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Kings, in Choctaw. The Ojibwa Testament is now being printed; also, a Portuguese Testament, and the Testament in Portuguese and English. There are thirty-three agents employed by the Society-including two on the Pacific Coast, one in South America, and one in the Levant. The embarrassments of the former year have not admitted as many foreign - grants as the Board desired to make. To publish the Scriptures in France, $1000 have been paid; for the same purpose at Constantinople, about $4000; for Syria, $500; for Oroomiah, $2500; Northern India, $2000; for Germany, $1000.

CHURCH PEWS PASS TO THE HEIR.-REAL ESTATE. In the matter of the Estate of Henry Haven, deceased.

SURROGATE. The intestate was the owner of a pew, "by purchase," "from the Ministers, Elders, and Deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in the City of New York," in the church in Lafayette Place, subject to the payment of such taxes as might be assessed upon the same by the Consistory of the Church. By the term of the deed, it is manifest that the pew was sold, and not leased, for a term of years. The question now arises, whether it is real or personal estate.

In England, by the general law, and of common right, all the pews in a parish church are the common property of the parish, for the use of the inhabitants. The distribution rests with the Churchwardens, subject to the control of the Ordinary, and they cannot be sold or let without a special Act of Parliament. By prescription, title to the use of a particular pew, may be shown to have been attached as appurtenant to a particular messuage, so that the occupant of the house for the time being is entitled to the use.

The practice in this State has been widely different. The Act for the Incorporation of Religious Societies provides (3 R. S. p. 206, s. 4) for "the renting of pews," and, I think, upon the true construction of the whole Act, for their sale also. The usage as to the sale of pews has been general for many years, and, except in Voorhies v. The Presbyterian Church of Amsterdam (8 Barb. S. C. 135), has never been doubted, though cases in which the question might have been raised have often been before the Courts.

The right in a pew is held to be such an interest in real estate as to fall within the statute of frauds (16 Wend. 31, 8 Barb. 130); but though existing as long as the church edifice stands, it is limited and qualified, and does not give such an absolute interest in the soil as to prevent its alienation by the corporation. 3 Edw. Ch. 155; 3 Kent's Com. 402; where Chancellor Kent says that "the right of the pew-holder is not real estate."

After a somewhat elaborate examination of the statutes and authorities, the Surrogate concludes as follows:

"The right of an owner of a pew relates to the use of lands, does not resemble a lease for years in having a certain and definite time set for its expiration; is not excepted out of the statute of descents, which provides for the succession of the heir to all hereditaments, nor included in the provisions regulating what shall be assets in the hands of the executor or administrator.

"The ground of distinction as to what shall pass to the heir and what to the executor, &c., in respect to rights issuing out of realty, depends upon the fact whether the right to the subject possesses the qualities of real property, viz., a sufficient legal indeterminate duration. The property in a pew is of this character, and is therefore such an incorporeal hereditament as passes to the heir at law and not to the personal representative, who cannot, therefore, dispose of it by sale.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC SABBATH.

CARDINAL WISEMAN, favouring the measures for desecrating the Sabbath in London, said, in a recent sermon, that "the Roman Catholic Church had ever held that, religious duties duly performed, the Christian Sunday was to be regarded and used by all, and especially by the great bulk of the people, as a day of innocent amusement and recreation, and that such should be afforded to them by the State by every means in its power. This, he thought it right at this time to declare publicly, was and is the mind of the Church of Christ on this subject."

Collected Fragments.

THE ASCENT OF PRAYER.

It is a wonderful thought how far a prayer can go. Shoot up an arrow into the sky; it will seem to mount very high, but will soon fall back to the earth; its own weight will be sufficient to draw it down. Uncage a lark and let it fly into the air, let it mount and sing till it is almost out of sight; yet it cannot always rise; the little warbler will soon be baffled and beaten back by the winds, or it will come to an atmosphere which it cannot breathe, and so will sink down with weary wing to the earth again. The eagle may soar skywards; it may mount on its strong pinions, and tower far above the highest mountains; but its daring ascent will soon find its limit, and as certainly as the little lark, it will return back to its nest in the rock. But send up a prayer! send up a true prayer, and nothing will, nothing can draw it back again. It will rise above the hills, above the clouds, and pierce even to the throne of God. The man that offered it remains below; he is smiting on his breast like the poor publican, or in prison like the chained apostle; but his prayer is rising high and rapid on its way; and neither the stars in their courses, nor the wandering winds, nor the prince of the power of the air, can prevent it from reaching the heaven of its destination.

Is this the case of all your prayers? Yes, undoubtedly, of all true prayers. Not of those which are formal and lifeless; not of lip prayers, however sublime; not of all litanies, however solemn; but of all prayers that are true, and humble, and earnest, and offered up in the name of Jesus, with faith in his most blessed intercession.

Pause, then, and consider the value of prayer. You may sow your

corn seed, but worms may destroy it, or moisture injure it, and all your expectations may be disappointed; but let your seed be prayer, and let heaven be your field; sow there that precious grain, and there shall be no disappointment. God receives it, God guards it, God breathes upon it, and in due time it will return to your bosom again, with increase of thirty, or sixty, or even an hundred fold.

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A FRIEND, who is called to walk through the deep waters of affliction, sends us the following thoughts, in the hope that others may find in them some measure of the same consolation which has come to his own heart. When the godly dead lie before us, or when we have just committed them to the grave, we stand in special need of the comfort which the Gospel affords. Christianity does not make us insensible; it allows us to weep, but it does not leave us in our tears. Let the following grateful reflections confirm our remark:

Our loss is their gain, and we should be willing that those whom we love should be benefited at our expense.

They are now conformed to the Divine image, and so their desires and ours are accomplished.

The number of the saints in glory is increased.

They are enjoying a more pure and elevated companionship than the earth affords.

They are more intimately united to the Lord Jesus Christ.

They are freed forever from trials and affliction; they are at rest. They are beyond the changes and alternations of spiritual life. There is no wandering, nor temptation, nor lukewarmuess in heaven. Death to them had no sting. At the worst, it was but a single and short-lived pang. We may still commune with them in the memory of

the past.

We are still united to them in one common worship of God. They at the throne of glory, we at the throne of grace.

We shall soon follow them, and be reunited to them in joyful recognition.

The meanwhile, our chastenings will wean us from the world, and prepare us for our departure.

And our patient endurance will prove a sacred pledge of our adoption into God's family.

We suffer no strange thing. The same afflictions are accomplished in our brethren in the world, and were endured by our blessed Lord and Master.-New York Observer.

PREMONITIONS OF JUDGMENT.

E.

BEFORE the hurricane comes down upon the earth in its overwhelming fury, marking out a path for itself over fair cities and villages which it throws in ruins, and dense forests which it prostrates, carrying desolation and death in its awful pathway, there are certain premonitory indications which, if properly regarded, may afford a reasonable prospect of escape to the hapless inhabitants. First, there is a light breeze rippling the surface of the waters-then there is a fiery appearance in the distant sky, which continues for a time-then a small dark cloud appears, which gradually expands until it fills the whole horizon and the upper sky-the wind meantime increases in strength till it raves and roars over the earth or the sea in frantic fury-the rain or hail pours down from the black clouds in angry torrents, and woe to the living thing upon whose unprotected head it falls. The analogy holds good in spiritual things. Just so before the storm of God's wrath breaks in upon the sinner's head, there are kindly premonitions, which, if heeded, may avert its fury. First, there are a series of disappointments, showing him the nothingness of this sinful world. Then there may be sicknesses, with their train of pains and groans and sighs, reminding him of his frailty and mortality, and of the working within him of the seeds of sin, and of the penalty due to it. Then at length he is prostrate-disease makes rapid progress—the darkness of death begins to overshadow him.

"What now avail

The strong-built sinewy limbs and well-spread shoulders?
See how he tugs for life, and lays about him,
Mad with his pain! Eager he catches

Of what comes next to hand, and grasps it hard,
Just like a creature drowning. Hideous sight!
O how his eyes stand out, and stare full ghastly!
While the distemper's rank and deadly venom,
Shoots like a burning arrow across his bowels,
And drinks his marrow up. Heard you that groan?
It was his last!"

And now commences the fulness of the storm of God's wrath, which comes down on his guilty and affrighted soul, and consumes it as with fire.

Impenitent reader! remember that your disappointments, and pains, and sicknesses, are the preliminaries and certain forerunners of the more awful pains and penalties of sin, which will increase in intensity and terror throughout the boundless ages of eternity. Now, before the pangs of death shall be felt throughout your frame, and that divine storm shall come upon you in its overwhelming fury, now, flee to the Man of Calvary, God's great propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of the world, who will be as a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the storm.

LUTHER IN AFFLICTION.

The following account of the manner in which Luther bore the loss of a beloved child, is taken from a translation in the "New York Christian Inquirer." We have here a fine example of religious resignation, and an interesting comment on the domestic character of the Reformer.

In her fourteenth year, Magdalena was taken by her Heavenly Father from her earthly parents. Courageously and steadily she passed through death; and Luther, at the bedside of his dying child, was the same hero that he appeared before the Electors and the Diet. During her illness he said, "I love her very much; but, Father, if it be Thy will to take her hence, I bow entirely to Thee." Standing by her bed, he said, "Magdalena, you are happy to stay with your father here, and willing to go to your Father there." And she said, "Yes, dear father, as God wills it." Then he said, "Dear child! The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak;" and, turning around, he added, "I love her very dearly; if the flesh is so strong, what will the spirit be?" As she became weaker, and was dying, he fell upon his knees at her bedside, and wept bitterly, and prayed God to deliver her. Soon after, she breathed her last in her father's arms. On the day of the funeral, Luther could not tear himself away from the coffin in which the child's body had been placed. He stood by it, and said, as he looked at her, "Dear Lena, you will rise again, and shine like a star, yes, a sun. Now, that she has gone, I am happy in spirit; but, in the flesh, I am very sad. The flesh will not be put down, and parting grieves one very much. It is strange, that, while I know that she is certainly at peace, and that all is well with her, I should yet be so sorry.

When his friends told him, that they were grieved for his loss, he replied, "You should rejoice, that I have sent a saint to heaven; yes, two." (Elizabeth and Magdalena.) While they were throwing the earth upon the coffin, he said, "There is a resurrection of the body;" and, on his way to the house, he spoke, very earnestly, to his friends: "My child is sent away, body and soul; and our Father in heaven has two saints from my body. If my Magdalena could return to life, and bring me the wealth of the Ottoman Empire, I would not have her. O! it is well for her! Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Who dies so, has certainly everlasting life; and I would that I, and my children, and all of you, might go, for evil times are coming."

The mother was plunged by this event into the deepest grief, and Luther comforted her most affectionately. "Dear Kate, remember, that where she has gone, she is very well; but flesh and blood do as flesh and

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