Skirving and several others were immediately arrested. They were tried in the 1st month, 1794, and sentenced, as Muir and Palmer had previously been, to transportation. Their conduct throughout was worthy of their great and holy cause. Gerrald's defence was that of Freedom rather than his own. Forgetting himself, he spoke out manfully and earnestly for the poor, the oppressed, the overtaxed and starving millions of his countrymen. That some idea may be formed of this noble plea for Liberty, I give an extract from the concluding paragraphs:

in England. Gerrald and Margarot were sent up by Jing around, over which tossed the flaring flambeaux the London society. After a brief sitting, the Con- of the sheriff's train. Gerrald, who was already vention was dispersed by the public authorities. Its under arrest, as he descended, spoke aloud: “Behold sessions were opened and closed with prayer, and the funeral torches of Liberty!" the speeches of its members manifested the pious enthusiasm of the old Cameroneans and Parliament men of the times of Cromwell. Many of the dissenting clergy were present. William Skirving, the most determined of the band, had heen educated for the ministry, and was a sincerely religious man; while Joseph Gerrald-young, brilliant, and beauti. ful in his life and character-came up to join the puritans of Scotland in his sober garb, with his long hair falling over his shoulders, in primitive simplicity. When the Sheriff entered the hall to disperse the friends of liberty, Gerrald knelt in prayer. His remarkable words were taken down by a reporter on the spot. There is nothing in modern history to compare with this supplication, unless it be that of Sir Henry Vane, a kindred martyr, at the foot of the scaffold, just before his execution. Gerrald's language was as follows; and under the circumstances it is no marvel that his auditors ascribed to him superhuman power. It is the prayer of universal humanity, which God will yet hear and answer.

"O thou Governor of the Universe! we rejoice that, at all times and in all circumstances, we have liberty to approach Thy throne; and that we are assured, that no sacrifice is more acceptable to Thee, than that which is made for the relief of the oppressed. In this moment of trial and persecution, we pray that Thou wouldst be our defender, our counsellor, and our guide. O, be Thou a pillar of fire to us, as Thou wast to our fathers of old, to enlighten and direct us; and to our enemies a pillar of cloud, and darkness, and confusion.

"True religion, like all free governments, appeals to the understanding for its support, and not to the sword. All systems, whether civil or moral, can only be durable in proportion as they are founded on truth, and calculated to promote the GOOD OF MANKIND. This will account to us why governments suited to the great energies of man have always outlived the perishable things which despotism has erected. Yes! this will account to us why the stream of time, which is continually washing away the dissoluble fabrics of superstitions and impostures, passes, without injury, by the adamant of Christianity.

"Those who are versed in the history of their country, in the history of the human race, must know that rigorous state prosecutions have always preceded the era of convulsion; and this era, I fear, will be accelerated by the folly and madness of our rulers. If the people are discontented, the proper mode of quieting their discontent is, not by insti"Thou art thyself the great patron of liberty. tuting rigorous and sanguinary prosecutions, but by Thy service is perfect freedom. Prosper, we be- redressing their wrongs, and conciliating their affecseech Thee, every endeavor which we make to pro- tions. Courts of justice, indeed, may be called in mote Thy cause, for we consider the cause of truth, to the aid of ministerial vengeance; but if once the or every cause which tends to promote the happi-purity of their proceedings is suspected, they will ness of thy creatures, as Thy cause. cease to be objects of reverence to the nation; "O Thou merciful Father of mankind, enable us they will degenerate into empty and expensive for Thy name's sake to endure persecution with for-pageantry, and become the partial instruments of titude; and may we believe that all trials and tribu- vexatious oppression. Whatever may become of lations of life, which we endure, shall work together me, my principles will last for ever. Individuals for good of them that love Thee; and grant that may perish; but truth is eternal. The rude blasts the greater the evil, and the longer it may be con- of tyranny may blow from every quarter; but freetinued, the greater good, in thy holy and adorable dom is that hardy plant which will survive the temprovidence, may be produced therefrom. And this pest, and strike an everlasting root into the most we beg, not for our own merits, but through the unfavorable soil. merits of Him who is hereafter to judge the world in righteousness and mercy."

"Gentlemen, I am in your hands. About my life I feel not the slightest anxiety; if it would promote the cause, I would cheerfully make the sacrifice; for, if I perish on an occasion like the present, out of my ashes will arise a flame to consume the tyrants

He ceased. The sheriff, who had been temporarily overawed by the extraordinary scene, enforced his warrant, and the meeting was broken up. The delegates descended to the street in silence-Arthur's and oppressors of my country." seat and Salisbury crags glooming in the distance None of the Edinburgh reformers, as I understand and night-an immense and agitated multitude wait. I from my informant, lived to return to their native

VOICES OF THE TRUE HEARTED.

REESE LIBRA

LIBRARY

or 1571

UNIVE

land. They perished, one after another, under the, triumph of the oppressor is but for a season and
severe discipline of colonial servitude. The na ure that even in this world a lie cannot live for ever.
of this seemingly lenient punishment is not always Well and truly did George Fox say in his last days:
understood in this country. Judging from accounts "THE TRUTH IS ABOVE ALL!"
given of it by returning convicts, (not always per- Will it be said, however, that this tribute comes
haps reliable authority) it has few redeeming fea- too late? That it cannot solace those brave hearts,
tures, even as contrasted with the worst condition which, slowly broken by the long agony of colonial
of negro slavery. The convicts are brought to the servitude, are now cold in strange graves? It is,
barracks in long lines, and the farmers and sheep indeed, a striking illustration of the truth that he
owners from the country walk round among them who would benefit his fellow-man must "walk by
to select for purchase such as may suit their pur-faith;" sowing his seed in the morning, and in the
poses-examine them as a horse dealer would a evening withholding not his hand, knowing only this,
horse-compel them to run, hold up their legs and that in God's good time the harvest shall spring up
arms, strike them on their chest and back to prove and ripen, if not for himself yet for others, who, as
their soundness in breath and lungs and, if the scru- they bind the full sheaves and gather in the heavy
tiny is satisfactory, purchase them, and take them clusters, may perchance remember him with grati-
to their respective plantations and sheep-farms. In tude, and set up stones of memorial on the fields of
some of the remoter districts even the grave, the his toil and sacrifices. We may regret that in this
common refuge of the weary and suffering, is clothed | stage of the spirit's life, the sincere and self-denying
with unwonted attributes of terror, and repugnance. worker is not always permitted to partake of the
No prayer is breathed over it; none of the rites of fruits of his toil, or receive the honors of a bene-
reverence and religion make holy the convict's buri- factor. We hear his good evil-spoken of, and bis
al-the scream of the wild fowl and the wash of noblest sacrifices counted as nought,-we see him
waves on a strange coast, are his only requiem, not only assailed by the wicked, but discountenanced
Years have passed, and the generation which knew and shunned by the timidly good, followed on
the persecuted reformers has given place to another. his hot and dusty pathway by the execrations of the
And now, half a century after William Skirving, as hounding mob, and the contemptuous pity of the
he rose to receive his sentence, declared to his worldly-wise and prudent; and, when at last the
judges - YOU MAY CONDEMN US AS FELONS, BUT horizon of Time shuts down between him and our-
YOUR SENTENCE SHALL YET BE REVERSED BY THE selves, and the places which have known him know
PEOPLE"-the names of these men are once more him no more for ever, we are almost ready to say
familiar to British lips. The sentence has been re- with the regal voluptuary of old: "This also is
versed the prophecy of Skirving has become his-vanity and a great evil; for what hath a man of all
tory. On the 21st of the 8th month last, the corner his labor and of the vexation of his heart, wherein
stone of a monument to the memory of the Scottish he hath labored under the sun?" But is this the
martyrs, for which subscriptions had been received end? Has God's universe no wider limits than the
from such men as Lord Holland, the Dukes of Bed-circle of the blue wall which shuts in our nestling-
ford and Norfolk, and the Earls of Essex and Leices-
ter-was laid with imposing ceremonies, in the
beautiful burial-place of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, by
the veteran reformer and tribune of the people,
Joseph Hume, M. P. After delivering an appropri-
ate address, the aged Radical closed the impressive
scene by reading the soul-inspiring prayer of Joseph
Gerrald. At the banquet which afterwards took
place, and which was presided over by John Dunlop,
Esq., addresses were made by the President, and
Dr. Ritchie, well known to American abolitionists
for their zeal in the cause of the slave, and by Wil-onward and is lost to our sight, but under its new
liam Skirving of Kirkaldy, son of the martyr. The
Complete Suffrage Association of Edinburgh, to the
number of five hundred, walked in procession to
Calton Hill, and in the open air proclaimed unmo-
lested the very principles for which the martyrs of
the past century had suffered.

The account of this tribute to the memory of departed worth, cannot fail to awaken in generous hearts emotions of gratitude towards Him who has thus signally vindicated His truth, showing that the

place? Has Life's infancy only been provided for ;
and beyond this poor nursery-chamber of Time is
there no playground for the soul's youth, no broad
fields for its manhood?-Perchance could we but
lift the curtains of the narrow pin-fold wherein we
dwell, we might see that our poor friend and bro.
|ther whose fate we have thus deplored, has by no
means lost the reward of his labors, but that in new
fields of duty he is cheered even by the tardy recog-
tion of the value of his services in the old. The
continuity of life is never broken; the river flows

horizon it carries the same waters which it gather-
ed under ours; and its unseen valleys are made glad
by the offerings which are borne down to them from
the Past, flowers, perchance, the germs of which its
own waves had planted on the banks of Time.—
Who shall say that the mournful and repentant love
with which the benefactors of our race are at length
regarded, may not be to them in their new condi-
tion of being, sweet and grateful as the perfume of
long forgotten flowers; or that our harvest hymns

of rejoicing may not reach the ears of those who in weakness and suffering scattered the seeds of blessing?

between a rational philanthropy with its adaptation of means to ends, and that spiritual knight-errantry which undertakes the championship of every novel project of reform, scouring the world in search of distressed schemes held in durance by common sense, and vagaries happily spell-bound by ridicule. He must learn that, although the most needful truth may be unpopular, it does not follow that unpopularity is a proof of the truth of his doctrines or the expediency of his measures. He must have the liberality to admit that it is, barely possible for the public, on some points, to be right and himself wrong; and that the blessing invoked upon those who suffer for righteousness, is not available to such as court persecution, and invite contempt. For folly has its martyrs as well as wisdom; and he who has nothing better to show of himself than the scars and bruises which the popular foot has left upon him, is not even sure of winning the honors of martyrdom as some compensation for the loss of dignity and self-respect involved in the exhibition of its pains. To the reformer, in an especial manner, comes home the truth that whoso ruleth his own spirit is greater than him who taketh a city. Patience, hope, charity, watchfulness unto prayer, how needful are all these to his success! Without them, he is in danger of ingloriously giving up his contest with error and prejudice at the first repulse; or, with that spiteful philanthropy which we sometimes witness, taking a sick world by the nose, like a spoiled child, and endeavoring to force down its throat the long rejected nostrums prepared for its relief.

The history of the Edinburgh reformers is no new one; it is that of all who seek to benefit their age by rebuking its popular crimes and exposing its cherished errors. The truths which they told were not believed, and for that very reason were the more needed, for it is evermore the case that the right word, when first uttered, is an unpopular and denied one. Hence he who undertakes to tread the thorny pathway of Reform; who, smitten with the love of truth and justice, or indignant in view of wrong, and insolent oppression, is rashly inclined to throw himself at once into that great conflict, which the Persian seer not untruly represented as a war between light and darkness, would do well to count the cost in the outset. If he can live for Truth alone, and, cut off from the general sympathy, regard her service as its own exceeding great reward;" if he can bear to be counted a fanatic and crazy visionary; if in all good nature he is ready to receive from the very objects of his solicitude, abuse and obloquy, in return for disinterested and self-sacrificing efforts for their welfare; if with his purest motives misunderstood, and his best actions perverted and distorted into crimes, he can still hold on his way, and patiently abide the hour when the whirlgig of time shall bring about its revenges;" if on the whole, he is prepared to be looked upon as a sort of moral outlaw or social heretic, under good society's interdict of food and fire; and if he is well assured that he can through all this preserve his cheerfulness, and What then-Shall we, in view of these things faith in man, let him gird up his loins and go for- call back young, generous spirits, just entering upon ward in God's name. He is fitted for his vocation; the perilous pathway? God forbid!-Welcome, he has watched all night by his armor. Whatever thrice welcome, rather. Let them go forward, not his trial may be, he is prepared; he may even be unwarned of the dangers, nor unreminded of the happily disappointed in respect to it; flowers of un-pleasures which belong to the service of humanity. expected refreshing may overhang the hedges of his Great is the consciousness of right. Sweet is the straight and narrow way; but it remains to be true answer of a good conscience. He, who pays his that he who serves his contemporaraies in faithful-whole-hearted homage to Truth and Duty-who ness and sincerity must expect no wages from their gratitude. For, as has been well said, there is after all but one way of doing the world good, and unhappily that way the world does not like, for it consists in telling it the very thing which it does not wish to hear.

Unhappily in the case of the reformer, his most dangerous foes are those of his own household. True, the world's garden has become a desert, and needs renovation, but, is his own little nook weedless? Sin abounds without, but is his own heart pure? While smiting down the giants and dragons which beset the outward world, are there no evil guests sitting by his own hearth-stone? Ambition, envy, self-righteousness, impatience, dogmatism, and pride of opinion, stand at his doorway, ready to enter, whenever he leaves it unguarded. Then too, there is no small danger of failing to discriminate

swears his life long fealty on their altars, and rises up a Nazarite consecrated to their holy service,-is not without his solace and enjoyment, when, to the eyes of others, he seems the most lonely and miserable. He breathes an atmosphere which the multitude know not of a serene heaven which they cannot discern rests over bim, glorious in its purity and stillness." Nor is he altogether without kindly human sympathies. All generous and earnest hearts which are brought in contact with his own beat evenly with it. All that is good and truthful and lovely in man, whenever and wherever it truly recognizes him, must sooner or later acknowledge his claim to love and reverence. His faith overcomes all things. The future unrolls itself before him, with its waving harvest-fields springing up from the seed he is scattering; and he looks forward to the close of life with the calm confidence of one who

feels that he has not lived idle and useless; but, with | He saw once more his dark eyed-queen
hopeful heart and strong arm has labored with God
and nature for the Best.

And not in vain. In the economy of God, no effort however small, put forth for the right cause, fails of its effect. No voice, however feeble, lifted up for Truth, ever dies amidst the confused noises of Time. Through discords of Sin and Sorrow, Pain, and Wrong, it rises a deathless melody, whose notes of wailing are hereafter to be changed to those of triumph, as they blend with the Great Harmony of a reconciled universe. The language of a transatlantic reformer, to his friends, is then as true as it is hopeful and cheering: Triumph is certain. We have espoused no losing cause. In the body we may not join our shout with the victors-but in spirit we may even now. There is but an interval of time between us and the success at which we aim. In all other respects the links of the chain are complete. Identifying ourselves with immortal and immutable principles, we share both their immortality and immutability. The vow which unites us with truth makes futurity present with us. Our being resolves itself into an everlasting now. It is not so correct to say that we shall be victorious, as that we are so. When we will in unison with the Supreme Mind, the characteristics of his will become, in some sort, those of ours. What he has willed is virtually done. It may take ages to unfold itself, but the germ of its whole history is wrapped up in his determination. When we make his will ours, which we do when we aim at truth, that upon which we are resolved is done-decided-born. Life is in it. It is-and the future is but the development of its being. Ours, therefore, is a perpetual triumph. Our deeds are all of them component elements of

success."'*

THE SLAVE'S DREAM.

BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

Beside the ungathered rice he lay,
His sickle in his hand;

His breast was bare, his matted hair

Was buried in the sand.

Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep,
He saw his native land.

Wide through the landscape of his dreams
The lordly Niger flowed;

Beneath the palm-trees on the plain

Once more a king he strode; And heard the tinkling caravans Descend the mountain road.

* Mial's Essays; Non Conformist, Vol. IV.

Among her children stand;

They clasped his neck, they kissed his cheeks,
They held him by the hand!-
A tear burst from the sleeper's lids
And fell into the sand.

And then at furious speed he rode
Along the Niger's bank;

His bridle-reins were golden chains,
And, with a martial clank,

At each leap he could feel his scabbard of steel
Smiting his stallion's flank.

Before him, like a blood-red flag,
The bright flamingoes flew;
From morn till night he followed their flight,
O'er plains where the tamarind grew,
Till he saw the roofs of Caffre huts,
And the ocean rose to view.

At night he heard the lion roar,
And the hyæna scream,

And the river-horse, as he crushed the reeds
Beside some hidden stream;

And it passed, like a glorious roll of drums,
Through the triumph of his dream.

The forests, with their myriad tongues,
Shouted of liberty;

And the blast of the desert cried aloud,
With a voice so wild and free,
That he started in his sleep and smiled
At their tempestuous glee.

He did not feel the driver's whip,

Nor the burning heat of day;
For death had illumined the land of sleep,

And his lifeless body lay

A worn-out fetter, that the soul

Had broken and thrown away!

MISSIONARY HYMN, FOR THE SOUTH.

Spread far the gospel tidings!

Call ocean, earth, and air,

To aid your ceaseless labor

To spread them everywhere,
Save in the bondman's cabin-
Let them not enter there!

Send Bibles to the heathen!

On ev'ry distant shore,
From light that's beaming o'er us,
Let streams increasing pour;—
But keep it from the millions,
Down-trodden at our door!