116

THE FEMALE MISSIONARY.

walks, almost secure from a vertical sun. Eastward, beyond the proud shafts of granite that mark the entrance of the bay, stretched the expanse of the broad Atlantic. From the balcony overlooking the garden, her eye would instinctively fall upon "the sea, the open sea!" and might daily gaze upon the enlivening scene presented by the entrance and egress of vessels from every commercial nation; while not unfrequently, the surrounding mountains reverberated with peals of cannon from forts and frigates, announcing in thunder-creased attachment to the work in which she was entones the courtesies of naval life.

the assiduous attentions of Mrs. Kidder could not be too highly prized, contributing, as they doubtless did, to a speedy recovery. Her elasticity of spirits seemed now greatly restored. In addition to the several religious meetings on shore, she repeatedly attended the Bethel service on board ship, and availed herself of every occasion to manifest the interest she felt in different branches of Christian enterprise. Her letters written to friends at this time, exhibit great cheerfulness, an in

gaged, and a disposition to continue in it as long as might be necessary. Her promptings to arduous duty, and her cheerful encouragements in their accomplishment, were invaluable, and such as may ever render the female missionary among the most serviceable laborers in a foreign nd.

1

Nor did her experience of the pains of absence from the partner of her bosom, cause her to shrink from enduring them again, in view of the objects to be thus subserved. She voluntarily and cordially assented to his undertaking another journey to a distant inland province. That was not, however, thought expedient at the time, and she commenced assisting him in important and voluminous translations.

This residence has been more particularly noticed, as being the last which Mrs. Kidder occupied during her sojourn on earth. It was here, also, that in connection with Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding, she had the pleasure of welcoming the large and interesting company of missionaries bound to Oregon. Although no one could be more sensible of its beauties and outward attractions than herself, yet the Christian and social privileges it afforded her in the society of Mrs. Spaulding, and the small, but interesting circle who regularly worshiped at the Mission-House, were much more highly prized. Having the constant care of an infant son and daughter, a great portion of her time was necessarily engrossed in attentions due to their helpless- But alas! her willing and faithful services in "the ness; nevertheless, she found intervals for reading, and work whereunto she was sent," were suddenly and fain which to conduct an extensive correspondence. Her tally interrupted by the hand of death. After a few convictions of the necessity of constantly seeking wis- days of sickness and bodily suffering, "her spirit returndom and grace from on high, are recorded in her jour-ed to the God who gave it." She was indeed "full nal, where, among other pious resolutions, is this: "I have also determined regularly to observe the hour of twelve, M., as a season of prayer for the especial direction and blessing of God, in my maternal duties."

From subsequent events it is now probable that her health was, during this period, fearfully, though almost imperceptibly, declining. This circumstance will account for a more than ordinary degree of melancholy feeling which seems to have, at times, weighed down her buoyant spirits, notwithstanding all her Christian fortitude and perseverance in using the means of grace. Many additional extracts from her journal and letters might be given, but this one from the former must suffice:

"Nov. 15, 1839.-Another week has gone! Its record is filled and closed up for eternity! Why am I yet so cold, so indifferent to the goodness of God? My heart is sorrowful; but is it not for the absence of earthly friends? O Lord teach me to be content in this, and all the dispensations of thy. providence. Securely stayed on the Rock of Ages, my soul should rest, unmoved by separation from parents, brothers, sisters, husband, friends—all—all! O for this heavenly peace of mind!"

The weary half year of her husband's absence at length rolled away, and safe from the perils of the deep, and exposure in scenes where a Protestant missionary had never before gone, he was once more restored to his affectionate wife and family. But the health he had uniformly enjoyed during his voyage and journeys, was soon after interrupted by a severe illness, during which

soon" called up higher, as we fondly trust, ever to remain in the presence of that Savior,

"For the light of whose smile in the heaven of love," the aspirations of her heart had been continually uplifted. In April, 1840, at the early age of twenty-two and a half years, she ceased at once to work and live. The circumstances of her death and burial have already been given to the public, and will not be here repeated.

Cut down in the midst of usefulness and in the morn- ' ing of life, by an unlooked for stroke of the destroyer, her memory is sacredly cherished on earth, but her record is on high. Her death, like untimely winds of autumn, swept away many tender blossoms of hope and promise to the oblivion of her own "peaceful grave.”

Her resting place is not in the depths of "the deep blue sea," but in the Protestant burial ground of Rio de Janeiro. Her remains repose on the northern declivity of Gamboa, at whose rocky base the tide of ocean ceases not to ebb and flow, and where the breezes of the Tropic will daily fan the luxuriant foliage that shades her tomb.

The following fragment of poetry was found among her papers, and is believed to be the last she ever composed. It is added to speak her sentiments on the great change that she was conscious awaited her. "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?"

This beating pulse, this aching heart,

When shall they throb no more?
When freed from sin and sorrow's smart,
Be all life's anguish o'er!

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THE JEWISH SACRAMENT.

tality, he may call God his father, and angels his brethren. But he must die. The scenes of earth must fade from his view, like the departing glory of spring. Cut down by relentless death, he will disappear like leaves of autumn. Sometimes he withers like the bud, nipped "by the wind's untimely blast." Should he long survive the "pestilence that walketh in darkness," or the "destruction that wasteth at noon-day," yet is he doomed. The "silver chord" shall be loosed-the tenure by which he holds life be dissolved. And though he possess wealth and honor, they shall be to him as nought.

Original.

THE JEWISH SACRAMENT. THE Passover was one of the most solemn Jewish festivals. Its was instituted in remembrance of the fact, that the Lord passed over the dwellings of his chosen people, when he slew the first-born of the Egyptians. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;" let us then search in the oracles of truth for the origin and aim of those customs, which, though now no longer obligatory upon us, nevertheless may afford us instruction in righteousness.

Dark, indeed, was the moral state of the children of He who visits the everlasting pyramids and catacombs, Israel during the Egyptian bondage. It was aptly illusmust be impressed with a deep sense of his mortality. trated by their temporal condition. Four hundred and He must realize the force of what Horace says, "Death thirty years were they dwellers in Egypt, in which time is the utmost limit of earthly things." As a mighty kings reigned who knew not Joseph and were strangers conqueror, he sways his sceptre over men and empires. to the God of Jacob. Their rapid increase had excited The pride of princes and the haughtiness of kings van- the jealousy of the Egyptians, and measures were deish at his approach. The hero, who has slaughtered vised for their extirpation. But the God of Abraham millions, must yield himself a victim. The conqueror was their protector, and they still increased. Taskof mighty Babylon slumbers in the tomb with his fath- masters were set over them, who exercised their power ers; and the fallen hero of Waterloo sleeps in undis-with most cruel rigor, till the groanings of the people turbed solitude. Cicero is silent; and the irresistible were heard on high. "I have seen, I have seen the appeals of the impassioned Demosthenes are no longer affliction of my people," is the language of Jehovah. heard in the forums of Greece. Those men, with their A deliverer was sent to conduct them from the land of thousands of spell-bound hearers, are no more. Sha- their captivity, to Canaan, the land of promise. Miradows overspread them, and long since they have min-cles were wrought in their behalf. Ten plagues were, gled with the dead. Where are the millions that once crowded the ancient cities of Palmyra, of Nineveh, of Thebes, of Jerusalem, of Athens, and of Carthage? Echo answers, "Where!" Well may we say, in the language of the poet:

"The spade, the plough, disturb our ancestors; The globe around earth's hollow surface shakes. O'er devastations we blind revels keep, While buried towns support the dancer's heel." To us, thus doomed to the grave, the resurrection becomes a matter of deep interest and importance. Shall the millions who have been cut off by death feel the animations of returning life? It would be melancholy to look at the grave as the extinguishment of human being and hope. But turning from these gloomy anticipations, we catch the light of the glowing torch of revelation. Grasping this Book of inspiration, we read, "Death is swallowed up in victory."

Original.

in rapid succession, inflicted upon their haughty foes, falling upon them in terrific wrath. The first plague turned the waters of Egypt into blood throughout all the land. The plagues of frogs, lice, flies, murrain, boils, blains, hail and fire, and of darkness that might be felt, speedily followed. Still Egypt refused to let the people go. Then came the tenth and last great plague -the slaying of the first-born-connected with which is the institution of the Passover. This was to be kept in the Jewish month Abib, which answers to portions of our March and April.

A lamb was to be slain for every household; the blood was to be sprinkled upon the two side-posts, and upon the upper door-post of the house; the lamb was the feet, and staff in hand, ready for departure. All this to be eaten in haste, with the loins girded, shoes upon was done. That night the destroying angel went forth, and passing over the habitations where the blood was sprinkled, slew the first-born of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, to the first-born of the captive in the dungeon. Terror seized the Egyptians, who now became urgent for the departure of Israel, for, they said,

Though the Passover was designed to commemorate this great deliverance on the part of Israel, it had also a higher object-it was typical of the Lamb for sinners slain.

VICTOR COUSIN was an eminent French philosopher, whose writings form an interesting epoch in the" We be all dead men." history of metaphysical science in France. He found the French school of philosophy almost incorrigible supporters of materialism and infidelity. He has wrought wonders towards its reformation. He has performed almost as great a service for science on the Continent, as Locke did in Great Britain; and indeed a greater, in a moral point of view. His system is founded on induction; an induction, too, which does not overlook the grand elements of the human character. H.

We spoke of the moral condition of the Israelites as unfavorable. We infer this from their subsequent career-the weakness of their faith compared with that of the patriarchs, their frequent rebellions, and their murmurings against God. How brightly in the midst of this gloom is shadowed forth the long-suffering of

WOMAN'S BEST FRIEND.

Original.

WOMAN'S BEST FRIEND.

BY PROFESSOR M'COWN.

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THE Bible should be the first, the most endeared, and the most repeatedly read book of every lady's library. The Bible alone has asserted and established woman's

God, his mercy and goodness in providing a sacrifice for sin, so clearly and beautifully typified by the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb! And with what interest may we suppose this ordinance to have been cherished by the truly pious in succeeding generations! When the promise to Abraham was fulfilled, and his descendants had become as the stars of heaven, inhabiting a land flowing with milk and honey; when they were permit-high claims to dignity, importance, and influence. As ted to worship in a gorgeous temple, in that favored city, Jerusalem; when prophets, priests, and kings assembled at the festival, how must the heart have exulted at the invocation, "Come, let us go up to the house of the Lord; let us offer sacrifice, and seck the Most High!"

Our Savior, diligently fulfilling the law, was ever found at the feast of the Passover. When but twelve years of age, he went up to Jerusalem with those whose delight was in the ordinances of religion. Just before he was offered up on the cross, he partook of this sacra ment with his sorrowing disciples. But the Passover was to be kept throughout all generations; and though the types are now no longer necessary, yet we, who live under the better dispensation, have the same interest in the things typified as had those who lived before the crucifixion.

flowers are bereft of their hues without the light of the sun, but are adorned and penciled with their varied charms when blest with his genial rays, so has woman languished in obscurity, neglect and oppression, where the Bible has not blessed society; whilst her virtues have acquired a charm, and her character an influence most extensively exerted and admired, wherever the Bible has illustrated her worth. It alone is the palladium of her virtue, dignity, and liberty. What woman can fear the oppression of vice, superstition, and tyranny, when guarded by the blessing bequeathed our world in the promise of her sufferings, that her seed should bruise the serpent's head? What wife can fear rudeness, insult, or ill-treatment from a husband, who acknowledges and reveres the divine injunction, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it?" And surely that wife is preparing for herself a bed of thorns, upon which, at last, to lay a heart pierced with many sorrows, who delights rather to see her husband in the haunts of fashionable pleasure, than an humble penitent at the altar of prayer. What mother can fear neglect and ingratitude from a child, who is a sincere disciple of that blessed Savior, who, amidst the intense agonies of the cross, and the

The sinner is in a more deplorable condition than was the Israelite when a bond-slave in Egypt. He sees the Avenger in pursuit. Justice cries, "Cut him down; why cumbereth he the ground?" But the immaculate Lamb was sacrificed for him. By an application of the blood of sprinkling, wrath may be averted, "for even Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." We need a sacrifice for sin-we need the all-cleansing blood to wash away our pollutions-we need something to re-more exquisite pain he endured as the victim of our mind us of our obligations, which, while it cherishes the memory of past deliverances, shall also point to the momentous realities of the future. Such an ordinance our Savior instituted in the holy eucharist. This shall commemorate the death of the true Paschal Lamb, till time shall be no more. Christians, adore the love of God; and as oft as ye are permitted, surround his table. Remember, it was the Savior who said, "Do this in remembrance of me." Feed on him by faith, realizing that the time of your departure is at hand. Renew your cov-expectedly snatched away, has been transplanted to a enant to be more holy—and as it is your privilege to live under a more glorious dispensation than was granted to the Jews, let your faith be more vigorous, and your zeal more ardent in the cause of your divine Master. Jesus was your Sacrifice he is your Intercessor-remember, he will be your Judge. LOUISA E. A.

"THERE are at are a thousand familiar disputes which reason never can decide; questions that elude investigation, and make logic ridiculous; cases where something must be done, and where little can be said. How few can be supposed to act upon all occasions, whether small or great, with all the reasons of action present to their minds. Wretched would be the pair above all names of wretchedness, who should be doomed to adjust by reason, every morning, all the details of a domestic day."

world's guilt, still felt the indescribably tender emotions of filial_love for a parent's sufferings and wants, and with a voice full of gentle tenderness, committed his mother to the care of his beloved disciple? What mother can neglect that book, whose precious words assure her that her little one, gone down to the grave in infancy, has become an angel in heaven? That the flower, which for a few bright but flitting days, adorned and perfumed her bosom with its sweetness, though un

heavenly clime, to bloom and shed its fragrance in the garden of paradise. May this precious book be the solace, the guide, and defense of our mothers, sisters, and daughters! A woman's tears bathed those blessed feet that unweariedly traveled the mountains of Judea, in pursuit of the lost sheep of the house of Israel! A woman's love embalmed with rich ointment that precious head, in whose thoughts the bitterness of the last cup was then mingling! And woman's heroism, like the rainbow arching the storm, rose in its grandeur, constant and true, on the dark cloud of the Savior's tragedy, reflecting an honor on the female character unequaled in the world's history, and proving that no danger can appal her heart, when summoned to defend the cross by endurance, patience, and fortitude! Woman! art thou seeking thy Savior? Thy Bible says, "Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified."

FACTS, NOT FICTION.

were waiting to receive them, and welcome the bride to
her new home. There, each possessing the object of
the heart's warmest affections, who could but anticipate
that they would pass long years of undisturbed and
overflowing felicity! In this instance, at least, I might
have ventured to predict, as I turned my course home-
ward, that the poet's aphorism,

"Marriage in prospect may appear
A beauteous garden all in bloom-
A hedge of thorns we find it near,"

would prove untrue. And, indeed, so far as it depended
on the voluntary deportment, or on the moral attributes
of the parties, it doubtless would have proved untrue.