Page images
PDF
EPUB

deed, to different denominations, but as one in the great essentials of Christianity, and engaged in the same good work. Dr. Candlish spoke on the nature and objects of Sunday School Tuition. The Rev. Mr. Innes urged, as the object of sacred ambition of every Teacher, to win souls to Christ, and to go on with holy steadfastness and prayer. Rev. Mr. Thomson enforced the importance of brotherly love, and the best means for promoting it among Sunday School Teachers. Dr. Cunningham urged the duty of all Christian congregations to support Sunday Schools. Rev. Mr, Drummond said, my subject is of a very interesting character, and bears directly on the practical results of Sunday School teaching. It is the importance of imbuing the young mind with a Missionary spirit. Mr. D. said he took a two-fold view of the importance of this branch of religious instruction, first, as regards the prosperity and advancement of the cause of missions, and likewise as regards the welfare of the individuals themselves who receive such instruction, &c. Deep interest was excited through the large assembly, whilst the different speakers were addressing them, and it is hoped that much good, under the Divine blessing, will result from this meeting.

Glasgow.-The Annual Soirée of the teachers and friends of Sabbath Schools connected with the Glasgow Sabbath School Union, was held in the City Hall, on the evening of Thursday, 26th January: Robert Fleming, Esq., president of the Union, in the chair. About 1200 persons sat down to tea at seven o'clock. The proceedings were most interesting. After an address by the chairman, an abstract of the Annual Report was read by Mr. John Black, one of the Secretaries. From this document, it appeared that there are in Glasgow and suburbs in connection with the Union, 62 societies. 525 Sabbath Schools.

[blocks in formation]

The report contained many interesting details connected with the proceedings of the Union; and gave, upon the whole, an encouraging view of the state of Sabbath School instruction. Very excellent and appropriate addresses were delivered by the movers of the various resolutions, viz.-The Rev. Dr. King, and the Rev. Messrs. Paterson, of Unchinstown; Anderson, of John-street; and Kennedy, of Aberdeen. Altogether the meeting was a most interesting one, and we are glad to state that the important cause of missionary exertion in Sabbath Schools is making gradual progress in Scotland.

Halifax. The report of the Halifax Union has just been received. It is on the whole an interesting one, though it shows that commercial difficulties are exerting an injurious influence on several of the affiliated Schools. In about twenty years the Schools have increased from seven to forty-the teachers from 329 to 2,123, and the scholars from 1,624 to 8,545. In several Schools, deaths of a very cheering kind have occurred. We are glad to perceive that, during the year, 44 scholars have united themselves to christian churches, and that 1361 of the teachers were once scholars. About a thousand bibles and hymn books have been sold in the Schools during the past year. We incline to regard this

Union as one of the most efficient in the kingdom. May it enjoy heaven's benediction.

London.-On Wednesday, March 1, a highly interesting meeting was held in the School Room adjoining Dr. Fletcher's Chapel, Stepney. About a thousand teachers and friends sat down to tea. The Right Hon. Dr. Lushington in the chair. The object of the meeting was to present a Portrait to Mr. Henry Althans, as a mark of the esteem in which he is held for his gratuitous and efficient secretaryship to the East London Sunday School Union, for the last thirty years. The picture, which is a very accurate likeness, was presented, in the name of the subscribers, by Dr. F. A. Cox, of Hackney. Mr. Althans accepted the gift in a very deep state of feeling, and gave a short account of his early life and labours in the cause of religious education. The meeting was then addressed by the Rev. Dr. Campbel, J. Carlisle, with Geo. Offer, Joseph Maitland, W. H. Watson, Esqrs., and Mr. T. Brown. A hymn, composed for the occasion by James Montgomery, Esq., was sung, and soon after ten o'clock the assemblage, which had continued to increase, dispersed, with the highest delight in the proceedings of the evening. A testimonial more richly deserved for long and valued services to the church of Christ, was never awarded. Since the formation of this Union, the Schools have increased from forty-five to a hundred and twenty-six, and the children from seven to upwards of thirty-six thousands. The portrait is about to be engraved; proofs 5s., prints 2s. 6d. Subscribers names will be received by Mr. Davis, at the Union House, Paternoster Row,

Luton.-The Sunday School Teachers of Union Chapel have lately presented to the Rev. J. S. Bright, a copy of 'Bagster's English Hexapla,' Calvin on Genesis and the Psalms,' the works of Jahn and Job Orton, as a testimony of their high regard. Mr. Bright is about to remove to Woolwich.

Manchester.-On Sabbath afternoon, February 19th, 1843, a special Children's Missionary Meeting was held in the Independent Chapel, Cannon Street. Three neighbouring Schools united with the School of the above-mentioned place, and a very delightful meeting was the result. Missionary hymns were sung; and short animating addresses were delivered by the teachers and friends. The interest of the meeting was heightened by the exhibition of an Idol, with several implements of war, kindly lent for the occasion by a gentleman who brought them from the Islands of the South Seas.

Newmarket.-At the twenty-third Anniversary of the Sunday School Society, held lately, it was reported that the Teachers of the Newmarket School had established from ten to fifteen Schools in their own immediate neighbourhood.

MEMOIR OF JOHN MORRISON.

We think seldom and lightly of the pangs felt by the young in leaving this life. The regret they then experience, like an emotion of the brute creation, is generally dumb and therefore unheeded. Yet have we seen his tears flowing bitterly, and felt his breast heaving wildly, as in silence we took the last farewell of a little playmate. To such an one, life seems far more desirable than to those who have been pressed down by its imposed weight of cares, and its opened vials of afflictions. The earth, when as yet it has not levied from the young the hard tax of sweating labour, is almost a paradise. To leave life, and quit earth, then, must be peculiarly revolting to those of few years. Hence, to their imagination, nothing so dark and fathomless as the

[ocr errors]

grave! More closely do they creep into the fond and sheltering bosom of their mother, when, in mysterious fear overpowering sorrow, they return from a brother's funeral. How strong, then, must be the influence of religion, since it can make the young resigned-nay, impatient to depart. A striking and interesting instance of the truth of these remarks will be found in the present short memoir.

We may here state, that we intend this Magazine to be a gardensepulchre for the pious young. Humble may be the tombstone we raise to their sweet memories; rude and simple may be the inscription we trace to their still fragrant virtues, but we hope they will be sufficient to induce the living young to seclude themselves occasionally from other engagements, and to come and contemplate those, that being dead, yet speak to all!

JOHN MORRISON, at the age of 13, died, with the most complete resignation, and full of the glorious hope of immortality. It matters little where, and when he was born-we give no dates and places. He seems to have realised most vividly the spiritual life, and during his last days to have walked with God. We have only been furnished with an account of his demeanour on his death-bed, and that demeanour was worthy of a long-experienced christian. In his conversation, snatches of which we here give, some may behold the proofs of frenzy or of gentle raving. We confess that we ourselves are not the most credulous to receive stories circulated about children seeing Jesus and heaven before they die. And even when we are convinced that these stories are facts, we are not over-believing in the things testified. But in these now referred to, we can see nothing but the outpourings of a soul that has thrown off its unearthliness, that has lost its law of gravitation to the gross world, and has ascended to a close intercourse with the future and higher state of beings. Once he said, 'I think I see Jesus standing before me--and I almost feel the joys of heaven.' Again, on the evening of his death, he made a similar exclamation, 'I think that I see Christ standing before me! I dreamt that I was in heaven, and oh, it is a happy place! Jesus, as I entered, held out open arms to receive me!' In these expressions, calm enough though most rapturous, we see the sincerity of his joy. 'I have,' he uttered shortly before his end, 'been walking with the Lord, and the Lord spake to me, and assured me of an easy death. I shall have a soundsound sleep to-night. I will be walking on my feet in the morning!' 'I should be glad, indeed,' remarked one of his attendants, 'to see you on your feet.'

'Not here not here,' was the immediate reply, 'wherever I move here I must be borne.-Yes.-But I shall be walking in glory.'

To all, this must have been a touching—an almost ennobling scene. The death-chamber seems to have been the place of the young soul's transfiguration.

His last words were- -'O, my Father!' The look was glanced up. ward, showing that he was now addressing his heavenly Father, and that his relation with friends on earth was now over!

Obituary.

DIED on the 17th February, aged 87, at his residence, Wolverhampton, Mr. Lowe, nurseryman-the founder of the first Sunday school in that town, and one of the most lovely and useful characters the world ever had.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE Chinese are distinguished for the respect which they pay to the memory of deceased parents and ancestors. Indeed, there is no religious act which they perform with such commendable assiduity and apparent devotion as this posthumous duty,-a neglect of which is punishable by the laws of the Empire. When a father or elder relative dies, the event is formally announced to all the branches of the family; to the priesthood, who hasten to the house of mourning to commence their prayers for the departed, and is made known to the neighbourhood by the fixture of white labels on each side of the principal door, and the suspension from bamboos, of numerous burning papers, curiously figured, which are seen fluttering in the breeze. 'The lineal descendants of the deceased clothed in coarse white

F

[ocr errors]

cloth with bandages of the same round their heads, sit weeping near the corpse on the ground; the women keeping up a dismal howl after the manner of the Irish. În the meantime, the friends of the deceased appear with white coverlids of linen or silk, which are placed on the body; the eldest son, or next lineal male descendant, supported on each side by relations, and bearing in his hands a porcelain bowl, containing two copper coins, now proceeds to the river or the nearest well, to buy water,' as it is termed, with which the face and the body of the dead are washed.’ After this, the deceased is dressed in his finest garments, and is laid in a coffin, of which the planks are from four to six inches in thickness, and the bottom strewed with quick lime. On being closed, it is made air-tight by cement, and covered with a thick varnish within and without. By its side, the priest sets up a tablet, which bears the name and titles of the deceased, as they are to be engraven on his tombstone; at its foot is a table loaded with meats, lights, and perfumes. On the preparation of a coffin, in which his body may be incased after death, a Chinaman sets his heart during his life, and great expense is frequently lavished upon it, insomuch, that the poor peasant will give all he is worth to obtain a decent one; and even a son has been known to sell himself into slavery, that he might purchase for his venerable father a magnificent coffin, as the most suitable gift of filial affection.

After these preliminaries they place the remains of their relative in a pavilion or shed erected for the purpose, till the appointed time for interment, which usually occurs after twenty-one days, though many, bidding defiance to laws, preserve them above ground a year, some even thirty years, and according to the Canton Register, in January, 1830, there were no less than 10,000 coffined bodies in that city, which were uninterred.

On the expiration of the days prescribed, the funeral procession takes place, in which the bonzes, or priests, take the lead, while the children and relatives of both sexes follow, being dressed in white habiliments, which betoken grief. The coffin borne under a canopy is carried by four men, often by eight, on account of its weight, while the tablet is conveyed in a gilded sedan, with incense and offerings before it. As they slowly proceed to the place of sepulture, which is always at a distance from a city or town, and generally upon an eminence, beautiful in site, and tastefully planted with trees and shrubs of various kinds,

« PreviousContinue »