HOME NOTICES.

UNITED PRAYER FOR THE GENERAL OUT-POURING OF THE
SPIRIT.

HOLY

We have recently received information upon which we can rely, and from which it appears that this subject has efectually engaged the attention of many of the Clergy in Great Britain and Ireland; as well as that of numerous Ministers and Members of other deaominatious of Christians. The following particulars, we are sure, will be interesting to our pious Readers.

"Resolutions, recommending special prayer for the gracious effusion of the HOLY SPIRIT, have been passed at many of the public meetings of different religious Societies. And in several large towns and cities, Courses of Lectures have been preached by different Clergymen, in rotation, upon the Deity, Personality, and Offices of the HOLY GHOST.

"In one county, the following topics have been included in the Course: viz.1. The Existence, Deity, and Personality of the HOLY GHOST:-2. The Agency of the HOLY SPIRIT as exerted through the instrumentality of the written Word :3. The Work of the HOLY SPIRIT in reference to the Unconverted :-4. The Work and Offices of the HoLY SPIRIT, as they respect Believers :-5. The characteristic and distinguishing Marks of the sanctifying Operations of the HOLY SPIRIT:-6. A general View of the Scripture Doctrine of the HOLY SPIRIT, especially in reference to the latter period of the Church :-7. The Importance of a practical regard to his Ministration, in connexion with the present State of the Church and the World :8. The Duty and Benefits of Special Prayer for the general Out-pouring of the HOLY SPirit.

"In a populous city, in another county, a still more extensive Course has been commenced, including the following subjects: viz. 1. Introductory Discourse on the general Importance of a larger Effusion of the HOLY SPIRIT, and the Encouragements to expect that blessing: -2. The Deity and Personality of the HOLY GHOST:-3. The HOLY SPIRIT the Author of Regeneration:4. The Convincer of Sin ;-5. Of Righteousness;-6. Of Judgment:-7. The Guide into all Truth :-8. The Glorifier of the LORD JESUS: (see John xvi. 8, 15)-9. The Witness of the Deity of JESUS: (1 Cor. xii. 3:)-10. Received through faith in JESUS: (Gal. iii. 14) 11. The Helper in Prayer: (Rom. viii.

26:)-12. The Sanctifier:-13. The Comforter:-14. The Spirit of Adoption :15. The Spirit of Promise:-16. The Author of Ministerial Gifts, and Edifier of the Churches:-17. The Fruits of the SPIRIT-18. The Earnest of the SPIRIT:-19. The Believer the Temple of the HOLY GHOST:-20. The Sin and Danger of Grieving the SPIRIT:-21. Scripture Emblems of the SPIRIT; the Dove; Fire; Wind; Water; Air :22. The blessed Effects of the Out-pouring of the HOLY GHOST:-23. The Duty of Special Prayer for that blessing-24. The Reasonableness of Humiliation before GOD for past sin in grieving the SPIRIT; and the Necessity of Application to GOD, through CHRIST, for pardon, and for a more abundant Out-pouring of his gracious influences, attended by a correspondent walk and conversation.

"In small villages and towns, where these united exertions could not be conveniently made, several of the Clergy have, however, called the special attention of their different flocks to this subject by a more careful and frequent reference to the offices of the HOLY SPIRIT in their ordinary discourses.

Many Ministers of other denominations, also, have been very earnest in pressing this subject upon their congregations. Stated times have, in many cases, been set apart for special prayer in reference to it; and Courses of Sermons upon the work of the HOLY SPIRIT have been preached.

"The importance of Prayer for this gracious effusion has been felt by many devout Christians on the Continent. Several of their religious publications have inserted papers upon the subject, and Prayer-Meetings have been established in different places. Among other cities we record with peculiar pleasure and thankfulness, that at PARIS, a Meeting on the first Monday of the month has been commenced, in which prayer for the general out-pouring of the HOLY SPIRIT is made a prominent object.

"Some very pleasing effects have already followed these christian exertions.

Various Ministers have mentioned the increasing personal comfort which they have experienced in their labours; greater seriousness has been visible in their congregations; their ministry has been more blessed to the awakening of the unconverted; several E 2

REVIVALS OF RELIGION IN SEVERAL CIRCUITS AT HOME. We insert with pleasure the following vation, tether with prayer-meetings, Extracts from Letters recently received. and band meetings, have been much owned of GOD."

vice; to soften the obdurate heart; to impart a spirit of meekness, benignity, and love, where every contrary temper lately reigned; and to teach and assist do justly, love mercy, and

men to

walk humbly with Gon;"-these are operations which all, who have correct views of human depravity, will allow that nothing but almighty power could accomplish."

PROFANATION OF THE SABBATH. FROM a highly respectable Correspondent we have received a communication, in which, referring to the awful increase of this sin, and to the inadequacy of the laws, as they now stand, to effect its suppression, he emphatically observes, "Without some immediate check to this growing evil, I dread the judgments of Almighty GoD upon this country." He adds, Ought not professing christians to unite, at the beginning of the new year, in not dealing with any cac who profanes that Holy Day? This suggestion at least deserves consideration. A general expression, on the part of serious christians of all denominations, of their desire that the LORD's Day should no longer be profaned by buying and selling, &c., if kind'y communicated to the various Shopkeepers

and others, with whom they deal, might, in many cases, have a happy effect. It would, at all events, be bearing a testimany against a great and prevailing sin. We think, indeed, that christians are bound to give a preference to those tradesmen, who respect the sanctity of the Sabbath, over those who obstinately persist in contrary practices, and to avow the ground and reason of that preference. We hear much, in these days, of the power of " Public Opinion." The united "opinion" of what is called the "Religious Public," on a point of christian morality, in which it is sanctioned alike by the law of GoD and the law of the land, if prudently yet firmly and conscientiously declared, might perhaps prove to be an engine of considerable might and utility.

FOREIGN.

ACCOUNT OF THE VEDAHS, A RACE OF SAVAGES, WHO INHABIT SOME PARTS OF THE INTERIOR OF CEYLON.

IN the interior of Ceylon, a ace of wild and independent savages are found, who have never been subjected either to the native Cinghalese or the European Government, nor indeed, in their present state, do they appear capable of civil government at all. DR. DAVEY, in his account of Ceylon, mentions this degraded body of people; and we have received some notice of them in the following letter from the REV. JOSEPH, ROBERTS.

"In the course of my journey to Trincomalee in the month of January last, I only saw one Vedah; the reason for this I suppose was, that the waters being much out near the coast, they had retired farther than they usually do into the interior. But on my return to Batticaloa I met with nine of these wretched sons of Adam, three men, four women, and two boys. They were exceedingly shy, and had it not been for an old Vedah, who informed me he had several times seen Europeans before, they would have been altogether inaccessible. Without any hesitation he accompanied me to the shed where I had to spend the night, and seemed much gratified with the attenflons he received. After some conversation I inquired if he had any family; he replied in the affirmative. Where are they? In the jungle.' Here I observed he was a little discomposed, but his

fears were soon silenced. I wish you would bring your family here. They will not come. Why? They have never seen a white man; they are much afraid, and besides this they are at a great distance.' But after using many persuasions and the promise of a gift, he set off into the jungle with a promise soon to return.

"After the lapse of a considerable time I heard some loud shrieks, apparently made by persons in great distress. On inquiring of the coolies as to the cause of the noise, they said the Vedah was bringing his family, and they were much afraid. I immediately went into the jungle in the direction of the noise, but the poor distracted creatures no sooner saw me than they gave a dreadful scream, and again rushed into the thicket. The Vedali said I must remain in the hovel, or they would never come near; upon my promising to remain in the place, he set off again after his distracted family. For a considerable time I heard him call aloud in the forest without receiving any reply; at last they answered, and begged he would not take them again; be answered, that they would not receive any harm, and that the great man had promised to give them some good thing. At last they consented to come, on condition that he walked first, and that they were allowed to remain at a distance.

"I, of course, remained in the Bungaloe, and the family, consisting of the father, mother, son, and daughter, stood before me. A short time after this another family made its appearance, who had probably heard the noise. They, however, on seeing some of their tribe so near, appeared less timid, and joined themselves, though not without caution, I have often heard it asto the group. serted that they have a language of their own differing materially from Malabar or Singhalese. I called the old man, and asked him what language they used: he replied, Singhalese and Tamul.' But in Have you no other? No.' what language were those people conI found upon versing? Singhalese.' examination, was nothing more than corrupted Singhalese, which my boy in the first instance could not understand. I suppose the difference does not amount to more than that which exists betwixt the dialects of the Northern and Southern counties of Britain.

"Their Tamul was equally barbarous. They pronounced it very short, and made one word serve for many purposes. But thinking they still might have a language peculiar to themselves, I requested the old man to tell me the names of different things in all the languages they knew; these I found agreed invariably either with Tamul or Singhalese.

"I observed one little boy apparently much agitated, and succeeded, through his father, in quieting his fears; but in putting out my hand to take hold of him, he cried out and ran into the jungle with the swiftness of a deer: upon inquiring the cause of his alarm, the father replied that the Moormen sometimes stole their children, and they were seldom heard of again; two of his children had been taken from him in this way, but they had died of grief. I asked him to place one under my care, assuring him I would be the child's father, and give him plenty of rice and curry, and good clothes. "Alas!' said the father, 'what can I do; two are gone, and if you were to take one, he would die as the others did, and I should see him no more.'

"I was much surprised to see that they had some tattered clothes about their bodies, as I had heard they were in a state of complete nudity. I asked where they procured the cloth: the answer was, that the inhabitants of distant villages gave it in exchange for honey, wax, and elephant's teeth. Some of them had a quantity of glass beads about their necks, which had been acquired in the same way. I offered the old Vedah a piece of bread which I had brought from Trincomalee, which he ate without any hesi

tation, but the others refused to taste,
stating they were much afraid.
pulling out my watch I observed that it
excited considerable attention, and 1 pre-
vailed on them to come near to hear the
beating, and they were much astonished
and afraid, particularly so, when they
observed the rapid revolution of the
seconds-hand; this led them to retire to
their former place.

'On

"I inquired of the old Vedah, where they slept? On the trees.' But where do your wives and children sleep? the trees.' But how can they climb ? It is their nature.' Do you marry? we take a woman, "We do not marry: and when we are tired of each other, we part and seek another.' What do you cat? Such things as we can get! And what are they? Roots, deer's-flesh, honey, and fish, when we can catch it.' Do you ever catch elephants? 'Yes.' How? We shoot them with the bow and arrow, and follow them till they fall.' What religion are you? I do Where do not know what you mean." people go after death? know. How many Vedahs are there in Are those forests ? "We cannot tell.' Are there there 500? Yes, more.' 1000? 'We cannot tell.'

We do not

"It was now become quite dark; and observing some of them very impatient, I began to think what would be the most acceptable as a present: I had neither beads or knives with me, so I ordered the boy to bring a large cotton sheet, and divide it into pieces, and present them to the two oldest women; this, I saw, was a most acceptable present. The rest of the group began to look rather anxious, but I gave to them some fanams, with which they were also pleased, as they could purchase salt and other articles to be had only for money. into their Upon my telling them they might go, they immediately retired much-loved jungle.

"I shall not soon forget the wildness of expression in their features, particularly in the eye; their hair was disordered and brown with the sun. I could think of no comparison to mark the difference betwixt them and my coolies, than that which exists betwixt a wild beast just brought from the forest, and one that has been tamed. Their state is alike calculated to excite the attention of the Philosopher and the Divine. By comparing the poor Vedah with the Malabars who live in villages, he sinks almost to the brute. For his subsistence he has to depend upon the productions of the jungle, such as roots, plants, and fruits, or the uncertainties of the chase; and lives and dies like his shaggy companions of the forest."

NEW INVENTION IN TANNING.

It is affirmed that a new mode is discovered, by which raw hides are made into perfect leather in less than six weeks, instead of lying, as heretofore, twelve months in the tan-pit; and that the expense is less than one half of that incurred by the old process. The fortunate discoverer has sold his invention for a sum almost incredible; so great are the results expected from its operation on the prices of leather-articles.

MEANS OF RENDERING WOOD, LINEN,

&c., INCOMBUstible.

be almost instantly inflated and adjusted to the body. This machine was some time ago exhibited on the Thames, and apparently gained the approbation of the spectators.

MACHINE FOR THE CALCULATION AND
PRINTING OF MATHEMATICAL TABLES.

A LETTER addressed to SIR H. DAVY, BART., P.R.S., by CHARLES BABBAGE, Esq. A.M., Secretary of the Astronomical Society of London, describes a Machine of this nature, which he has actually constructed, and gives "scantlings of inventions" of others, which he has in contemplation, if properly encouraged to proceed. The Machine already finished is "capable of computing any Table by the aid of differences, whether they are positive or negative, or of both kinds." Besides other purposes to which MR. B. thinks it applicable, he particularizes "all Astronomical Tables for determining the positions of the Sun or Planets." Among his sketches, are several machines for "multiplying any number of figures, by any other number." He adds, that he has contrived means for solving, by machinery, "equations for which analytical methods of solution have not yet been found; " and others, by which "the machines themselves shall take from several boxes, containing type, the numbers which they calculate, and place them side by side; thus becoming at the same time a substitute for the Compositor as well as the Computor."

MR. BENJAMIN COOK, of Baskerville House, Birmingham, in his experiments on the Alkalies, has discovered that all linen, cottons, muslins, &c. &c., when dipped in a solution of the pure vegetable alkali at a gravity of from 124 to 130, taking water at the gravity of 100, become incombustible; and that all timbers become incombustible when saturated with a solution of alkali at the gravity of 140 to 150. He has two methods of saturating timber; first, by letting the timber in the plank lie in the solution for several weeks, until the alkali has perfectly filled up the pores of the wood;-but the method he prefers, is the use of a powerful machine, by which he extracts or forces out the sap, and then forces the alkali through the whole tree, thus filling up all the pores, and rendering the tree incombustible; this he proposes to do as soon as the tree is felled, and before the bark is taken off. When the bark is SUGAR A PRESERVATIVE OF ANIMAL in its best state, he performs his operation in a few hours, which, while it renders the wood incombustible, completely prevents the dry rot.

The solution of pure vegetable alkali which MR. Cook prepares for securing from fire muslins, cottons, &c. &c., is as pure as the clearest spring water, perfectly free from smell, and will not discolour the finest cambrics or muslins.

This gentleman obtained a patent for bis discovery nearly eight months ago; and its not yet having been brought into the world, has been occasioned by the delays he has experienced in preparing the proper apparatus for making the solution in that pure state requisite for use in muslins, cottons, &c. &c.

LIFE PRESERver.

M. SCHEERBAUM has invented a very simple and valuable life-preserver, which is extremely light and portable; is airtight, and impenetrable to water; occasions no pressure on the chest ; and can

FOOD.

THE antiseptic quality of sugar is suf ficient to preserve fish in excellent condition. So active is this substance, that fish may be preserved in a dry state, and perfectly fresh, by means of a small quantity of sugar alone. Salmon, whiting, and cod, have been thus kept for an indefinite period. Fresh fish, by this means, may be kept in that state for some days, so as to be as good, when boiled, as when just caught.

MUSHROOMS.

THE following easy method of trying the quality of field-mushrooms, copied from PHILLIPS's interesting History of Vegetables, we insert, because of its practical utility in preventing fatal mistakes: Take an onion, and strip the outer skin, and boil it with the mushrooms. If it remains white, they are good; but if it becomes blue or black, there are certainly dangerous ones among them."