alarm. Almighty God! avert the danger, or give thy children strength to surmount it!' At this moment, several men who had been concealed behind a thicket of beech-trees, discovered themselves and rushed forward, uttering the most threatening exclamations. Oberlin, taking the infant in his arms, advanced towards them with a calmness which did not conceal his indignation, yet still left room for hope of pardon; There,' said he to them. is the infant which has done you so much injury, which disturbs the peace of your days! Dismayed at the presence of the Pastor, whom they little expected to meet with acting as escort to persons going to perform a Roman Catholic ceremony; and finding, from the few words which he had addressed to them, that he was not ignorant of their wicked designs; they did not attempt to dissimulate, but, acknowledging their crime, begged pardon of the young man, and entered into a reconciliation. Rescued from the danger which had threatened them, the married couple pursued their route to Shirmeck, while Oberlin returned to Waldbach with the men whom he had thus prevented from doing evil. When they reached the entrance of the village, my children,' said he, as he left them, ' remember the day of the mountain, if you wish that I should forget it."-Notice, pp. 32, 3.

One day, as Oberlin was at work in his study, he heard a great noise in the village. Rushing out, he perceived a foreigner whom almost the whole population were loading with abuse and menacing language. "A Jew! A Jew!" resounded on all sides, as the good Pastor forced his way through the mob; and with difficulty he obtained silence. As soon as he could make himself heard, he rebuked them with great warmth for having shown themselves unworthy to bear the name of Christians, by punishing so cruelly the unhappy man for not bearing that name. Then, taking on his own shoulders the stranger's packet of goods, he took him by the hand, and conducted him to his own house.

When Oberlin found himself obliged to visit Strasbourg, which was almost always to perform some service for his parishioners.—to procure medicines, or to obtain assistance or information from his friends,-he generally travelled during the whole night, that as little time as possible might be spent away from his people. His activity was as astonishing as his zeal. To visit the sick or to console the dying, he would climb the steepest summits, and plunge into pathless snows. He was at one time the general physician as well as pastor and counsellor of his parish, having, with the same benevolent views that guided all his actions, prosecuted the studies in medicine which he had commenced at college; he also learned to open veins, and established a dispensary. Afterwards, he sent a young man of talent to study at Strasbourg, whose professional success answered his expectation. He also sent to the same city, several intelligent women to be instructed in midwifery. Amidst all these multiplied cares and labours, he still found some moments for private study and pious meditation; and often, whole hours were passed on his knees at the footstool of that gracious Being, from whom he derived wis dom and strength sufficient for the day.

In the year 1784, an event took place, which had a most powerful influence both upon the cast of his mind and the whole direction of his future life. This was the loss of his beloved partner, with whom a union of sixteen years had served but to strengthen their mutual affection. They had had nine children, two of whom preceded their mother into eternity, and the youngest saw the light only six weeks before her death.

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Nothing had prepared Oberlin for this distressing separation. He was struck as by a thunderbolt, and remained for some moments plunged in a frightful silence. At length, after this interval of melancholy stupor, he was seen suddenly to fall on his knees, and give thanks to God. He has himself put upon record the feelings which agitated him in those moments of bitter suffering. I expe

"At another time, the Ban de la Roche became a retreat for many individuals of differ-rienced,' he says, 'notwithstanding my overent religious persuasions, who fled thither, under the influence of terror, from Strasbourg and its environs. Oberlin gave them the most cordial welcome, and rendered them all the service which they claimed both as strangers and from the motives which had led them to forsake their homes. As he took no part in the political disputes which were at that time agitating the public mind, confining himself to his duties as the faithful pastor of his flock and the peaceable head of this colony of industrious labourers, he hardly suspected that he should be himself disturbed. He was, however, cited before the supreme council of Alsace, and had to clear himself from the charge of having induced his parishioners to enrol themselves under the banners of Joseph II. Not merely was he acquitted, but the court, informed, by means of this proceeding, of his virtues, and the good of which he was the author, after pronouncing judgment in his favour, expressed regret that he should have been drawn from his solitude, to the interruption of the exercise of his charitable labours."-Notice, p. 34.

whelming sorrow, the merciful assistance of God in a signal manner. From that time, he became resigned: no complaint, no murmur escaped his lips. It might be said that he had not ceased to live in the society of the Christian wife whom he had lost. Every day, he devoted whole hours to holding communion with her (à se rapprocher d'elle) in those elevated frames of mind which require not the aid of superstition to make us conscious of the presence of those whom we love. A speedy union in the mansions of eternity was nevertheless one of his most cherished desires. 'I hope,' he would often say, 'that the world in which God will reunite me to my beloved wife, will soon open to me.' This desire had nothing of a transitory character. It was not the mere result of a profound sentiment of grief, nor the effect of any habitual melancholy. Although his sorrows may have contributed to strengthen it, religion had the greatest share in giving birth to it. Like St. Paul, he desired to depart in order to be with Christ, which to him was far better. He would

have wished to be able to unite his voice with | hers, in singing the song of the Lamb. I have had all my life,' he says himself, in a paper written the very year in which he lost his wife, a desire to die, which has sometimes been very strong. The consciousness of my moral infirmities and of my frequent derelictions, has not been the least of the causes which have produced it. My affection for my wife and children, my attachment to my parish, have sometimes repressed this desire; but it has only been during brief intervals."-These few words seem to lay open the very secret of his soul. While these rocks cut through, these roads laid open, this bridge thrown over the torrent, these fields rendered fertile, a population conducted to civilization,-all these lengthened and arduous labours, seem to bear witness only to an indefatigable zeal and an extreme activity, the expressions we have just cited show, what was the true moving principle of his whole life. That which rendered him the benefactor of these districts, that which led him to devote every minute to the prosecution of his plans, was, the ever present thought of death and eternity. He knew that his soul would be required of him; he desired that it should be so speedily. In order that, when that moment should arrive, his lamp might not be found without oil, he watched and prayed, seeking to spend every moment as he wished that his last should be spent. Millions of times,' he says in the same paper, 'have I besought God for power to give myself up, as his child, to all his will, whether for life or for death;-to be able to resign myself, and to will nothing, desire nothing, and neither say, do, or attempt any thing but what Hle, who alone is good and wise, sees to be best."" Pp. 35-7.

An extract from a letter which he wrote to a lady who had been tried by a series of afflictions, will illustrate his simple and familiar manner, as well as his lively faith and fervent piety.

"I have before me two stones, which are an imitation of precious stones. They are both perfectly alike in colour; they are of the same water, clear, pure, and clean; yet, there is a marked difference between them as to their lustre and brilliancy. One has a dazzling brightness, while the other is dull, so that the eye passes over it, and derives no pleasure from the sight. What can be the reason of this difference? it is this. The one is cut in but a few facets; the other has ten times as many. These facets are produced by a very violent operation! it is requisite to cut, to smooth and polish. Had these stones been indued with life, so as to have been capable of feeling what they underwent, the one which has received eighty facets, would have thought itself very unhappy, and would have envied the fate of the other which, having received but eight, had undergone but a tenth part of its sufferings. Nevertheless, the operation being over, it is done for ever: the difference between the two stones always remains strongly marked; that which has suffered but little, is entirely eclipsed by the other, which alone is held in estimation and attracts attention.

Rel. Mag.-No. 4.

May not this serve to explain the saying of our Saviour, whose words always have reference to eternity: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted-blessed, whether we contemplate them apart, or in comparison with those who have not passed through so many trials. Oh! that we were always able to cast ourselves into his arms, like little children,-to draw near to him like young lambs,

and ever to ask of him, patience, resignation, an entire surrender to his will, faith, trust, and a heartfelt obedience to the commands which he gives to those who are willing to be his disciples. The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. (Isa. xxv. 8.)'' pp. 42, 3.

In his preaching, Oberlin studied a colloquial plainness, interspersing his discourses with figures and allusions which might sometimes have been deemed below the dignity of the pulpit, had they been addressed to a polite auditory; but they were well adapted to interest and instruct his simple villagers. He would frequently introduce biographical anecdotes of persons distinguished by their piety; and all the operations of nature furnished him illustrations of spiritual things. But the Bible itself was the grand source from which he drew the matter of his instructions; it formed the study of his life; and he was in the habit of citing very largely from the scriptures, from the conviction that the simple exposition of the word of God was the best means of ef fectually acting upon his flock. His sermons were almost always composed with the greatest care; and when unable, for want of time, to write them out at length, he drew up at least a pretty full outline. In general, he committed them scrupulously to memory; but in the pulpit, he did not concern himself with adhering to the precise words, and it has even happened that he would change his subject altogether, if he saw that another was apparently better suited to the circumstances of his auditory. The Sabbath afternoon was devoted to a catechetical exercise, which he endeavoured to render still more simple than the morning's discourse. Every Friday he conducted a service in German, for the benefit of those inhabitants of the vicinity to whom that language was more familiar than French. These assemblies were in general less numerous; and Oberlin, laying aside all form, seemed, on such occasions, an old man surrounded by his children, to whom he was delivering. wholesome instruction. "The women listened to him while going on with their work; and now and then, the pastor, who felt as if in the midst of his family, would break off his discourse, and, after taking a pinch from his snuff-box, would send it round the congregation." After he had pursued for half an hour the train of his reflections upon the portion of the word of God which he had just been reading, he would often say to them: "Well, my children, are you not tired? Have you not had enough?" His parishioners would generally reply: "No, Papa, go on; we should like to hear a little more;" and the good old man would resume, putting the same question again at intervals, till his auditors, finding their attention beginning to flag, or perceiving 2 Z

Society in the Ban de la Roche; the way in which the money is collected, is this:

"They assemble on the evening of certain days, when, after the reading of a few chapters of the Bible, all kneel down and join in imploring the Divine blessing upon the whole village, the parish at large, and all pious institutions. Then a collection is made, the produce of which is deposited in a particular chest, till the time arrives for transmitting it to those Bible and Missionary Societies to which the Annual Reports show that the contribution will be most important. What is far more important than the amount in figures, is, that each individual gives from his heart, because every one understands the object for which he gives; and especially, that each village has its priests, who intercede, night and knows how much of the success which God is pleased to grant, may be owing to their prayers? These contributions for religious objects do not prevent them from regularly devoting sums as large, compared with their means, to objects of charity. Oberlin always endeavoured to persuade them to put by a tithe of their income, to offer it in this manner to the Lord; and, in fact, they would bring it to him in the form of goods, provisions, or money, which a pious woman, Louisa Schepler, who had entered into his service at the age of fifteen, and who acted as his house-keeper after the death of his wife, assisted him in distributing with judgment. It is not that there are many paupers in the parish, but the well known dispositions of both the pastor and his people, have attracted a great number of poor from all the neighbouring districts." p. 48.

France. It was composed of Oberlin himself, | Henry Oberlin, a son in every respect worthy of his parents, and M. Daniel Le Grand, by whom depositories were established in different parts of France, and more than 10,000 copies of the Bible or the New Testament were put in circulation before the Paris Bible Society was instituted. It was the letter written by Oberlin, to which we have already referred, that suggested the first idea of forming Ladies' Bible Associations; a plan which has since been so extensively and successfully acted upon in all the countries where a zeal exists for circulating the word of God. 'Mr. Owen, in his History of the British and Foreign Bible Society, adverts to this circumstance, acknowledging the obligation which the Committee were under to this extraordinary man, whom he describes as uniting the simplicity of a pa-day, for the conversion of all men. And who triarch to the zeal of an apostle. In the letter alluded to, Oberlin describes the way in which three respectable women of his parish found themselves enabled to take an active part in his labours, either by reading the Bible to their neighbours, or by lending them the sacred volume. These humble but admirable fellowlabourers with him in the Gospel, were Sophia Bernard, whose history has been given, Maria Schepler, and Catherine Scheidecker. The latter, though very infirm, was yet living last year.f "In these women," remarks the author of the Notice, " may be seen, how powerful an influence the sacred word exerts, through Divine Grace, upon the heart; so that persons in the humblest condition may by its means be raised so far above their circumstances, and astonish us as much by their intellectual as their religious development., Not only all the Protestants within the parish, but as many Roman Catholics in the neighbouring districts as were willing to receive it, now possess a Bible. According to their means, they contribute also towards placing the Scriptures within the reach of those who are still destitute of them. Not that there is any regularly constituted Bible

* The Author of the "Propositions Géologiques," &c. referred to in a preceding note. He took the degree of Doctor in Medicine at Strasbourg, in 1806, and was afterwards ordained. His premature and lamented death is thus recorded in the Fourteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, p. xlii. "Your Committee think it due to the late Rev. Henry Oberlin, of Waldbach in Alsace, to bear their testimony to that zeal by which he was urged to sacrifice his valuable life in exertions for distributing the Holy Scriptures among his countrymen The immediate occasion of his death was a cold which he caught, in 1815, in assisting to extinguish a fire that had broken out in a town in his route, as he was making a circuit through the South of France, to ascertain the condition of the Protestants, and the means of supplying them more generally with the holy Scriptures.

The author of the Notice speaks of both as survivors; but Mr. Owen, who was introduced to Sophia Bernard, and Catharine Scheidecker, in 1818, states, that the other member of this memorable trio had then been removed to her rest. See First Report, &c. App. p. 48.

To return to the Pastor himself. It was his custom, not being able to preach on the same day in all the villages of his little diocese, to take each of the three churches in rotation. In his latter years, his great age rendering him unable any longer to perform the journey on foot, the peasants made an arrangement by which each might in turn have the honour of bringing him a horse, and receiving him to his table after the sermon. He would never consent, however, to partake of their dinner but on the condition of paying his proportion, which he rigidly adhered to. Mr. Owen describes the simple but interesting procession which he witnessed on his visit to the Ban de la Roche, in 1818. The turn on that Sunday belonged to Belmont, distant about half a league from the parsonage of Waldbach.

"At ten o'clock we began to move. M. Oberlin took the lead in his ministerial attire, a large beaver, and flowing wig, mounted on a horse brought for that purpose, according to custom, by one of the bourgeois of the village, whose turn it was to have the honour of fetching his pastor, and receiving him to dinner. I rode as nearly beside him as the narrow track would allow. Mr. Rönneberg, accompanied by M. Daniel Le Grand, followed. The rear was brought up by the bourgeois before mentioned, carrying a leathern bag slung across his shoulders, which contained the other part of his minister's dress, his books, &c., and a respectable peasant as an attendant on the general cavalcade. The appearance of the congregation,