overwhelmed her as to make the other members of the family apprehensive of her safety. To Mrs. Scott, the needy never appealed in vain. Her ear, her heart and hand, were ever open to their claims. In her devotions, she was exceedingly exact and regular for one of her years. She never, either morning or evening, forgot the Throne of Grace; nor, from the time she learnt to lisp the Lord's prayer at her mother's knee, did she ever omit secret prayer. She read at least one chapter in the Bible a day; and in this way, during her short life, she succeeded in reading it through repeatedly. She had committed nearly all of the New Testament to memory. And so particular was she in the performance of these pious duties, that she has been known, after retiring to rest, to arise and read the chapter in order, which some other duty had caused her to omit or forget, at her regular hour of reading. She never invented or framed an excuse for not going to meeting, when it was possible for her to go. Her place there was always filled. This lovely Christian wife and youthful mother died as she had lived. Dying and living in the fear of the Lord, was the jewel of her soul. So, as it is written, we may say of her: "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." [The example of so amiable and excellent a sister-of one whose Christian virtues shone so brightly-is better than an essay on the personal and relative virtues of a Christian wife and mother. My own personal acquaintance with this excellent sister confirms my assurance, that in all this there is no exaggeration.-A. C.] On the 27th December, 1850, aged 17 months, MARY C., daughter of John and Mary Scott, of Allegheny, Pa. This dear babe, and heir of the Kingdom of Heaven, had just learned to lisp the name of its surviving parent, when death suddenly laid his hand upon her. After four days' sickness, she fell sweetly and calmly asleep. She struggled not with the King of Terrors; not a muscle gave evidence of pain. To the eye of the beholder, it was but a lovely infant dropping placidly into temporary repose. It was her last sleep. Her undefiled soul passed away to the spirit landto the bosom of our God. We are glad to say with the Redeemer: "Of such is the Kingdom of God." Death has made a heavy draught upon the family of our Bro. Samuel Church this year. There have died of his kindred as follows, viz: 1. Mary H. Scott, his daughter, as above; 2. Wm. Church, his father, a singularly gifted Christian; 3. Charl's Church, his son, a lovely infaut boy; 4. Mary C. Scott, as above. Prosperity was the blessing of the law, and adversity is the blessing of the gospel. But how gladdening to the heart to know that our "affliction cometh not forth of the dust; that our trouble springeth not out of the ground." How rejoicing to the soul to be assured that all our sorrows arise from a rational source-an all-wise God-by whom they are ministered and meted out to us with infinite wisdom and mercy; and made, both in matter and measure, to meet the necessities of our nature and character. All our afflictions point to our particular improvement in the life and conversation of the gospel, that we may at last inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. "When I cried unto thee thou answeredst me and strengthtendst me with strength in my soul." WALTER SCOTT. [Will the Christian Age please copy?] HILLSBOROUGH, King and Queen Co., Va., Oct. 21, 1850. Died, suddenly, on the morning of the 13th inst., Elder WM. SOUTHWOOD, at the residence of Thos. Fauntleroy, Esq., of this courty. Elder Southwood was one of the most intelligent preachers of the Baptist denomi nation in this section; and, better than all, he was a godly man. He was proverbial for his candor and the transparency of his character. Such men are not appreciated by the deceitful and unjust world. In the demise of such a man the whole community have sustained a loss. He was in the 65th year of his age. He leaves a lonely and deeply afflicted widow. May the God whom he so faithfully served, be her husband and friend-“a present help in every time of need." R. Y. H. [Bro. Southwood was a native of England-a brother Baptist, with whom I had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance, and for whom I cherished a high respect. He was frank and independent, and when he differed from his Baptist brethren, he did not hesitate to avow it. I had the pleasure of a letter from him not long before his death. Little, then, did I expect so soon to hear of his translation from earth to Paradise. While I am sorry that he is taken from us, I rejoice in the hope that he has entered into rest.-A. C.] CHURCH IN WASHINGTON CITY. BALTIMORE, Md., December, 1850. Brother Campbell: The congregation of Disciples in Baltimore, believing that the honor of their Divine Master would be promoted by a co-operation effort on the part of all his followers in Maryland, addressed circulars to all the churches, inquiring whether they would agree to, and be represented in, a general meeting, to be held in our city, to devise the ways and means of carrying out the above object. Among the rest, we addressed a circular to the congregation in Washington, D. C. After responding in the affirmative to our inquiry, they call our attention to the fact, that they are without a suitable place of worship, and direct our attention to the announcement of the fact in the Harbinger, and the appeal to the brotherhood for assistance and sympathy. Whereupon, our congregation determined to make an effort in their behalf, according to the plan proposed below. The result of which was the $40 which we herewith enclose, (and the receipt of which you will please acknowledge,) with your consent, to be the receiver of what may hereafter be collected. Our plan has been to take a contribution of twenty-five cents from each member of the congregation, for this purpose. The amount would scarcely be felt by any one, and yet it would easily be perceived, that if the plan was adopted by all our churches, the brethren in Washington would soon have a comfortable house to meet in; the brethren from a distance, visiting the city, would enjoy the blessings and advantages of the Lord's institutions, and good might, in this way, be accomplished, beyond our most sanguine expectations. The only difficulty that could possibly occur in relation to the matter, would be the trouble it would give the Elders of the different congregations, and we trust there are none of our brethren, occupying such a position, that would hesitate, for one moment, to engage in so laudable an enterprise. Respectfully asking your aid and assistance in this matter, we submit it to your consideration and attention. Signed on behalf of the congregation. WM. M'CLENAHAN, Elders. MUCH has been said and much written on a spiritual world, and yet comparatively few have thought much on the subject, in the amplitude of its bearings upon our behavior and destiny in this world, with special reference to that which is to come. Mankind have more sense than faith-more of the animal than of the spiritual-in their constitution; and are so inuch more engaged in the things that are seen than in the things that are not seen in the things that are temporal, than in the things eternal-that it is with difficulty they can be aroused from their carnal lethargy and supineness, to a due consideration of the most vital of all their interests. We are, therefore, the more disposed to dwell on this topic, and to handle it a new way, and have now set out on a grand excursion into things, as well as times and places, far remote from the common places and common things of our every-day cravings, after some transient entertainment. I am going to sea, on a long voyage, across both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and am determined to find the headwaters of the Nile, and of the Ganges, too, if not the top of the mountains in the moon. I had some thoughts of visiting the Delphic Oracle, and propounding some questions to that revealer of secrets. Still, I will not implicitly receive any response, or, with a blind credulity, surrender my understanding to either priest or prophet-to philosopher or sage. I do not thus incur the risks and perils of so long and so dangerous a voyage, as if I had not enough to live on, for my own satisfaction; for, in this respect, I am already SERIES IV.-VOL. 1. 11 well provided for; but I have a great many craving readers, of huge appetite and little means, and nothing will satisfy them on this subject less than all the treasures of foreign realms, and lands remote : for, like the horse leeches two daughters, they are still crying, give, give us more light on the subject of souls and spirits. They are even willing to familiarize themselves with ghosts and spectres, for the sake of assurance that they themselves have souls and spirits that cannot die. We need nothing but the New Testament, or the Jewish and Christian oracles, to satisfy us as Christians; but we have many readers that are not Christians, and they demand evidence beyond the Bible, and beyond the realms of their own research. Well, then, we shall launch into the deep, and make our voyage to Asia, the old homestead of our venerable Father Noah, and our Grandfather Adam. We will make a trip up the Ganges and the Burampooter, and visit the radiating centres of Hindooism, and the ancient oracles consulted by the Greek philosophers. We had thought of only visiting the Grecian philosophers-the Pythagorases, the Socrateses, and Platos, of the schools of mythologic orthodoxy-but I have found them all to be a set of plagiarists from Asiatic oracles and sages, back as far as some of the contemporaries of Abraham. While, then, we shall have their embellishments of the materials by them imported from distant shores and times more ancient, we shall at once go up to the fountains of their philosophy. We will only promise, that we will build on nothing that is not well authenticated; and, in matters of faith, rely only on divine oracles. But there were oral, before there were written, traditions in the East, and the great ideas given in charge to the Shemic and Abrahamic line were by them orally communicated, long before written characters seem to have been originated. We shall, then, hear something from these ancient traditions. We cannot write a volume on this subject, and shall be obliged to utter materials for a volume in a few sentences. We will then, in the first place, rather allude to some matters, which must be assumed by all writers and readers on such subjects. We assert, then, on the highest authority, that all the superstitions of Asia, or forms of religion, show a common origin. So that it is agreed, that the Fo, or Foe, or Fohi, of the Chinese, the Lama of the Asiatic Tartars, and the Brahma of the Hindoos, are ramifications of one superstition. "Foe was born in Cashmere, 1027 years before the Christian era. While his mother was in travail, the stars were hid in darkness, and nine dragons descended to the earth. Soon as he was born his mother died, and instantly standing erect on earth, pointing one hand to the heavens and the other to the earth, he exclaimed, "None in heaven or earth is to be worshipped besides me.' Confirming his doctrine by alledged miracles, at thirty he was deified by his disciples, and spread his doctrines over all the east. His priests were called Seng, in China; in Tartary, Lamas; in Siam, Talapoins; and in Europe, Bonzes. In his 79th year, death approaching, hè informed his disciples that hitherto he had spoken in parables and enigmas, but would now unveil his mysteries. Know, then,' said he, that there is no other principle of all things but the void and nothing; that from nothing all things have sprung, and to nothing all things must return; and there all our hopes end.' ́ ́`His disciples, soon after his death, divided into three sects, on their interpretation of his last words. His great principle was, annihilate thyself; and as soon as thou dost this, thou returnest to God, and becomest one with him.' This religion is called, in India, Brahminism.”* Lamaism is the religion of Thibet. The Grand Lama is both the God and the High Priest of this people, of the Wandering Tartars, and of the prodigious population of China. He resides at Patoli, in an immense palace, on a mountain, near to the banks of the Burampooter, seven miles from Lahasse. The base of the mountain is guarded by 20,000 Lamas, or Priests, in attendance upon the sover. eign pontiff, regarded as the Vicegerant of the Deity; while the more remote Tartars regard him as the Deity himself, adoring him as God, "the everlasting Father of heaven." Every year they worship, and present rich offerings at his shrine. Even the Empe ror of China, a Mantchou Tartar, acknowledges his pontifical pow. er, and receives annually, at his court at Pekin, an inferior Lama, deputed as his nuncio from Thibet. When he dies, or seems to die, the orthodox of the Thibetians believe that his soul only leaves a crazy body for a new habitation in some vigorous child, and is discovered in his new residence by infallible tokens. This is the true doctrine of the Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the soul-the essential article of their faith. In this faith, the people of Burmah, Thibet, and Anan; the Siamese, Chinese, and Japanese; the Monguls and Kalmucks, are one and unshaken. This theocracy extends to things temporal, spiritual, and eternal; and is the prominent belief in China, affirmed to be 3,000 years old. The religion of Thibet, the most pure in this faith, is said to be the counterpart of Roman Catholicism. They, too, have their holy * Hend. Buck. Encyclopedia of R. Knowledge. |