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philosophy explain the phenomenon? or would
they, like the Jews, attribute the miracles of
God to Satan? We shall see.

There they stood, gazing as if it were the last
sight of earth. You could almost hear their
hearts beat, while their faces grew white and red
alternately. For a while their lips seemed as
dumb as those of the converted girl. At length |
the leader of the party turned round to his com-
rades, and said, “Boys, this is not animal excite
ment.

There is no deception in this. Margaret B. is no hypocrite. The preacher could not learn her to shout. There must be a divine reality in religion. I never saw any thing like this." Tears gushed from many of their eyes, and their hearts were subdued. Infidelity had received its death-blow, "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."

THE DAUGHTERS OF CHINA.*

BY REV. J. W. WILEY, X. D.

TOTWITHSTANDING the degrading posi

Notion occupied by taalee, and the low

estimate placed upon them by their countrymen,
we have yet hope in the daughters of China.
There is but little in their social circumstances on
which we can rest our hopes; but there is much in
their character which inspires our confidence. The
degradation and debasement in which they live
can not altogether crush out of them the gentler
feelings of woman's nature, and we find them
still susceptible to the influence of virtuous ex-
ample, and the offices of kindness and sympa-
thy. When we think of them in their neglected
seclusion, unloved and uncared for by man, un-
worthy of the expense and labor of even an
elementary education, and left in the deepest
ignorance, the prey to unmeaning superstitions,
the victims of degrading national and religious
institutions, and the mere instruments and crea-
tures of man, there is little on which to build our
hopes of reformation and improvement. But
when we discover that in the midst of this deg-
radation they preserve an interesting and prom-

The next night they were found at the altar
of prayer, seeking salvation, while the work of
the Lord went on gloriously. During the balance
of the meeting the form of the mute might be
seen passing along among the seekers of religion,
looking earnestly upon their features, to catch
the first smile of joy that illuminates the counte-
nance when conversion takes place. And hers
was generally the first hand extended to wel-ising character, and exhibit a nature superior to
come them into the family of God. The entire
G. family were converted. One of them has
since died a most happy and triumphant death.
At our last conference another one took me by
the hand, and, after referring to the past, re-
marked that he was making his arrangements
to withdraw from worldly business, and at the
next conference he expected to enter the itin-
erancy, and to spend his life in preaching the
faith he once tried to destroy. Surely,

"God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform."

SIN.

USE sin as it will use you; spare it not, for it will not spare you; it is your murderer, and the murderer of the world; use it, therefore, as a murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills you; and though it kill your bodies, it shall not be able to kill your souls; and though it bring you to the grave as it did your head, it shall not be able to keep you there. If the thoughts of death, and the grave, and rottenness be not pleasant to you, hearken to every temptation to sin, as you would hearken to a temptation to selfmurder, and as you would do if the devil brought you a knife, and tempted you to cut your throat with it: so do when he offereth you the bait of sin.

VOL. XV-11

their position, and capable of development and refinement, we have confidence in the power of the Gospel to meet and alleviate their condition. Our confidence rests alone in the refining and ennobling power of the Gospel, and with any feebler instrumentality we would stand paralyzed before the gigantic evils which must be removed ere the daughters of China can be disinthralled and enlightened.

We say, that, in spite of the debasing influences which constantly operate upon them, the females of China still preserve an interesting and promising character. We have often looked upon them with admiration, and been struck with the contrast between their character and their position. In all cases we can not but discover and pity the ignorance in which they are kept. This is painfully visible in the empty and vacant expression of their countenances, in their light and trivial deportment, in their wonder and astonishment at new things and new facts, and, perhaps more than all, in the silly and unmeaning questions which they are perpetually asking. It is always easy, too, to detect in their movements the consciousness of their degradation and the sense of their inferiority. This appears most prominently in the presence of foreign females,

Concluded from page 91.

whose freedom, accomplishments, and elegance they contemplate with admiration and astonishment. Their deportment is often such in the presence of other females, and in the quiet and happy circles of foreign domestic life, that one almost expects to hear mingling with their expressions of wonder sighs of regret that they are so low while others are so high. We have here an evidence of their painful realization of their own position, and of their appreciation and admiration of a higher and better one-a good point d'appui, as the Frenchman would say, for reformation.

able. Quietness, retirement, and diffidence in the presence of men are natural fruits of the subjection and seclusion in which they live; but in addition to these, we believe there prevails extensively among the better classes a genuine modesty springing from the finer feelings of the heart. The appearance of this modesty in the deportment of Chinese females has been remarked by all travelers among them, and is noticed in most books speaking of their character. Many, however, are disposed to call in question its genuineness, and look upon it as a deceptious timidity produced by the subjection in which they are held. We do not think so. We have looked upon it so frequently with admiration, wondering that it could exist among the demor

its manifestations under so many different circumstances, and have witnessed it in individual cases for so great a length of time, that we have become satisfied that it is the genuine offspring of good hearts of female hearts-the better feelings of which the most trying circumstances have not been able entirely to destroy. We have already observed that the debasing circumstances in which they live are not voluntary with them, nor do they meet with their approbation; they feel their degradation, and in many instances their better feelings revolt against it; and we can not justly charge upon them what is not in their power to change. In many instances, too, we have found among them the gentleness and kindness of woman's nature, and seen the manifestations of hearts capable of a high degree of feeling, and giving birth to touching acts of mercy and kindness. We have seen, and in painfully trying circumstances have experienced their attention and kindness, and gladly bear testimony to the fact, that at least some female hearts in China remain warm and kind. Some of the attachments which they form with the female missionaries among them, and to their children, are deep and sincere, and in some instances are cherished with grateful remembrance by those who have lived and labored among them.

Remarkable inquisitiveness and an intense desire to know are characteristics of the Chinese female. There are but few of them that would not come off with eclat in a contest of interroga-alizing influences of heathenism; we have seen tions with a perfect specimen of a "down easter." In their visits to the families of foreigners their volubility keeps up perpetual conversation, and their curiosity can only be gratified by a tour of exploration through the whole establishment, and their battery of interrogations discharges itself upon every thing from the kitchen to the bedchamber. Whatever else this proves, it proves that they still are women. It is true these questions are often of the most silly and unmeaning character; but what else could we expect from empty and untutored minds-from females whose world has been the secluded apartments of a grandee, or whose lives have been spent in degrading service and bondage? They are curious and inquiring; and their curiosity embraces all things, and their inquiries reach fully to the extent of the suggestions of their empty minds. They are apt in learning and anxious to be taught; and the females in the houses of the missionaries enter with spirit and relish into any efforts to teach them to read, or to impart to them a knowledge of useful acquirements. They listen with interest to the truths of the Gospel, readily perceive their excellence and importance, appreciate the character and the worth of its noble institutions, and, in the families of foreigners, conform with evident satisfaction to its external requirements. They seem capable of perceiving and admiring the purer morals of Christianity; and though many objections are urged by the men against the Christian Sabbath, I have never heard it spoken of but with admiration by the women.

Though surrounded by influences calculated to debase and corrupt, yet virtue and modesty are in high estimation among the females of China. The dress is always modest and becoming, and the deportment and language, except among the very lowest classes, are unexception

It may be thought we are disposed to give a high character to the daughters of China. We are; but it is only a high character in contrast with the debasing circumstances in which they live, and the humble position they are made to occupy. They are good, very good, in view of the circumstances in which they live; and the fact that they have preserved so many good qualities of heart and life in the midst of the moral deterioration about them, gives encouragement to hope that good fruit will follow efforts

and this alone can reach and improve their condition. It is the genius of Christianity alone which can exalt and refine human nature, and which in Christian lands gives to woman her high and proper position as the helpmate and companion of ennobled manhood, herself and her compeer both fitted for this high form of life by the refining and exalting influence of the Gospel. It is in the

made for their improvement. But they are heathens, and these good and promising traits of character are obscured by the institutions of Paganism. They give evidence of possessing good and active minds; but those minds are ignorant and empty, or occupied by silly and worthless superstitions. They have hearts capable of deep feeling, and susceptible of kindness and sympathy; but those hearts want developing and refin-power of the Gospel to produce the same results ing under the genial influences of the Gospel. They are better than might be expected under the circumstances in which they are compelled to live; but they want the reforming light of the Gospel to shine upon those degrading circumstances, and to disinthrall them from the bondage and debasement in which they are held.

But we would not be understood as conveying the idea that all the females of China present to the observer these interesting and promising traits of character. Thousands of them fall before the debasing circumstances which surround them, and exhibit the degradation which is consistent with their humbled position. In the lower walks of life they are rude, boisterous, and masculine, presenting but little modesty or gentility in their deportment, and but few of the finer feelings of female hearts. In the higher circles of life, too, when the wife has become advanced in years, and is removed from the bondage in which she may have been held to her husband's parents, and becomes herself the mother and the motherin-law, in not a few instances she turns the tyrant herself, and uses her new authority and privileges to the utmost of her ability. It is in her household that the daughter of China appears to the least advantage. Always tasteful in the arrangements of the dress and ornaments of her person, and generally modest and gentle in her deportment without, she displays, in most instances, but little cleanliness or taste in the arrangements of her home, which is nearly always in disorder and confusion, and not unfrequently the scene of jargon and discord. Indeed, there are no homes in China-no place to be loved and cherished-no spot for the development of affection or the production of the endearing ties of love and relationship; and it is a misapplication of our high-meaning word—the family—to apply it to the domestic customs and relations of China.

But what can be done for the daughters of China? Nothing without the Gospel; and this can only operate upon them by being borne to them by the living teacher. This divine remedy for human ills and evils is all-sufficient to meet and reform the wrongs of these millions of females,

in Pagan China-first, by ennobling man, and preparing him for a higher and purer form of life; and, secondly, by exalting and refining his weaker helpmate into a being worthy of his love, his protection, and his companionship, and thus give to the domestic life of China the sanctity and the felicity which belong to it only in Christian lands.

But how can the Gospel be brought to bear upon the females of China? It must be taught to the men, and they must learn the purer morality and enter upon the higher life of Christianity. This is a work for the male missionary; but this is not sufficient; the females themselves must be reached and taught the better form of life presented to them in the Gospel. But we have already seen that they are inaccessible to the teachings of the male missionary; evidently, then, here is a work devolving upon the daughters of Christian lands-a great and mighty work which can be accomplished by them alone. It is true, that even to these intercourse with ladies in the higher circles of life is yet limited; but in the middle and lower walks of society the intercourse of the female missionary with the daughters of China may be as extensive as she chooses to make it; and among all classes the way is open, and is still opening. There are many ways in which the devoted female missionary may be incalculably useful and accomplish much good, thus securing to herself a noble share in the honor and in the rewards of giving the Gospel to a mighty Pagan nation; and in addition to these, there are many other ways in which, as the companion and helpmate of the missionary, she is indispensable in the successful prosecution of this beneficent enterprise. Her very presence in China as a Christian female, as the wife of the Christian missionary, and the head of the missionary family, or as the unmarried female, exhibiting, in her labors and deportment, the ennobling influences of the Gospel, exerts an influence for good, the extent and might of which can not be calculated. The Christian family living in the midst of heathenism is as a city set upon a hill, which can not be hid; a center from which go forth light and life over an area which can not

be measured; an illustration of the Gospel speaking louder than words; a realization, in the midst of Pagan darkness, of a form of life new and striking to the benighted nation.

The wife of the missionary also becomes his passport into Chinese society, and thus opens up to his labors new and important fields. The females frequently visit the missionary family; and there is now but little difficulty in the female missionary gathering into her house a number of native females, to whom she may tell the story of redemption and point out the way of life, and who, in these circumstances, will gladly listen to the teachings of her male companion. The missionary's house may thus be made the house of prayer, and the lady's parlor be converted into a chapel for the preaching of the Gospel. It is already thus in the houses of many missionaries in China.

But it is upon the future wives and mothers of China that the Christian female can now most successfully operate. She can reach the children, and gather them into Christian schools, where may be imparted to them during the impressible years of childhood the truths and principles of the Gospel, and where she may train and prepare them for a higher and better form of life in the future. Schools for the young have always been recognized as very important adjuncts in the great and good work of evangelizing a heathen nation. Schools for boys have always been employed by the missionaries in China; but till recently it was impossible to open female schools. The idea of educating females was thought by the Chinese to be so novel and absurd, that it was long before parents could be induced to allow their daughters to enter the schools of the missionaries. The first attempts met only with ridicule, and in many instances proved a failure; but not despising the day of small things, and persevering under discouragements and against opposition and ridicule, the female missionaries in China have greatly broken in upon this old prejudice, and in many instances have succeeded in establishing large and successful female schools. They have shown to the parents that their daughters may be educated, and the way is now fairly opened, so that there is but little more difficulty in opening and sustaining large and successful schools for girls than attends the efforts to establish schools for boys. But at the head of these schools there must be foreign females, and this is an important department of labor which must be committed to them. The immediate teacher in the school, as is also the case in the schools for boys, must be a native

scholar; but the head of the school-its presiding spirit-must be the female missionary. She must give it her name, her presence, her attention; and acquiring at least the spoken language, she must impart to these youthful idolaters the purer lessons and the sublimer truths of the Gospel.

We feel, then, that in the great Pagan empire of China a vast and promising field for usefulness is thrown open to the daughters of Christendom-a field which can be occupied by them alone, and which now calls loudly upon them to enter in and possess it. While we acknowledge that there are many difficulties to be encountered, and many serious obstacles to be overcome, we still can only look upon it as an inviting field, promising to the devoted female missionary not only a useful, but also a happy life. It is true it is a dark land, which has long been enveloped in the folds of Pagan superstitions; it is very far away; the dangers and discomforts of a long voyage must be met and endured; the society, the luxuries, the elegances of home must be forsaken; and the missionary must become habituated to a new climate, must become accustomed to a people of strange manners and customs, and must enter into intercourse with a people of unrefined habits and a difficult language. But all these things can be endured and overcome. It wants only a heart deeply imbued with the love of Christ and earnest for the salvation of souls, a cheerful temperament, and a mind well disciplined either by education or intercourse with the world, possessing a knowledge of common things, as well as of the higher branches of education; and the female missionary may enter upon this noble enterprise confident of securing to herself the best of all forms of happiness-the blissful consciousness of God's approbation and blessingand promising to herself a life of eminent usefulness in laboring for the temporal and spiritual good of the millions of her oppressed sisters in China.

But then there are thousands anxious to glorify God and do good who can not personally consecrate themselves to this noble work, and yet the field lies open before them, asking for their sympathies, their prayers, their labors, and their contributions. They may give their counsels, their influence, and their sympathies to this work; they may bear it upon their prayers to the throne of the heavenly grace, imploring upon it the blessing of God; they may labor in training other minds to enter into the field; they may contribute, as God has given them means, to sustain those who have gone forth to this work, and to open opportunities of preparation to others who

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While speaking of the death of children, these quaint and touching lines by Lydgate, an early | English poet, come familiar to the minds of all: "Ah, welladay! most angel-like of face, A child, young in its pure innocence, Tender of limbs, God wrote full guiltless, The goodly faire that lieth here speechless, A mouth he has, but words hath he none; Can not complain, alas! for none outrage, He grutcheth not, but lies here all alone, Still as a lamb, most meek of his visage; What heart of steel could do him damage, Or suffer him to die, beholding the manere, And look benign of his twin eyen clere?"

SLEEP-WALKING.

broken link; there are memories of endearment, a No phenomenon in the human economy is cal

keen sense of loss, a weeping over crushed hopes, and a pain of wounded affection over them all. "But the mother feels that one has been taken away who was still closer to her heart. Hers has been the office of constant ministration. Every graduation of feature developed before her eyesshe detected every new gleam of infant intelligence; she heard the first utterance of every stammering word; she was the refuge of its fears, the supplier of its wants; and every task of affection wove a new link, and made dearer to her its object. And when her child dies, a portion of her own life, as it were, dies with it. How can she give her darling up, with all these loving memories, these fond associations? Timid hands that have so often taken hers in trust and love-how can she fold them on its sinless breast, and surrender them to the cold grasp of Death? The feet whose wanderings she has watched so narrowly-how can she bear to see them straightened to go down into the dark valley? The head that she has pressed to her lips and bosom, that she has watched in peaceful slumber, and in burning, heart-saddening sickness, a hair of which she could not see harmed-0, how can she consign it to the darkness of the grave? It was a gleam of sunshine, and a voice of perpetual gladness in her home; she had learned from it blessed lessons of simplicity, sincerity, purity, and faith; it had unsealed within her a gushing, a neverebbing tide of affection; when suddenly it was taken away, and the home is left dark and silent; and to the vain and heart-rending aspiration, shall that dear child never return? There breaks in response the cold grave silence-never more! O never more! The heart is like a forsaken mansion, and those words go echoing through its

silent chambers."

culated to excite so much surprise as that called somnambulism, or sleep-walking. If sleep be the intermediate state betwixt wakeful life and death, somnambulism is a condition intermediate betwixt sleep and wakefulness. In perfect sleep, all the organs or faculties composing the mind, together with the external senses and the powers of voluntary motion, are in a state of rest or torpor. Dreaming is a slight approach to wakefulness, seeing that some of the cerebral organs are then in a state of activity, while others are quiescent. In dreaming, the external senses may or may not be in a state of activity. Some people, for example, can be led to dream of particular subjects by the talk of others placed near them when sleeping; while other dreamers are totally insensible to all sounds emitted within the range of their organs of hearing. In ordinary dreaming, too, the powers of voluntary motion are often exercised to a slight extent. A dreamer, under the impression that he is engaged in an active battle, will frequently give a bedfellow a smart belaboring. Often, also, in cases of common dreaming, the muscles on which the production of the voice depends are set in action, through the instrumentality of that portion of the brain which is not in a quiescent state, and the dreamer mutters, or talks, or cries aloud.

All these partial demonstrations of activity in the external senses, and in the powers of voluntary motion, form an approach to that remarkable state termed somnambulism, in which all or nearly all of the senses, and of the muscles of the body, are frequently in perfect activity, the torpor of a part of the cerebral organs being the only feature rendering the condition different from that of waking life. The degrees in which the preceding characteristics are observable in somnambulism

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