and occasionally visits at the house by men who introduce themselves as former refuge boys, and express their gratitude for what the institution did for them. out of the knowledge of their old associates and outgrown their former tastes. This is the third time the Managers of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile DelinThe method and spirit of the treatment pursued quents have had to provide buildings. They rein the Refuge are expressed in the subjoined ex-mained on the Arsenal site till 1839, when they tract from one of the Annual Reports of the Society:-"It takes the place of a parent, and it enforces the mild and salutary discipline of a parent. Its main object, that of reformation, is never lost sight of, in any of its regulations, in all its discipline. From the entrance of the child he becomes subject to a routine of duties having in view mental education, moral improvement, and mechanical skill. Order and method, it is the effect of the system practically to enforce. His habits of life undergo a great and thorough change. At such tender age, past impressions are not ineffaceable, and custom, assisted by principle, soon changes a character. When again he goes into the world to take his place among men, he goes without the brand of infamy on his brow. His misdeeds have been forgotten; he starts afresh from a new and equal platform; his former associations have been ruptured; the haunts of vice are not familiar; he has an intelligence that has been cultivated: he at least recognizes the principles of virtue and right; he has the cunning of his right hand to furnish him with honest means of life. To the world he has been a slumberer, and the world has an opinion to form of a stranger. "He knows that it rests with himself to determine what that opinion shall be, and light, and knowledge, and habits are between him and evil." The subsequent disposition of the children we regard as an important part of the process of restoration. After an average residence in the house of a year or more, the boys are bound out in the country to farming or trades, the girls to domestic service. By this means, they are brought under the influence of moral families to which they would never have had access under other circumstances. To the girl, the influence of a well ordered family, the tone of refinement, the moral atmosphere which surrounds her in all her domestic employments, are a particularly valuable means of awakening a sense of delicacy and an appreciation of the beauty of a virtuous womanly character. removed to their present location at the foot of twenty-third street, on the East River. They are now compelled to move again. The city has encompassed them, and the premises are altogether insufficient for the exigencies of the day. For a portion of the year the Male Department is obliged to close its doors. The vast increase of vice and destitution among our youthful population, as shown in the Reports of the Chief of Police, warned the Managers to fulfil their duty by striving to erect extensive buildings, arranged for the separate accommodation of the various grades of outcasts and delinquents, in which marked discriminations in discipline might be introduced, fresh incentives supplied to good behavior, and the reformatory powers of the institution greatly augmented. Fifteen years has been the term of occupation on each of the former locations, about the usual period for a general rebuilding of the city or, at least, the adaptation of its tenements to new purposes. The House of Refuge is now safely, conveniently and admirably located where streets cannot cut through the premises, and the tide of the city's population can never dash against its walls. The site, which may be said to have been unoccupied, being no longer available as a place of interment, was conveyed to the Institution by the Common Council, the Society conveying to the city at the same time a piece of ground on Ward's Island, containing ten acres, which is now used as a Potter's Field. This portion of Randall's Island is topographically a separate and distinct location, and the occupation of it for a House of Refuge will not interfere in any way with the occupation of the north end for Farm Schools or any other kindred purpose. We mean to be good neighbors with the Governors of the Alms House, only that we intend to compete with them in the supply of apprentices, and gain, if we can, the reputation of furnishing the most useful and best behaved children. Our formidable wall of enclosure will protect our children from the contamination of theirs, or vice versa, as the case may be. thousand children. THE ONE BOOK. With our older boys, a different course is pur- The new House of Refuge when completed, sued. They would be unmanageable as appren- is expected to furnish accommodations for one tices, and would run away. They are shipped, with their own and friends' consent, on whaling voyages. Remarkable success has attended these cases. The very energy which under other circumstances would have led them to ruin is here turned to good account. The discipline of the long voyage, the excitement of the new life, and companionship with men of generous independent spirit, constitute the appliances which they need, and when they come home, they have grown Fond as you are of books, there is only one that you will value at last; and with your head on your pillow, you will hardly care to be told, that a new volume of the great history is published, or a marvellous epic, out-peering all its predecessors. "No; read me the twenty-third present dependent condition, supplies a melancholy picture of British justice and humanity. Still, deeply as the advocates of religion and humanity must deplore the acts of violence and wrong which have marked the intercourse between the people of these opposite regions of the globe, it is some consolation to learn that a way has been opened, through the instrumentality of British missionaries, to diffuse the Holy Scriptures, and the sacred truths they unfold, among a peo Psalm. Let me hear the fourteenth of John." | When your strength sinks yet lower-when your interess in all under the sun has faded away, and ebbing life affords not even a parting tear-it will, for a moment, rally the worn faculties to hear the whisper, "My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." And when all is over-when to orphan children and desolate kin-ple so involved in the darkness of paganism. If dred the world is grown a great sepulchre, and the most tender friends are vain comforterswhen letters of condolence lie unopened, and words of compassion fall like hail-stones on the heart, the first thing that sends a warm ray into the gloom, and brings to the eye, tears that are not bitter, is when Jesus himself breaks the silence, and you hear, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." FRIENDS' REVIEW. PHILADELPHIA, ELEVENTH MONTH 5, 1853. BALTIMORE YEARLY MEETING.--When this week's number was prepared for the press, no written communication relative to the proceedings of that body, had come to hand. The editor, however, has learned from several friends who were present, that the Meeting, which convened on the 24th of last month, was quite as large as it has usually been during several of the latter years; a number of ministers from other Yearly Meetings being in attendance. Though the information obtained is not sufficiently specific to authorize any attempt to detail the proceedings, we have the satisfaction to understand that a comfortable degree of harmony and Christian feeling was manifested. The Meeting came to a close on Fifth day evening, the 27th of the month. When the printed minutes come to hand, as it is expected they soon will, further notice of the Meeting will probably be given. The article "Darkness and Dawn in India," which is copied into this number, with some slight abridgments, from the S. S. Journal, may, with the needful allowance for the partiality of the author, be regarded as evidence that the English are rendering some returns to the benighted inhabitants of India, for the injuries and oppression which have been dealt out to them. The population of India have been estimated at 150,000,000, of whom two-thirds are said to be British subjects. The manner in which these almost countless millions were brought into their the labors of a comparatively few devoted messengers of the gospel have been productive of the happy results attributed to them, how incalculable must the benefits have proved if the profess ors of Christianity who visited that continent, had been generally endued with the spirit of the gospel? In the 5th volume of the Review, page 148, was copied an Address from the American Peace Society, together with the form of a Petition to the Senate and House of Representatives, urging them to procure, whenever practicable, the insertion of a provision, in their treaties with foreign nations, for referring to arbitrators all questions which may arise between them, which they cannot adjust by diplomacy. There was also introduced into our 6th volume, p. 351, a report on the same subject from a committee of the Legislature of Vermont. In the present number, a place is given to an Address from the same Society urging immediate action, on the part of the advocates of universal peace, to secure without needless delay such contracts with all the governments with which the United States have treaty stipulations, as will prevent in future a resort to arms for the decision of disputed questions. Convinced as the editor has long been, that the true and effectual antidote to national contests lies much deeper than national policy or diplomatic stipulations can reach-even the subjugation of the passions, from which wars and fightings spring-a subjugation which nothing less than the spirit and power of Christianity can effectually accomplish; still, he must cordially second and approve every well-directed effort to attract the attention of the community to the cultivation of peaceful relations with all the world. Though the passions, in which wars originate, are unquestionably a part of the fallen nature of man, yet concentration and development of these passions into actual operation, are greatly indebted to artificial excitement; and we cannot shut our eyes to the conviction that we are surrounded by circumstances calculated to produce that excitement. The frequent exhibition of military parades, the provision in all the States to secure at least the the The iron chains of caste have been snapped asunder as a thread of tow is broken when it nominal instruction of the young men in the use of arms, the elevation of candidates to high civil stations on account of their heroism, and the ap-toucheth the fire. The haughty Brahmin has plause bestowed upon military achievements, all been penetrated by the living word; and, alive these have a powerful influence in stimulating alike to the terror of the law and the tidings of the spirit of war in the ardent and inconsiderate the gospel, he has ceased to be the teacher of minds of youth. Whatever, therefore, operates to heathen error, and, laying aside the badges of his counteract these tendencies, and to exalt and priesthood, he has sat down as an humble disciestablish in the youthful mind, the superior excel-ple at the feet of Him who is meek and lowly of heart, and learned of him. lency of peace, deserves encouragement. MARRIED, On the 19th of last month, at Spring Meeting, Hendricks Co., Indiana, ELIAS STUART to ADALINE W. KENDALL, members of Millrun Monthly Meeting. On the same day, at Friends' Meeting, at Grassyrun, Clinton Co., Ohio, DAVID WALTHALL to Louisa, daughter of John and Hannah Carter. DIED,—At Oak Ridge, near Rahway, N. J., on the 18th of last month, JOHN PEARCE, in the 89th year of his age, a member of Rahway and Plainfield Monthly Meeting. THE DARKNESS AND THE DAWN IN INDIA. One of the greatest boons the missionaries have bestowed on India is the translation of the Scriptures into the various languages of that land. This is a pledge of the missionary's confidence in the self-evidencing power of the Bible, and of his desire to give the Holy Scriptures to the Indian nations in their divine purity, free of all admixture or alloy. The entire Bible has been translated into ten languages, and the New Testament into fourteen. The natives, on opening the Scriptures, are astonished to find that they treat of plain and important matters which they can understand, and not of unintelligible mysteries like their own sacred books; while they regard the readiness with which we distribute them and permit them to be read as a proof of our own belief that they are divine. The creation of a vernacular Christian literature is another boon conferred by the missionaries on India. And closely connected with the operations of the press is the erection of schools and seminaries of Christian and general knowledge. There now exist in India, in connection with the missionary enterprise, 2007 schools, with 79,259 pupils, being triple the number of those instructed by government. The mission stations are now 316 in number. At all these the gospel is preached, as well as in extensive itineracies through villages, towns, and provinces. The number of ordained missionaries is 48, and of native catechists, 698. Numerous native congregations have been formed, as the result of this agency. At least 338 have already been established in India, with a body of 18,480 communicants, and a constituency of 112,425 nominal native Christians, old and young. The The eager merchant of India has found the pearl of great price, and parted with all his substance to obtain its possession. The humble Shudra has attained to the liberty of the children of God, and has found his delight in the service of Christ. The despised outcast, recovered and enobled by the truth, has been gathered into the fold of the good Shepherd. The besotted devotee has been cleansed from the ashes of his humiliation and hypocrisy. The deluded pilgrim has been arrested on his long and fruitless journey to the shrines of superstition, and has turned his face towards Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. self-tormentor has cast aside the instruments of his torture, and looked upon Him who was "wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities." The sensitive and scrupulous Budhist has become tender to his own soul, and to the exalted Saviour in heaven he has committed his spirit. The watchful Magi have seen the Star hovering over Bethlehem, and they have been so guided by it as to come and worship Him who is born King of the Jews. The fierce followers of the false prophet of Mecca have been delivered from their errors, and they have acknowledged, both by their lips and by their lives, Jesus of Nazareth to be Lord and Christ. The souls of children have been here wooed to the Saviour; and out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hath the Lord perfected praise. The young man, rejoicing in his youth, with his heart cheering him, and walking in the ways of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes, has been brought to know that for all these things God will bring him into judgment. The aged man, found in the market at the eleventh hour, has been called to the vineyard, and participated in the bounty of its great Master. The church, the school, and the public highway, the hamlet and the city, stations and itineracies, the early morn, the noon of day, and the advance of night,-all diversities. of place, of instrumentality, and of time,-have been acknowledged and blessed by the great Head of the Church. Though self-deceivers and hypocrites have not been unknown, many converts have been genuine. They have been truly the monuments of the Lord's mercy. They have witnessed a good confession before many witnesses. Some of them have taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods. Many of them have lost friends, property and employment, suffered civil excommunication, and been reproached, hated, and maligned. We testify in regard to them. that which we have seen, and that which we have heard. They are witnesses to the truth-modern confessors. Their conversion and conduct confirm our faith and encourage our hope; and rebuke the adversaries of the gospel. We rejoice over them, when they repent and turn unto the Lord. We may glory in them as the 'firstfruits of India unto Christ,' acknowledging His grace in bringing them to maturity; saluting them, however humble may be their circumstances, as our brethren beloved in the Lord, seeking for them by fervent prayer the divine blessing, and consecrating them to the divine service. Precious are they in themselves, and precious as a foretaste of that great harvest of souls which will certainly, and perhaps speedily, be reaped in India."-S. S. Journal. A Testimony of Kingston Monthly Meeting, England, concerning JOHN SHARP, deceased. He was the son of Isaac and Mary Sharp, of Brighton, and was born there, on the 4th of the 2nd month, 1812. We believe it right to give forth a testimony concerning this our dear friend. In his watchful and circumspect life, we have seen the truth of the Apostle's declaration, that "the just shall live by faith,"-faith in the goodness and mercy of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; and in the immediate guidance of his Holy Spirit, manifesting, to the attentive and obedient mind, the path of duty, into which it is evident this our dear friend was turned in early life. He was educated at Friends' School, Islington Road; and previous to attaining his fourteenth year he expressed a wish to become an apprentice in the Institution, which took place after its removal to Croydon. His conduct during this interesting period of his life was such as to gain for him the regard and esteem of his friends. From his own private memoranda, it appears he was early favored with some precious visitations of heavenly love; and, by a submission to the operation of the Holy Spirit, the work of righteousness was carried forward in his heart. He was diligent in the discharge of his various duties; and by early rising and steady application he acquired much valuable information, and became well qualified to impart instruction to those who were placed under his care. On the 10th of 1st month, 1830, he writes:"May I be more and more concerned to wait daily, and oftener than the day, for a renewal of strength; for without Divine assistance, my endeavor to discharge my very important duties aright, will be unavailing." The 4th of the 2nd mo. was the 18th anniversary of his birth, on which he remarks:"Desires have arisen in my mind that I may press forward with increasing ardor; and in a state of child-like simplicity place my dependance upon Him who is mighty to save, and able to deliver." Previous to the expiration of his apprenticeship, he offered himself as an assistant in the School, under the belief that it was right for him so to do. He was appointed to that station, and fulfilled his duties to the satisfaction of the Committee. On the 1st of 1st mo. 1837, we find the following memorandum:-" Give me, O Lord! a willingness to make a full surrender of my soul to Thee, and to withhold nothing which thou art pleased to call for at my hand." He further remarks:-"It seems to me increasingly evident that the time is drawing near, in which, if obedience keep pace with knowledge, it will devolve upon me to make, in some way, a more public acknowledgment of a desire to be found on the Lord's side, endeavoring to fill up, in humble dependance upon Him, that place in the Society, and in the Church, which he may be pleased to manifest as his will concerning me." As time passed on, his increase in religious experience became apparent; and in his memoranda desires are expressed for an evidence of the forgiveness of his sins, for the sake of Him "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness." nah Irwin, on the 22nd of the 8th month, 1837; He was united in marriage to his friend Hanand in the year 1842, he was appointed to the important station of Superintendent of the School, under the care of the Quarterly Meeting of London and Middlesex, an office for which he proved himself to be fully qualified. The integrity and uprightness of his conduct, the impartial justice which he kindly administered to the children and others of the establishment, were conspicuous, and afforded much satisfaction to the Committee. The following extract from his journal, dated Our dear friend's first public communication 4th of 10th month, 1829, shows his fervent de- in the ministry was in the year 1843, under, as sires for Divine direction:-"Began the day he expressed himself, "a renewed evidence that with secret prayer to the Lord, for assistance in the Lord hath not forgotten to be gracious; that the discharge of my duty. Oh! for the conti- He hath not in anger shut up his tender mernued aid of the Holy Spirit, to enable me to walk cies; but that like as a father pitieth his chilin the narrow way, that leads to life and everlast-dren, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." ing happiness." On the 23rd of 1st month, 1849, he wrote:"Oh, Lord, I am oppressed! undertake for me. The darkness and the Dawn in India," by John I desire to serve thee faithfully, and to commit Wilson, Bombay. my all to thee. Give me to see more and more clearly the way in which thou wouldst have me walk; grant the restraining as well as the constraining influence of thy Holy Spirit; preserve me in humility and fear; and enable me to run in the way of thy commandments." * He was recorded a minister by this Meeting, in the year 1849. Upon this weighty subject he wrote as follows:-"I have turned over some of the pages of my past experience, and contemplate, with adoration and gratitude the evidences of Almighty goodness in protecting and preserving me thus far. * * It was from Him, as I reverently believe, that I received, in early life, the intimation that, if faithful, I should at some time be called to the sacred work of the ministry; it was from Him, I am also enabled to believe, that I did receive the call to that work; and it is to Him that I now desire, in humility and fear, but with sincerity of heart, to devote the residue of my days. Oh! for an increase of watchfulness over my own thoughts, over my own family, and over the large household under my charge. And may I be favored also to watch with increasing diligence, to discover the pointings of the Divine finger to any service which may be allotted, either in public or more privately." In the spring of 1850, he was appointed, with four other Friends, by the Meeting for Sufferings, to visit the Two Months Meeting of Friends of Pyrmont and Minden. In alluding to it in his journal, he says:-"I went out poor, and returned empty; but through Divine goodness we were not left to ourselves in the time of need a little help was granted, as from the sanctuary, and a degree of ability to labor, beyond what I could have asked or thought; for which my soul desires, in reverent gratitude, to return thanks to our Almighty Helper." In 1852, the Meeting for Sufferings appointed a deputation to visit those who profess our principles in the South of France. Our dear friend believed it to be his religious duty to offer to accompany them on that service, which was quite satisfactory to the Meeting, and his friends. In this visit he was much interested, and frequently engaged in the ministry. He was favored to return home, with the sweet reward of peace. The private journal of our beloved friend clearly portrays the spirit of watchfulness and prayer in which he dwelt, and his daily endeavors rightly to discharge all his civil and religious duties, as a husband, a father, and as the head of so large and important an establishment. We have to testify that his ministry was sound and edifying, evidently under the Divine anointing, and seasoned with grace, to the tendering our spirits before the Lord. He occasionally visited some neighboring Meetings; but feeling the weight of responsibility that was resting upon him, he was very careful not to leave home without some pressing call to religious service. For the extension of judicious care over the apprentices and assistants, he was remarkably gifted; and he was successfully occupied in the endeavor to train them up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." They loved and esteemed him; and many there are who have cause to remember him with feelings of gratitude and love. He took a large share in the instruction of the children in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. The simple, but interesting, manner in which this was imparted was well calculated to promote religious feelings in their tender minds. At the evening reading of the Scriptures, and the writings of our worthy predecessors, he occasionally extended counsel and encouragement; whilst at other times the voice of prayer and thanksgiving was heard on their behalf. In In the autumn of 1852, illness was prevalent in the School, for several months, which, in addition to the very serious illness of his beloved wife, deeply affected him. Much was he tried as one child after another was attacked with feverish symptoms. He watched over them as with parental care and love, until he was himself much overdone, and seriously unwell. On the following day, he was confined to his bed; and much anxiety was awakened on his behalf. the afternoon of the succeeding day he went into an adjoining room, to see his dear invalid wife. This last interview proved a sorrowful source of consolation to them both. They parted to meet no more on earth. Typhus fever rapidly increased to a fearful extent. The mental powers of this faithful servant of the Lord soon gave way. An attack of apoplexy followed, and a release from suffering was nigh at hand. were, however, brief intervals of consciousness, during which he sweetly recognized some of his relatives and friends who were permitted (at times) to enter the chamber of death; and on one of these occasions, when asked by his brother, who tenderly waited on him, if he "felt peaceful," he replied, with emphasis, "O, yes.' The exemplary life of this dear friend terminated on the 6th of 1st month, 1853, in the 41st year of his age. He had been recorded a minister three years. His remains were interred at Croydon, on the First-day following; and the occasion was a solemn and instructive one, long to be remembered. There In concluding this testimony concerning our friend, endeared to us by the ties of Christian regard and fellowship, we cannot do less than express the sense we feel of the great loss we have sustained by his removal, as in the midst of his days, even when his usefulness in the Church and in his vocation was increasingly conspicuous. There are some still left behind who watched in him the early bud, the opening flower, and the fruit ripened for Heaven, where, we undoubtingly believe, his redeemed spirit is at rest, with his Saviour and his God, for evermore. |