laver, or baptistry, standing on twelve oxen, wrought out of wood, their heads facing four ways. They baptize here, not only for the living, but for the dead. Individuals are instructed that they can get their friends out of perdition by being baptized on their account. I saw one old man who had been baptized 13 times for his deceased children, because they were not Mormons; and heard of another, about 80 years old, who was baptized for George Washington and La Fayette; then for Thomas Jefferson; and then applied in behalf of Andrew Jackson! but they told him the General was not dead yet, and so he waits a while." Appointments by the Executive Committee of the A. H. M. S., from June 1st to July 1st, 1842. Rev. Thompson Bird, Thorntown and Bethel, Ind. Rev. L. Farnam, Batavia and east side of Big Woods, IIL Rev. R. Gaylord, Mount Pleasant and Hartford, Rev. G. Cross, Richville and Hermon, N. Y. Rev. C. Bowles, W. Potsdam and S. Canton, N. Y. Rev. H. B. Taylor, Evans, N. Y. Rev. J. A. Carnahan, Dayton and Oxford, Ind. Rev. J. H. Carle, Rondout, N. Y. Rev. C. E. Rosenkrans, to go to the West, The Treasurer of the American Home Missionary Society acknowledges the receipt of the following sums, from June 1st to July 1st, 1842. OR, SKETCHES OF REAL CHARACTERS, CONVERSATIONS, AND STRIKING FACTS, FURNISHED CHIEFLY BY CLERGYMEN. The Note of Request for on God's worship; often, it may be, Prayer. [Communicated by a clergyman.] "Is any afflicted, let him pray." "The prayer of faith_shall save the sick.” THE practice of presenting notes for prayers prevails in various forms, among all denominations of evangelical chris tians. Those suffering extreme sickness; and in imminent danger of death; those who have been bereaved of dear friends and persons going to sea, are accustomed to request the prayers of God's people in their behalf; in some places giving their names; in others, only specifying themselves as members of the church or congregation. In other cases—and well would it be if they were more frequent-persons in distress or difficulty, in regard to their spiritual state, have made similar requests. So also, in some communities, it has been common for those who have experienced signal mercies, to call upon their brethren and sisters to unite with them in acts of special thanksgiv. ing to God for his goodness. have they left their place empty in the social meeting, when there was no valid hindrance. The request may come from parents who have no altar for God in their house; or they may be requests from those who give reason to fear that they never pray for themselves. With such feelings of distrust towards the applicants, how can the minister and the church engage as they ought in presenting their request to the throne of grace? It is professedly a united act; the people of God are coming to second the plea of those having wants and feeling their need, and if the suspicion prevail that they are themselves insincere, how can others have boldness in asking in their behalf? This joining as advocates and intercessors for those who seen neither to desire, nor expect the blessing sought, is a soul-chilling busi ness. No wonder if it have a blighting influence, on the zeal and faith of poor, faint-hearted, inconstant followers of Christ, such as all his ministers and all his people confess themselves to be. God forbid that they should be justified in remissness, but so it is. Whether, in nature, cold be a positive substance, and actually reflected and focalized by In all these cases, those offering the the mirror of the lecturer, or not; in the notes for prayer, and those receiving spiritual world its existence is palpable, them, have had much occasion for mu- and its reflection from heart to heart, tual complaint. Prayer is a solemn past all dispute. Hence, it comes to business, always solemn, and yet it is pass, that souls who really feel their not always so treated. Too often have loneliness, and burn with inward and the pastor and the church felt, when insatiable desires for kindred spirits to the note was announced, that a regard bear them company in approaching the to established custom, rather than the mercy seat, and in unburdening their value of prayer, was the prompting mo- hearts to God, often feel distressed, at tive; and too often have they had rea- the faint response which falls back and son to feel so. The request comes not meets their gushing feelings, while always from those who have been the they are looking for full-toned sympamost punctual and devout attendants" thy, to meet every struggling emotion; and to swell and deepen the tide of feeling, pouring it with more impassioned tones upon the ear that heareth prayer; chill, dead formality seems to say, even while using words of prayer, "Restrain your ardor, and bear your burdens alone." To the real Christian who feels with him that said, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye, my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me!" how distressing must be such a cold response? The evil is great, and wide-spread; and the less it is felt, the louder does it call for a remedy. Something like this train of thought was produced in the mind of the writer, several years since, by an incident which occurred among the people of his pastoral care. The impression for the time was deep-and its influence has never been effaced, but seems to come with deeper effect every time memory reverts to the affecting circumstances. It was a time of deep solemnity; the Spirit of God was in the midst of us, and his children were meeting from day to day, to mingle their prayers and listen to his truth. The thoughtless were alarmed, and the proud-hearted were bowing submissively before the cross of Christ. The sin-polluted were coming to the opened fountain to wash and be clean. Upon one of our younger sisters in the church, disease had laid his chilling hand. Her cheek was pale, her frame wasting away, her strength failing, and to all but herself, the sad tale had been told that she must die; the ravages of disease were indeed perceived by her, but she was in a state but too common with the sick, convinced, and yet strugling to keep the fatal secret from her own thoughts; consciously resisting the truth which spake only of the grave and another world, and yet looking to days of returning health. ing lamb and with his rod and staff comforted her. The remembrance of light in days past made darkness more terrible. The hope of life, and the hope of heaven, in spite of all her struggling, seemed about to set together. But dark and almost despairing as her mind was, one thing she could not abandon: she could not cease from praying, nor from asking others to pray for her. As the church were gathering for their afternoon prayer-meeting, a request from the disconsolate sister was announced, that the brethren and sisters would pray for her, and first and principally for her soul. We knew that her request was no unmeaning form. We had already taken our stand near the throne, and we felt that prayer was a solemn thing. The little band of brethren and sisters, unawed, unflattered, unembarrassed by the gazing world, were agreed on earth as to what they should ask in the name of Jesus. They felt they were speaking to a present and a prayer-hearing God. Thus we poured her requests, commingled with our own, with "strong crying and tears," into our Heavenly Father's ear, and he heard the cry. At the very hour and moment of prayer, our sick sister said to her mother who watched beside her, "The church have received my request, and they are now praying for me, and God hears them. My darkness, and my doubts, and my murmurings, are gone as in a moment. I shall die, but death is sweet; O, I shall never cease to love and praise God!" Such was the substance of her language. The doubt had all fled; she had now continual sunshine. With scarce another moment of gloom or doubt, she lingered a few weeks on earth, and then departed in the full triumphs of faith. In looking back to the solemn, pleasing scene, I have said often, “ What is prayer?" It is not desire, it is not tellDarkness, as might be expected, set- ing our desires; no, it is not even telltled down upon her soul. Those win- ing our desires to God; for we may do dows of faith, which had been wont to this with complaining and impatience, let the rays of Heaven shine in, were but it is,-in the fullness of faith, in closed, struggling, with conscious un- the depth of humility, in the ardor of submissiveness, how should she joy in love, in the overflowing of tenderness, God as the Rock of her salvation?"coming to God believing that he is, and She was passing through the valley of that he is the rewarder of those that the shadow of death, and it was dark. diligently seek him." No shepherd's hand held up the falter O, I have said, what matter of lamen tation, that so high, so holy, so heavenly a privilege as that of prayer, should be frozen into dead formality, and like the pillar of salt on the plains of Jordon, stand rather as a beacon of warning than a way-maik guiding souls to heaven! Would to God that the sable-clad were all mourners indeed, that the sick all knew and felt the disease of their souls as sensibly as those of their bodies! And would to God, also, that the ministers and churches of Christ, felt more the need and the power of prayer, that they were more lively in their sympathies with Christ, in bearing the griefs, and carrying the sickness and sorrows of those, who, from time to time, come to them in the house of God, and especially in their meetings for social worship, saying "Your prayers are requested that God would heal our sicknesses, sanctify our sorrows, and above all, that he would save our souls." Let not the sick and the afflicted pay more deference to the customs and opinions of men, than to the majesty of God. Let them ask prayer, and ask it more freely than they do. Let them not wait till death is certain, and above all let them not fear to disclose the wants of their souls. Let them ponder their own hearts, and the ways and purposes of God with them, till they feel they have favors to ask which none but God can grant. reader of this communication when he may have occasion to hand or send by another his note for prayer, feeling that all the vastness of eternal realities hangs on the issue. So pray, Christians, as in your hour of distress you will wish your brethren to pray for you. An Infidel's Testimony. But I passed the Sabbath with a man from" , who said he had read every infidel work that he could find, and had then a chest full of them-had taken Abner Kneeland's paper for 10 years. While in, he fitted up a room at the expense of $15 for Abner to lecture in, and gave him $50 for one evening's services. He had also, in the mean time, been one of six to sustain Mr. — a Universalist. he says he never could see what infidels could place in the room of the Bible. His mind never was at rest. He now says, that he is satisfied that the Bible is the word of God, and nothing but experimental religion can make a man happy here or hereafter. He wished me to tell men inclined to scepticism, wherever I went, "that one who had labored hard till almost 40 years old, to find a resting place on that system, has given it up as a bad chance ;" and that none of them really believed what they professed. This change began to take place at a protracted season of worship held last fall. And say, ye ministers and friends of God, whether on our part there has not been utterly a fault among us. Shall not the "weak and wounded, sick and sore," the mourning and the disconso-I late feel a stronger confidence in making us the bearers of their complaints to God? Plant your feet fast by the cross, and there, in the hearing of his groans, learn to weep with those that weep, and see if the prayer of faith will not oftener save the sick. See, if sanctified affliction will not oftener appear to be something more than a name; see, if in answer, manifest answer, to united prayer, rays of heavenly light will not more frequently break through dark clouds, and cause many a desponding child of God to say, "come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul." The subject is one of vast interest to us all. The time may be near to any mention these facts, to show that some little fruit grows from seed sown by your Society. The Sabbath school Tem perance Boy. Some years since, a few enterprising Christians commenced gathering a congregation and a Sabbath school in a populous but neglected part of the city of New-York. Early in the history of their efforts, they took high ground on the subject of temperance. Many cases have already occurred in that school illustrating the powerful effect that may |