Obituary of Mrs. W

47

she could sing herself." The family complied with her request, and her countenance expressed the rapturous emotions with which her departing spirit responded to the language of this transporting anthem.

Contrary to our expectation, on Saturday, the 4th, she was still living, and apparently but little altered, except that she became weaker. She was, however, taken with a sudden turn of fainting; and supposing, for a moment, that she was going, she exclaimed, with great emotion, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" But she revived. The day was extremely unpleasant with rain, and I did not see her except a few moments at evening. When I left her, it was with the confident expectation that she would die during the night. On Sabbath morning, when I was preparing for meeting, and the hour of 10 had already passed, a messenger arrived in great haste, to say that Mrs. W- had been dying for one hour, and that the family were anxious I should call, if possible, before she departed. I reached the place with all possible expedition; and, on entering the house of death, a scene was presented truly impressive, interesting, and solemn. On a cradle, to which she had been removed on being struck with death, lay the gasping, yet joyful and inexpressibly interesting object of our visit. She was now speechless: but the last words she had uttered audibly, were on being seized with her last agonies-in the language of her favourite hymn, "Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying!" and her looks, perfectly possessed and rational, were still expressive of more, I believe, than it was ever permitted for a mortal to utter. Prayers were now made by her desire; and when they were ended, she was asked if she heard and understood? She signified, she did. We watched a moment the heaving clay before us sometimes it seemed still-gone-again it breathed; again the countenance shone, and told us that it still lived. Soon it moved, as if desirous for something. Several questions were proposed her, to which she replied by a negative. At length it was asked if she desired them to sing again? She answered, she did. And now a scene ensued, which I assure you utterly transcends description. This circle of weeping-rejoicing friends, attempted once more to sing "The Dying Christian's Address to his soul."

During this inimitable song, which, I believe, never so fully met its appropriate use, heaven came down, and took up its momentary abode in a human dwelling. The words, the trembling voices, the solemnized spectators, and above all the dying saint before us ;all combined to produce an effect, of which I have never read, nor understandingly conceived. The subject herself was a spectacle for angels: she looked, she meant unutterable things. Here was literally silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes." Heaven seemed unveiled to her view, and her countenance, her feeble motions, were such as of one about to fly into her everlasting inheritance ! At length, as we sung "Heaven opens on my eyes," &c. she made an effort to raise her hands; they were elevated in a gesture of the fixed rapture of devotion. Her time had come-the

48

American Bible Society.

noon of Sabbath had arrived-God's people were raising his praise in the sanctuary :-Her eyes turned upward, became fixed, and her hands, still raised in rapture, were stiffened in death. Mrs. W died at 12 o'clock on the 1st Lord's day in January, 1817.

Communicated for the Christian Herald.

A Female Heathen School Society has just been established in Ballston, on the plan recommended by the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. There are already more than fifty subseribers, and the prospects of the Society are truly flattering.

NEW-YORK FEMALE SABBATH SCHOOLS.

On Wednesday, the 9th instant, the ANNIVERSARY of The New-York Female Society for the promotion of Sabbath Schools, was celebrated in the Middle Dutch Church. The exhibition was unusually interesting. The greater part of the scholars, old and young, who attend the Female Sabbath Schools in this city, and most of their teachers, were present. The number of these, together with the crowd of spectators who assembled to witness the enlivening scene, was so great, that the church, though the largest in the city, could not accommodate the whole. Extracts from the Reports of the several Schools belonging to the Union were read. The details contained in them are of the most satisfactory nature,-furnishing renewed evidence of the great utility of that truly beneficent undertaking. We regret that we cannot give any of these extracts in this Number; but we hope to have it in our power to insert the general Report in our next. was stated that the number of scholars who had been admitted into the Schools of the Female Union, during the past year, was upwards of five thousand five hundred; that about three thousand attended regularly; and that the number of their teachers was three hundred and forty.

140

AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.

It

At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society, the 5th February, a Resolution was passed to endeavour to form a collection of Bibles in the several languages into which it has been translated, especially of the earliest editions; and it was recommended to the members of the Society to set the example by donations of any copies in their power to contribute.

The following donations were presented at the ensuing meeting on the 5th March:

By the New-York Historical Society-A French Bible, folio, printed at Geneva, 1644. This edition contains a preface by Calvin, and the Psalms in metre, by Marot & Beza, with the original tunes.

By ditto-A Dutch Bible, folio.-Dordrecht, 1730.

By the Rev. Dr. Romeyn-The English Bible, quarto, black letter, imprinted at London, by Robert Barker, 1615, with" a most profitable concordance."

By Mr. James Eastburn-A French Bible, with critical notes, &c. by D. Martin, Pastor of the Walloon Church, Utrecht-folio-Amsterdam,

1707.

By Mr. John Pintard-An English Bible, folio, with Cranmer's Profogue, and an Epistle to Queen Elizabeth-imprinted at London, by C. Barker, 1583.

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD.

VOL. III.]

Saturday, April 19, 1817.

[No. 4.

Having been disappointed in our expectation of obtaining the Report of the N. Y. Female Sabbath School Union Society in time for insertion this week, we have substituted in its place the following intelligence of the exertions which are making in various parts of the world to facilitate to the lower orders of society the acquisition of useful knowledge. We invite the attention of our readers to that part especially which relates to HAYTI. The wisdom which characterizes the measures of that Government in relation to this subject, and the spirit of liberality, and the elevation of mind exhibited in the Emperor's proclamation, furnish a reproof as forcible as dignified, to the calumni. ators of that abused race of men, and will doubtless be read with no ordinary interest.

Report of the British and Foreign School Society; delivered at the Sixth Annual Meeting.

On the establishment of an Auxiliary Society in Southwark it is remarked :

One single district, in which the education of the Poor shall be properly organized and superintended, will exhibit the blessings resulting from this so long neglected branch of philanthropy in so striking a manner, as to ensure the admiration and imitation of others and the plan laid down by the Southwark Auxiliary Society, viz. To allow the Poor themselves to co-operate, and to facilitate to them their exertions in providing instruction for their children according to their ability, cannot but become highly conducive to the regard with which it is so desirable to inspire the lower ranks in society for a religious education.

The Committee refer with satisfaction to the state of the Invested Subscription, raised for the relief of the Society's debt, and for the erection of suitable buildings-to the establishment for training Masters-and to the testimonies given to the Institution by distinguished and illustrious personages; particularly by the Archdukes John and Louis of Austria, the Duke of Orleans, the Russian Ambassador, and others.

On reviewing the progress of the Society, it is observed :

It is not to be wondered at if the harvest ripens slowly; nor must we be disheartened if a storm should here and there appear to destroy a part of the produce, reared with diligence and watched with care. The stem may bow, or even break-the root will remain sound; and even acquire additional strength to shoot forth fresh and vigorous branches, when the cloud shall be dispersed, and the sun shall have resumed its beneficial influence.

After stating, generally, that the information received respecting the Schools on the British System, established in the United Kingdom, 66 continues to be highly satisfactory, and that, in many places, they are advancing in prosperity, and in the extent of their beneficial influence," the Report proceeds to review the Society's FOREIGN OPERATIONS.

RUSSIA. Though no decisive measures have as yet been adopt. ed, your Committee are informed that a plan is actually in agita

D

50 Report of the British and Foreign School Society.

tion in Petersburg to form "A School-Society for Russia,” for the purpose of establishing Schools in different parts of that Empire ; also to render every possible advice and assistance to such of the Nobility as wish to do the same on their estates, as well as to Merchants and other benevolent persons desirous of promoting that philanthropic purpose; and their correspondent adds: "Your letter has thrown light upon a point which has caused a good deal of difficulty; you are willing to assist in training a Teacher or Teachers to begin with. This offer is of very great importance, and your letter containing it will be the means of removing difficulties which have hitherto been lying in our way."-It is by thus giving a stimulus to energies which only require to be called forth, by facilitating the first steps in the introduction of well-regulated Schools, that this Society can bestow incalculable benefits upon whole nations and empires, and acquire a claim to the affection and gratitude of future generations.

FRANCE. With a mingled feeling of satisfaction and regret, your Committee must now direct your attention to France; the country from which such encouraging and promising information was communicated to the last two General Meetings.

The delight which has been experienced by every friend of truth and religion-at the zeal and ardour with which the most enlightened and benevolent men of that country espoused the cause of Universal Education, and at the rapid progress which was made in the establishment of Schools on the British System-must naturally be considerably diminished by the late determination of the French Government to abandon the liberal principles on which they set out; to shut the door of the New Schools against children of all those parents who cannot conscientiously consent to have them educated under the direct influence of all the peculiar tenets and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.

Every additional inquiry which those really liberal men and philanthropists, who compose the "Society for Elementary Instruction" formed at Paris, have made, give new proofs of the neglected state of popular education in that country; and set the great extent of the advantages likely to result from a general adoption of the British System, in a still clearer light.

From the Report of that Society, read at their General Meeting on the 19th of February last, it appears that two-thirds of the children of age to attend Schools, amounting at all times to upward of two millions, are growing up in ignorance; and, of the whole mass of the inhabitants of France, about sixteen millions are unable to read or write.

It is therefore with sensations of great delight, that we turn from a picture so truly melancholy, to review the great and successful efforts which have been made during the last eighteen months.

In a former Report, your Committee had the satisfaction to state the success of the first efforts of the Committee of Instruction in Paris, and the zeal and activity with which they were pursuing their grand object.

The same Report also bears ample testimony to the readiness

Common Schools in France and Switzerland.

51

and zeal which has been evinced in many provinces, in favour of the New System. It states, that already the Provinces follow the example of the Metropolis, and have eagerly demanded advice, Masters, and Assistants of every kind. The most respectable public men write us very pressing letters; and generous and enlightened philanthropists found establishments at their own expense. France will soon possess many Societies similar to yours; which, in their turn will become the models of new associations; and this happy contagion will extend itself by gradual approaches, to the most remote and neglected parts of the kindgom.'

Beside the Schools in Paris, already mentioned, the whole me tropolis has been divided into twenty-four districts, in each of which it is proposed that Schools shall be established. Several respectable individuals have undertaken to form Schools at their own private expense. Schools have been already formed at Angers, Champ-Neuf, Lyons, Chatillon, Poitiers, and Anneci. Others are proposed in Grenoble, Vendome, Provence, Milan, Bordeaux, Besancon, Versailles, Strasburg, Nantes, Sceaux, Vaugirard, Charenton, and Bergerac. And several ladies, the sisters of St. Joseph, are applying themselves to acquire the system, in order to form Female Schools at Cluny, Chalons, Melun, Villeneuve, St George's, Salins, and other towns. In many other places schools are also projected.

That under circumstances apparently so auspicious to the dissemination of light, the Ordonnances of the Government of the 19th of March and 4th of April should have put an obstacle in the way of the success of the New Schools, by ordering the Roman Catholic Religion to be exclusively taught in them, and every master not professing that religion to be immediately dismissed, must sensibly afflict every enlightened and benevolent mind; especially as, in consequence of this arrangement, those very persons who had been the founders of the system in France, and to whom that country is so deeply indebted for the blessing, viz. Mr. Martin, Mr. Frossard, and Mr. Bellot, being Protestants, are prevented from exerting their distinguished talents with the greatest effect.

Your Committee are, however, far from considering the progress which has been made toward spreading the British System in France as useless. They can still rejoice at having been the means of transplanting it; being firmly persuaded that thereby benefits have been bestowed on France, which neither time nor circumstances will be able entirely to destroy. Masters have been trained and qualified, by Mr. Martin and his associates, for carrying on the great cause. In fact, the system has been exhibited to the view of the French nation; and your Committee feel assured, that its simplicity, beauty, and economy, will appear so evident to the quick and lively perception of that people, that its ultimate success is infallible.

SWITZERLAND. Your Committee have been informed by Dr. Marcet, that many enlightened individuals in Switzerland are at this moment engaged in promoting schools upon the British System. Mr. Pictet, brother of the learned and amiable Professor of Ge