of the police, the gendarme, or the garde-champêtre. The law gives to these officials the right to suspect every man who carries a pack of books, to search the colporteur wherever they may meet with him. Woe to the colporteur that should have in his possession the least work not recorded in his prefectoral authorization; instant imprisonment is his reward, and the luckless colporteur becomes liable to a civil suit, the end of which would be a certain fine. Nor is it easy to become, in France-the country where, above all others, distributors of the Bible, by men that love their work, are wanted-a licened colporteur; for he must comply with the requirements of several laws, produce an attested copy of sundry testimonials, and after he has done all, be told, in the language of suspicion and malice, that he has been admitted to act as a colporteur. Monsieur de Pressensè justly observes of this employment :— "Add to these annoyances, the further one-as was recently the case-of being obliged to renew this authorization at the end of each fortnight; and to have for this purpose, to make a long, expensive, and fatiguing journey, in order to reach the chief town in the district, where the business is rarely ever settled with dispatch. Assuredly-I repeat it -to confront all these obstacles, it is necessary to have a heart filled with a firm and unshaken determination to accomplish the work to be done. From this I conclude that, looking at the matter under this aspect, we now have an additional and unexceptionable proof that the vocation of our colporteurs is not an affair of taste or fancy, and that it is by no means an easy way of gaining a livelihood, to be preferred before all others; but rather that it is a calling from on high, to which the Lord has given them grace to respond for the advancement of his glory." Eclectic. REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF BIBLE POWER. "ONE colporteur relates that having been overtaken by a violent storm, he had to seek refuge in a solitary house, the first, indeed, to which he came on his road towards a village. He found two persons in the principal apartment; the one an aged female, occupied at her spinning-wheel, and seated by the side of a bed, where lay a young man, to all appearance very ill. 'The Lord be with you,' said the colporteur, on entering, and may all His gracious dispensations conduce to your good!' The two persons raised their heads on hearing these words, their countenances beaming with joy. The young man at once replied to the salutation of the stranger in a similar strain, which proved to our friend that God had conducted him among brethren, and when this is the case acquaintances are soon formed, and the most complete familiarity is soon established. The colporteur thereupon gleaned the following particulars for his encouragement and edification. In the year 1849, a Bible colporteur was in that neighbourhood, and called from house to house in the village, where he was very badly received. In one house only did he find admittance: it was the one in which the colporteur now was. At that period it contained another inhabitant, the head of the family, which consisted of the father, the mother, and the young invalid. The father had witnessed the unfriendly reception which the seller of books had everywhere met with, and had also heard the refusal of the innkeeper to give him food and shelter. From compassion to the traveller, he offered to give him a bed for the night under his roof; and further, out of pure kindness, and not to send the traveller away empty-handed, they consented to buy a Bible of him, without, however, attaching much value to the purchase. Matters being thus settled, the stranger departed the next morning, much discouraged and very sad, but not without imploring the blessing of God on the hospitable dwelling where he had been so kindly received, and not without intreating its inhabitants to make a good use of the treasure which he had left in their hands-the Word of God. Some time afterwards the father was taken ill, and his illness kept him confined to a bed of suffering for several months, which he quitted only when his mortal remains were consigned to the tomb. His illness did not deprive him of the power to read; and to amuse himself he took up the large volume of the bookmerchant. It was not long before he became so interested in it, and so affected by what he read, that from morning to night he would do nothing else. The Spirit of God became his schoolmaster; that is to say, the Bible converted his soul, causing it to pass from death unto life a short time previous to his body passing from life unto death. The Spirit of God did even more, He made the sick father the instrument of communicating spiritual health to the soul of the wife and the son; so much so, that when the former drew his last breath, exclaiming, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation!'-those who surrounded him his wife and his son-confessed that they had been illumined by the same light. The son, who communicated these details to our colporteur, and who, as I have already said, is in the last stage of consumption, which would not, perhaps, leave him many more days in the land of the living-said with the greatest serenity to the colporteur, 'I feel that the moment of my departure is approaching; but I know in whom I believe. Jesus will, in the last struggle, be to me what He was to my dear father: He will be my rod and my staff; and it is with full confidence I can say to Him, Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit.' 'Amen,' added the aged mother; and blessed be the Lord that we know that all things work together for good to those who love him.' Narratives and Anecdotes. THE REMNANTS OF THE CAPTIVITY.It would appear that many of the Jews never returned from the Assyrian captivity, but remained willingly in the land to which their fathers had been removed. Never having beheld the mountains and valleys of Palestine, or gone up to Jeru. salem to worship, they had not the same longings to return as the first exiles. Here they dwelt, more like colonists than captives, in a flowery land. "The flatness of the scenery about Arban corresponds with the 'plain' of which Ezekiel speaks repeatedly; yet, though flat, the prospect must have been delicious, for even in its present almost depopulated state, we are told that the eye ranges over a level country bright with flowers, and spotted with black tents and innumerable flocks of sheep and camels.' The colour of these floral decorations, too, is ever changing. 'After being for some days of a golden yellow, a new family of flowers would spring up, and it would turn, almost in a night, to a bright scarlet, which would again as suddenly give way to the deepest blue. Then the meadows would be mottled with various hues, or would put on the emerald green of the most luxuriant of pastures.' That so many refused to return to their own land, when the opportunity was offered them, is a clear proof that their condition in Babylonia and elsewhere was not one of oppression and sorrow, but rather a state of comparative ease and comfort. It confirms the view we have taken of the captives, as a sort of colonists in the empire of Babylon, getting their livelihood there like other people, and some forming alliances in marriage with the neighbours among whom they dwelt. Still, however, as before intimated, patriotism and piety in Hebrew breasts would produce in many a deep yearning after the land of promise of mystery and miracle-of angelic visitations and of Divine abode. Jerusalem in ruins would be still beautiful. Judea, though desolate, would still be glorious as Emanuel's land; and here we think, and not in low temporal considerations, was to be found the motive which impelled the pilgrimage of the thousands who, at the end of the Divine chastisements, wended their way to Zion a circumstance, we would add, which shows that the remnant who went back to repair the waste places was composed of the men of strongest faith and bravest hearts." HEBREW TRAVELLERS visited Babylon in the third century, and recorded their observations. The Babylonian Talmud belongs to the sixth century, and contains notices of the Jews at that period, mentioning not less than 200 towns in the Persian empire, inhabited by Jewish families. In the twelfth century, Benjamin of Tuleda found 20,000 Jews dwelling within twenty miles of Babylon. "According to their own tradition," observes Layard, "those Hebrew families were descended from the Jews of the captivity. They still preserved their pedigrees, and traced their lineage to the princes and prophets of Judah. Their Chief resided at Bagdad, and his title was 'Lord Prince of the Captivity.' He was lineally descended, according to his people, from king David himself. Even Mohammedans acknowledged his claims to this noble birth, and called him 'our Lord, the Son of David.' His authority extended over the countries of the east as far as Thibet and Hindostan. He was treated, on all occasions, with the greatest honour and respect, and when he appeared in public, he wore robes of embroidered silk, and a white turban encircled by a diadem of gold." was in the year 536 B. C. They assembled from different parts, and formed one great caravan, with camels, horses, and other beasts of burden, amounting to above 8000. The most precious of the treasures they bore back to their own city, were the temple vessels which Cyrus had restored. Some time was spent in making preparations, and the long and wearisome journey over the desert occupied them four months. It was the movement of a host, reminding one of the march of their fathers, who had passed under the shadow of Sinai centuries before. The present caravan passed over the northern portion of the great wilderness of Arabia; and as we follow them, we mark their slow march from day to day, amidst scenery monotonous, but still sublime-the expanse of sand being, in this respect, like the exSOME VERY CURIOUS RELICS, connected with this Jewish remnant, have been panse of waters. We see them toiling and panting under the scorching heat of discovered by Mr. Layard. They are terra cotta cups or bowls, found on the the midday sun; we see them pitching their tents towards nightfall; we see banks of the Euphrates, and in the ruins them resting under the clear blue eastern of ancient Babylonia, having on the inner surface long Chaldean inscriptions. These heavens, sparkling with stars which outhave been deciphered by Mr. Ellis, of rival ours; and then, at daybreak, or the British Museum, who says that they Then they went in search of the old before, starting again on their journey. are amulets or charms against evil spirits, cities and towns to which their families diseases, and every kind of misfortune. In one of the bowls, the parties for whom belonged. A month after their return, the charm was intended are styled "peo-reared an altar, and celebrated the feast they met among the ruins of the temple, ple of the captivity." The bowls, Mr. Layard shows, must either have been brought to Babylon from other places which are named, or must have been prepared for some of the inhabitants of those places by Babylonish Jews. The relics are conjectured by Mr. Ellis to be of different dates, some as early as the second or third century. They are certainly mementoes of the captivity, and tend to confirm the scripture history of that event, while they illustrate the fact of many Jews remaining in the land of exile, and also indicate the superstitious practices into which they fell. The of tabernacles. A month later, they laid Library of Biblical Literature. FOREIGN. Baptisms. of repentance. Acts ii. 37, 38. It is JAMAICA. - On Jan. 20, in a stream near Lottery, about three miles distant from Salters Hill, seven persons were baptized in the presence of about 250 persons, by Mr. Dendy, the pastor of the Salters Hill church. In a subsequent part of the day a meeting was held in a class-house, near to the place where the ordinance had been administered. On March 24, five females and three males were baptized in a stream near Virgin Valley. The devotional parts of the serGLADESTRY, Radnorshire.—It is now vice were conducted by Mr. G. R. Hen- six years since you received any intelliderson of Bethtephil, and the rite was ad-gence from this quarter; not more cold ministered by Mr. Dendy of Salters Hill, to which church the candidates were added. About 300 persons were present, who afterwards assembled for public service on a spot selected for the building of a small place as a class-house. Addresses were given to the newly-baptized, to members of churches, and to the unconverted. DOMESTIC. ABERDEEN, John Street Chapel. On Lord's-day evening, March 12, Mr. F. Perkins, late of Battle, after delivering a suitable discourse on the baptism of a believer, immersed a young man who, for some years, had been a devoted and honourable member of a Presbyterian church in this city. The train of thought pursued in the sermon was rather devotional than controversial, and was comprised in the following reflections. 1. The baptism of a believer is a scriptural act. The obedience of enlightened faith and grateful love. 2. The baptism of a believer is an imitative act. Christ is the example he copies. It is voluntary and desired, as also was the baptism of Christ who came and desired it at the hand of John-resembling that of the Eunuch; and connected with deep devotional exercises. Luke iii. 21. 3. The baptism of a believer is an emblematic act, exhibiting the death and resurrection of Christ, and the purifying effects of washing by faith in the fountain opened for sin and all uncleanness. 4. The baptism of a believer is an expressive act. It is expressive of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts xviii. 8. Acts viii. 36-39. Heb. x. 22-23. Eph. iv. 5. It is expressive X has been our snow-capped mountains, nor BURNLEY, Enon Chapel.-On sabbath evening, Feb. 26, Mr. Batey preached from the words, “What mean ye by this service?" and then immersed four disciples. On sabbath evening, April 30, another baptismal discourse was preached from the words, "This is the way; walk ye in it," when four more passed through the water to the fold. BIRMINGHAM, Mount Zion.-On sabbath evening, April 30, Mr. Vince, after preaching, delivered an able address at the water-side, on the duty of believers to obey the commands of Christ, after which he went down into the water and baptized seven disciples, one of whom had been a scholar and is now a teacher. About two thousand persons were present on this occasion. The candidates were added to the church on the following sabbath. MANORBEAR, Pembrokeshire. After a discourse from, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," Mr. Evans immersed four females on a profession of their faith in Jesus, April 23. By our frequent baptisms a considerable stir has been excited in the neighbourhood; many who have been hitherto kept in darkness on this subject are beginning to examine the matter for themselves, and not a few have been heard to say, "These dippers have the right of it, say what you may." Cannon Street.-On sabbath morning, Terrible threats and awful maledictions, May 7, Mr. Hopkins (one of the deacons) however, fall, from time to time, from opened the service, after which Mr. Swan the lips of the clergy: "Beware! beware! preached, and then, from the water-side, my beloved flock, (said one) of being deaddressed the numerous audience on the luded by these God dishonouring people. importance of "keeping the ordinances Go not near them." Another, on hearing as they were first delivered." Mr. S. that some of his flock had actually gone then proceeded to immerse thirteen young to witness the " dipping," exclaimed, disciples, nine males and four females. "Oh, wicked people! thus to desecrate Most of these had been asking the way God's holy day." And on ascertaining, to Zion for some time. One of the young on the following morning, that even one men is a teacher; and the greater part whom he employed in his garden had of them had been taught in the sabbath been one of those "wicked people," he schools. It was a pleasing sight to wit-instantly dismissed her. What charity! ness such a goodly company of young persons thus publicly obeying the commands of Christ; and it is additionally pleasing to add, that we have still a goodly number of others on the way, whom we expect will be added in due time. pas Bond Street.-On the same morning Mr. Mc Farlane (from Scotland, supplying at the branch station at Harborne) preached, after which Mr. New, the tor, delivered an impressive address at the water-side, on the duty of all believers to be baptized on a profession of their faith, and then proceeded to immerse five female disciples, including the pastor's daughter; three of the others being from Harborne. These were added to the church in the afternoon. W. H. Bow, Middlesex.-Two believers were baptized upon a profession of their faith by Mr. Bonner, March 26. Believers baptism was shewn to be the "one baptism," and infant sprinkling unscriptural. Several pædo-baptist friends who were present said, they had always thought we baptists made too much of baptism, but they were now convinced that we were right. One of the candidates had been an Independent for several years, but being convinced of the more excellent way, she did not delay to follow her Lord through the watery tomb. We have several inquirers, and soon hope to report again. M. A. H. What large heartedness! But for all this we are going on ; and while we know the cause is the cause of truth, we shall go on in the face of all opposition. We have now several more inquirers, and expect, ere this appears in print, to have troubled the waters again. J. T. Mr. We had a delightful service on ThursLONDON, Church Street, Blackfriars Road. day, May 4. Four females and one male were immersed on their profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Branch, the pastor of the church, preached, and Mr. Whimper administered the ordinance. These were admitted to church fellowship the following sabbath. Others are coming forward to avow their attachment to the Lord Jesus; and amongst them another young man, who is also a son of Abraham. O let us earnestly pray, that God would hasten the time the Redeemer. when both Jew and Gentile shall worship E. W. ISLE ABBOTTS, Somerset.-Mr. Chappel says: "I had the pleasure on Lord's-day, May 7, of baptizing in the river, a young man, one of our sabbath school teachers. He had been (before he came among us) for nearly three years a Wesleyan; but by reading some of your tracts he found there was a command he had not obeyed: he had believed, but had not been baptized." |