able to draw them away, or to turn them from him. May he protect them, sanctify them, purify them, and prepare them for their heavenly inheritance.

"3d. I thank God also, for all those who have shown themselves friends to this society. May He reward you for the joy which you have thus imparted to your distressed and afflicted pastor.

"May He bring you nearer and nearer to Jesus. May you become of the number of his own dear people - a people zealous of good works the sheep of his beloved little flock.

"4th. I thank those who have permitted their wives and children to belong to it, and to declare themselves openly. May God recompense them for all that they have done unto the least of my brethren.' May he recompense them also richly and eternally, for the good which they have done to their wives and children, in permitting them to participate in the contempt which Jesus Christ suffered; to bear his cross; and to become partakers in the promise which our Lord has made to those who confess his name before men.

"O my dear auditors! leave, leave, I entreat you, the ways of Belial. Devote yourselves to

the Lord Jesus. He is able and willing to receive every soul that earnestly seeks him; he will cast out none that come unto him; having shed his blood for all, he desires to receive all into his arms. Hasten then to be saved. Time flies away; death draws near. 'There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' than Jesus Christ, whom I preach unto you. Hasten to him. Fly to him. Pray, mourn, weep; seek after him in the secret of your hearts, until you find him. Amen."

In the course of the year 1784, Oberlin had the following paper printed in French and German, and placed in a conspicuous station in every cottage throughout his extensive parish. It serves to prove at how early a period the subject of missions occupied his mind, and led him to form those monthly prayer meetings to promote this object, which are now carried forward by most of the denominations of Christians throughout the world.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ desires his followers to espouse his interests; to aid him in his great work; and to pray in his name. To conduce to this end, he has himself furnished them with one common prayer.

"For the satisfaction and assistance of some individuals amongst us, a sort of Spiritual Association was established a few years ago; and by means of printed sheets, the following articles were agreed upon, and circulated :

"FIRST. Every member of this society shall pray, on the first Monday of every month, that the Missionaries employed in the conversion of savage and idolatrous nations in all parts of the world, may be supported and sustained, ' against the wiles of the devil.'

"SECONDLY. Besides habitual watching unto prayer,' every individual, if he be able, shall prostrate himself in mind and body, every Sunday and Wednesday, at five o'clock in the evening, to ask of God, in the name of Jesus Christ

1st. That every member of this society may be saved, with all his household, and belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

"2d. Every member shall add to the list, all the friends of God of his acquaintance, and pray for them.

"3d. Every member shall include in his prayer all the children of God, in general, upon all the earth, of whatever religion they may be, supplicating that they may be united more and more in Christ Jesus.

4th. Every member shall pray that the kingdom of Satan may be at length destroyed, and that the kingdom of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be fully and generally established among the innumerable Pagans, Turks, Jews, and nominal Christians.

"5th. Every member shall pray for schoolmasters, superiors, and pious magistrates, of whatever name or rank they may be.

"6th. For faithful pastors, and male and female laborers in the vineyard of the Lord Jesus, who, being themselves devoted to his service, desire, above all things, to bring many other souls to him.

"7th. For the youth, that God may preserve them from the seducing influence of bad example, and lead them to the knowledge of our gracious Redeemer.

"THIRDLY. Every Saturday evening all the members shall ask God to bless the preaching of his holy word on the morrow."

CHAPTER V.*

ANIMATED by desires of usefulness, habitually relying on the goodness of their heavenly Father, and stimulating each other to active exertion in the performance of every Christian duty, Oberlin and his beloved Madeleine passed sixteen years in a union cemented by the ties of the strongest affection. Their family now consisted of seven children, Frederic, Fidelité Caroline, Charles Conservé, Henry Gottfried, Louisa Charité, Henrietta, and Frederica Bienvenue,

*The editor regrets that she has not been able to procure any particular documents relative to Oberlin's proceedings, in the interval between the death of his wife, in 1784, and that of his son Frederic, in 1793. That his exertions for the good of his flock were, however, carried forward with unrelaxed energy, the improved appearance of the Ban de la Roche, and the extraordinary change effected amongst the young people here, during that period, bear ample testimony.

Since writing the above lines, the editor has had the gratification of receiving a corroboration of her statement, from Mr. Heisch. "It was during this period," he writes, "that I mostly visited the Ban de la Roche once a year for a few weeks. I found the different intellectual, religious, and moral engines always at work, with more or less energy; and practical alterations and improvements always going forwards."