MICHIGAN. The new Missionaries to Michigan. be invidious for us to make a discrimination || ministers, to hold doctrinal protracted among preachers-characterizing some as meetings. useless, or worse than none-and in the columns of the Home Missionary this is seldom done. And yet, in justice to the ministers whose correspondence forms the basis of our appeals for laborers, we are bound to state, that there are swarms of preachers in the West, whose presence and labors there do not diminish, but rather increase the necessity for intelligent, evangelical labor. Could they be personally known, and their influence appreciated by those churches which act through the A. H. M. S., we should need to bring no other proof of the hapless condition of any region, than that such ministers are there. Their very zeal, crude and misguided as it is, augments the difficulty of doing good on the soil which has been sowed with their tares or burnt over by their wild fire. Were it expedient, we could give from our correspondence some affecting illustrations of this truth. But we will only ask our readers to imagine themselves in the situation of the writer of the following report, and judge of his claim to their sympathy and prayers. The last quarter has been a term of much labor and unusual anxiety, and Among the laborers recently sent out, several have been stationed in the more destitheir promise of usefulness, an older missionatute parts of Michigan. Of their arrival, and ry uses the following language: I cannot close this communication without adverting to the very delightful fact of the arrival of your missionaries, destined for this district. It encourages the hearts of the ministers not only, but all who love the interests of our Žion. of As is common with people from the East, they have suffered some by the climate, but have nearly or wholly recovered. They have been able, however, to give such exhibitions their talents and piety as greatly to interest those who have seen and heard them. They are now all employed in promising fields of usefulness regardless of discouragements. struggling in spirit, for the welfare of From a Missionary employed to Visit Zion in this region. Clouds and dark- preachers urged men into their societies An attempt is now being made, by the Presbyterian and Congregational feeble Churches. Looking for the strayed. I have been so constantly occupied that I have not had time or opportunity to write. I have travelled about a 1900 miles, and preached to average four times a week. I have visited after the example of Paul, from house to house, searching out professors who have, in some instances for years, been wandering as sheep without a shepherd. The story of their privations is often heartaffecting. One deacon said that there were four in his family members of the church, but they had not had the opportunity of attending a season of communion for six years. Many others are placed in a similar condition. I have visited the sick and dying, and endeavored to impart such instruction as their circumstances demanded, and offer the last prayer that could be offered for their soul's salvation. Se veral times I have been called to attend funerals, and to preach the Gospel over the remains of the dead. My plan has been to visit a destitute church. I search out its members, proposing such questions as the following: Do you live in the enjoyment of religon? Are you faithful in your attendance on meetings? Do you pray in secret? (if the head of a family.) Do you pray in your family? On the whole, are you making progress in the road to heaven? Some of my visits will not soon be forgotten. O! there is something in the pastoral visit that makes a deep and permanent impression upon immortal souls. I have attended several seasons of communion, some of which were deeply interesting and affecting. On one day I rode 22 miles, visiting from house to house. On the succeeding Sabbath I preached to an attentive congregation, and made another appointment to organize a church in two weeks. I went to the place the Thursday previous to my appointment, and found the people collected together for a meeting. Such confessions as were made I seldom hear. Among those present was one who had studied for the ministry, and graduated at one of our colleges, and been assisted by the A. E. Society. He had long and shamefully neglected duty, but he now felt it to the bottom of his heart. He had left the employment which was once dear to him, and plunged into the world; but his confessions were frank, and his repentance apparently deep. I felt it good to be there. I preached day and night, and on Sabbath organized a church of 10 members. Others will soon join them. It was a day long anticipated, long prayed for by those Christians. Many tears were shed as the memorials of a Savior's body and blood were distributed. That evening a deep solemnity pervaded the congregation. But the people came so far that they could not go home at night, and consequently we could not continue the meeting. At the close of the exercises Friday evening, several tarried. A season of prayer was held. I retired to rest quite worn down in consequence of the labors of the day. I had but just closed my eyes to sleep when I was awakened by the father, who, with a trembling voice, said his daughter had just come into the house, from which she had been absent a little time, and made an humble confession to her parents, saying she had found the Savior. I could over-hear the daughter exclaim in the ardor of her soul, "O, what a Savior I have found! How precious Christ is to me!" Hours passed away before the parents and daughter retired. There was joy on earth, but in truth greater joy in heaven. Last Sabbath evening I closed a deeply interesting meeting. I preached 15 sermons in eight days, and visited 30 families. God was there by his Spirit. The last evening was full of power. Several persons were almost overwhelmed with a sense of their condition. Three or four gave evidence of a change of heart. Miscellaneous. MISSIONARY REMINISCENSES. Doing good by the way. In the spring of 18- the snow, which for some time was seen mantling the prairies, had wasted under the softening influence of a southern wind, that for days, with its deep and strong current, had been setting up the valley of the Mississippi. "The father of waters," the Illinois and other western streams, were just beginning to find relief from the imprisonment to which stern winter had subjected them for an unusual length of time; and as they bore, upon their surface, immense quantities of broken ice, they seemed to roll on with a hasty and exulting flow, as if not only joyful at emancipation, but conscious that they carried their captor captive. The prairies were just beginning to be vocal with the merry notes of various || a column of smoke and the report of a wild fowl, enraptured at regaining pos- swivel up the river, announced the apsession of their favorite streams and proach of a boat. It was at the landing lakes, from which they had suffered a -1 was on board-and we were soon temporary banishment. As I beheld thundering down the Illinois. the bright sun smiling upon the fields and groves, inhaled the bland atmosphere, looked on all the indications of approaching spring, and considered them as the signal for me to start on a tour beyond the Alleganies, upon which my heart was set-my soul would have been kindled into raptures too, but for a single drawback-the prospect of a protracted absence from my beloved family. However, I was soon at a small village on the Illinois, and was not a little chagrined to find that the first boat which had descended the river since the breaking up of winter, had left the landing about two hours previous to my arrival. But I soon found a sturdy boatman, who had purchased a skiff in which he was to set sail alone, in half an hour, for St. Louis, distant more than a hundred miles. Rather than await the uncertainties of getting another - boat, and endure the tedium of a protracted season of suspense, I at once offered to pay the boatman one half the cost of his skiff, for a passage. He acceded to the offer; and with all despatch I hastened to the house of a friend, laid in a stock of provisions for the voyage, and a blanket in which to wrap myself at night, and returned to the landing; but neither my comrade nor his skiff were visible! It seemed mysterious; and for a time, I gazed in every direction in vain, but at last espied him far down the stream, plying the oar for St. Louis, with all his strength! I inquired the cause of his abrupt departure; but the by-standers feigned entire ignorance, and I did not press my interrogations, as, on a second thought, I suspected some one had told him I was a "preacher;" and as he would rather pursue his dreary voyage alone than with such company, he concluded there was no safety but in precipitate flight! My plans were now frustrated, but I regretted it less, as the delay afforded me an opportunity to preach the Gospel to the villagers. Two or three days, however, had rolled heavily away, when The Sabbath was passed at St. Louis. Early in the following week I was on board again. We moved rapidly down the Mississippi, and soon swept boldly into the Ohio. From various causes, our progress was so much retarded, that the following Saturday, contrary to my plans and wishes, found me at L. I called on a ministering brother, and at his solicitation, occupied his pulpit for the Sabbath. It was a day of great apparent solemnity with the congregation, and certainly, of peculiar interest to my own mind. The power of the Holy Ghost seemed to attend the word to the hearts of the hearers. There was, at this time, residing with this ministering brother, a sister whom he had brought a few months since from one of the eastern states, with the intention of furnishing her with the means of an education, and having her under his special supervision. And never was there a brother of more ardent attachment. She was then a blooming girl, just in the transition period between childhood and maturity, when the allurements of the world have the most dangerous sway over the imagination and the passions. Not only were her personal attractions such as to secure attention, but the respectability of her brother gave her immediate access to the most select circles of the city. She mingled with the fashionable and the gay, who were careering along the flowery path of youth, and in her thoughtlessness and buoyancy, soon became the devotee of pleasure. She seemed much less inclined to store her mind with useful knowledge, than to run the giddy round of what are generally termed innocent, fashionable amuse ments. Her brother counselled and prayed, but saw with pain, that the temptations to vanity had a strength superior to all his admonitions. Not only was the appropriate period for acquiring an education passing away, but, what was more, the golden season of life, with refe rence to the interest of the soul, was rapidly wasting! At length he reluctantly resolved upon removing her from the scene of temptation, by returning delusions in which the great adversary her to the place of her nativity. My is accustomed to ensnare the souls of journey eastward afforded a favorable men. Moreover, we were liable to ten opportunity; and he proposed to place thousand dangers by the way-the boilher under my care. But he felt intent-er might burst-the stage upset-or ly for her spiritual interest. When some other cause terminate her probaever he mentioned her case, his heart tion, and she never reach her friends! seemed ready to burst with emotion. Besides, she was then among strangers, He told me that he had tried to be faith-cut off, in a sense, from the world, and ful; that he had conversed with her thrown in upon herself; and it was a about religion till he hardly knew what favorable time for reflection. Truth to say more. But he should write a evidently fell with weight; conscience letter, into which would be poured the uttered its monitions, and, I doubt not, full tide of his feelings, and give it to the Spirit of God strove. She felt, but her at parting. He then besought me, still was undecided. I then inquired, with an earnestness that will never be whether she was willing to come to the effaced from my memory, to be faithful deliberate conclusion, that she would to her soul. I promised; and trust that not then seek the salvation of her soul, God enabled me to keep the resolution. and she appeared to shudder at the The time of our departure came. thought of such a determination. But His parting words were few, and in- on being asked if a refusal to give the audible to me; but as he delivered the subject of religion immediate attention, letter, gave her the parting hand, and did not necessarily involve a determinaturned away, the aspect of his counte- tion to the contrary? she seemed startnance, and his eyes swimming in tears, led, but made no direct reply. Howbetokened the conflict within. ever, she promised to take the subject into immediate and serious consideration, and inform me before the close of the day what was her determination. I dropped a solemn warning against procrastination-left her to her own reflection, retired to as secluded a spot as I could find on the boat, and sent up a fervent prayer, that God would interpose, by the gracious influences of his Holy Spirit, to decide the doubtful case, and renew that heart! The fires were up-the wheels in motion-and we were urging our way up the Ohio. I left Amelia to her own reflections. There is a tenderness and a sacredness in the rush of feeling conseqnent upon such parting scenes, that constitute the sanctuary of thought, which, for the time being, is forbidden ground. The ties now sundered, the circle of loved associates, and the friends whose warm embrace have just been felt, are living images in the presence chamber of the soul, and all other things are unwelcome. Accordingly, I made no demands upon her attention till the tide of emotion had subsided, and thought and feeling assumed their accustomed channels. But a silent prayer went up, that God would make effectual the warnings and exhortations of the letter. After a proper interval, however, I introduced the subject of religion, and found, that under the last sermon on the Sabbath, her mind became deeply impressed, and she was brought almost to the determination, to make that the time when she would seek, in earnest, the salvation of her soul. But she was still fluctuating in purpose was inclined to defer the subject till she had reached her friends. endeavored to point out some of those I It is always a moment of amazing interest, and perhaps the most perilous in the history of the soul, when the scales have, in a measure, fallen from the eyes of the sinner, and he "comes to himself." When divine truth, sent home by the Spirit, becomes quick and powerful, proves a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, gathers the reality of eternity around the soul in all their importance, and holds up too the mirror in which it can see its own vileness. Then the struggle between the claims of God and the world come on; the interests of time and eternity are thrown into the balanceand O the joyful or the fearful results, that are dependant upon its turning! We met again, she had come to the deliberate determination that then should be the time when she would in earnest seek the salvation of the soul! And with a faltering voice, asked me to remember her in my prayers. I blessed the Lord even for that, and took courage. After giving her such instruction and counsel as her case appeared to demand, I retired—but where? to sleep? I could not. The passengers were just beginning to take their berths for the night, and I went out to promenade upon the guard of the boat, and muse upon the novel circumstances with which I was surrounded. The serene heaven stood above me; the bluffs and forests that skirt the Ohio, with their faint outlines, flitted by; the breezes were laid; and occasional reflections from the gentle waves produced by our motions, revealed, in distinctness, the bosom of the stream. All was silence, but the angry rush of the steam, the incessant dashing of the wheels, and the operations of the firemen. It was the time for meditation! An anxious sinner, thought I, on board a steam boat! The very place which is too often but the floating receptacle of iniquity, turned into an inquiry room! The very door to perdition likely to become the gate of heaven, at least to one soul! God be praised! I retired to my own berth, but when all others slumbered around me-my busy thoughts ran upon the case of that anxious sinner, and I felt that I could continue all night in prayer. iniquities should drive her at once to the only source of consolation for lost men, in the wide universe. As we sat upon the guards one beautiful day, and were moving along under the precipitous bluffs of the Ohio, I endeavored to illustrate the nature of submission to Jesus Christ, under the image of a man hanging in great peril upon one of their edges. He cannot long retain his hold; but to regain the top of the precipice is impossible; and to fall is inevitable death. Under these circumstances, some friend from below cries to him to let go his hold and drop into his arms! But he either doubts his power or willingness to save, or perhaps both, and he clings to the precipice. The friend continues to plead, all else is now despair; he concludes to trust-relaxes his grasp, falls into his arms, and is safe! At W. I went on shore, purchased Baxter's Call and put it into her hands. Its influence seemed to be highly salutary. It was not long, however, before some rays of light began to break in upon her darkened mind; and she felt, at times, that she could "trust her soul in the hands of Jesus." We spent the Sabbath at P., it was a blessed day to her. The inward tempest had ceased; the clouds had rolled away, and the Sun of Righteousness poured over her soul the sweet peace that results from sins forgiven! O, the holy calmness-the unspeakable serenity of such a moment. When the burdened and bleeding heart is cast for salvation upon a crucified Redeemer, and the trembling sinner raises the eye of faith, and beholds on the throne of the universe a reconciled God! his Father-his Almighty Friend, and undying portion. NOTICE. TEMPERANCE JOURNAL. The morning came, but no convenient opportunity for conversation occurred till in the latter part of the day. I then found her determination not only unshaken but greatly strengthened, and as we separated, she asked me to pray for her, with a strength of emotion which told the power of the inward struggle. At our next interview, she seemed to have very clear views of her lost condition by nature. Indeed, at times, her sins rose in such mountainous and aggravated forms, as to appear unpardonable, and she seemed ready to settle down into inactivity under the gloomy apprehension that there was no mercy for her. I endeavored to set before her mind the freeness of the great salvation," and its sufficiency for the wants of every sinner. Consequently, none need perish. The blood of Jesus Christ could cleanse from all sin, and the very magnitude of her " Hall, New-York. We are happy to state that Chester Buckley, of Wethersfield, Ct., has renewed his generous subscription of one hundred dollars, to enable the American Temperance Union to send their Journal to 200 of the Home Missionaries for one year. In return, it is hoped the Missionaries will be free to communicate such facts on Temperance as fall under their notice to the Editor of the Journal, at Clinton |