rience. On the contrary, there was a modesty and humility in all he said, particularly becoming his situation. He found no fault with his prosecutors, nor with his sentence, nor with any person; he only found fault with himself.

But I must proceed to give an outline of his history, as he related it at my particular request. Several of the particulars have since been confirmed by a respectable clergyman; and of the truth of the remainder I have no doubt.

He was born in L―shire, in 1793; his parents were in decent circumstances, but made no profession of religion, except occasionally going to church. Ata suitable age he was apprenticed to a respectable uphol sterer in L- -. He soon became regardless of the Sabbath; formed improper acquaintance, and, by degrees, gave himself up to various vices, and, among the rest, to profane swearing, and drinking to excess.

Soon after the expiration of his apprenticeship he married; but it does not appear that any permanently good effect was produced by the change. He continued his evil courses, till at length he committed a highway robbery, was apprehended, convicted, and sentenced to transportation for life. This took place about five years since. When he had been in New South Wales two years, he contrived to get on board a vessel bound to the East Indies, and, secreting himself in the hold till the ship was under weigh, escaped from his place of banishment. From the East Indies he got to the United States, and eventually returned to England. For some time he endeavoured to obtain employment in L- but without success; he then returned to L- -, where his wife and child, and also his parents, reside. From them he met with rather a cold reception; he became indifferent about himself, and, to use his own expression, was beginning to grow wild again. Some person gave information of his return from transportation. He was apprehended, sent to prison, and shortly afterwards to L- County Goal, where he was again convicted at last March Assizes.

It does not appear, that, up to this period, any good effect had been produced upon his mind by all the disgrace and punishment which he had endured. About two months after he had been in prison at La fellow prisoner, whose name was L, put a Tract into his hand, desiring him to read it; the title of it was, AN APPEAL TO THE HEART. He read it; and it pleased that Divine Spirit, whose office it is to convince the world of sin, to make this Tract an appeal to his heart, and to make him deeply sensible of his condition as a guilty sinner. He began to pray, and to read his Bible, which had been given him by the Rev. Mr. Bthe Minister of E― Parish, who visited him in prison, previously to his last commitment to LNot long after this, he was visited by the Rev. Messrs. H and G- Clergymen of the Established Church, whose oft repeated visits and instructions were of great use in helping him forward in the knowledge of Christ and his salvation.

After having been brought to feel the value of his own soul, he became concerned for the salvation of his fellow prisoners; and L- — (the man who gave him the Tract) and himself, began to speak to such of them as they had access to, which they continued to do, notwithstanding much persecution and reproach, up to the period of their leaving prison.

When I met with the poor fellow, he was on his way to Portsmouth, with the rest, to be transported. L- was not of this party, but was to follow the next day; and it was expected they would go out together, I saw a copy of a letter written by the Rev. Mr. G―, in behalf of these two men, of whom he speaks in very decided terms, of his conviction of their being turned from the error of their ways; and that, from their exemplary conduct in prison, they were entitled to every favour and indulgence that could be shown them consistently with their situation.

I scarcely need add, that this stage of my journey, which, at its commencement, appeared so unpropitious, proved truly interesting and profitable to myself. I felt it to be an occasion when I was providentially called to afford all the instruction, encouragement, and caution, which I was capable of giving. The more I saw of the man, the more reason had I to admire the grace of God in him. Instead of complaining of the persons who had been the cause of his second apprehension, he blessed God for it, being persuaded that it had been the means of saving him from destruction. He informed me, that he had acquired such a confirmed habit of swearing, that he thought, at one time, it was impossible he should be saved from this; but he now acknowledges, that, since the fear of God has possessed his mind, he finds it easy to abstain from taking his holy name in vain. In answer to an inquiry as to his enjoyment of the comforts of religion, he replied; "Yes, Sir; I thank God, I do enjoy a degree of peace which passeth all understanding ;-I would not exchange my present situation for a kingdom."

It is perhaps the most curious, though the least important part of this little history, that the name of this poor fellow is the same as my own, J. C. He is however no kinsman of mine according to the flesh; but, inasmuch as I believe him to be like myself, a sinner saved by grace, I have no hesitation in acknowledging him as a brother in Christ Jesus.

FRANCE. THE PIOUS MOUNTAINEERS.

DEAR SIR,

LETTER FROM THE WIDOW

Chateau de Bellevue pres Paris, August 10, 1821.

I AM encouraged by your prompt insertion of my last, and by the interest which several correspondents have assured me it has excited, to request you will give a place in your valuable pages to the following letters, from the widow of St. acknowledging the arrival of the

books, which I stated to have been sent.

To the Rev. G. Burder.

I am, dear Sir, Yours most truly,

MARK WILKS.

Sir, and respectable friend and brother in our Lord Jesus Christ: May our divine Redeemer give us all the grace to participate in his second coming, and may he deign to enlighten us with the beams of his

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divine light, that we may avoid the snares spread on every side by the enemy of all good, to induce us to abandon the Lion Shepherd, (Lion berger,) who is the true pastor of our souls. In the hope of these blessings, we should mutually pray for each other, that we may all be children of the promise.

expe

It is impossible to describe the unutterable joy that my heart rienced on the arrival of the box which you sent me. How agreeably was I surprised, at the sight of so many more copies of the New Testament than I had requested, and of the other religious books which you and your friend M.- had added; all of them more or less instructive and useful! I could not help reading over and over again the letters enclosed, which afford fresh proof of the desire of yourself and your friends to contribute to the advancement of the reign of our divine Redeemer. It is with these sentiments that my family, myself, and all my dear friends, whom I regard as my brethren and sisters in Jesus Christ, request you to accept our humble and sincere thanks for the zeal and eagerness you have manifested, to send us all that might promote our spiritual advancement, and especially for sending the Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ; for all other religious books are but sketches or explanations, more or less extended, of that sacred volume -the book par excellence. We entreat you to assure M. of our sincere respect and attachment, and all your friends, whom we esteem as brethren and sisters in Christ, since they expect the final appearance of the Saviour, which seems to be at hand, and the object of which is the conversion and regeneration of the people of the promise. For it is not till after the regeneration of this people, beloved of God, that all the people of the earth shall unite to adore the Redeemer in spirit and in truth at Jerusalem.

Sir, and dear brother in our Lord Jesus, I cannot find words to express the satisfaction I experienced from the present you have made me, of a Bible containing the Old and New Testaments, and which you beg me to accept as a mark of your Christian affection. It was not necessary to have sent this truly religious present to convince me of the love which you feel for all your brethren in Christ; for the day I had the honour and happiness to become acquainted with you, I had unequivocal proofs of your sentiments in that respect. I was the more gratified and edified by this mark of your regard, as it was my intention to have requested in my last letter some copies of the Old Testament; but I dared not execute my design, for fear of abusing your Christian complaisance and charity. The Old and New Testament, properly understood, are but one Testament; such is the connexion of the sacred books-for the New Testament is the key to the Old, and the Old the same to the New. In innumerable passages of the Old Testament, the death, birth, and glory of our divine Redeemer are announced, in terms more or less distinct. In reading the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah, we perceive that those prophets spake of our Saviour as though they had lived with him on the earth. His second coming is also foretold in many passages, especially in the prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel.

To return to the box, which your Christian generosity and charity has sent: it has excited universal joy in the hearts of all our friends in this country. Immediately that they learnt the agreeable news, they flocked to see me, and to have the happiness and advantage of procuring the

Testaments of our Redeemer, and in less than five days the box was emptied. I gave copies of the gospel of St. Matthew to those who had not the satisfaction and consolation to procure a complete copy of the Testament. The whole was so soon distributed that many could have nothing; and there are also many who do not yet know of the arrival of the second box. I intend to lend the copy of the Testament, and of the other books, which I have reserved for myself, among our friends in the neighbourhood, who, by the grace of God, are of our sentiments, and consequently are disposed to make a boly use of them. Several of our riends have the same intentions, in order that the books we have may be as useful as possible.

I believe I may assure you, in the presence of Him who sees the bottom of our hearts, that I have observed, to the letter, your instructions relative to the distribution of the Testaments. You will learn then, that I have disposed of fifteen copies, at four francs per copy, and I assure you I was much edified in receiving this money; for all those from whom I received it, gave it with a gayety of heart which it is impossible to describe; some regretting that they had so often spent their money less profitably, and others desiring that they might always use it as suitably for the future. That which has most edified me is, that almost all our friends in this country subsist by hard labour; for you know that for several years the price of work has considerably diminished. As for the other copies, I have distributed them to persons who could not purchase them, but who, through the mercy of our divine Saviour, hope and intend to make a holy use of the reading of the sacred book.

As I hope you will do me honour and the Christian kindness to acknowedge the receipt of this, I request you to inform me how I can remit you the sixty francs, which I am indebted to you for the fifteen New Testaments. As our brethren and sisters in Jesus Christ, who, by an effect of his grace altogether free and unmerited, look for his second coming to salvation, are delighted and edified by the truly Christian salutation which you have sent through me; they desire me to express their gratitude, and to request you to accept theirs in the same spirit. I unite with them in beseeching you and your respectable friend M. and all your friends, not to forget us in your prayers to the Father of Lights, that he may give us grace to persevere in the same sentiments, and grant us all the mercy to join the general assembly in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen. Expecting that happy day, I intreat you to believe me your very humble servant and friend in Jesus Christ, The WIDOW

SWEDEN.-BIBLE SOCIETY.

THE following extract from one of Dr. Pinkerton's letters, we deem worthy of insertion; partly because it points out how great a scarcity of the Word of God still exists, and partly because it suggests a plan by which many poor persons may assist their neighbours in acquiring a sufficient knowledge of letters to read the Bible for themselves.

"Helsinborg, July 4, 1821. "At Linkoping, I had an interesting interview with the present ArchVOL. VIII.

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bishop primate of Sweden, Dr. Rosenstein. His Eminence informed me that the diocese for which the Linkoping Society has been established, contains a population of upwards of 250,000 souls; that, after a special examination in every parish respecting the number of copies of the Holy Scriptures in circulation among the people, it had been found that the eighth soul only is in possession of a Bible or a Testament ! What a melancholy result, that in this province, one of the richest in Sweden, seven persons out of eight should be found still destitute of the word of life.

"To my inquiries relative to the proportion of the peasantry who are able to read, His Eminence replied, that it was rare to meet with an adult person among them who could not read; that when he was Dean, he recollected, that in two parishes belonging to his charge, and containing 3700 souls, there was only one grown-up person found who could not read-a soldier !

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"On my observing, that the regulations for educating the poor must be excellent which could produce such a general knowledge of letters among them, His Eminence, to my no little surprise, assured me, that the number of schools among the lower classes was very limited, and that this general ability to read was chiefly to be ascribed to the laudable efforts of the peasantry to instruct each other; that the mother of the cottage family was usually the instructress of her offspring in the art of reading. He farther added, that there were in many parts of the country ambulating teachers, who went from village to village and kept school; here at three months, and there at four months, according to the encouragement they met with."

PERSIA.-HENRY MARTYN.

WE are happy to hear that the spirit of inquiry excited by the beloved Martyn still exists. A gentleman, recently returned from Persia, states, that when conversing with the Moolahs at Shiraz about his death, they spake of him "as too pure a spirit to stay here," as "a good man ;" they said that they had proposed difficult questions to him, which at first he could not answer, though at last he answered them all, whilst he had proposed some questions to themselves which they had never yet been able to answer. It appears that Martyn's Persian Testament is read secretly amongst them with great attention, but that a public perusal would be attended with danger. The gentleman to whom we are indebted for this information states, that a missionary to the Jews, Armenians, or Nazarenes, might be safely sent among them, but that a direct mission to the Persians would not be tolerated at present; in fact, it was proposed to answer Martyn's arguments with the knife, and he was only saved by the interposition of Ali Jaffier, who represented him as a traveller who was only there for a little time, and who blamed the Moolahs, who excited him to speak by their questions.

Ch. Guardian.