4000 years seemed to rush upon our minds; events, in which Heaven, and Earth, and Hell, had felt the deepest interest. This was the place, selected hy the Almighty for his dwelling, and here his glory was rendered visible. This was the "perfection of beauty," and the "glory of all lands." Here David sat and tuned his harp, and sung the praises of Jehovah. Hither the tribes came up to worship. Here enraptured prophets saw bright visions of the world above, and received messages from on high for guilty man. Here our Lord and Saviour came in the form of a servant, and groaned, and wept, and poured out his soul unto death, to redeem us from sin, and save us from the pains of hell. Here, too, the wrath of an incensed God has been poured out upon his chosen people, and has laid waste his heritage. Messrs. Fisk and King took lodgings in a Greek convent, called the convent of St. Michael the Archangel, situated but a little distance from the place where it is supposed the Lord Jesus was crucified. Their windows looked out upon the Mount of Olives, from whence he ascended to glory, and where he commanded his disciples to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mr. Wolf took lodgings with his brethren the Jews. The first part of their journal concludes with the following request to their brethren and patrons in this favored land, which will draw forth many prayers in their behalf to Him who heareth prayer, and whose eye, doubtless, hath never been regardless of the interesting land in which they now dwell. Christian Brethren in America :-Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you; and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for all men have not faith.-Missionary Herald. : Monthly Concert.-On the 2d of June last, Mr. Fisk made preparation for a journey, in company with Mr. King, to the Dead Sea and the River Jordan. To protect themselves from robbers they employed the captain of a band of robbers as their guide. On a mountain near the Dead Sea, Mr. Fisk found the rocks strongly impregnated with sulphur. The waters of the Dead Sea are clear-but bitter and nauseous to the taste. The opinion that, on account of their weight, they are unmoved by the force of wind, is without foundation-also the notion that birds cannot, or do not fly over their surface. Mr. Fisk saw many of them upon the shore, and flying above the water. The idea that vessels do not sail there is better supported; for no vessels have been built for the purpose. The whole country on this Sea and the banks of Jordan, as far as Mr. Fisk travelled, is desert, and inhabited by a few Bedouin Arabs. The Jordan is a small, sluggish river; and its banks, in many places, are marshy and covered with bushes. Mr. Fisk swam across it and "on the other side beyond Jordon," sat down, in company with a few Greeks, and read the third chapter of Joshua and the third chapter of John. On a hill a little to the West of the Jordan, Mr. F. saw a heap of stones, said to mark the spot where Joshua placed the stones which he took from the bed of the river, when it was miraculously divided for the passage of the children of Israel. He sought for the " Apple of Sodom," of which he found two kinds-botb unpleasant to the taste. The ancient Jericho contains at present only about 300 inhabitantsall Mussulmans. The walls of the houses are of stone-the roofs of bushes and clay. A little to the North West of this place, is a stream of pure water, which is supposed to be that which Elisha healed. The stream issues from the foot of a mountain, on which our Saviour is said to have fasted 40 days. At Jerusalem, Friday June 20, the Missionaries repaired to the walls of the city opposite Mount Moriah, where the Jews on that day of the week resort, to mourn over the desolations of their country. At this place about 30 Jews were sitting upon the ground, reading Hebrew books, and mourning. This is a privelige for which the Jews are obliged to pay their Turkish masters. From one of the Greek convents at Jerusalem, more thon $150,000 have been exacted by the Turks, since the commencement of the war. On the day of Pentecost, June 27, there were five Missionaries at the Holy City; viz. Messrs. Wolf, Fisk and King, Mr. Way and Mr. Lewis, from the University of Dublin.-Telegraph. Character of the Turks.-The following sketch of the character of the Turks, given by the Rev. Mr. Fisk one of the Missionaries to the Holy Land, will be read with interest at the present time.-N. Y. Obs. Think of a government in which every office is sold to the highest bidder, and in which a criminal may almost uniformly obtain his freedom by the payment of money; think of schools, in most of which the only thing taught is to pronounce the words of a language which neither pupils nor teacher understand; think of places of public worship, in which nearly all the exercises are performed in an unknown tongue; think of one half the females in the country prohibited from going out without concealing their faces, while both the laws and the religion of the country allow polygamy and concubinage; think of a country in which scarce one woman in a hundred can read, and where, perhaps, not half the men are more fortunate; think of a country in which the governor has liberty to behead seven men a day, without assigning any reason whatever for so doing; where a criminal is condemned without jury, and I had almost said without trial or witnesses; and after being condemned, is immediately beheaded, strangled, or hung at the first convenient place in the street, and left hanging two or three days; think of a country in which, in case of public disturbance, one half of the community can murder whomsoever they please of the other half with impunity; think of a country in which an armed man, will meet a respectable inoffensive citizen in the street of a populous city, at mid day, and shoot him dead on the spot, and then sit down quietly and smoke his pipe in sight of the corpse, while even the guards of the city are passing by; think of a country in which the name of christianity exists, but only as a name, for that superstition and idolatry which belong to paganism, and in which the delusions of the false prophet exist with all their impurities and all their abominations. Such a country or rather much worse than even this description, is Turkey." •1934224. Presentation of the Bible to the newly married.—At Chatillon on the Loire, in France, a Bible Association has recently been formed among the children, for the purpose of presenting a Bible to every newlymarried pair. The effect of this institution thus far has been very happy, both upon the children and upon the young persons who receive their present. The plan, we think, is worthy of universal imitation. It seems to be the most simple and effectual method of keeping every family in the country supplied with the sacred volume; and if it were universally introduced, we might soon hope to see family worship extensively revived. The Archives du Christianisme, a periodical work published in Paris, contains the extraordinary intelligence, that on the 6th of April last, M. Henhoffer, the Roman Catholic Rector of the parishes of Mullisausen and Steyneyg, in the Duchy of Baden in Germany, with the Baron de Gimdingen, his household and forty other families making in all 220 persons, publicly embraced the Reformed Religion, in the Seignorial Chapel in Steyneyg; after which the adults received the Holy Communion, according to the Rites of the Protestant Church. The affectting ceremony took place in a Roman Catholic country in the midst of a vast assemblage of personages of different religious denominations, without the smallest interruption or disorder. Ship Thames.-This Ship, which sailed from New-Haven in Nov. 1822, with the interesting Mission family, destined for the Sandwich Islands, was left at Woahoo, on the 21st of April last. The period of her arrival out, is not stated; but the Iris, which reports her, has doubtless brought letters from the Missionaries to their friends in this country. A HYMN ON THE LORD'S DAY. Welcome the hour of prayer, Descend, celestial Dove, Then shall my soul its life attain, Nor Sabbaths be indulg,d in vain. The waking morn shall see The pleasing task begun, Nor my devotion be Clos'd with the setting sun : My God shall hear my ev'ning suit, And grateful songs his ear salute. Spread thy light wings, and soar away, The blessings of our favor'd age, The sick to heal, the lost to save. And blinded Israel turns to God. Bid the bright dawn of Faith appear. Who shed atoning blood for man. Haste to the worldling, bent with care, H. TO CORRESPONDENTS. "L. M." and "P." are received, and will be inserted. Several other Communications, without Signatures, have been received, and are under consideration. |