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THE WESLEYAN CENTENARY HALL.

These warehouses contain numerous boxes, chests, and packing-cases, in which the books, clothes, implements, and other out-fittings of the missionaries are sent; and connected with them is the necessary commercial machinery for maintaining intercourse, by shipping, with all the foreign stations of the society.

Adjoining the warehouses is a room which, when the arrangements of the new building are thoroughly brought into working order, will be a very interesting one; viz., the out-fitting room. In this room will ultimately be deposited (and are so now to a partial extent) all the out-fittings which the society is accustomed to give a missionary when about to proceed to foreign parts. On shelves are ranged religious books of various kinds, as well as others which would be valuable to a missionary; while in drawers are deposited the materials for making clothing, as well as many other articles, to be used at such times and in such quantity as may be required. Returning from the warehouses and outfittingroom back to the quadrangle, we proceed to the upper apartments of the new building, or "missionhouse." A circular or rather semi-circular staircase, of very elegant construction, leads up to the top of the building; having, on the level of each floor, a gallery or landing-place, from which the doors of the several apartments open. These apartments are employed for various purposes of the society, some as offices, others as the private apartments of the general secretaries (the Revds. W. Bunting, W. Alder, J. Beecham, and E. Hoole), to whom is principally entrusted the ecclesiastical superintendence of the missions. The liberality of the Centenary Fund Committee has been shown in the general plan and arrangement of these portions of the building.

The apartments in the front portion of the buildings, as was before observed, are alterations from a building devoted to very different purposes, which formerly stood on this spot. The ground-floor consists, besides the entrance hall, of official apartments, reception rooms, &c. On the first-floor is a noble room called the saloon, having on one side the original picture, by Parker (together with a copy of the print), of the rescue of John Wesley from the flames, when a boy. Adjoining to this is another room devoted to the meeting of committees, and other official business of the society.

Above these, and occupying the upper part of the building, is a hall, far exceeding in size any other room in the building. It extends the whole width of the house, and is proportionably wide and lofty. At the north-end is a raised platform, railed off from the rest of the room, and provided with seats and a table or desk. At the east side, elevated several feet from the ground, is a small gallery, calculated for the reception of a limited number of persons. Nearly the whole floor of the room is occupied by oak seats, capable of containing ten or

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twelve hundred persons, and conveniently placed for giving to the occupants a full view of those who may be on the platform. This hall is intended for various kinds of meetings connected with the Wesleyan body; and as the number of persons assembled within it is sometimes likely to be considerable, the floor is supported by pillars in the room beneath.

As the completion of the edifice has been only very recent, some of the apartments are scarcely yet occupied in the way which they will ultimately be; but a general idea of the whole may be formed from the above details.

The only purpose which we have in describing such a building in a work like the present, is because it is one of the engines,-one part of the great working machinery,—in the cause of civi lization. It is because the advancing operations of missionary enterprise have reached to such an extent as they now have, that the building hitherto possessed by this society no longer affords the requisite facilities for conducting it; and the new building becomes, therefore, in some sense, a measure of civilizing progress. This remark, although applied here to the Wesleyan missions, is applicable also to the other admirable societies of a kindred nature.

Those persons who have not paid much attention to these matters, are but little acquainted with the vast machinery involved in our great missionary societies. The number of persons engaged,—the large sums annually expended,—and the wide extent of the earth's surface over which the operations are conducted, give to these societies an influence-not only in spreading the truths of the gospel, but also in advancing the moral, social, and personal welfare of mankind,-of a very notable kind. We will give a slight sketch, derived from the society's" Notice" of last January, of the statistics of Wesleyan missions at the present day, in elucidation of the above points, and as forming an appropriate sequel to our notice of the Wesleyan Centenary Hall.

The society occupies about two hundred and fiftysix principal stations; its missionaries are about three hundred and eighty; its catechists and salaried school-masters are about three hundred and twenty; and the assistants and teachers who receive no salaries between five and six thousand. The members of the society, or communicants, under the spiritual care of the missionaries, are nearly eighty thousand; while the total number attending their ministry is estimated at two hundred thousand; and the adults and children who attend the schools, fifty-five thousand. Upwards of twenty different languages are used by the missionaries; and into several of them the translation of the Scriptures, and of other useful and instructive books, is in progress. Seven printing establishments are supported in the foreign stations.

The geographical distribution of these missions is widely extensive; neither the burning sands of the Equator, nor the bleak regions of the north, having deterred the agents of Christian civilization from making them the places of their abode. To begin with Europe, and with a sister island united with us by many ties, but partially severed from us, unhappily, in matters of religion;-there are in Ireland nineteen principal stations, twentythree missionaries, four Scripture readers, and salaried teachers to thirty-seven schools,-many of whom afford instruction in the native Irish language. At nine different stations in France are located about twenty missionaries; a few of whom give their instructions in English, but the greater number in French. At Stockholm in Sweden, and at Winnenden in Germany, are missionaries, one of whom uses both the Swedish and the English language; while the other, aided by several coadjutors, visits thirty different towns and villages around the principal station. In Spain are two stations, with an equal number of missionaries, of whom one conveys his instructions in Spanish and the other in English; together with two salaried teachers for schools. One missionary is also stationed at Malta.

When we direct our attention from Europe to Asia, we find India and Ceylon the principal seats of operation. In the former are nine principal stations, each embracing an extensive district; fifteen missionaries; four assistant missionaries; and twenty-four salaried teachers. The Gospel is preached in four languages, viz., the English, Portuguese, Tamul, and Canarese; while religious instruction has occasionally been given in another native dialect. In Ceylon are twelve principal stations, seven missionaries, thirteen assistant missionaries, and one hundred and thirty-seven salaried catechists and teachers. The instructions of the missionaries are, or have been, conveyed in the English, Dutch, Portuguese, Singhalese, Tamul, and Pali languages; and to aid in the furtherance of the objects of the mission, a printing-press is established at Colombo.

The Australasian and Polynesian Islands, extending to an immense district east and south-east of Asia, furnish a field as vast in a moral as in a geographical sense; and it is only at wide intervals | over this field that any one society can establish stations. In the great island of Australia are three colonized districts, eastern (New South Wales), western (Swan River), and southern (Adelaide), at which stations, nine in number, exist; while in the adjacent island of Van Dieman's Land are four others. These thirteen stations employ, collectively, the exertions of about twenty missionaries, and a hundred and twenty gratuitous teachers. In New Zealand, to which the attention of the English public has been directed in so marked a degree within the last few years, are ten principal stations,

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| with sixteen missionaries, and an equal number of salaried teachers; a printing-press is in full and useful operation; and the missionaries in some instances impart their instruction in the New Zealand language. In the Friendly Islands, and the neighbouring groups, are nine missionaries, and more than twelve hundred gratuitous teachers; the Gospel is preached in the native languages; and a printing-press, established on one of the islands, is employed to print the Scriptures, translated by the missionaries into the native tongue. At the Feejee Islands a similar course of proceeding is in operation; but on a somewhat smaller scale. We next turn to "benighted Africa," and find missions established both in the western and southern districts of that vast continent. In the former, stations have been fixed at Sierra Leone, at the settlements on the banks of the river Gambia, and at Ashantee and the Gold Coast. These several stations require the services of sixteen missionaries, four assistant missionaries, twentyseven salaried teachers, and forty-two catechists. At some of the missions, the Mandingo and Jalloof languages are those in which the instructions of the missionaries are conveyed. At the Cape of Good Hope and Namacqua-land six missionaries, aided by salaried and gratuitous teachers, preach and teach in the English, Dutch, and Namacqua tongues. In Albany and Caffraria there are seventeen different stations, which are attended by a large number of missionaries and teachers, who use the English, Dutch, and Kaffer languages; there is also a printing-press, at which the Scriptures, catechism,&c.,-translated into the Kaffer language, are printed. In Bechuana the missionaries have succeeded in effecting several translations in the language of the country, and have a printing-press at their command.

Passing from Africa westward to the WestIndia Islands, we find all the principal of these brought within the sphere of the society's operations. In Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Christopher's, St. Eustatius, St. Bartholomew's, St. Martin's, Auguilla, Tortola, and the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, St. Vincent's, Grenada, Trinidad, Tobago, Demerara, Barbadoes, Jamaica, Honduras Bay, New Providence, Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Abaco, Exonna, Hayti or St. Domingo, and Turk's Islands, are stations amounting to about fifty in number, in which about ninety missionaries are employed; fifty thousand natives are under their religious care, and twenty thousand adults and children attend the schools.

In the British dominions in North America, missions are to be found in Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories. There are eighty principal stations, nearly a hundred missionaries, twelve thousand natives receiving religious in

THE ORNAMENTAL ARTS-L'EXPOSITION.

Such is a brief sketch of the geography and statistics of Wesleyan missions at the present time. Their widely diffused influence may surprise many; and when it is recollected that each of the other great missionary societies has a similar tale to tell, a similar map of missionary enterprise to produce (varied of course in the details), we may form some idea of the "civilizing" machinery now at work in this department.

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struction (some in the Chippewa and other native | not to discriminate between different objects, for languages), and six thousand adults and children his intellect being unawakened, he knows not the attending the schools. cause why he is most happy while running "wild in woods." When, from the influence of more inquiring minds, the men of old gradually increased their knowledge, the causes of the pleasure felt in contemplating certain objects in preference to others were investigated; beauty then first had a name, was sought for with all the eagerness of a new and delightful pursuit, and its power was evinced in the rapid rise of Greek art, which rushed onward until it arrived at the very acme permitted for the skill of man to attain. This continual contemplation of, and craving after, the beautiful, soon led them on from the things of earth to much higher aspirations. The philosophy and the civilization of Greece went, probably, as far as is within the compass of unaided human nature; but both Socrates and Plato owed much to Phidias and Praxiteles.

THE ORNAMENTAL ARTS.

Ir may at first sight appear an absurd and even presumptuous assertion, that the moral character of individuals and even of nations may be elevated by the beauty of the architecture and furniture of their houses; in other words, that the mind is powerfully acted upon by the mere form or colour of external objects, and that the art of the upholsterer is by no means an unimportant accessary to the amelioration of our moral condition.

The idea seems extravagant that the shape of a chair or the fall of a curtain can possibly have any influence upon the conduct of our lives; but if, upon examination, we find this to be the case, we shall have discovered a useful ally in the cause of education, which ought not to be neglected ; and a treatise on the subject might not unworthily lay claim to the fourth Montyon prize*.

The enjoyment derived from the beauties of nature is one of the first we experience, and is particularly strong among the most uncultivated savages; but the real source of pleasure experienced is here unknown; little greater pleasure is felt in the contemplation of one scene than of another; the savage, like the child, is pleased he knows not why, and cares not wherefore; he seeks * The founder of these prizes, which are distributed annually, under the direction of the French Academy and the Academy of Sciences, was Antoine de Montyon (born at Paris in 1733), a man who, like the celebrated Kyrll, devoted his life to the service of his fellow-creatures. During his lifetime he placed considerable funds at the disposal of the two societies just mentioned, for the purpose of distribution in rewards for acts of humble virtue, and also for remunerating all labourers in the task of improving and benefiting the poorer classes. During his lifetime his modesty induced him to prohibit the publication of his name; but since his death, in 1820, it has most deservedly been adopted as the distinguishing title of the institution he founded.

The fixed yearly prizes which the Academies have the task of awarding are the following:-One prize to any person who shall have discovered a plan for rendering any mechanical art less unhealthy. Secondly, a prize to any one who shall have made, within the year, a decided improvement in the art of medicine and surgery. Thirdly, a prize to any person in humble life, who shall have performed, within the year, the most virtuous action in the estimation of the judges. Fourthly, a prize to the author of the treatise most conducive to good conduct among the people. A fifth prize is assigned to the best work on statistics. The proceedings at the distribution are recorded in an annual pamphlet, and are, as may be easily conceived, of a most interesting nature.

It seems impossible to deny that the intense devotion of the Greeks to the elegant arts led them onward to the attainment of that refinement which it appears scarcely credible should have ever been arrived at ; a refinement carried into the minutest details of domestic life, and pervading the whole body of the people. Why, then, should we not use the same means as they pursued for aiding the progress of a civilization based upon a sure rock, and not liable, when once built up, to perish like the more fragile structure of the Greeks? Because our foundation is so very sure we may the more fearlessly hasten the superstructure, and leave no lawful means unemployed to speed the completion of the noble edifice.

We have been induced to make the foregoing remarks by the inspection of a magnificent work, published periodically at Parist, and intended for a sort of repository for every ingenious or beautiful design or invention in architecture, upholsterywork, bronzes and gilt ornaments, articles of Paris workmanship, carriages and saddlery; mechanical inventions, tools, surgical instruments, &c.

The work is divided into six departments, under the foregoing heads; and six numbers, one devoted to each subject, appear monthly. Each part contains L'Exposition, Journal de l'Industrie et des Arts utiles, publiant par année 288 gravures sur acier avec texte. Divisé en six Catégories.

1. Architecture.
2. Ameublements.
3. Bronzes et Dorures.
4. Articles de Paris.
5. Equipages et Sellerie.
6. Mécaniques et Outils.

Par Le Bouteiller.
Paris.

On s'abonne au burcau, Rue de la Bourse, No. 1, et chez les libraires de France et de l'Etranger.

1839.

A sort of miscellaneous head, under which are described, even though strictly belonging to other divisions, articles which are either peculiar to Paris, or the productions of Parisian inventors; thus we find figured under this head a china vase, a gothic chimney-piece, ingenious watch lights, a novel kind of fowling-piece, and a lady's spinning-wheel.

four plates, with letter-press descriptions, and consequently the volume for the year contains no less than two hundred and eighty-eight admirably engraved plates, of large size (13 French inches by 10), with full descriptions of the various articles represented, the name and address of the inventor and manufacturer, and all other information necessary to make the peculiar merits of every sort of improvement in domestic comfort or convenience as widely known as is possible. The price of such a work, executed in a style of the greatest excellence, as regards not only the plates, but the paper and print, is surprisingly low. The subscription by the year for each department (or category as it is termed), which may be had separately, is only twenty-four francs plain, or forty-eight coloured; that is, five pounds fourteen shillings (or double that sum if coloured), for a work which is admirable as a work of art no less than as one of practical utility; while for something under a pound any mechanic may procure an ample illustrated description of all the best works that have been executed in his particular trade within the last year,—an advantage of great importance, especially to those who have no opportunity of inspecting the originals.

fession of the power and goodness of Him who has filled the whole world with it.

Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed, that "the works of nature, if we compare one species with another, are all equally beautiful, and that preference is given from custom or some association of ideas; and that in creatures of the same species, beauty is the medium or centre of all its forms." He illustrates this last axiom by reference to the choice of a naturalist in selecting a specimen; "amongst the blades of grass or leaves of the same tree, though no two can be found exactly alike, the general form is invariable; a naturalist, before he chose one as a sample, would examine many; since if he took the first that occurred, it might have, by accident or otherwise, such a form as that it would scarce be known to belong to that species; he selects, as the painter does, the most beautiful, that is, the most general form of nature."

Admitting this, it follows, that to judge truly of beauty requires an accurate knowledge of nature; and that by a judicious application of the forms of natural productions, attainable only by a close examination of the varieties of each species, the upholsterer and coach-builder, and let us not except the milliner, dress-maker, or even the tailor, must all, like the painter and the architect, seek to perfect their various arts. It is, however, impossi

Again, by this means any individual who pleases has, as it were, the workshops of all France opened for him, whence to choose the models of his house-ble furniture, equipage, &c.

We are much pleased with a work which thus raises to its due importance, as a means of national improvement, a branch of art which, with us, has hitherto been limited to the narrow sphere of the upholsterer's pattern-book. That it is not, however, quite unworthy of the attention of men of superior education and higher endowments than those by whom it is usually practised, has, it is true, been acknowledged by the establishment of that admirable institution, the School of Design, and the recent publication of several beautifully illustrated works, illustrative of ancient architecture and furniture. Still we fear its value is not yet held in due estimation amongst us.

for many of those actually engaged in mechanical occupations to obtain that extended acquaintance with natural forms necessary to a master of design; nor would such a power be compatible with the scheme of Divine government, which gives to each his natural gifts, each varying from his fellow. Hence the necessity of adopting the best means for widely extending an acquaintance with the most beautiful models produced by the gifted, and thus creating an artificial good taste; for although a natural deficiency of invention or discrimination cannot be wholly supplied, yet bad taste, and lack of judgment, may be greatly assisted by the habitual contemplation of beauty, and an acquaintance with the true principles of art.

"Since custom," says Lord Bacon, " is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavour to obtain good customs." The periodical publication of such a work as M. Le Bouteiller's is surely good, and were the example followed here it might prove a great auxiliary to our pro

The great object of infusing grace and elegance into the scenes which ordinarily surround us is not limited to the magnificence of the palace or the gorgeous grandeur of baronial halls, for there the chief merit lies in the fitness of the decoration to the particular scene in which it is displayed.gressive advance in civilization. Beauty of form and gracefulness of design are not limited to rosewood and satin, but may be obtained

THEY HAVE SHED?

in far humbler materials; and a poor cottage may WHO WILL REPAY THEM THE TEARS be made as truly "elegant" as a lady's boudoir. If this could be effected, and the desire of having objects of earthly beauty continually before our eyes were general, it would, we feel convinced, have a beneficial tendency. There is surely something in the aspect of beauty that tends to humanize the heart, and to call up reflections leading to the con

"WHO will repay them the tears they have shed?" To the influence of this touching appeal, in the mouth of a Christian wife, addressed to an unbelieving husband, was due, under the providence of God, the first introduction of the Gospel into the kingdom of Poland.

CONVERSION OF MIECYLAUS..

prominent.

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The circumstances here narrated took place | reproof with which our story is introduced stands about the year A. D. 970, under the barbaric rule of Miecylaus, first of the haughty family of the Jaquillons, who for more than two hundred years continued to rule, though often with doubtful sway, the fortunes of that distracted country.

Of their earlier history but little more is known than that they were a race of warriors and heroes, as war was then practised and heroism understood; that is to say, they were men bold, prompt, hardy, and merciless, recognizing no law but that of the sword, and acknowledging no rights of humanity beyond the pleasure of the victor. Of such a race was Miecylaus the chief, and the leader—a barbarian in his manners, a heathen in his faith, and a soldier in his fortunes. How little was there of human probability that through such a channel the Gospel should have been borne to a benighted people!

It is recorded of him that having been born blind, he recovered sight at the age of seven years, as if by miracle. If the incident be true, it in all probability left traces upon his mind that prepared it for deeper and holier influences; but whether true or not, it is strikingly illustrative of his subsequent conversion from the darkness of heathenism to the light of revealed truth.

Of this happy change, woman was the chosen instrument; Miecylaus having heard much by report of the beauty and virtues of a young Christian princess, Daborzska by name, daughter of the neighbouring duke of Bohemia, he sent by his ambassador a haughty message, demanding her in marriage. But his suit was denied by the fearless maiden, save on condition of his being forthwith baptized and becoming like herself a Christian. Such was the power of fancy working in the breast of the barbarian, or it may be the inward prompting of some higher spirit, that the proud chieftain readily consented to the condition. He submitted himself to what he then deemed a trivial ceremony, and consented farther to receive instruction in the principles of his new faith.

The profession, however, was but in name, and Daborzska, as a wife, was soon called to the higher task and more dubious contest of leading him by her Christian example to the practice of that pure faith to which her earlier influence had only been able to make him an unwilling convert. The struggle was doubtless an arduous one-but in the end was successful. The Christian spirit, as is ever the case where truth is faithful to itself, gained in the longrun the victory over its heathen adversary, and day by day, and year by year, the wild passions and ungoverned temper of her lord felt, we are told, the humanizing influence of a home companion, trained in the Christian school of gentleness and long-suffering.

Among the agents recorded as having wrought out this good work, the touching, though gentle,

Having in one of his wild forages ravaged the lands of a neighbouring tribe of unoffending herdsmen, scattered far and wide their defenceless families, and driving off their cattle as spoil, he was at length awakened by the tender Christian entreaties of his wife to some sense of his own cruelty and injustice; the flocks and herds were restored or paid for, the wretched outcasts permitted to return once more in peace to their dwellings. But it was in him the remorse of a still-slumbering conscience-taking credit to itself of shame for a late and imperfect repentance. "Cease, madam," said he, in a tone of complacent confidence," cease your unfounded accusations. I have made good everything to the poor wretches whom I wronged. Their flocks and their herds I have fully paid for." "Ay," said she," but who will repay them the tears they have shed?"

It was a question that sank deep in his heart, and a blessed spirit seems to have gone with it of contrition and amendment. His eyes were now in truth opened to see and acknowledge the depth and the loveliness of Christian virtue; and from that hour he is said to have entered upon the course of a faithful and true believer. The banner of the cross was set up by him in every quarter of the land, and churches founded, and schools endowedand all to teach the peaceful faith of Christ, by one who had been but as yesterday a proud, heathen, and relentless ruler-teaching us also the beauty and the power of Christian loveliness in woman, and how blessed may prove the word of truth spoken by her in grace and in season.

One remnant only of his earlier barbaric nature is said still to have cleaved to the true convert Miecylaus. He ordained it as a law upon his followers-and it is one that has come down to modern times, in the Sarmatian church-that the creed of their faith should ever be repeated by them in the attitude of soldiers ready for the contest, and with their hands clasped upon their halfunsheathed swords; as intimating not only that upon their swords they swore to it, but that with their swords they were ready to maintain it. But—“ pace requiescat"-may he sleep in peace! Few converts to the faith of Christ had to make a greater change; and it may be well for those who have been called to bear a less heavy burden, should they commend and prove the value of their faith by a proportionate exhibition of its civilizing character.

May not, too, the touching question by which his better spirit was awakened be recalled with advantage by many in our own day, more wisely instructed than was this simple-hearted heathen, and more favourably placed for self-discipline than this lordly founder of a race of princes? And may not, too, those words effect in our case, under the teaching of the same good spirit, a Christian revo

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