"The Godly Man ceaseth.”

Since making out the report of our school, we have been called to mourn the loss of our most devoted, efficient and beloved teacher, Dea. Phineas Chapin, at the age of nearly seventy years. The Sabbath school shared largely in his prayers and labors. He was one of the first who engaged in establishing our school, in 1818, and from that time until arrested by disease, he was the superintendent of the school, or a teacher in it. Seldom has his place in the school been found vacant, when he was able to attend meeting; and as seldom, probably, was his class forgotten in his devotions, either morning or evening. He is the first teacher that has ever died from our school, while engaged in it, since it was established in 1818.

The promises to faithful parents have been abundantly fulfilled to him, as the lives of eleven children, all now living, bear testimony; ten of whom are professedly pious, and nearly all of them are or have been active and efficient teachers in Sabbath schools, and tract distributors. The deep interest in the Sabbath school,. which he had manifested, continued to the last. He was noticed particularly on the last Sabbath he attended school, the third before the one on which he was buried, for the manifest interest and satisfaction he took in teaching his class. His death was such as might have been expected from his life. At his funeral, our pastor addressed a crowded audience, from the text, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Uxbridge.-Ib.

An awful but triumphant Death.

A young lady came to reside here, about a year since, who had been for eleven years either a Sabbath school scholar, or teacher, in the place of her nativity. Through the instrumentality of instruction there received, she became hopefully pious at the age of sixteen; but she was not allowed by her friends to make a public profession of religion. When she was eighteen she

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felt herself at liberty to go where she could enjoy liberty of conscience. A few months after coming here, she united with the church, and continued to adorn her profession till she died. On the second Sabbath in February last, she staid from church in the morning, to take care of a young child; her clothes took fire from a box stove, and she was burned so badly that she survived only thirty-six hours. She was not alarmed nor agitated in view of death, though it came in so sudden and terrific a manner. To one who ran to her help, and who exclaimed, on seeing her wounds, "Poor girl!" she said, "I am not poor; I have a hope in Christ."

To her physician she said, as he examined her pulse, "What should I do without a hope in Christ? Many defer repentance to a dying bed; but how can a sinner repent here?"

She dictated a letter to her mother, in which she said, "I seem suspended midway between heaven and earth; not ONE doubt, not one fear, obtrudes itself into my mind." She was a brand plucked from the fire, through the instrumentality of Sabbath schools.

Westfield.-Ib.

Thoughts at the Grave of my only Sister.
The scene is past! Her heaven-born soul has fled,
And dear Eliza slumbers with the dead!

Her lovely form, locked fast in death's embrace,
Has sought repose in this lone resting-place ;
To slumber here until the rising dawn,
The bright, the glorious resurrection morn.
Then will it burst the confines of the tomb,
And rise triumphant o'er its midnight gloom.
Meanwhile, the sun will shine upon this grave,
The flowers will bloom, the green grass sweetly wave;
The dews of heaven will on this turf be shed,
And wintry winds will whistle o'er her head.
Yet will she heed them not; the soul has fled,
And nought but dust is slumbering in this bed.
But whither gone? Attending angels, where?
Tell,-ye who made this precious soul your care,—

Did ye not bear it on your airy wings

Up to those holy courts, where Gabriel sings?
Does it not bow low at the Saviour's throne?
Cast at his sacred feet her golden crown?
Is not her bliss complete? Will she not raise,
Henceforth, the song of sweet, seraphic praise?
Why should I then her early death deplore?
Since her frail bark has landed on that shore,
Where clouds of sorrow never more shall rise,
Nor tempests howl along the angry skies.
Below is turmoil;-but my sister dear,
Thou art for ever freed from sin, from care.
Thy work is done ;-thy home is with the blest.
Thou art, and shalt be, ever more, at rest.
Then let me toil, and strive my heart to keep;
A little while-and I shall with thee sleep.
A few short years-I shall behold thy face,
And bind thy heart to mine in fond embrace.
Then gently slumber in the peaceful tomb,
And o'er thy head let flowerets sweetly bloom;
And let thy spirit onward wing its way,
To find yet brighter scenes in endless day.

And when my work is done,-my grief all o'er,
I'll join thee, dearest, on that blissful shore.

Q.

Usefulness of the Society's Books in Ohio. Within the last two years, two large donations of the Society's books, by the contributions of several of our schools, have been made to the "Sabbath School Teachers' Association of the Western Reserve College," for the benefit of the schools under their instruction. That Society have recently forwarded fifteen dollars, contributed in the college community, for more books, and they have also expressed a wish for another donation. Accordingly, a donation of $36,20 worth of books, —$26,20 from the Sabbath school in East Millbury, and $10,00 from the children of the Maternal Association in the first church in Worcester, has been sent.

Mr. Oliver N. Chapin, Cor. Sec. of the S. S. Teachers' Association, in ordering the books mentioned above, thus speaks of the usefulness of the Mass. S. S. Society's publications in that section of our country:

We have had satisfactory evidence of the usefulness of your publications in our schools, the last two years, in the increased interest and improvement which are manifest. A large portion of the members of our schools have very little reading but what is furnished them in this way. And as children and youth are generally fond of reading, our books are an important means of securing a full and constant attendance at the Sabbath school. The salutary influence which books of such a character exert on the minds of the youthful readers, is also an important auxiliary to the instructions of the Sabbath school. We have sometimes noticed a striking change in the appearance of the children of a Sabbath school, in a few weeks after furnishing the school with books. They come to the school with brighter countenances, recite their lessons with more interest, appear to love and respect their teachers more, observe better order in school, and instruction seems to take hold of their minds and feelings more strongly. This effect may be more manifest in these schools than it would be in schools where family libraries and family instruction are better enjoyed, than in most of the families from which our schools are collected. Without such an auxiliary, we should fear our labors would, in many cases, be almost in vain. With it we expect great and good results.

You may be disposed to inquire, "Have you had any revivals in any of your schools?" When it is considered that Sabbath schools have been so abundantly blessed, in other parts of the country, with the outpourings of the Spirit, such an inquiry would very naturally and very properly arise. And we are sorry we cannot give a more favorable answer. But, though there has been no outpouring of the Spirit, as the immediate result of our labors, we believe much has been done to advance the glory of God, and hope that we may yet be permitted to reap a harvest of souls, if we faint not.

"The testimony of our fellows will as little avail us in the day of Judgment, as the help of our fellows will avail us in the hour of death,”—Chalmers,

Letter from Africa to a Juvenile Society. REV. A. BULlard,

Andover, June 7, 1839.

Dear Brother,―The Juvenile Society of the West Parish have recently received a letter from Mr. James, a teacher in the mission at Cape Palmas. I send you an extract for the Visiter.-Yours, &c., W. GRIDLEY.

Fair Hope Mission Station, Cape Palmas, West Africa. To the dear youth of the Juvenile Society, West Parish, Andover, for the education of two African youth.

DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS, - It gives me unbounded pleasure to learn from the letter addressed by your secretary to the Rev. Mr. Wilson, with whom I am associated, of the great interest the dear young ladies of Andover West Parish are taking in the education of the poor heathen children in Africa. It certainly encourages my heart very much to hear that even the youth are touched with a feeling of sympathy for the degraded heathen. I say degraded, and I may add, most awfully, wretched and miserable. *- * * The child, from its mother's arms, is taught to lie, swear and steal, and, in short, to do every thing that is shocking to a Christian youth, and more odious and abominable in the sight of God.

How delightful is the thought to me, that so large a company of youth, in one single parish, are engaged in so good a cause as that which is designed to bless the poor heathen, by sending them the blessings of the gospel! Who knows how many of the poor African children will rise up in the day of judgment, and call the dear girls of Andover West Parish blessed, for the benevolent labors they have bestowed for their instruction!

When I met our schoolboys this evening for prayers, I informed them of what you were doing for them, and the way in which you were doing it. They seemed much interested. But when I told them that you were a company of girls, of their own age, I supposed, their eyes glistened-their countenances fully bespoke the joy that was in their hearts. One got up, and said, That his heart close came into his mouth, he was so glad to hear that little people in America care for them, and

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