rishioners was almost unbounded. The most touching incidents are related in proof of this. For eighty years a litigation had existed between the peasants, and their Seigneurs, respecting the right of the forests which covered their mountains. Their pastor overcame the rooted animosities and selfish passions which had so long reigned unsubdued; and persuaded them to yield to an amicable overture at a considerable sacrifice. The mayors in deputation on the occasion, presented him with the pen with which the deed was signed, as a memorial of his noble conquest. Another instance deserves also to be mentioned. A young woman of Shirmeck, a Catholic, had married a peasant of Waldbach. The man had enemies, who hated him because he was richer than they. After the birth of a daughter, they proposed to go to Shirmeck, that it might be baptized by the Catholic priest. Just as they would have set off, it was told them that some persons had determined to intercept them at a particular place, and compel the husband to assent to an unjust claim. In their terror they sought Oberlin, who accompanied them to the spot, and there stopping a few moments he knelt with them in devotion. The men in ambush rushed out, but seeing their pastor were instantly checked by dismay. He approached them with the infont in his arms, and said with indignation, "there is the infant which has so much injured you,-which disturbs the peace of your days." The men confessed their guilt, begged pardon of the young couple, and returned with Oberlin to the village. On quitting them he said, "My children, remember the day of the mountain, if you wish I should forget it."

Oberlin was at one time the only physician of his

parish, having studied medicine with a view to that benevolent object. He would often go to Strasbourg on errands of mercy for his people, and generally travelled by night lest he should be too long away. His activity was surprising. He would climb the steepest summits, and plunge through pathless snows, on a visit to the sick. He afterwards sent a young man to Strasbourg to be prepared for a physician and surgeon.

The style of preaching at Waldbach was adapted wholly to his own flock, but Oberlin generally wrote his sermons with great care and committed them to memory. The Sabbath afternoon was devoted to a catechetical exercise. On Friday he conducted a service in German for the benefit of such among his people as were most familiar with that language. These meetings were less numerous, and the good pastor laid aside all form, and made his address truly paternal. "The women listened to him while going on with their work; and, now and then, the pastor would pause and pass round his snuff box. When he had pursued a train of reflections to some length, he would ask, 'My children, are you not tired? have you heard enough?' To which they with the same simplicity replied, 'No, Papa, go on; we should like to hear a little more.' Or if he seemed fatigued, they would thank him and ask to be dismissed."

How excellent were the fruits of his ministry, there are such evidences as these. When a poor man now leaves an orphan family, his neighbors and relations distribute these children among them, adopting them for their own. The young men assist the old and the sick, by laboring for them after their own day's task is over. Is a cottage to be built? All help to procure the materials and put

The

them together. Does a peasant lose his cow, his whole support? The parish club to get him another. The inhabitants of these mountains have become remarkable for their pure morals, active goodness, and simple piety. A respectable minister thus describes a Sabbath service at Waldbach. "We set off to attend the sermon. village is on a rapid slope. The horse he was to ride was sent on to the bottom of the village, and we descended on foot. He shook hands with every child he met; several came forward towards him, and all were gladdened by his affability, Jesus,' he would often say, 'loved children.' He ascended on horseback about half a league further. His parishioners, collected near the church, formed a sort of lane, their hats off. Oberlin addressed them all as his children. All the regents came forward to shake hands with Papa. After sermon he administered baptism, holding the child in his arms; and he took occasion to remind the parents of their duty. Some rebukes he addressed to them, affected them extremely. He returned thanks for the result of a collection which had been made for a poor family: he offered up a prayer on their behalf, but he was unable to go through it. The emotion of all answered to his tears." Mr. Owen, speaking of a similar occasion, says, "the appearance of the congregation, their order and seriousness, with the fervor, tenderness, and simplicity with which their pastor addressed them, conveyed to my mind the impression of a sincere and elevated devotion." which appears confirms this account of the improvement effected by Oberlin, on a people whom he found in an almost barbarous condition. Louis XVIII. conferred on him the decoration of the Legion of Honor in ac

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knowledgment of his having been the author of the welfare of a whole population.

Oberlin did not confine his benevolence at home. He was one of the earliest friends and agents of the London Bible Society, on the continent. As soon as he learned there were missionaries he sold his family plate, to devote the avails to the enterprise. His people were accustomed to share in all such charities. At a time when many of various religious denominations fled from Strasbourg on account of persecution, they were all hospitably sheltered. and generously provided for. He was beloved by the Catholics not less than the Protestants around him. Every harsh passion encountered his sure rebuke, every gentle emotion was inspired by his presence. The stranger who turned aside from the beaten route to visit the Ban de la Roche, went away deeply impressed by the enthusiastic goodness of its venerable pastor.

Oberlin died at the advanced age of eighty six. A monument worthy of his virtues is to be erected to his memory; this is none other than a charitable foundation, to bear his name, having for its object to provide for the physical and moral wants of the people to whom he gave his life; thus perpetuating, in the Ban de la Roche, the beneficent influence of its revered benefactor.

IMITATION FROM THE PERSIAN.

BY DR SOUTHEY.

LORD! who art merciful as well as just,
Incline thine ear to me, a child of dust!
Not what I would, O Lord! I offer thee,
Alas! but what I can.

Father Almighty! who hast made me man,
And bade me look to Heaven, for thou art there,
Accept my sacrifice, and humble prayer.

Four things which are not in thy treasury,

I lay before thee, Lord! with this petition:
My nothingness, my wants,

My sins, and my contrition!

IMAGINE not, my friend, that altering your views respecting Jesus' nature, while you still receive and honor him as the Son of God and only Saviour, is shifting the ground of your christian hope. When you were a Trinitarian you thought your faith and hope were in God. Are they not now? Is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,-God? In him the Unitarian treasures up his hope. Is he less safe for that? What better security than God, has any man? Because you have ceased to think Jesus the Deity, have you no God to trust? Blessed Saviour! must we forget thy Father when we honor thee?

One thing alone gives all its value to redemption : Eternal Mercy. But for that, and the blood and righteousness of Christ, to which the Trinitarian cleaves as his only stay, would no more avail to human safety than the blood which the suicide spills, or the righteousness which the saint achieves. Eternal Mercy is a sinner's hope. On that we rely, be we Trinitarian or Unitarian in creed. Give me that and I am safe. Take that away and I must perish. Tell me not that the man who confides in the Father of our Lord Jesus is less secure than