dog had to bite me; but the barking and biting are to do us good, not harm, and to bring us to the Shepherd." Dr. Gordon died Second month 7th, 1849.

For Friends' Review.
RELIEVING THE POOR.

E. L.

The period of the year which is now passing over us, when many branches of business, to which the poor are indebted for their livelihood, are in a great measure suspended, and the frequent inclemency of the elements, render the wants of our nature most imperious, the feeling mind is almost spontaneously turned to reflect upon the condition of those who have neither store-house nor barn to resort to for the supply which nature and habit demand. Charity to the poor is commended to our observance on the highest authority. When the multitudes followed the Saviour to the wilderness, and pressed upon him to hear the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, the disciples, when the day was far spent, proposed they should be sent away in order that they might go into the neighboring villages and towns, and buy themselves food; but the merciful Saviour rejected the proposal. It is not improbable that many of them were destitute of the means to purchase, even if they were able to sustain the labour of travelling to the places where provisions were

prize to land. In this case as in the general constitution of nature, we see the declaration verified, that man shall eat his bread in the sweat of his face.

In the wide field of creation, we behold the materials from which we may derive our comforts and support, liberally scattered around us; but still requiring labour and skill to suit them to our accommodation. It is true that a sparse population may derive a meagre subsistence from the spontaneous productions of the earth; and a cave, by nature made, may occasionally be found, in which shelter may be taken until the hand of industry has had time to prepare a more commodious habitation. Though in most countries, springs of water are dispersed at such intervals as to meet the indispensable wants of a small number, yet there are few districts of any considerable extent, in which wells are not absolutely necessary for a dense population. The spontaneous productions of nature, appear, like alms, designed to supply the immediate and temporary necessities of a few, while the raw materials, in all their endless variety, are offered to the industry and skill of the many, as the means of furnishing comfort and support.

To apply these observations to the case before us, the obvious conclusion seems to be, that in the distribution of alms, the first object ought to be the relief of immediate and pressing wants; but those supplies being almost necessarily of temporary duration, and liable to leave the recipients, in a short time, as destitute and helpless as ever, the leading object should be to assist the poor in providing for themselves. The pauper, who lives upon alms, is a pauper still, how long soever those alms may be continued; and if induced to depend upon the charities of others, remains a burden on the community. there are unquestionably many, who, being long accustomed to this kind of dependence, scarcely look to any other. On the other hand, the pauper who is enabled by counsel and judicious assistance, to supply his own wants, by honest

And

and reputable industry, emerges from pauperism, Testimony of Weare Monthly Meeting, (N. H.) to usefulness and respectability.

concerning RUTH OSBORNE. It is of importance to instil and encourage the habit of depending, under the divine blessing, Although some time has elapsed since the dethe results of our own exertions. Dependcease of this beloved friend, yet the remembrance upon ance upon the charities of others, in cases where of her is sweet to many of us, and a desire prethe recipient possesses the means or the vails to preserve some account of her exemplary of power self-support, borders closely on dishonesty, and life, her devotion to the cause of truth, and her indicates a disposition which ought never to be peaceful close, hoping that others may be encourencouraged. The Apostle Paul, though willing aged to "walk by the same rule and mind the to accept the bounty of his friends, and com- same thing." mending the churches for their liberality, when She was born at Seabrook, New Hampshire, his labours in the ministry or other causes pre- the twenty-sixth of ninth month, 1765. vented him from labouring in his worldly occu- parents, Daniel and Mary Paige, were exemplary pation, was careful to supply his physical wants members of our Society, and removed with their by the labour of his hands, when that labour family to Weare when she was about four years did not interfere with his gospel mission. And of age. The watchful care and salutary counsel he emphatically reminded his Ephesian friends of her parents were instrumental, through the of the words of the Lord Jesus, that it was Divine blessing, in preserving her youthful mind more blessed to give than to receive. in the path of virtue, and by yielding to the

Her

The feeling of independence which a reliance convictions of truth, she was favored in early life upon self-exertion has a tendency to encourage, to become, in good measure, established in the may, and certainly often does, contain a sprink-doctrines of the Christian religion. In 1784, ling of pride-and upon what will not pride she was married to Moses Osborne, which confasten, unless sedulously guarded-but it seems nexion continued about thirty-one years, when too nearly allied to virtue to be discarded. The he was removed by death. By this trying diseffort should be, not to extinguish the feeling, pensation, she was left with the care of a numebut to purify the motive, by transferring the rous family, for whose preservation she manifestdependence to the Source from which all ed a lively concern; and being careful to wait our blessings are derived. for right direction, she was enabled to "rule well

It is well known that the late philosophic and her own household." She was diligent in the benevolent William Allen, of London, employed attendance of our religious meetings; and, when much of his attention, in the establishment of assembled with Friends on these occasions, what he called "Colonies at Home," the object her solid deportment, accompanied by a weighty of which was to enable the poor to rise into a exercise of mind, manifested a sense of the value more comfortable condition, chiefly by their own and importance of that worship which is perindustry and care. The Provident Society, es- formed in spirit and in truth. She was for sevetablished in this city nearly thirty years ago, ral years in the place of overseer, and was well was designed to assist those poor women who qualified for that service, being frequently conwere desirous of providing for themselves and cerned to labor with offenders in the spirit of refamilies. This is unquestionably one of the storing love, when under no particular appointmost effectual methods of rendering charity ment, and was often peculiarly favored to speak available; and gladly would the writer of this in a manner that carried conviction to the minds article encourage his readers, wherever resident, of those with whom she laboured.

not only to consider the poor, during the wintry In the forty-seventh year of her age, she was season; but to give to their charity such a appointed an elder, which station she acceptably direction as will render it permanently available. filled the remainder of her life. She was favorThere are many ways in which persons in mod-ed with a discerning spirit, and being sound in erate circumstances, may stimulate and encou- faith and in the doctrines of our Lord and Sarage, as well as assist, the more destitute to rise viour Jesus Christ, was prepared to detect and apparently by their own exertions, and without reprove that which was forward or out of the destroying their self-dependence. And this may way, and to speak a word of encouragement to often be done with little expenditure of treasure the humble and diffident. She was a lover of or time. unity in the Church, and in laboring for the This mode of assisting the poor is the cheap-support of the discipline, was engaged to seek est as well as most effectual method of distri- best Wisdom, and enabled, even in times of pecubuting alms. If the pauper heads of a family liar trial, faithfully to discharge that portion of are supported entirely by alms, they will proba- service allotted her in tenderness and love. She bly leave a pauper family to be supported by occasionally offered a few words of exhortation the next generation; but if the same parents in our meetings, which were truly acceptable are taught and assisted to provide for themselves, and edifying; and her solid deportment was they will probably leave a family trained to often strengthening, when no words were uttered. industry and usefulness. E. L. She was concerned to maintain a faithful testi

mony with regard to plainness, being, in her per-, sonal appearance, the furniture of her house, and her manner of living, a pattern of meekness and simplicity; and it was cause of grief to her, to witness in others a departure from this ancient Christian practice.

Thus having endeavored, according to the ability afforded, to improve the talents committed to her, she was comforted and supported in her declining years by that hope which is "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." During her last illness, which continued several weeks, and was attended with great bodily suffering, she manifested much patience and resignation, and was often heard in supplication to the Father of mercies for strength to endure all He might see mect to dispense, without bringing dishonor to His holy name. On the third of fifth month, 1844, she said, "I feel no anxiety whether to live or die, only to be resigned. I see nothing in my way; all seems clear." A few days after, she said, "my friends and connexions seem very near and dear to me, but I give them all up" and she expressed a desire that the love they felt might remain with them. She requested that there might be nothing needless about her funeral, and desired that those who attended, might do it with solemnity.

twenty-ninth, her remains were interred in Friends' burying-ground, near our North meeting-house in Weare, where a large and solemn meeting was held on the occasion.

Account of AMELIA BROWN, of Luton, England, who died 7th of 12th mo., 1849, aged 62. This beloved friend was privileged beyond many in the pious care exercised in her religious training. She became early acquainted with the teachings of divine grace, and from childhood, appears highly to have valued the holy scriptures. It was frequently her practice to set apart some portion of the day for private retirement and meditation, and in thus seeking to wait upon the Lord for the renewal of her spiritual strength, she was favoured to know "times of refreshing," and a growth in "pure and undefiled religion."

She loved the truth in sincerity, and her mind was enriched in the instructive contemplation of its order, excellence and beauty, and the benign and salutary influence it has on those who obey its requisitions: fervently she craved for an increase of faith and strength, that she might be found among the "called, and chosen, and faithful." "I felt," she remarks on one occasion, The lively concern she retained for the welfare" as if I could make any sacrifice called for; the of the Church, was evinced by the following ex-language of my mind is almost continually, pressions; "I desire there may be standard- what shall I render unto the Lord for all his bearers raised up, faithful standard-bearers, to benefits." fill the places of the older ones, who are passing away. They are very much wanted in our Society. I want them to grow deeper and deeper, and stronger and stronger in the truth." About this time she expressed, that the company of her friends afforded her much satisfaction, especially that of the young, for whose welfare she manifested a deep interest, desiring that they might come more and more under the forming hand of their Divine Master, and thus become qualified for usefulness in the Church. Soon after, she said, "If it were not for a hope in Christ, what should I do? but I am not left without faith. I do believe my never-dying soul will find a resting-place which will make up for all." On the seventeenth, while under much suffering, she said, "Christ was in agony, so that he prayed the Father if it were possible, that cup might pass from him, yet did he say, 'not my will, but thine be done.'" And again: "There is no way to come to the Father, but to follow Christ through suffering." A few days after, she supplicated thus; "O, dearest Jesus, I beg that thou wouldst support me and give me strength to bear all my trials. O, dearest Father, I have none to look to but Thee and Thee alone. I am a poor sufferer. O, my God, do take me to thyself." After this, she was so reduced by the disease as to be unable to say much, but continued patiently to suffer until the twenty-seventh, when she quietly passed away, aged nearly seventy-nine years. On the

Under the apprehension that it would be required of her publicly to bear testimony to the power and sufficiency of divine grace, her mind was greatly humbled, and under the pressure of religious exercise, she thus records her feelings: "Sweetly tendered in my room, and craved for strength, fully and unreservedly, to yield all to Him, who still in mercy visits me; if consistent with divine goodness, may my mind be more illuminated, that I may more clearly distinguish between my own will and the Lord's requirings." She was recorded a minister in 1823; and on this important event she observes: "Feeling some quietude, humble desires are prevalent that I may indeed be watchful. Dearest Lord! be pleased to hear my feeble though sincere aspirations after increasing strength and wisdom. Thou knowest that I feel awfully fearful lest I should bring any shade on thy blessed cause."

Her connection in married life, introduced her into a large family, the duties of which she cheerfully performed with maternal solicitude, and she became closely united in bonds of affection to the several branches of the domestic circle, anxiously promoting their religious and moral welfare.

In ministry, this dear friend was pertinent and edifying, at times close and searching; in the exercise of her gift, she travelled at different intervals in several of the English counties. In

Now we venture to say, that our military and naval officers no more "exclude themselves from other pursuits," than men do in any employment whatever, and that, hardly any class of public

the summer of 1848 her health began to decline; I this obligation should not be permitted to interher demeanour under pain and suffering evinced fere with the efficiency of the service itself." her humble dependence upon the Lord, and the language of her soul was, "not my will, but thine, oh Father, be done!" Some alleviation was permitted, and she so far recovered as to be able to assemble with her friends for divine wor-servants render on an average so small an amount ship; on these occasions, her communications evinced her undiminished interest in the cause of truth and righteousness. In the last meeting she attended, she bowed the knee in solemn supplication, craving for herself and those present, the attainment of perfect purity and holiness, and that this might be the chief concern of their lives. A few days after, she was seized with paralysis, and although consciousness was not entirely effaced, she said but little; she retained a grateful sense of her many mercies, and a fervent affection towards her husband and near connections. Gradually declining, she passed away as falling into a sweet sleep, and we cannot doubt exchanged the tribulations of time, for the blissful joys of eternity.-Annual Monitor.

FAVORITISM SHOWN TO MILITARY MEN.

of service as they do for the compensation they receive. We cannot here go into details in proof of this assertion; but we defy contradiction and challenge a thorough inquiry into the facts of the case. Take the swarms of captains, lieutenants and midshipmen in our navy; and how much service of any real value have they performed for the country during the last thirty years? What can they show in return for the millions on millions lavished upon them every year? Yet all this, it seems, is not enough; the country must pension them through life for these meagre and comparatively worthless services. Indeed, it is political heresy to question this time-hallowed imposition on the people; and every argument, every complaint, every doubt is silenced, not by facts or any decent show of logic, but by a chorus of undeserved, fulsome compliments to these "noble fellows," these "brave defenders of their country," "our gallant navy, the right arm of our defence, the nation's glory." It is by such miserable delusions that we are wards to any other class of public servants? duped into spending some eight or ten millions No; let men of the loftiest intellect, and the pro- sioning through life a class of epauletted drones, for what is of little or no use, and penfoundest and most extensive learning, serve that never fairly earned in their palmiest days their country ever so well, or ever so long, no-one-half of what they received at the time, for body dreams of rewarding them and their posterity with pensions; but, if a lazy, reckless individual, with little capacity and still less. disposition for anything else, suffers himself to be inveigled by a recruiting officer, with his drunken appliances, into the low, brutal business of butchering his fellow men, he is supposed by such services to create for himself a life-long claim on the government for his support, and after his death, for that of his widow and children!

This may be seen in a variety of particulars; but to take as a specimen, that of pensions and

land-bounties.

Who ever heard of such re

It would be amusing, if the thing were not glaringly absurd and unjust, to observe the shallow apologies offered for this sort of favoritism by our public men, nearly all cringing and fawning before the Moloch of war, as if it were the chief idol of the people. The President himself "earnestly recommends the enactment of a law authorizing officers of the army and navy to be retired from the service, when incompetent for its vigorous and active duties, taking care to make suitable provision for those who have faithfully served their country, and awarding distinctions, by retaining in appropriate commands, those who have been particularly conspicuous for gallantry and good conduct. While the obligation of the country to maintain and honor those, who, to the exclusion of other pursuits have devoted themselves to its arduous service,

a

year

their services.

A man who thinks for himself, can hardly repress a smile on hearing the President and Secretary expatiate on the important services of our navy in "giving protection to our commerce and other national interests in the different quarters of the globe." It seems that our war-ships are scattered "in six different squadrons" over the globe; but, if they were all moored and dismantled at our navy-yards, and our merchant-vessels left to rely on the integrity of their dealings, and the kindness of their intercourse with the people they visit in the various parts of the earth, they would be in the long run even more safe than they now are. We are well aware that these ideas may seem strange enough to men whose opinions on such subjects float on the common current of ages; but a little independent reflection would soon convince them of the substantial truth of what we say, and the essential, egregious folly of squandering, as we do, upon our navy for the protection of commerce, more than all the net profits of our whole shipping! Indeed, we are gravely informed of one government steamer employed on the upper lakes, for the protection of our commerce there. Protection against what? Almost as well might the government employ companies of marines to

ride back and forth upon our railways for the, a wrong estimate of time antecedent to the Chrisprotection of freight and passengers.-Ad. of tian period must have made it shorter.

Peace.

NATIONAL VARIETIES.

No circumstance in the natural world is more inexplicable than the diversity of form and color in the human race. It had already begun in the antediluvian world, " for there were giants in the land in those days." No direct mention is made of color at that time, unless the mark set upon Cain, "lest any one finding him should kill him," may allude to it. Perhaps, also, it may be inferred that black people dwelt in Ethiopia, or the land of Cush, which means black in the Hebrew language. At all events, the difference now existing must have arisen after the flood, consequently all must have originated with Noah, whose wife, or the wives of his sons, may have been of different colors, for aught we know.

Darkness of complexion has been attributed to the sun's power from the age of Solomon to this day-"Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me;" and there can be no doubt that, to a certain degree, the opinion is well founded. The invisible rays in the solar beams, which change vegetable colours, and have been employed with such remarkable effect in the Daguerreotype, act upon every substance on which they fall, producing mysterious and wonderful changes in their molecular state-man not excepted.

Other causes must have been combined to occasion all the varieties we now see, otherwise every nation between the tropics would be of the same hue, whereas the sooty Negro inhabits equatorial Africa, the Red man equinoctial America, and both are mixed with fairer tribes. In Asia, the Rohillas, a fair race of Affghan extraction, inhabit the plains north of the Ganges: the BenMany instances have occurred in modern galees and the mountaineers of Nepaul are dark, times, of albinos and red-haired children having and the Mahrattas are yellow. The complexion been born of black parents, and these have trans- of man varies with height and latitude; some of mitted their peculiarities to their descendants for the inhabitants of Himalaya and Hindoo Koosh several generations, but it may be doubted wheth- are fair, and even a red-haired race is found on er pure-blooded white people have had perfectly the latter. There are fair-haired people with blue black offspring. The varieties are much more eyes in the Ruddhua mountains in Africa. The likely to have arisen from the effects of climate, Kabyles, that inhabit the country behind Tunis food, customs, and civilization upon migratory and Algiers, are similar in complexion to the nagroups of mankind; and of such, a few instances tions in high northern latitudes. This corresponhave occurred in historical times, limited, how-dence, however, only maintains with regard to the ever, to small numbers and particular spots; but the great mass of nations had received their distinctive characters at a very early period. The permanency of type is one of the most striking circumstances, and proves the length of time necessary to produce a change in national structure and colour. A nation of Ethiopians existed 3450 years ago, which emigrated from a remote country and settled near Egypt, and there must have been black people before the age of Solomon, otherwise he would not have alluded to colour, even poetically. The national appearance of the Ethiopians, Persians, and Jews, has not varied for more than 3000 years, as appears from the ancient Egyptian paintings in the tomb of Rhameses the Great, discovered at Thebes by Belzoni, in which the countenance of the modern Ethiopian and Persian can be readily recognized, and the Jewish features and colour are identical with those of the Israelites daily met with in London. Civilization is supposed to have great influence on colour, having a tendency to make the dark shade more general, and it appears that, in the crossing of two shades, the offspring takes the complexion of the darker and the form of the fairer. But as there is no instance of a new variety of mankind having been established as a nation since the Christian era, there must either have been a greater energy in the causes of change before that time, or, brief, as the span of man on earth has been,

northern hemisphere, for it is a well-known fact that the varieties of the numerous species in the great southern continents are much more similar in physical characters to the native races of the torrid zone, than any of the aboriginal people of the northern regions. Even supposing that diversity of colour is owing to the sun's rays only, it is scarcely possible to attribute the thick lips, the woolly hair, and the entire difference of form, extending to the very bones and skull, to anything but a concurrence of circumstances, not omitting the invisible influence of electricity, which pervades every part of the earth and airand possibly terrestrial magnetism.

"The flexibility of man's constitution enables him to live in every climate, from the equator to the ever-frozen coasts of Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, and that chiefly by his capability of bearing the most extreme changes of temperature and diet, which are probably the principal causes of variety in his form. It has already been mentioned that oxygen is inhaled with atmospheric air, and also taken in by the pores on the skin; part of it combines chemically with the carbon of the food, and is expired in the form of carbonic acid gas and water; that chemical action is the cause of vital force and heat in man and animals. The quantity of food must be in exact proportion to the quantity of oxygen inhaled, otherwise disease and loss of strength would be the consequence.