to one place they went, urged by some hopeless hope-they knew not what. There were no footprints in the sand by the spring, nor in the dust along the lane; no flowers that his hands had broken; no traces of him could be found, as, following the track of the wagon, they went through beds of ivy, and May-apple, and adder's tongue, looking into each other's face to find the courage each soul lacked in itself. one that opened to the dst fear-the evidences of an Indian camp recently and hurriedly deserted, for the fires were not yet gone out, and a bow and arrow, some deer-meat, and part of a blanket had been left, as if the savages had fled in haste-and what so likely as that they have taken the lost boy with them? Some dexterous thief might have slipped close, and, unobserved by the grandfather, who was growing blind and deaf, have stolen him from the wagon. The rain came down in torrents, putting out all the fire on the hearth, and in some stormier gust than the rest, driving through roof and window, for the homes of the colonists were rude enough and comfortless enough, some of them. In the home of Samuel Alger it was a miserable, miserable night. The supper which the young wife had prepared so carefully, and with so much hope, grew cold untasted; and as the hours went by, the fear that Nathan would never come back alive became, in the terrified imag It was almost dark in the deep hollow through which the wagon had jolted so quickly, and they hurried on beyond, where they could see farther. If they had stopped and examined the moist ground, they might have found the tiny tracks of the bare feet, and perhaps have followed them down the hollow, and toward the brook. They went another way, however, just as in all things we are likeliest to go from what we seek; but it made little difference after all, for they would not have found the lost child, no matter in what direction they might have searched. There were darkness, and silence, and winds-inations of his kinsfolk, almost a certainty. There soughing and storm-boding winds—and black clouds rushing and swimming up the sky, joining their ragged edges together, as if trying to shut out the light of the faint and far-away stars. Torches of pine knots were made, and the search continued till deep into the night, when a torrent of rain came dashing through the treetops, drenching the lights, and pitilessly beating on the heads of the weary and agonized mourners of the lost boy. It was midnight when they came back to where the horses were waiting their master; gladly they neighed, and briskly they trotted as he turned their heads homeward. Hepsie, pale, gentle wood-flower as she was, seemed the strongest of all, and to draw herself up almost to the hight of the heart-breaking sorrow she was called to meet. On her knees lay the head of Margaret, the mother of the lost baby; and one hand caressed her neck, while the other held tight in its steady grasp the shivering, shaking fingers of her good old father. There were little grounds for any cheerful talk that dark and rainy midnight-the husband, and son and brother, in whom they all hoped, and on whom they all relied, was gone to take a hundred chances of death against one of life; and the darling and pet of all was, if that were possible, more than dead; for could the bereaved mother have laid her hot and aching forehead against the cool green turf above his close-shut eyes, she would have found some comfort; but as it was, death was the best of her dark imaginings. All the clew which had been found was were none near, stronger in hope and courage than themselves, on whom they could lean for strength; the house of the nearest neighbor was five miles away, and probably it contained that night but one or two frightened inmates; for every man and every youth in all the country round, having heard of the eight men killed near the meeting-house, had saddled their horses, or, having no horses, gone on foot, to meet and drive back the presumptuous Pitcairn and his eight hundred soldiers, for they were not the people to leave their slaughtered neighbors unavenged. It is hard for us in these peaceful times, and in the enjoyment of comfortable abundance, to realize the privation, the anxiety, and the terror of insecurity that pressed upon the people on the breaking out of the American Revolution. But to the great common sorrow the family of Samuel Alger had the added anguish of which we have written. We can make but an imperfect and dim picture of them as they huddled together, pale and distracted; the storm beating without, and the storm raging within; every faculty of sense and reason seeming stretched to the utmost possibility of endurance; desolation crowned by the most torturing suspense. If they had lain there together, voiceless and cold, the husband and the little child, it would have been a grief which they might have measured by certain light, and in the end, perhaps, have mastered; but, as it was, where could they look for comfort, or how put back the evil phantoms that went up and down the dark? If the mother's heart cried continually for her child, can we blame her? and if the bosom of the wife yearned to have back the light of her husband's love, can we think it strange? and if the father and daughter mourned, even as those who have no hope, shall we say they were weaker than we, so tried, would prove to-day? "Hark!" said the old man, lifting up his head, which had been bowed on his bosom all the night, and pushing back his white hairs, and listening toward the door, "hark! I thought I heard something." 'What, father?" "what, father?" said Margaret and Hepsie at once, and turning toward him their faces, in which sudden hope and fear struggled together. The wind came rattling roughly at the window; but it was not that the old man had heard, he is sure. From the hearthstone rose the great house-dog, and, going close to the door, listened, or seemed to listen, with the rest. A moment and there was a growl, and a striking of his paws against the heavy slabs that composed the door; there was a hush of under breath; then a gathering up from the bottom of their souls all the courage that had gone down there; a preparation for the worst; they had caught the sound of voices and footsteps, stealthily and suppressed, or fear had made. them so. The daylight past there had been a loud rapping at the window, and the news had been brought that a whole regiment of red-coats were marching toward Concord, having left eight men dead in their path; then had come the hurried preparation of Nathan for the conflict, the prayerful and tearful parting with him; and this, before the close of the day, had been followed by the mysterious losing of little Nathan. No wonder, as they watched and waited together, a footstep should startle and a voice send new terror to their hearts. (TO BE CONTINUED.) DIVINE LOVE. On one occasion the Rev. Rowland Hill was endeavoring to convey to his hearers some idea of his conception of the Divine love; but suddenly casting his eyes toward heaven, he exclaimed, "But I am unable to reach the lofty theme! yet I do not think that the smallest fish that swims in the boundless ocean ever complains of the immeasurable vastness of the deep. So it is with me; I can plunge, with my puny capacity, into a subject the immensity of which I shall never be able fully to comprehend!" THE DYING DAUGHTER. BY HELEN M. BRADLEY. Look away from the pains of life, love, And a beautiful throng are come, love, From yonder beaming shore. One kiss from thy pale, cold lips, love, One pressure, one grasp, of thy hand, One long, and a close embrace, love, Ere thou go with the shining band. Be strong; God is thy helper, love; Look up to thy Savior now; For the waves are wrapping thy form, love, And a faintness is on thy brow. Look up from darkness to light, love, From pain to a wondrous rest; Look away to the dying Lamb, love, And cling to his bleeding breast! WORDS FOR MUSIC. I LOVE to sing when I am glad, I love to sing when I am sad, Till song makes sweet my very sadness. To some sweet rhyme in concert only; Good company when I am lonely. My song goes forth in thankful numbers, And 'mid the shadows of the night, I sing me to my welcome slumbers. My heart is stirr'd By each glad bird Whose notes are heard in summer's bowers; And song gives birth To friendly mirth Around the hearth in wint'ry hours. From the bright angels o'er him singing: Well pleased to hear The songs that cheer his children's sorrow; Till day shall break And we shall wake Where love will make unfading morrow. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. EVE BY REV. C. COLLINS, D. d. more solid literary products of the day there is no question. Not only has woman the capacity to enjoy, but she does enjoy them. To a large class the mawkish, sentimental twattle, which is daily served up by the press for female VERY historic addition to literature possesses value, and this value is generally in proportion to the interest and importance of the sub-reading, is rejected with disgust. The insult ject, plus or minus the graphic power with which it is developed, and the graces of style, language, etc., or the want of these. thus offered to female understanding is clearly seen and keenly felt. Should it not be remembered that the fashions of the day assign to woman a widely different education from man? If due allowance be made for this, and for the influence of that more strictly domestic sphere in which she is called to move, we shall find no cause for these disparaging comparisons. That self-appropriated superiority, which the "lords of creation" so complacently assume, in our opinion does not exist. At any rate, we respect ourselves, as well as our wives and daughters, when we provide for them the same intellectual element and the same esthetic culture that we provide for ourselves. We have just been reading a new work on ecclesiastical history, and as the subject possesses general interest, a few reflections upon it, we trust, will not be deemed out of place in the Repository, albeit a fastidious criticism might pronounce it too heavy for a periodical dedicated to the ladies. In justification of our purpose, we have two answers to the ungallant imputation contained in the above remark. 1. Under the admirable conduct of its editor the Repository finds among its 25,000 subscribers and 100,000 readers many of the sterner sex, both clerical and lay, who turn to its pages with the certainty of finding, not only pleasure, but also instruction. 2. The notion of a "softer pabulum" for the gentler sex, out of regard to their alleged weaker stomachs, is, in our judgment, both ungenerous and unjust. We need not deny that among female readers there are many so intel-world under the influence of the spirit and lectually indolent that they will read nothing which tasks their powers of thought. A page of sober history, at any time, would give them a chill. And as for philosophy, a chapter of it would communicate mental blindness-akin to that species of ophthalmia which Greek often gives to the school-boys. For such, instruction must be diluted to the last proportion, and administered in homeopathic doses, disguised under the form of beautiful sugar pills. They have delicate stomachs indeed. But, to the credit of woman, this habit of mind, so far as it prevails among the sex, is simply a habit; that is, the effect is artificial and not natural. Whether by nature the affections in the female sex are in the ascendant, and the intellectual faculties relatively inferior, while in man this order is reversed, is a question which need not be discussed. It is a question of philosophy, on which opinions have always differed, and always will. But respecting the capacity of the female mind to appreciate and enjoy the * A History of the Christian Church, by Dr. Charles Hase, Professor of Theology in the University of Jena, translated VOL. XV.-42 All history is valuable as being a manifestation of man. It is a portraiture of man's outward life, but one through which the inner and more important life reveals itself. To the Christian Church history is especially valuable, as showing the development of the true religious life of the teachings of Christianity. Man never so well knows himself as when he studies himself in others. We mean that no one experiences difficulty in admitting that human nature is the same in all-in all countries and in all times. The teachings, therefore, which we derive from others, as we see them acting under the influence of either good or bad passion, glide into the heart without that danger of bias from self-love, which is always experienced when we sit in judgment directly upon ourselves. Or, to speak in a style now much in vogue, the reflected experiences of objective humanity become the subjective lessons by which our own self-knowledge is most successfully promoted. To know ourselves has ever been considered the sum of knowledge. And to know morally and religiously, is not less important than to know intellectually and physically. Indeed, the dignity of human nature is never fully seen except when displayed on the theater of moral and religious life. It is here that ecclesiastical history offers its instructions. The teachings of the past throw light upon the experiences of the present and illuminate the future. The past is a mirror of the present. The past is also a prophecy of the future. No one can claim to know himself or others, who is ignorant of these oracles. With out them no one can pretend to know the ways of Providence, or comprehend the sublime glories of that revolution in the heart of man, or the moral condition of the world, of which Christianity is both the author and the instrument. He, therefore, renders a valuable service who presents the religious history of the past in a manner to impress and instruct; giving to every fact its appropriate place; assigning to every cause its just influence; distorting nothing; suppressing nothing; and with broad and comprehensive vision collects and delivers the lessons which philosophy transmits from by-gone ages to the present. This is a difficult task. Few are qualified for it, either by nature or study. In many respects Dr. Hase, we think, has been more successful than any writer before him. He is an artist and philosopher. His subject glows in colors upon the canvas. At the same time every thing falls into rank and place under the analysis of a mind absorbed with his theme, and fully comprehending it. Whether near or remote, major or minor in its influence, simple, complex, or recondite, whatever object you see is seen clearly. You look through a pure atmosphere. Its very purity seems to make it cold. This, perhaps, is his leading fault. You miss that warmth of spirit which is the characteristic of Neander. To avoid the bias of feeling and make his mind a pure medium of historic truth, the author at times seems to have divested himself of that sympathy with his subject which is always necessary, to blend the soul of the reader with his own and carry it along with him. But he paints with the skill of a master; and science and beauty mingle so naturally with the stream of events that they seem to be a part of it. The following paragraph beautifully and scientifically expresses his IDEA OF CHURCH HISTORY. "The Church is always in a progressive state; that is, it is striving to be a perpetual manifestation of the life of Christ in humanity. In other words, it is always aiming to exhibit his life, more and more perfectly, and on a more extensive scale, sometimes in conflict and sometimes in connection with the world. Church history is a representation of the Church in this progressive state, by an exhibition of the facts which have occurred in its course. In its scientific form, it is the combination of all those individual elements, which have had any influence upon its composition, since it is, first, critically, an impartial, honest, and strict inquiry into facts, and into the extent of the confidence which can be reposed in their proofs, so that where certainty can not be attained, a knowledge of this extent, in its different degrees, may determine the scientific character of the narrative; second, genetically, a statement of the facts in connection with their causes, taking care, however, that no explanations are given inconsistent with the proper nature of the idea developed in the events, or with the peculiar character of the active agents in them; third, theologically, an estimation of the facts in their precise relation to the religious spirit, allowing no preconceived opinions to determine what has actually occurred, but only to assist in understanding them as we find them. The correct manner of narration, or the historical style, is that which the student naturally adopts when he has acquired a true conception of the events, and there fully expresses this in living freshness and reality." To give the reader an idea of the work, we present its plan. It is simple, yet methodical and clear. In two introductory chapters the author sets forth the relation of the Church to the world, the province of Church history and its relation to the general history of religion, the mode of treating it, its value, sources, auxiliary sciences, and its divisions; and concludes with a capitally-written criticism on the literature of Church history. The whole history is then divided into three parts: I. Ancient Church History, embracing two periods. 1. From Christ to Constantine. 2. From Constantine to Charlemagne. In the first period we have vivid portraitures of such subjects as the following; namely, Classic Heathenism, Judaism, the Apostolic Church, its Struggles for Existence, its Social Constitution, its Ecclesiastical Life, its Doctrines, and Opinions opposed to them. In the second, the Imperial Church, the Victory and Defeat of Christianity, Theology and Science, the Arian, Originistic, and Pelagian Controversies, the Power of the Emperor over the Church, the Germanic Church, etc., with appropriate subdivisions. II. Medieval Church History. This embraces also two periods, extending 1. From Charlemagne to Innocent III. 2. From Innocent III to Luther. III. Modern Church History. Here, likewise, we have two periods. 1. From Luther to the Peace of Westphalia. 2. From the Peace of Westphalia to the present time. The analysis of the subject we need not here L more fully present, but a careful examination of the table of Contents would give to any one a clear conception of Christian history from the day when the Church was formed till now. And no other course of historical reading presents topics so rich in varied and absorbing interest. None other takes so strong a hold upon the imagination and the heart. The introduction of Christianity into the world was the projection of a new element into the comparatively stagnant stream of human events, and one which was destined to modify, control, and finally absorb every other. The words of Christ were significant and portentous: "Think not that I am come | to send peace on earth; I am come not to send peace, but a sword." Between the principles of Christianity and those of the world there is hostility irreconcilable. No peace can be anticipated till the one or the other prevails. The relation of the author of this work to the Germanic Church, and the current evangelical movement of the times, will appear by reference to his public position and labors. A rational curiosity on this point is always felt. We wish to be assured in advance not only that an author is learned and talented, but also orthodox. Especially is this the case when the rationalistic tendencies of German theology, in the past generation, have brought the productions of German scholarship under suspicion in the English mind. Besides his public labors as Professor of Theology in Jena, Dr. Hase has been a laborious cultivator of the field of authorship. His other writings are a system of doctrinal theology-a compendium of Lutheran theology, under the title of "Hutterus Redivivus," and his "Life of Jesus." These have all passed through several editions, and are distinguished for graphic delineation and condensed learning. One of his earlier works was an assault upon what he termed the "vulgar rationalism" of Rohr and Wegscheider, and the men of that school. He has taken part in the current controversies of the times, being the author of a work on the Principles of German Ecclesiastical Law, and of a historical resume of the Prussian controversy with the Archbishop of Cologne. The last work from his pen is an Examination of the Views of the Tabingen School, respecting the early history of the Christian Church and a condemnation of their extreme and destructive speculations. But his Manual of Church History is the chief work, and that on which his reputation with posterity will be likely to rest. It is the fruit of long study and immense labor, carefully and conscientiously elaborated. As a text-book on Church history, its equal is not to be found, and its learned translators have rendered a real service to the English student by presenting it in an English dress, and thus making it acceptable to all. The labor of translating such a work is not to be estimated by the number of pages. Aside from the intrinsic difficulties of the subject-requiring in the translators a knowledge of Church history, approximating that of the author himself-it required a very thorough mastery of the idioms of the German language to produce in English, even with tolerable success, the graces of style, spirit, wit, and sarcasm of the original. But the translation has been well executed. It has much of the transparency, terseness, and power of the text itself. This, however, was to have been expected by all who know the scholarly translators, Professor Blumenthal and Rev. C. P. Wing. We know of no gentlemen more competent for a solid work of the kind, and hope this may not be the last service for which the English student and reader will have cause to thank them. The work itself, we hope, will find many buyers and readers. It is just the manual for those commencing theological study, and we hope to see it introduced into the course for young preachers prescribed by our conferences. JESSE. BY E. G. BARKER. CHILD of the soft and dreamy eyes, Where sin and sorrow cloud and blight; God keep thee from the taint of earth Walk thou with angel bands in light; Still be in heart the little childThe pure, the sweet, the undefiled. For when of old the Son of God His Father's glories laid aside, And meekly suffered, bled, and died, |