IX-POETRY.

THE LOST SOUL.-A REQUIEM.

There's rest in the darksome grave
For vile corrupting clay;
There's rest in the burial cave,
A rest which all alike shall have,
Till God's great judgment day.

The small and the great are there,
The evil and the good;

Their flesh and bones alike consume,
Corrupting in corruption's home,
Of charnel worms the food.

But where's the undying soul,
Whose mortal coil lies here?
It is not in this earthly frame;
And on earth he has left no name,
Save on the tombstone drear.

We've sought him on earth in vain,
In vain in the grave's dark bed:
Mortals have heard his voice no more,
They say his course on earth is o'er;
What reck they for the dead?

Alas, for his youngest days!

Alas for his manhood's years! Alas for the days of his strength and prime!

Ye weep with fruitless tears.

He sinned from his earliest time,

He sinned to his latest breath;

'Gainst right and light and grace he sinnedA sinner e'en till death.

We've sought him in heaven in vain,

No sinner found we there;

We saw not his name in the book of life-
He was not known in the battle strife,
Or known as a man of prayer.

We heard when the passing bell
Declared his spirit's flight:
But where is that spirit gone?
Has it fled to realms unknown?
It's not in the world of light.

How sing we then his requiem,
Save for his cold, cold clay?

He's not at rest in the land of the blest,
But far,
far away.

Alas! we have traced his course

By the lamp-the word of light.
No angels stood around his bed,-
With spirits dark he swiftly fled
To everlasting night.

Alas for a spirit lost, undone !
He woke in dark despair.
No rest, no peace, is found in hell,
It's burning flame's unquenchable,—
And we have seen him there!

Alas! for his hopes are o'er,
His friends are far away;-

They say he dwells on a happier shore,
And soon they'll meet to part no more,
But 'tis the old Deceiver's lie-
HE DWELLS IN ENDLESS MISERY!

W. R.

66

X.-HOME AND FOREIGN RECORD.

THE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIRST PSALM.-A correspondent of the Athenæum, under the date of September 25, writes, that in the Benedictine Monastery of Capo di Cava, near Sorrento, among the curious and ancient parchments, a Latin manuscript Bible of the eighth century was shown to him, exquisitely written, and curious as containing one hundred and fifty-one Psalms-that is, one more than the canonical number." This Psalm is in the LXX, as well as in the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions. It is very ancient, being found in the Codex Alexandrinus.' It" is not found," says Dr. Adam Clark," in the Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee, nor in the Vulgate. It is mentioned by Appollinaris, Athanasius, Euthymius, Vigilius Tapsensis, and St. Chrysostom. It has never been received either by the Greek or the Latin church; nor has it ever been considered as canonical. Though the Greek is considered the most authentic copy of this Psalm, yet there are some things in the Syriac and Arabic necessary to make a full sense." The following is a copy of the Psalm from the above-mentioned manuscript, and Dr. A. Clark's translation from the LXX, amended by the different versions. It appears that the Latin manuscript above referred to follows the Septuagint.

Hic Psalmus proprie scriptus in David cum pugnat et adversus Goliam solus.

Pusillus eram inter fratres meos,
Et adolescentior in domo patris mei;
Pascebam oves patris mei.

Manus meæ fecerunt organum,
Et digiti mei aptaverunt psalterium.

A Psalm in the handwriting of David, beyond the number of the Psalms, composed by David when he fought in single combat with Goliath.

1. I was the least among my brethren,
And the youngest in my father's house;
And I kept also my father's sheep.

2. My hands made the organ,
And my fingers jointed the psaltery.

Quis adnuntiavit Domino meo ipse Dominus

Ipse hominum exauditor.

Ipse misit angelum suum, et tulit me de ovibus patris mei;

Et unxit me in misericordia unctionis suæ.

Fratris autem mei boni et magni;

Et non fuit beneplacitum in eis Domini.
Exivi obviam Alienigenæ,

Et defutavit me in simulacris suis.

Ego autem evaginato ab eo ipsius gladio

Amputavi caput ejus,

Et abstuli opprobrium a filiis Israel.

3. And who told it to my Lord? [Arab.-And who is he who taught me ?] The Lord himself,

He is my master,

And the hearer of all that call upon him.

4. He sent his angel, and took me away from my father's sheep:

And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. [Others have the oil of his mercy.]

5. My brethren were taller and more beautiful than I,

Nevertheless, the Lord delighted not in them. 6. I went out to meet the Philistine, And he cursed me by his idols.

7. [In the strength of the Lord I cast three stones at him. I smote him in the forehead, and felled him to the earth.-Arab.] 8. And I drew out his own sword from its sheath,

And cut off his head,

And took away the reproach from the Children of Israel.

PERSECUTION IN HESSE CASSEL.-Ecclesiastical freedom is, indeed, at a low ebb in Hesse Cassel. Some short time since a Baptist, named Grimmel, went from Marburg, where he has a small church, to Hersfeld, merely to visit a friend of his own communion; yet no sooner was his arrival at the latter place known, than he was arrested and put into jail, until he could be sent back to Marburg! In Luther's time, Landgrave Philip of Hesse was the champion of religious liberty; but now times are sadly changed, and while vice sits enthroned in Hesse Cassel, and rationalism pervades the established church, intolerance checks the sowing the good seed, which is the only effective as well as the only Christian way to prevent the growth of tares.-Evangelical Christendom.

SPEECH OF DR. CONE AT THE LAST ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY, 1847.-" Brethren and Friends of the Bible cause! We welcome you to another anniversary of the AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. Although some of the Southern Auxiliaries have withdrawn from our Union, and we have not been able to obtain several bequests, for want of a charter-yet the receipts of the current year exceed those of the corresponding twelve months of the preceding year, and we have therefore good reason to thank God and take courage.

"Unity of purpose and great harmony of action have characterised the meetings of your Board of Managers, and their various and oft-times onerous duties have been discharged with promptitude and cheerfulness.

"Our opponents, by their relentless and persevering hostility, have frustrated our oft-repeated efforts to procure from the state legislature an act of incorporation; and we must now wait until, according to the provisions of the new constitution, an act shall be passed under which all the religious and benevolent institutions in the State may secure a name in law. We shall then be competent to receive and hold moneys bequeathed us by the friends of God and man, even though we should persist in maintaining that Jesus Christ was immersed by John the Baptist, and that the patrons of this society ought not to be disfranchised for following HIм as dear children.

"All that has been said or done against this society, has been excused or justified from the fact that it was called into existence by Baptists, and great pains have been taken to impress this fact upon the public mind. Who denies

it? What other denomination is prepared to take for its motto-THE BIBLE TRANSLATED? Not one! Were this sentiment universally received and obeyed by real christians-the one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism, of the New Testament, would no longer be a dead letter, but a living and descriptive truth. But whatever may be said about the organization of the society, we hope and pray that the principle upon which it is founded may not be confined to the Baptists, but speedily come to be an axiom in the creed and practice of all bible translators. God forbid that his word should be bound! Let it run, and have free course, and be glorified!

"The Hanserd Knollys Society of England, which takes its name from a worthy minister of the gospel who, in his day, earnestly contended for the faith once delivered to the saints, has published several of the works of early Baptist writers. I have read them with pleasure and profit, and from the editor's advertisement select the following sentences, as containing a great, and to Baptists a most encouraging, historical fact. To the Baptists belongs the high honour of first asserting in this land, and of establishing on the immutable basis of just argument and scripture rule, the right of every man to worship God as conscience dictates, in submission only to divine command. These pioneers of the soul's freedom fell "martyrs for conscience' sake;"-it were ingratitude to withhold a coronal of deserved commendation, wreathed from the bright leaves and blossoms of the tree they planted in sorrow, and watered with their blood; but under whose shadow it is our happiness to live." "Some ignorantly suppose that liberty of conscience was a doctrine of the Reformation-far from it! It is a doctrine of the Baptists of the first century -has been held by them ever since, and their adherence to it in the 16th and 17th centuries called forth upon their heads a torrent of abuse and persecution from the so-called reformed churches. It was the crime of the Baptists that they rejected secular interference in the church of God; it was the boast and aim of the reformers everywhere to employ it: the natural fruit of the one was persecution, of the other liberty! There is not a confession of faith, nor a creed formed by any of the reformers, which does not give to the magistrate a coercive power in religion, and almost every one at the same time curses the resisting Baptist.' Nevertheless, one has chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to flight, and in spite of crowned heads, councils, and diets; of persecutions, sufferings, and fiery martyrdoms, which attended and lit up the labours of these calumniated men,' FREEDOM TO WORSHIP GOD is now an admitted right. The high honour of first asserting it, not only in England, but in this happy land, belongs to the Baptists; to God be all the glory!

"Liberty of conscience and the bible translated, are kindred'truths, alike essential and important in the kingdom of Christ. If man has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, subject only to the command of God, he has an equal right to know what the Lord would have him to do. We were separated from the American Bible Society for conscience' sake: let us not then be lightly reproached or condemned. They decided to act upon the truth concealing principle, and not translate all the Bible, but only so much as would harmonize with the views of the different sects composing the Society: we adhered, as in conscience bound, to the truth revealing principle, and THE BIBLE TRANSLATED is the basis of our separate action. Are we not standing on a sure foundation? What though many cry out shame upon us! We must bear the shame rather than sell the truth. We must look to Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and then we shall neither faint nor grow weary in our great work. We shall go foward as the unflinching and indomitable defenders of liberty of conscience have done before us, being confident of this very thing, that the God of the Bible will vindicate his own word. The joy set before us is the triumph of our principle

of translation, which shall ultimately give to all the nations of earth our own as well as others, pure versions of the sacred scriptures. Then the watchmen upon the walls of Zion shall see eye to eye, and the Redeemer shall be glorified in the heartfelt union of his people-when they shall take his holy book as their only rule of faith and practice, and throw away to the moles and to the bats unscriptural dogmas and mere human traditions.

"In the further prosecution of our labour of love, a conflict severe and protracted must be anticipated. We stand alone, opposed by all the podobaptist Bible Societies in the world. We have religious bigotry, and numbers, and wealth, and national establishments against us-Infant sprinkling must be perpetuated, or they must crumble and decay; and the transfer dogma will be used to the utmost. China is to be a great battle-field. The British and Foreign Bible Society have pledged to the podobaptist missionaries there, any amount of money necessary to revise and print the Chinese bible-conformed to the English bible-and they even propose to call it The received Chinese version, although our missionaries testify that baptism is not only veiled, as in the English scriptures, but is truly and clearly perverted, by these transfer brethren. Their version can never be received by us. The same course has been adopted with the Greek scriptures, and open violations of the sacred text have been resorted to, to cover up the first command of Zion's King to his believing children. This system will be carried on, until believers' baptism, although written in the New Testament as with a sunbeam, shall be either mystified, or totally blotted out of every transfer version. In this matter we stand alone witnesses for Christ. But the path of duty is plain, and I feel sorrow in my heart for the immersed believer who is either ashamed or afraid to come up with us to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Buy the truth and sell it not, oh, ye followers of the Lamb!

"Brethren and friends! if God be for us, who can be, finally and successfully, against us?

666

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers;
But error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies among his worshippers.'

"Be ye therefore steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.'”

PRESTON.-The Rev. Wm. Walters of Horton College has accepted the cordial and unanimous invitation of the Baptist Church and congregation worshiping in Leeming Street Chapel, Preston, Lancashire, and will enter upon his stated labours the first Sabbath in January.

CLIFTON, BRISTOL.-On Sabbath afternoon, Nov. 21, an interesting service was held at Buckingham Chapel, Clifton, for the purpose of forming a new church in this locality in connexion with the Baptist denomination. The Rev. T. S. Crisp presided, and, after an introductory address, gave the right hand of fellowship to the members constituting the New Church, who had been honourably dismissed for this purpose from the churches at King Street, and Counterslip, Bristol.

The chapel was filled to overflowing. About four hundred members of other churches, Baptist and Independent, manifesting their fraternal regard by sitting down together at the Lord's table. The Rev. C. Stovel, of London, and the Revs. Messrs. Davis and Fuller, of Bristol, also took part in the service. Appropriate sermons were preached, in the morning and evening, by the Rev. C. Stovel.