Christian Work. STEPHANO, THE SARDINIAN MINSTREL. tion, he found that he had become the guest of-a Protestant! His curiosity now could fully be FAVALE is a Sardinian village, twenty satisfied. Much to his surprise he miles from Genoa. The inhabitants found that there was nothing absurd, are, with only a few exceptions, a poor people. During the summer their or wicked, or blasphemous, in all the woman said to him. On the other grassy hills yield just enough to keep hand, she put questions to him which them and their cattle living from one never were put to him before, that day to another. In winter there come hard days. One or two cotton and went home to his heart, and set him linen factories may employ a handful seriously thinking about the salvation of his soul. The thought occurred to of young people, but the greater part him that God perhaps had led him to of the lads have nothing to do. They this place to make him discover a may sit down in their parents' cottages and play the flute or the fiddle, their great treasure. At his request he was introduced to the ministers of the town. faithful companions during the long summer days, when feeding their They gladly gave him any information flocks on the tops of the hills; but they deemed desirable for him. music, however melodious, soon be- Bible was given to him, and some comes an annoyance, when the stomach tracts, and Stephano began searching is empty and the hearth cold. Had the Scriptures. With every page, the they better not walk out, flute or fiddle light shone clearer and clearer upon in hand, into the country and towns, to try to earn a few soldi by playing a mountain tune to the farmer and the citizen? Well, so they do. him. A "I have found the Bible!" he wrote to his parents. "I have found the word of God. Oh, you must read it! I will bring it home, and when we are together again, we must read it every day." One of these wandering Sardinian minstrels was young Stephano, a lad of seventeen, son of the respectable But this intelligence fell like a thunbut poor operative Cereghini. One day he took leave of his parents and derpeal into the parental house at Favale. Horror-struck, the father relatives, and, with his fiddle under his arm, wandered away to the thriv- communicated to the priests the great ing districts of Piedmont. He went calamity the devil had brought upon as far as Pignerol, at the entrance of his house, by decoying his son into the lions' den, and poisoning his soul by the Waldensian valleys. He learnt that they were inhabited by heretics, the contents of the conjuring book. by Protestants! Was it possible! The whole C. family, from the old He never knew that these were living who was learning his A B C behind the grandfather down to the little boy so near to his own country. big stove, three times a day offered up curiosity began to be excited. a pater noster for poor Stephano's soul. His The next day he took his fiddle and walked off to La Tour. He arrived at a cottage. A kind-looking woman was standing in the doorway. Stephano tuned his fiddle, and soon the street of La Tour echoed his melodious voice, accompanied by the wellplayed instrument. The woman appeared delighted, and so were the people that assembled round the young minstrel. She invited him to step in and partake of a meal. Nothing could be more welcome to Stephano. He entered the cheerful-looking parlour, and to his horror? no, to his satisfac Who can describe our young minstrel's astonishment when, on his return home, he found he was looked upon as a lunatic, and shunned by everybody as if he were carrying the plague in his pocket? He perceived that silence for the present was wisdom. He showed his friends by his conduct that he was an atheist. neither a madman nor Then gradually he began telling them some stories from the Bible. They were exceedingly pleased with them. They wondered where he got all those Crown Him Lord of All.-Patience, Teachers! 175 not help. They fled to a lofty tree, are we willing to obey, and whom do but still the whelming waves rose we wish to be our King?" The higher. At first they washed over children answered, "Jesus Christ!" their feet-then came up to their "Then can you put a crown of gold on ankles and then to their knees-still His head? How can you crown the rising higher and higher. Now the Lord Jesus Christ?" "Crown Him water has reached their breast; now with our hearts." "Yes, dear chilnow-they gasp for breath'-the children, crown Him with your heart's dren uttered an involuntary shudder, love, for He well deserves it all. I as if themselves struggling with the hope He is your Lord. But is He water ('Ah! aha!")—they, too, were Lord of all?" "No, sir!" "Oh, then, swept away!' continued the teacher. ask your friends to crown Him. Let * * * 'Dear children, we, like us pray that every one we know may them, are sinners; we, like them, must crown our blessed Jesus with their be swept away, if we do not seek the hearts-Crown Him Lord of all.'" love of Jesus. Jesus can forgive! Jesus can save! Jesus is our Ark!' Not the youngest child in all that school will ever forget the story of the Deluge, and its lesson." CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL. PATIENCE, TEACHERS! HENRY OBOOKIAH was an interesting Indian youth, who had been converted to Christianity. When his teacher (Mr. D.) was making him speak words of two syllables, the little boy could A YOUNG man was asked to explain never pronounce the letter r, but to a class of children the lines, "Crown always gave it the liquid sound; a Him Lord of all." So he took the room he would call a loom, and a race thought to pieces. The crown, what a lace. At every different reading an the act of crowning means, the person attempt was made to correct the deto be crowned, the people that are to fects. Mr. D used to pronounce crown him. When he reached the the letter, and then urge him to imiclass he began by Probing thus:tate by saying, "Try, Obookiah, try. "Have you ever seen a crown?" It is very easy." This was often "What was it made of?" "Who repeated; and the little pupil was wears a crown?" "What is the use of sometimes observed to turn his face it?" This introduced, "Who crowned away and smile. It was not long, Queen Victoria ?" "What did they however, before the difficulty was mean by crowning her?" "Wanted overcome, and the unaccountable smile her to be Queen." "Yes, they meant forgotten. Some months after, when that they would like her to be Queen, Obookiah could speak a little English, and that they were willing to obey he and his teacher were spending a her laws." "I was travelling through pleasant evening together. Obookiah the country that day, and saw in was describing the manner in which every town and village flags and ban- his countrymen drank from a spring, ners, and flowers, and bands of music, when out on their hunting excursions. and long tables spread to feast the The drinking-cup was formed by holdSunday school children. Every face ing the hands together in a peculiar looked glad. Was it only the grand way. The teacher tried to imitate it, people that crowned the Queen that but he could do nothing but spill the day?" Every child replied, "No; the water in lifting it to his lips. ReSunday school children too!" "Do peated failure made him quite disyou mean that the Sunday school chil- couraged. Obookiah, who was not a dren put a crown of gold upon the little amused, looked up to him with a Queen with their hands?" "No, sir." very expressive countenance, and said, "Then how did they crown her?" "Try, Mr. D—, try. It is very "Crowned her with their hearts!" easy!" If we wish to be patient in This introduced, "When we say, teaching, we must learn to sympathise 'Crown Him Lord of all,' whose laws with our scholars. Christian Work. STEPHANO, THE SARDINIAN MINSTREL. tion, he found that he had become the guest of a Protestant! His curiosity now could fully be satisfied. Much to his surprise he found that there was nothing absurd, or wicked, or blasphemous, in all the woman said to him. On the other FAVALE is a Sardinian village, twenty miles from Genoa. The inhabitants are, with only a few exceptions, a poor people. During the summer their grassy hills yield just enough to keep them and their cattle living from one hand, she put questions to him which day to another. In winter there come never were put to him before, that hard days. One or two cotton and went home to his heart, and set him linen factories may employ a handful seriously thinking about the salvation of young people, but the greater part of his soul. The thought occurred to of the lads have nothing to do. They him that God perhaps had led him to may sit down in their parents' cottages this place to make him discover a and play the flute or the fiddle, their great treasure. At his request he was faithful companions during the long introduced to the ministers of the town. summer days, when feeding their They gladly gave him any information flocks on the tops of the hills; but they deemed desirable for him. music, however melodious, soon be- Bible was given to him, and some comes an annoyance, when the stomach tracts, and Stephano began searching is empty and the hearth cold. Had the Scriptures. With every page, the they better not walk out, flute or fiddle light shone clearer and clearer upon in hand, into the country and towns, to try to earn a few soldi by playing a mountain tune to the farmer and the citizen? Well, so they do. him. A "I have found the Bible!" he wrote to his parents. "I have found the word of God. Oh, you must read it! One of these wandering Sardinian I will bring it home, and when we are minstrels was young Stephano, a lad together again, we must read it every of seventeen, son of the respectable day." but poor operative Cereghini. One But this intelligence fell like a thunday he took leave of his parents and derpeal into the parental house at relatives, and, with his fiddle under Favale. Horror-struck, the father his arm, wandered away to the thriv- communicated to the priests the great ing districts of Piedmont. He went calamity the devil had brought upon as far as Pignerol, at the entrance of his house, by decoying his son into the the Waldensian valleys. He learnt lions' den, and poisoning his soul by that they were inhabited by heretics, the contents of the conjuring book. by Protestants! Was it possible! The whole C. family, from the old He never knew that these were living grandfather down to the little boy so near to his own country. His curiosity began to be excited. who was learning his A B C behind the big stove, three times a day offered up a pater noster for poor Stephano's soul." The next day he took his fiddle and walked off to La Tour. He arrived at Who can describe our young mina cottage. A kind-looking woman strel's astonishment when, on his was standing in the doorway. Ste- return home, he found he was looked phano tuned his fiddle, and soon the upon as a lunatic, and shunned by street of La Tour echoed his melo- everybody as if he were carrying the dious voice, accompanied by the well-plague in his pocket? played instrument. The woman ap- He perceived that silence for the peared delighted, and so were the present was wisdom. people that assembled round the young friends by his conduct that he was He showed his minstrel. She invited him to step in neither a madman nor and partake of a meal. Nothing could Then gradually he began telling them an atheist. be more welcome to Stephano. He some stories from the Bible. They entered the cheerful-looking parlour, were exceedingly pleased with them. and to his horror? no, to his satisfac- They wondered where he got all those General Baptist Incidents. 177 nice tales about our "good Lord and This was a glorious victory of light his saints." Stephano told them they over the darkness of superstition and were written in a book which some- the arrogance of priestcraft. The body had given him in Piedmont, and, Bible reading now was continued not if they desired it, he would be happy merely in secrèt, but with open doors. to read a page or two to them. An The whole numerous connection of the hour was appointed that evening, and Cereghini became Stephano's regular thus the first Scripture reading took audience. The more the blessed Gosplace at Favale. The effect of it was pel was read and discussed, the more such, that the next meeting was the idolatry and apostacy of the Roeagerly looked for. Thus the reading mish Church became unquestionable. of the Bible became a regular habit in Disgusted with the frivolity and abthe cottage of his father Cereghini. surdity of the Roman worship, the Nor was Stephano's audience limited little flock longed for a regular worto the number of his parents, brothers, ship of their own, based on the pure and sisters. From time to time an principles of the Gospel. It was known uncle, and an aunt, and a cousin, to that there was a Waldensian evanwhom the secret was communicated in gelist at Genoa, who conducted service confidence, would steal into the cot- according to the Protestant system. tage in the dark of the evening. A He gladly accepted the invitation to little assembly of hungry souls thus favour the Favale Christians with a gathered round the Bread of Life, and the effect which this heavenly food produced in them was such, that their hearts became filled with peace and joy in God their Saviour. pastoral visit. In concert with his assistant evangelist, he arranged for a regular service every month. Meanwhile, Stephano was sent to La Tour, to be trained at the Waldensian colBut, however cautiously the meet-lege. After having spent there three ings were kept in secret, the news years, he returned as a teacher, with soon leaked out. The priests sum-licence to keep a school, and to preach moned the father and the other male the Gospel as an assistant evangelist. members of the secret conventicle to Means were obtained for building a their tribunal, and ordered them im-small chapel, a school, and a teacher's mediately to stop those "scandalous house. The connection of the Ceregproceedings," and to give up the cursed heretical book called the Bible, to be burnt to ashes. Neither the one nor the other order was complied with. The meetings were continued, and the Bible read as usual. The priests then had recourse to the strong arm of the police, and two or three masters of families were put into prison. But here they spoiled their own cause. The priests were compelled immediately to give up their prey, after an imprisonment of two months. hinis, numbering about forty communicants, became an organised Protestant church, and while young and old every Sunday hear the Gospel from the lips of their beloved and able teacher, Stephano, the evangelists of Genoa cheer them at least every month with a visit, to give them pastoral counsel, to administer the Lord's Supper. Thus the Lord has in his wonderful providence gathered to himself a flock in that hidden corner of the world. General Baptist Incidents. HOW THE BARTON PREACHERS They quickly discovered that the BECAME BAPTISTS. THE Barton preachers had early conceived some doubts on the subject of baptism, which led them to appeal to their infallible directory. But their prejudices were not easily removed. scripture mode of baptism was immersion, and resolved to practise it. For this purpose a large tub was placed in their meeting-house, in which the ministers dipped the infants. This custom they seem to have maintained for twelve years. At length they by reading and studying the word of were compelled to acknowledge that God.* the New Testament no more au- They were now Baptists in sentithorized the baptism of infants than it ment; but in reducing their creed to did sprinkling. They had flattered practice a considerable difficulty octhemselves that the example of the curred. None of their ministers had blessed Saviour (Mark x. 16) gave been baptized by immersion on a prosome countenance to their practice, fession of faith, and, therefore, accordbut a more impartial examination con- ing to their new views, they were all vinced them that there was not the in an unbaptized state, and unqualified least allusion to baptism in the whole to administer the ordinance to others. transaction. They discovered that If they had any acquaintance at that "Jesus himself baptized not," but time with other Baptists, either "took children in his arms, put his General or Particular, it was very hands on them, and blessed them." slight, and they felt no inclination to Determined to "follow the Lamb solicit their assistance. Indeed, had whithersoever he went," they removed they applied to any of the regular their vessels for immersion, and brought ministers of that day, when discipline their infants, in the time of public ser- was more rigorously exercised than at vice, to the minister, who, taking them present, it is probable that, considerin his arms, pronounced an affectionate ing their obscure state and imperfect benediction on them, using on this organization, they would have been occasion the words in which Aaron refused. After much consideration, and his sons were instructed to bless they had recourse to the expedient the children of Israel-"The Lord usual in such cases. It was agreed bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." (Num. vi. 22-27.) Suitable admonitions to the parents, and earnest and affectionate prayer for them and their offspring, concluded the solemn and interesting transaction. We have no account how long this practice continued, but as it was no ways inconsistent with the principles of believers' baptism, it was probably retained for some time after they adopted that practice. In proportion as the grounds of infant sprinkling vanished, the arguments for believers' baptism appeared the more conclusive. They found that the New Testament not only required repentance and faith, as indispensable prerequisites to baptism, but also made it the duty of every one who professed to repent and believe to be baptized. Yielding, therefore, to the authority of Scripture and the dictates of conscience, they determined, after serious examination for several years, to obey the command of their Saviour, and personally to devote themselves to his service, in this sacred ordinance. They were led to this conclusion neither by reading the writings of the advocates of believer's baptism, nor by conversation with Baptists, but simply This that Mr. Donisthorpe should first bap- The adoption of believers' baptism involved these young professors in perplexities of a different nature. As they were all independents, and claimed the privilege of thinking and acting for themselves, it was not to be expected that all would, at one time, arrive at the same conclusion. Several, in fact, who were members of their society and sat down with them at the Lord's table, disapproved the opinion of the majority, and continued unbaptized. This did not not, however, exclude them from communion; but they were permitted still to enjoy all their former privileges. It does not indeed appear that, for some time, baptism was made a term of communion, or considered as giving a title to the fellowship of the church. Mr. Josiah Thompson observes, "In 1735 they adopted the sentiments of the Baptists, both with respect to the subject and the mode of baptism, This change of sentiment arose neither from reading any books on the subject, nor from conversation with any persons of that persuasion, but merely from persuaded that so had the Lord commanded.” searching the Scriptures, and from thence being |