468 sincere.' In this situation I remained some the secret communion with my Saviour has been, ly pulling me to the ground and holding me on "My father was not a religious man, and This bright woman assembled her little company one evening in the week for reading the Bible, exhortation and prayer. Such meetings had been continued more than twenty-five years, at the time when this conversation took place, and those of her neighbours who knew her best, bore testimony that they had been conducted, not only with propriety, but also to the religious benefit of many, especially the young people, among whom she may be said to be a mother in Israel. It is the will of our Heavenly Father that His children should be useful one to another in those of larger experience should be willing to their journey through this vale of tears; that instruct the ignorant, and strengthen the weak. One sure indication of the arising of spiritual life "There are diversities in the soul, is a desire to promote the salvation of the souls of others. of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal," I Cor. xii. 4-7. We ought all to be servants in waiting-faithful, not only in the performance of the prescribed services of the day; but also ready to fall in with duties presented to us, which, in the openings and leadings of Providence, arise out of unforeseen events. Many are the occasions constantly occurring, and which the quickened soul will embrace, to do good unto others and thus be made partakers of the sweet promise, "He that watereth shall great house there are not only vessels of gold and be watered also himself," Prov. xi. 25. "In a of silver, but also of wood and of earth." There is no situation in life, however humble, where individuals may not exercise an influence for good over those around them. Little did the Hebrew maid expect, when carried captive by the Syrians, to become of importance to the captain of the host by of the King of Syria, and yet while fulfilling. her duty, in waiting on her Mistress, she was the instrument in leading to the means which Naaman her Master was healed of his leprosy. "Finding our intercourse profitable, we continued to meet to read the Bible, and for religious conversation, and were soon joined by a few other awakened souls. This brought persecution upon us-first, the keen reproaches of my father, who was the more excited, by others telling him to take care of his daughter, or she would lose her senses and drive others mad. By the towns-people, we were treated more roughly, a number of whom broke in upon our How many would be the bright ornaments of little meeting and laid hold on me, saying-they had never believed it possible that an ignorant woman, like myself, knew how to pray, and rude-christian society-how many would be the in COMPARATIVE TABLE. Exhibiting the number of Indictments found in Michigan, during the years 1841 to 1850, inclusive, for murder, manslaughter, and for Assault with intent to Kill-as taken from the Attorney-General's Official Report. Total struments raised up to promote the Redeemer's | plies at length in the negative, giving the statiskingdom in the earth, if all the Lord's visited tics as follows: children were faithful to obey the voice of the "Good Shepherd, who gave his life for the sheep." By nature all have a corrupt heart, and have need of "repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ," in order to produce the precious fruits of the Spirit: Gal. v. 22. All are not called to be ministers of the gospel, or to become missionaries in a foreign land, but none ought to allow the talents with which he is blessed to remain unimproved or unemployed. The banker at his desk, the merchant in his counting-house, the tradesmen in his shop, the artisan and labourer in their daily toil, the servant and handmaid in waiting-all in their usual avocation, may promote the cause of religion, and in gratitude and prayer give praise to the God of all grace, who watches over them by his superintending Providence, and blesses them, not only with a portion of the fatness of the earth, but also with the richness of the dew of heaven. EFFECT OF ABOLISHING CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. The advocates of legal homicide have attempted to sustain their tottering gallows, by asserting that the experiment of its abolition in Michigan, had proved disastrous, causing a great increase of murders. Were the fact of the increase proved, it would by no means establish the inference that it resulted from the abolition of the death penalty; for other causes-among them the Mexican War, and the discharge of a debauched and idle soldiery upon the country-have operated to scourge the whole land with multiplying crimes. Murders, robberies, burglaries and other atrocious crimes have alarmingly increased in our own State, and in other States, where the gallows still claims its human victims. Therefore, the inference that a similar increase in Michigan is owing to the removal of the death punishment, is sheer assumption against the evidence of facts. Murder, Assault, with intent Total of homicidal 18490 1848 1847 18460 Tot 12 18440 1841 1842 1843 0 0 1 1845 OO 100 18500 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 11 12 12 7 9 12 63 10 913 840 161319 9101582 111320 1357 The reader will bear in mind that during the period included in this table, the population of Michigan was rapidly increasing, partly by emigration of the degraded poor of Europe; and that many counties, which in '41 and '42 were a wilderness, were filled with an adventurous, hardy and excitable population in '49 and '50. This official statement, therefore, shows a most gratifying decrease of crime in Michigan, while it has been increasing in other States, where capital punishment is most frequently and certainly inflicted. So much for the lesson of experience.-Pennsylvania Freeman. CURIOSITIES OF RAILWAY TRAVELLING. There are some peculiarities about railway travelling which we do not remember to have seen noticed, however commonplace the mode of transit itself may have become. There is a singular optical illusion, for instance, in going through a tunnel, which nearly every one must have observed, and yet which nobody, as far as we can learn, has thought it worth while to explain; no sooner have you plunged into complete darkness, and the great brassy monster at the head of the train is tearing and wheezing and panting away with you through the gloom, at the rate possibly of twenty miles an hour, than, if you happen to fix your eye on the faintly illuminated brickwork which you are so rapidly dashing past, the apparent movement of the engine will be in a reverse direction to the real; and the general effect will be that of retrogression at a pace, instead of the progression which is taking place in reality. This is altogetherdifferent from the trite illustration of the astronomical lecturer, who reminds us of the apparent movement of the shore when observed from the deck of a steamboat; for in this case it is the damp side of the tunnel that appears to be stationary, and the frame work of the window through which the prospect is presented that seems to be receding; of course the uniformity of the objects visi ble, and the faint light in which they are beheld, materially assist this ocular deception; but the hint thus thrown out may serve as a convenient peg on which passengers may hang a theory of their own, and thus beguile the tedium of their journey in default of more exciting topics of discussion. Not but that the observant eye may find ample scope for employment in the ever-changing variety of landscape, which even on the least picturesque lines will be found constantly coming into view. The most ordinary objects have then a fresh interest imparted to them. You catch a distant glimpse perhaps of a haystack on the brow of an eminence miles away before you. As you proceed, a farm-house, with its out-buildings and granaries to follow, marches right out of the haystack, and takes up its position at the side. Then the angles all change as the line of vision is altered. The farm-house expands, shuts up again, turns itself completely round, a window winks at you for an instant under one of the gables, and then disappears; presently the farmhouse itself vanishes, and a rough, half-shaved cornfield, with sturdy sheaves of wheat staggering about its back, comes running up out of a coppice to overtake the farm. Then, as we hear the pulse of the engine throbbing quicker and quicker, and the telegraph posts seem to have started off into a frantic gallopade along the line, we plunge into a plantation. Long vistas of straggling trees-and leaf-strewn pathways winding in among them-give way to scattered clumps of firs and tangled masses of fern and brushwood, while broken fences come dancing up between, and then shrink down again behind rising knolls covered with a sudden growth of gorse and heather. A pit yawns into a pond; the pond squeezes itself longways into a thin ditch, which turns off sharply at a corner, and leaves a dreamy-looking cow occupying its place.* Then a gate flies out of a thicket; a man leaning over with folded arms grows out of the gate, which spins round into a lodge, and then strides off altogether; while the trees slink away after it, and a momentary glimpse is caught of a fine mansion perched upon rising ground at the back, and which has become suddenly disentangled There is an optical deception, not mentioned above, which I have frequently observed while riding on railroads. If while passing a piece of woodland, we fix the eye on a tree in the interior of the tract, the rest of the trees which are seen in nearly the same direction; will appear to be running round the one on which the eye is fixed. Those more remote than the fixed one seeming to move in the same direction as the car; and the nearer ones, in the opposite course. And so complete is the optical deception, when the transit on the road is both smooth and rapid, that an unreasoning observer might be nearly convinced that the trees were actually in mo tion.-ED. from the woods surrounding it. You have hardly time to hazard a guess concerning the architecture, before a sloping bank comes sliding in between, and you find yourself in a deep cutting, with the soft snowy steam curling up the sides in ample folds, and rolling its billows of white vapor over the bright green grass, that seems all the fresher for the welcome moisture. Then comes the open country again-a purple outline of distant hills, with a cloud or two resting lazily upon them; a long-drawn shriek from the valvewhistle, a few moments of slackened speed, and a gradual panoramic movement of sheds, hoardings, cattle-trucks, and piled-up packages, and we emerge upon a station, with a bustling company of anxious passengers ranged along the platform eager for our arrival. To us, at least, familiarity with the many phases of railroad travelling has not engendered the proverbial consequence. The refreshment station at Wolverton is always impressed upon our mind as a perpetual marvel. To witness those well-stocked tables, one moment displaying the prodigal richness of a lord mayor's feast, and the next to behold this scene of gastronomical fertility laid bare, as the simoom of a hundred voracious appetites sweeps across the tempting viands and leaves all blank behind it, is a theme of exhaustless wonderment. We involuntarily think of the 182,500 Banbury cakes that are here annually consumed by pastry-loving passengers; and of the 70,000 bottles of stout that are uncorked every year to quench the thirst of these fleeting customers. We look with a proper veneration upon every one of the eighty-five pigs here maintained, and, who, after being from their birth most kindly treated and most luxuriously fed, are annually promoted by seniority, one after another, into an indefinite number of pork pies, the vacancies caused by the retirement of these veterans being constantly supplied by the acquisition of fresh recruits. The returns of the railway company show that upward of seven millions of passengers are annually draughted through Wolverton on their way northward. Making a fair deduction for those who, from lack of means or inclination, do not avail themselves of the good things here provided, there is yet a startling number of customers to be supplied. Fancy the three million mouths that, on tables the satisfaction of their appetite, craving the lowest average, annually demand at these at one time their accustomed sustenance in one vast aggregate of hunger. It is like having to undertake the feeding of the entire population of London. The mouth of Gargantua is but a faint type of even one day's voracity; and all this is devoured in a spot which, hardly twenty years ago, was unmarked upon the map, a mere streak of pasture-land on the banks of the Grand Junction canal. Surely this is not one of the least astonishing feats wrought by railway magic.Harper's Magazine. Report of the Committee of the Liverpool Friends, for the abolition of beer houses; which, having Total Abstinence Association. been generally signed by Friends, was transmit ted to the Earl for presentation to the House of Lords. In presenting a Report of the operations of the Liverpool Friends Total Abstinence Association during the first year of its existence as an organganized body, the committee feel that though there may be no very striking information or imposing results to lay before the Friends of the temperance movement, yet there is cause for encouragement in the steady progress made by temperance principles among Friends, and the gradual accession to the number of its members in the course of the year. There are few subjects which require more judicious care in the advocacy, than that of Total Abstinence from Intoxicating Drinks. It is one on which every individual has, undoubtedly, a right to exercise private judgment; but we believe it is intimately connected with the best welfare of every individual. In conclusion, the Committee express a hope that the Society may be preserved from the spirit of judging or condemning those who may differ from them, but rather seek to convince them; and they trust that the future proceedings of the Society may be marked by the same harmony which has hithero characterized them. Signed on behalf of the Committee. JOSEPH CROSSFIELD, Secretary. Liverpool 2d Month 25th, 1851. KEROSENE GAS. Friends are aware that the formation of this association took place soon after the meeting held with the Friends of Liverpool and its vicinity, in 2d month last; on which occasion addresses were delivered by Samuel Bowly and Edward Smith. At the close of that evening fifty-two signatures were affixed to the simple form adopted by the society:-"We agree to abstain from the use of all intoxicating liquors as a beverage." The committee did not see their way to adopt any very active means for promoting the object, and their subsequent operations were chiefly confined We hear that this new gas, invented and pato the occasional distribution of tracts among tented by Dr. Gesner, is now being brought Friends, and those connected with Friends, in into use in Halifax, and that in colour and brilLiverpool and the neighborhood. A more power-liancy it is greatly superior to the gas made from ful means, however, of impressing the sub- coals, besides being less offensive, and furnished ject upon the notice of Friends has been found in at a very small cost. the quiet steady influence of example on the part of those who have signed the temperance agreement; and to this agency the committee mainly attribute the uninterrupted progress of the society, and the gradual accession to the number of its members. In the 11th month last, our friend Samuel Bowly again kindly addressed Friends on this deeply interesting question; and on that occasion was joined by James Backhouse, of York. The evening proved exceedingly stormy, and was so far unfavorable. There was, however, a larger attendance than could have been expected under the circumstances, and eight signatures more added at the close of the address. Up to the present time, 138 signatures have been received; and though three of the individuals have ceased to reside in Liverpool, and consequently are no longer members of this local association, it is gratifying to state that only three individuals have withdrawn their names from the register. The society, therefore, now numbers 132 members. The continuance of the Raven Hotel, at Hardshaw, belonging to Friends, as a licensed house for the sale of intoxicating liquors, having attracted the notice of the Committee, they prepared and presented an address to the trustees of the Hardshaw Estates, commending the whole bearings of the case to their serious consideration. The Committee also prepared a petition to the House of Lords, in favour of the motion about to be laid before the house by the Earl of Harrowby' The St. John's (N. B.) Courier remarks: "The drug store of Mr. Morton, and the book store of Mr. Gossip next door, are both lighted from a small gasometer and apparatus set up on the premises of Mr. Morton, the whole expense of which was only £6. The Dartmouth Ferry Company are putting up a gasometer on their premises at Dartmouth, to light their wharves and premises at night, and the houses in the vicinity of the ferry; the gasometer and apparatus in this case are to cost only £30; the gas can be made by any person of ordinary intelligence at intervals as required. The gas, as its name implies, is of a greenish tinge, and very grateful to the eye. Since its introduction into Halifax, the Gas Company have reduced the price of their gas to two shillings per thousand feet: but a farther large reduction must take place, or the Kerosene gas will completely supersede them. The great gas monopoly which has so long existed in London has at length been broken up, and the citizens of London now get their gas at five shillings per thousand feet, instead of sixteen shillings as formerly. We presume a similar reduction will soon take place in Halifax and elsewhere. The Kerosene gas is now made in Halifax from the Trinidad asphaltum, which, however, is not so pure as that from the Petticodiac in this province. The vein of twelve feet recently opened in Albert, is now being vigorously worked, but we have heard that orders are coming in from the United States faster than they can be supplied, and additional workings are being commenced. Dr. Gesner, through the, of a religious melancholy; and broadly insinuates good offices of the Earl of Dundonald, has obtained a patent for his gas from the Spanish government, and is now on his way to Havana to light that city with his gas under contract. Asphaltum, similar to that found in Trinidad, exists in great abundance in Cuba, in the immediate vicinity of Havana. One great advantage of the Kerosene gas is, that it can be had in country houses and detached residences, without reference to gas works at all, and being made at home,' it furnishes the best of light, on terms ridiculously cheap, as compared with the present price of coal gas."-Farmer and Mechanic. FRIENDS' REVIEW. PHILADELPHIA, FOURTH MONTH 12, 1851. that the priest who prescribed tobacco and singing psalms as a remedy, understood the disease under which he was suffering. Yet he afterwards declares, that out of this school of anguish, "George Fox emerged, not only a new, but, to some extent, a gifted man. His own earnest nature supplied the springs of eloquence; familiarity with the pure and nervous diction of the English Bible supplied him with a vehicle; and when the unlettered shoemaker began to preach the comfort which he had found in his own troubled soul, he astonished even his most sober hearers, with the force and dignity of his language. Fox himself regarded his fluency as a miracle; and from that time forth he never doubted that he had received an appointment from God to deliver a new gospel to mankind. From that day he waged war against all creeds and councils, prophets and pretenders, lords, magistrates, and private individuals, who refused to accept him as their teacher, and was ready to inflict or to suffer any amount of pain or privation for opinion's sake.”✦ In a subsequent page he says, "Fox had got an idea in his mind, . . . . that there lies concealed in the mind of every man a certain portion of Divine light, a real spark of the infallible God-head. In this mysterious light the mystics had found the highest guide of human conduct, and Fox had somewhere caught at the doctrine. It suited his restless and imperious instincts. When he began to preach the doctrine, he took its boldest forms. The inner light, he said, was above the outward teaching. Law, history, experience, revelation itself was liable to error; the Divine light was alone infallible. Of the diagnosis of his case he had but a confused and imperfect notion; whether this inner light was the thing some men call conscience, others reason, was a question he never troubled himself to answer. . . . . . . . The inner light was enough for him, and for all men. Even the Scriptures were to some extent superfluous; and he ventured to reject them, when they could not be made to harmonize with the light within."+ In our last number a few remarks were introduced, relative to the recently published biography of William Penn. The editor fully appreciates the fidelity with which the author of that work has vindicated the political sagacity and moral integ rity of the founder of Pennsylvania. The uncharitable insinuations, and unauthorized accusations of the English historian, who has blackened his pages by calumnies long forgotten, or never believed by the cotemporaries of W. Penn, have certainly been exposed in a manner and with a force, which seems to set reply at defiance. It is pleasing, also, to the admirers of William Penn, to find the error corrected into which a late American historian had fallen. Though the fact that some Friends held slaves until late in the 18th century, is undeniable, the declaration of Bancroft, that William Penn “died a slaveholder," sounds rather harshly on the ear of a Pennsylvanian. Our author has traced this assertion to its source, and found it originating in the supposed reminiscences of an old inhabitant of Philadelphia, who represented, long after the death of William Penn, that he had left a body servant, of the name of Warder, in possession of his family. It turns out, however, that the slave in question was sold in 1733, fifteen years after W. For these expositions of the doctrines and opinPenn's death, by Joseph Warder to Thomas Penn. ions of George Fox, our author refers to the writThis is shown by the bill of sale, which is still ex-ings of Friends, and chiefly to those of George Fox tant. The slave, as is frequently done, assumed the surname of the master in whose house he was born. Still the regret expressed in our last number is not diminished by the further perusal of the volume, to find the religious character of William Penn, and of the Society of which he was a conspicuous member, so imperfectly understood, and consequently misrepresented. He speaks of the troubles of George Fox, previous to his engagement in the public ministry, in a manner clearly indicating a belief that they were little else than the workings himself; and yet, to those who are acquainted with the principles and doctrines of our primitive Friends, this portrait must appear a grossly distorted caricature. So far was George Fox from believing that he was commissioned to deliver a new gospel to mankind, that he always professed to teach the doctrines which the prophets and apostles proclaimed. He always defended his doctrines by showing their conformity to the testimony of the scriptures; and he reproved the priests and pro |
