never forget the solemnity of that afternoon; before the meeting began it seemed as if we were in the immediate presence of God. Yes, our God was near us, to bless us and protect us; for Satan seemed to rage, seeing his strongholds pulled down; but our God was for us, and who could be against us? Our meeting went on, and it was truly a blessed time; well might we exclaim, "I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise." Oh the wonders of redeeming grace, to hear the bold blasphemer pleading for mercy, confessing his heinous sins; and oh what a joyful sight to see so many faces beaming with joy, and happy in a Saviour's love; to see the boys holding each other's hands, weeping and saying, We

shall not fight any more, we shall love each other. Glory to God." Three to-day professed to have found a Saviour.

Friday, 24th.-Another blessed day. Some met in the cabin, and some in the boat. In the morning we in the cabin had a rich blessing poured upon us; we all met in the afternoon in the cabin, when another who would not attend our meetings came and knelt with us, and prayed for mercy; he professed to have found Jesus. He is a Swede, and prayed in his own language. We then sang the paraphrase, "From every kindred, every tongue," &c., &c. After six o'clock I had a meeting in the cabin, when Mr. Heans, the carpenter, and the rest of the converts, went into the forecastle and pleaded for a hardened sinner, and got him to his knees. Twice he endeavoured to deceive them, as he afterwards confessed. After our little cabin meeting broke up, we went forward; all were around him, and God magnified His own name. We heard the penitent cry for mercy, and before we left him he professed to have found a Saviour. This man ran from the presence of God twice, yet he was brought to repent. "Oh my soul, for ever praise, for ever love His name." None but God such grace can show. All appear to be growing in grace; many of them have delightful, and all have penitent prayers.

Saturday, 25th.-A day of rich blessing. We met in the cabin in the morning, and enjoyed much of God's love; all the converts joined in praver, many of them are growing fast. The afternoon was set apart by all, to plead for the only hardened sinner left. All but one now profess to have found a Saviour, but I trust our prayers will yet be answered for him. Our ship has now become a house of prayer; the songs of Zion are night and day ascending from some part of her.

Sunday, 26th.-Another happy day. We had service in the forenoon and afternoon. In the evening there were a few down in the cabin; at 8 o'clock, an old man of 53, who had resisted every entreaty, now came down and knelt with us, and it might be said, "Behold, he prayeth."

Our meetings after this were continued day by day, and the result is, that on arriving in London, on Sunday, June 23rd, I am enabled to record the mercy of God in giving us reason to believe that eighteen conversions took place on board the ship in the course of one week; and that the whole ship's company of 22 are now following the Lord Jesus towards the rest which remains for the people of God.

N. M'KELVIE,
Capt. of the Thomas Campbell.
London, July 2nd, 1861.

FAMILY PRAYER.

THE great defect in family prayers, or of what is sometimes called family religion, is that it stands alone in the house, and has nothing put in agreement with it. Whereas,

if it is to have any honest reality, as many things as possible should be soberly and deliberately put in agreement with it; for, indeed, it is a first point of religion itself, that by its very nature it rules presidingly over everything desired, done, thought, planned for and prayed for, in the Îife. It is never to finish itself up by words, or word-supplications, or even by sacraments; but the whole

custom of life and character must be in it, and of it, by a total consent of the man. And more depends on this, a hundred times, than upon any occasional fervours, or passionate flights, or agonizings. The grand defect will, in almost all cases, be in what is more deliberate, viz., in the want of any downright, honest, casting of the family in the type of religion, as if that were truly accepted as the first thing.

See just what is wanted by what is so very commonly not found. First of all, the more observant kind of piety, that which prays in the family to keep up a reverent show or acknowledgment of religion, is not enough. It leaves every thing else in the life to be an open space, for covetousness and all the gay lustings of worldly vanity. It even leaves out prayer; for the saying prayers is, in no sense, really the same thing as to pray. Contrary to this, there

should be some real prayer, for the meaning's sake, and for the shell of religious decency, in which the semblance may be kept. This latter kind looks, indeed, for no return of blessing from God, but only for a certain religious effect, accomplished by the drill of repetitional observance. There is also another kind of drill sometimes attempted in the prayers of families, which is much worse, viz., when the prayer is made every morning to hit this or that child, in some matter of disobedience, or some mere peccadillo into which he has fallen. Nothing can be more irreverent to God than to make the hour of prayer a time of prison discipline for the subjects of it, and nothing could more certainly set them in fixed aversion to religion and to everything sacred. This kind of prayer prays, in fact, for exasperation's sake, and the effect will correspond.

INCREASE OF

THE Jesuits throughout the world now number 7,144, nearly 3,000 of whom are priests, 2,159 scholastics, and 1,046 coadjutors. They have increased 2,392 in fourteen years; in 1847 they were but 4,752; in 1854 they counted 5,516; and in 1857, 6,303. Their nativity is given as follows:-France, 1,181, Belgium, 531, Holland, 205, Spain, 680, Austria, 455, Germany, 526, Great Britain, 379, America, 444, and Italy, 1,742. More than 1,000 of these Jesuits are on foreign missions, under the authority of the Propaganda.

In France, as in the United States, they are divided into three provinces, namely-1,085 for the province of Paris, 615 for that of Lyons, and 531 for Toulouse. They have there 4 colleges, 21 boarding schools, 16 seminaries, 7 novitiates, 36 dwellings, 2 houses for exercise, and 31

THE JESUITS.

stations or missions. In Italy they are thus distributed in five provinces:-Rome, 462, Naples, 427, Venice, 233, Sicily, 308, and Piedmont, 201.

The Jesuits have been expelled from Piedmont, Lombardy, Modena, the Ombrian Marches, Romagna, and the Two Sicilies; in the latter places they have had 7 colleges, 10 boarding-schools, and 3 seminaries. Those driven from the Pontifical provinces, now occupied by Piedmont, number 184; but they are located in the minor cities and towns of Italy. There are about 300 Jesuits in Rome, 155 of whom are employed in the Roman College, 13 in compiling the Civita-Cattolica, 17 in the German College, 10 in the College of Nobles, 10 in the South American Colleges, 36 at the Novitiate, and 21 in the Convent of St. Eusebius.

Yours sincerely,

THOMAS HACKER, Evangelist, Sittingbourne.

"MY DEAR SIR,-I now take an opportunity of writing an answer to your kind letter. I received it with mingled feelings of surprise and pleasure. Great pleasure I had in the thought that your prayers asscended to the throne of God in my behalf; for me, who thought I was left alone to fight the battle with my wicked heart and evil inclinations. Long and fierce has the strife been; and many times I have thought and said, 'It is no use trying, I shall never be any different.' But God has been very merciful unto me, and did not leave me to perish in my sins. I have thought since, how wonderfully kind and gracious the Saviour must be to stoop to reclaim me; for I have had impressions of my sinfulness before the Lord and of His great love to me; but time after time they have died away. But I had no real peace until I sought the Lord, which I did with many tears and prayers; and while this was going on in my soul, I had not one friend to speak a comforting word to me, only as I went to the chapel; and I often

found comfort in the prayers and services held there. hope you will not cease to pray for me, for my faith is ofttimes weak and shaken, so that I hardly know whether I am a child of God or not. We that are situated as I am have many temptations to forget; and often of a night the thought comes to me, 'How much has the Saviour been in your thoughts to-day?' They have all been in and of the world. My temptation is forgetfulness, for I often think I will think and pray more to-day, then I forget. There

is so much to draw one's attention from it here. I shall feel stronger if you continue to pray for me, for the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.’

"And now I will answer your question. I do feel that I love the Lord. There is a great and happy change worked in me-a change that once I only heard of, but did not, could not believe. I thought it was only people's talk, but now I feel it myself in such a way that I cannot be mistaken. My thoughts and feelings are changed. Once, the Sunday-school work was a dead letter to me; I did not take an interest in it. I could not, and did not, speak to the children of a Saviour, for I did not feel it myself, and could not tell them what I did not practise myself; and when I felt uncomfortable, as I often did, I thought- Well, I am not a teacher; I only go to hear them read,' and that is all I did do; and many times was tempted to give it up, but am very glad now that you made me a teacher. It is

most likely I should have been going the downward road to destruction still if you had not-for that is one reason why I tried so earnestlybecause I thought I was not acting conscientiously. Excuse me for this long letter, for I thought I must tell you you are the first and only person I could tell. Dear Sir, in

reply to your wish that I would join myself to the church, I must tell you that I have thought long and much upon this subject, and think I am too weak a Christian to do so, for, should I do anything wrong, I could not bear the finger of scorn pointed at me. Although I have often felt I should like to take the sacrament, when our minister has invited all that love the Lord Jesus to do so, I think I must wait longer. I hope I am right in this decision; if not, please to tell Yours affectionately,

me.

ANSWERS TO CORRES

PONDENTS.

OUR enlightened friend, Miss J————, of Bourton, is a little too hard upon the writer referred to. On the whole, however, she is right, but the matter had better drop.

The "Lines" from Newcastle please us, and will appear in due

course.

The Essay of "P. L." wants a little more point. All such things ought to be like the burr-thistle, which sticks to whatever it touches.

Our esteemed friend in the North, who sends us No. I. of "The Fountain," must excuse us. A series of any kind is hardly admissible in a monthly publication. Such a length of time is fatal alike to the reader's recollection and to impression. The connexion cannot be kept up. Every article in each number should, as far as possible, be complete in itself. "Continuations" are very objection

able.

"Charles L." manifests ability; let him only labour and he will get on. Let him fill his mind with knowledge, and practise composition to the utmost of his power. This is a choice means of mental culture.

"R. S." need not trouble himself; our minds are made up on the subject of light literature, and nothing can alter them. Tales and trash, such as that under which the London press is now groaning, are a pestilent

nuisance! Its fruits are evil, and only evil, continually! They are alike hurtful to the mind and the heart! They enfeeble the one and debase the other. They are working the ruin of myriads !

"A Young Couple" do well in determining to have a Family Bible; and we recommend to them, first, the Condensed Commentary, the most valuable thing of the sort in the English tongue; and by-and-by the Commentary of Scott, in itself a library.

"Rufus" asks what we cannot give him; he ought, moreover, to rely on himself rather than on his friends. Under God, every thing depends on this.

"A Deacon" takes the right view; it only remains for him to act. Without the adoption of means to accomplish it, it is utterly impossible that the Magazines can ever cover the congregations as they ought. If the thing be left to itself, no good can follow. The Magazines are by far the most efficient auxiliary to the pulpit extant. In the Colonies and remote places they are even no mean substitute for it, till it can be set up. Let our friend, then, try what he can effect. All things are possible to well-directed energy. Were we deacons of a congregation of 1,000 people of average condition, we would undertake to get subscribers for 200 WITNESS, and 400 Penny next New Year.

We could not insert the letter of Mr. A. C. Chambers, a churchman, in defence of celibacy, without an extended comment, which most of our readers would deem a waste of space. Their minds are made up on the subject, and they would look upon the argument of Mr. C. with pity, many of them with scorn.

The Rev. E. S. Hart, of Norwich, will accept special thanks for his deeply-interesting article. Occasions innumerable arise supplying topics and materials, if our friends would but take the trouble of working them up.

COME, come, come.

The conspicuous sign over my door is to be regarded as a constant and urgent invitation to come and enter in.

Come, come, come.

Persons of both sexes and of all classes, having money to spend, are cordially welcomed, without any scrupulous particularity about goodness of character. Good characters are not expected.

Come, come, come.

Let them leave their business and their own dull homes, forgetting their obligations, liabilities, and engagements, together with all their inward convictions and good resolutions, and so let them come.

Come, come, come.

Every expedient will be employed to render the house attractive, kill time, and "drive dull care away." News, jests, tales and songs, extolling the jolly-drinking good fellows, ridiculing all religious, temperance, and Maine-law men, with cards, dice, dance, raffles, &c., &c.

Come, come, come.

The drink is first-rate, well-calculated to excite, not to allay thirst, and warranted sufficiently strong, provided enough be taken, to produre the most delicious and beastly intoxication.

Come, come, come.

The company need not fear disturbance or interruption at an hour too early; the back-parlour is snug and private; the clock kept too slow; and, by various manoeuvres, Mr. P. C. is deceived, and the drawing and drinking will go on.

Come, come, come.

The only drawback upon mutual satisfaction is the failure of the circulating medium. In such case, at any hour, a cloud arises, smiles naturally give place to frowns, and it is reasonable that they who have spent all should quit the place, and,

if not quietly, that a sufficiency of physical force should be employed to expel them, until they have obtained a fresh supply of money; then their return and company will be most cheerfully welcomed.

Come, come, come.

Notwithstanding occasional questionable appearances, ours is a respectable and well-conducted house -better far than many licensed by law and sanctioned by Government. What we do is in a way of trade-for we must live; and if evil happen to any parties, it is their own fault, and not ours; let them see to it.

A SABBATH MORNING WITH QUEEN VICTORIA IN THE HIGHLANDS, September, 1861. THE spectacle that is witnessed every Sunday morning in Balmoral parish church, during her Majesty's autumnal visit to Scotland, is impressive and cheering in the highest degree. Amid the magnificent scenery of Deeside, not the least magnificent is that assembly of worshippers. There the august Sovereign of the greatest nation upon earth, surrounded by the highest and humblest of her subjects, regularly attends the public worship of God; no matter what the state of the weather may be. The writer had the honour and high gratification of being present in the parish church of Balmoral one Sunday morning last month, when Her Majesty, the Prince Consort, and sonie of the Royal family and suite worshipped in Crathie Church with her Highland tenantry, and joined most heartily and devoutly in the simple service of the sanctuary, after the Presbyterian mode, as if it had been the accustomed worship of her childhood.

With her usual punctuality, and this is worthy of notice, Her Majesty