and punishments. It was said they would hang him in a chimney, and smoke him with straw of peas; or cut off his ears, and brand the gallows and wheel on his forehead, and have him conveyed in this condition to Fort Spielbergh, or else at once commit him to the flames without further ceremony. Occasionally one would rise from his chair and hold his clenched fist in his face. Being once obliged to withdraw, the youngest counsellor by the name of Bezold, followed him, and whispered to him behind the door, "Fear nothing; you have committed no crime; they only mean to terrify you!" The declaration of this man, from whom he had received divers favours, tended much to his comfort; and at the next ensuing trial he was enabled to answer every question proposed to him with perfect freedom. He declared he had emigrated from Bohemia merely for conscience's sake; that it was against his conscience to embrace the Catholic religion, and that he would adhere to his opinions, happen to him what would. Large promises were also made him, but they took as little effect as the threats.

Shortly after this event, he was called before the commandant of the castle, whose character had invariably been described to him as that of a very choleric man; he was therefore not a little afraid to appear in his presence, and prayed all the way a going there, that our Saviour would support him. Having entered the room where the commandant and the Jesuit were, the former asked him several times-" Are you that Gilek from Lubny?" and upon every question he regarded him with a look of surprise. After some time he, in a solemn manner, put this question three times to him, in import the same every time, but always with a different addition, viz. "Jan Gilek, will you persevere in your faith unto death, if even you should be condemned to perpetual imprisonment, to the gallows, or to the stake?" Every time Gilek replied "Yes." The commandant turned to the Jesuit and said,Further I know not what to do with the prisoner, he is right in speaking as he thinks; some may readily say that they will turn Catholics, and after all do it not."-With that he ordered the prisoner away, and afterwards sent him a small present by way of charity.

One morning, about Christmas, the jailor came to Gilek with the notice, that he should hold himself in readiness, as he would be excommunicated that day. Accordingly, about 8 o'clock, he was led into the deanery: on the one side were seated the magistrates, on the other the ecclesiastics; him they placed in the middle of the hall; all eyes were rivetted on him. The Jesuit then rose and declared, that as this man had slighted every exhortation, and obstinately persisted in his heresy; he on that account should now be publicly excommunicated from the "only saving" Catholic church; should be declared to have forfeited every claim to the merits and intercession of the saints, without the pos

sibility of a readmission for ever, and to be consigned over to hell and Satan to all eternity.-Here Gilek commended himself, with body, soul, and spirit, to his merciful Saviour and only Judge: all that were present gazed at him, but his courage remained undaunted and unshaken. The whole transaction, after all, appears to have been a mere farce; for after the priests had dismissed the assembly, they came to him and exhorted him in kind. words only to make a confession; they would not betray him, if even he had committed murder, and would reinstate him into every former favour; but he replied, with a smile, that they might leave the sentence as it had been promulgated, since he had no reason to dread it. Orders were then given to reconduct him back to prison, and all were forbidden to speak with him, for that were "a sin unto death!"

Immediately on the following day, he was again called before the council, in order to hear the imperial sentence read to him, which had arrived from Prague. He first had to kiss the imperial seal, and then the instrument was opened and read to him. The purport of it was, that he should live two years in chains and fetters, do public labour in the city, and for the rest await his final sentence. He was then immediately put to cutting open the ice in a cistern; but, from extreme debility, could scarcely lift the axe. Many people stood still to look at him; some railed at him; others laughed him to scorn; still, there were also those not wanting who had pity on him: the Jesuit observing the latter, ordered him to be put up for half a day. Gilek complained of this treatment, as being contrary to the sentence; the jailor, however, gave him to understand that, on the whole, the Jesuit was not satisfied with the sentence, and that he was gone to Prague to procure another: however it very soon became apparent that his endeavours, as to the main point, proved ineffectual; so far only he prevailed, that Gilek was chained by the left hand to the right foot.

Thus encumbered, he cleaned the streets, and sometimes the court-yards of the citizens, when he had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with many a sympathizing heart. About the middle of August, 1735, he was put as a journeyman to a master mason, who treated him very contemptuously. One morning, while at work as usual, the alarm bells began to sound. The master mason looked around, and beheld a thick volume of smoke arising from that part of the town where he lived: of course all the hands went off. There was something in Gilek's mind. which said, "To-day you will come free!" But how this should be effected he could not conceive. He aided people in removing their effects wherever he was requested to do it. Among the rest he came to the house of an old benefactress who lay sick, and whose two daughters were engaged in securing her person from the fire: he assisted them, and they succeeded in bringing

the old mother through the crowd into a place of safety, outside of the city.

On his return to town, an acquaintance besought him to lead his cow out of the city, to three barns which stood close together; he did so, and prayed the Lord fervently to let him know what he should further do. He felt as though he should lie down behind one of these barns, and provided nobody came in quest of him till evening, then think of effecting his escape. He now tore the rags which he had tied around his feet, made a kind of a rope of them, and with it tied the cow to a tree: then he looked for a place where to lie down. Several of those that passed by, saw him, and one of them reproached him for not assisting at the fire; he answerd, that he was tired of working, and was just resting himself a little. When evening came on, and it was dark, he started off, and went across the fields towards the woods. He soon found that he could not proceed far with the chain and the fetters on; he therefore took two stones, knocked them off with them, and buried them in the ground. Tears of joy and gratitude rolled down his cheeks, at thus feeling himself at perfect liberty; and while blessing and praising the Lord who had helped him, he continued to travel all night.

By degrees, his progress was much retarded by weakness and hunger, and he knew not how or where he should procure any nourishment. Towards break of day, he with difficulty reached a small tavern in the woods, where he called for beer and bread. The landlord and his wife looked at him with astonishment, and it was natural for them to suspect a person who came early in the morning, without a coat and shoes, with long hair and beard. They stood at the door, as if with the intention to watch him, and began to question him whence he came and whither he was going. Their stern language confounded him; but after having sent a secret aspiration to his Lord and Master, he recovered himself, and asked them in turn, as one in full surprise, "Do you know nothing of the dreadful event that happened yesterday; should you, indeed, be the only people who have not yet been apprised of it ???

Now their attention was diverted from him to another object: with eager expectation they asked him what he meant; they knew of nothing. He then, while he was enjoying his breakfast, related to them the whole story about the great fire at Leutomischel, and concluded by saying, "I am just come from there, and now I am going home again." The people then suffered him to pass unmolested, and he continued his journey through the forest.

It was two days after that, before he again ventured into a cultivated country, in order to procure a little bread; but directly afterwards turned off towards the mountains again. By the help of two sticks he reached the summit about midnight; found

there a spring, at which he refreshed himself, and fell into a sound sleep. After the lapse of some time, he thought some person awakened him he jumped up; heard that something was approaching towards him out of the thicket, and presently saw two wolves facing him. At this sight, a death-like horror thrilled through his veins, and he trembled over his whole body. Having recovered himself a little, he struck the ground with both his sticks, and began to halloo as loud as he could. The wolves seemed to grow more fierce, and were ready to attack him; but it was as though they had been tied down by their hind legs; they did not approach one step nearer to him. In the mean time he stood still, never stirring, and prayed to God that he would mercifully prevent his perishing in so miserable a manner. All of a sudden, the wolves turned round and ran off. Encouraged by this new proof of the guardian care of Divine Providence over him, he crossed the boundary line of Bohemia, and on the sixth day after he had set out upon his journey, once more safely arrived at Gerlachsheim, where he was received with universal joy.

Meanwhile, several Bohemian Princes had complained to the Saxon government of the continued emigrations from their country; and the latter, in consequence, interdicted the harbouring of fresh emigrants. As those who had arrived after the prohibition had been published were in danger of being delivered back again, they therefore moved, with their minister, to Berlin, and Rixdorf, and the other Bohemians at Gerlachsheim followed them some time after.

The Rev. M. Schulz, while yet at Gerlachsheim, had opened a friendly intercourse with the brethren at Herrnhuth, and had also established such regulations among his Bohemians, (who for the most part were descendants from the ancient church of the Brethren) as he had found at Herrnhuth. This intercourse, and these regulations, were continued at the new settlements, and in process of time, the aforementioned Bohemians, from Gerlachsheim, were fully embodied with the renewed church of the Brethren. (See Cranz's Modern History of the Brethren, p. 43, 44, 77, 208.)

Gilek was of course one of those who were instrumental in forming the new settlement, and he was shortly after appointed to be an elder at the same. He was faithful in the discharge of his duties, and his labours were attended by the divine blessing. The consequences ensuing from the sufferings he had endured, at times occasioned him a great deal of pain, particularly towards the close of his life; and this constant confessor of the truth; this faithful servant of God; ascribed the glory of all that he had suffered and effected, solely to his Lord and Master, without desiring to claim the least share of it for himself. His conversation was that of an humble, yet joyful and grateful Christian, who as a sinner had obtained mercy; and

his last confession was, that he built his hope of eternal life on nothing short of the merits of Jesus Christ. In this faith he fell asleep in the year 1780, at Berlin, aged 73 years and 5 months.

On sending Missionaries to the Slaves in the United States. Though we do not exactly fall in with all the views of our worthy correspondent, we consider the main object of his communication of such immense importance, and many of his suggestions so well calculated to excite the public attention, that we feel it a solemn duty to lay it before our readers, earnestly requesting their serious attention to the means of preventing "prognosticated revolutions."

The materials of Solomon's temple consisted of a great variety -from metal requiring reverberated heat to bring it to fusion, down to such metallic substances as fused in boiling water; from the cedar, and other durable timber, down to the hyssop, or the lily of the valley. A variety of artists, cach in his line, accomplished the structure, and if one had been wanting, defect would have appeared. The spiritual temple of the Lord, at least on our globe, is erecting in our time, by the Lord Jesus Christ and his Spirit, and the materials prepared by the Architect are individuals, prepared each to become a temple in miniature. These materials, when they are all polished and arranged according to the nature of each, will, at no great distance of time, form one grand whole, firmly put together without the stroke of a hammer. But while the materials are in a preparatory state, the Architect is condescendingly employing mortal artists, to gather in the different materials; and in our days we exult, while we behold the Spirit of God filling these artists with wisdom and willingness to assist in the rearing of the grand whole, and spreading themselves on the surface of the globe, which the Son of God honoured by his visible presence, and purified by his precious blood.

But are not the artists sent abroad into Asia and Africa, to north and south, to exert themselves only to find materials for the temple which will make a great show; forgetting those materials which are abundantly to be found in our hemisphere, and which admit of the finest polish to ornament the temple? If we take a view of the millions of slaves in our country-has any attempt been made, with the free-will-offerings of Christians, to find out the means how, and in what manner, missionaries to them may succeed?

It is known, that several religious persuasions have exerted themselves in their sphere, to bring them to Christian knowledge and experience, by which it is made evident, that as slaves, they may be made happy here, and as such, may march with confidence in the Lord, and fidelity to their masters, towards Canaan. But no general attempt to make it a principal object of mission

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