""Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed! Through many dangers, toils, and snares, "Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, "The Lord has promised good to me; "Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace. "The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who called me here below, These brothers and sisters are now gone to "the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels." From most of their families I have been separated for many years. But I have received the joyful intelligence that among them the mercy of the Lord has gone down to children, and to children's children. Of the family of one of these brothers, however, I can speak more particularly. In that family, both of the parents lived and "walked with God" more than forty years from the period when they first entered into his holy covenant. They then died in faith, and in hope of a glorious immortality. Ten of their children attained the years of maturity: all of these consecrated themselves to God early, in the morning of life. Six of their number have already crossed the cold stream, and gone up "to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven." Of the surviving four, three are sons, who have long labored in the west as ministers of the gospel in the Presbyterian church. Two of them, at this date, (November, 1849,) have been preaching about twenty-five years. Their ministry has been owned of God, and blessed to the souls of many. The other son, however unworthy of the privilege, has preached the gospel of Christ almost thirty-four years. In his family, the six eldest children have dedicated themselves to God while very young; one at the age of nine years, and all the others before their years had numbered twelve. These humble statistics are recorded, in the "Western Sketch-Book," to the glory of the great name of Zion's King, and that honest inquirers, who are desirous of knowing the truth, may have facts before them from which to judge of the fruits and results of the "western revival of 1800." The facts given here, however, are but a "handful to the harvest." But, O, "the Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this and that man was born there." And distant generations will rise up and give hallelujahs to his name, that he baptized our beloved western country, in its early infancy, by this memorable outpouring of his Holy Spirit. There is here another instance of that beautiful analogy, before mentioned, between the ancient and modern dispensations of God's providence and grace. "When the day of Pentecost had fully come, there were dwelling at Jerusalem ” that is, they were collected to celebrate the feast of Pentecost" Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." God's grace came down on them, and three thousand were converted in one day, and five thousand in another, and great multitudes were thus added to the infant church. Now, mark, when this pentecostal season was concluded, and all these converts returned to their homes, they carried the elements of Christianity with them into almost every part of the heathen world. When the apostles afterwards went abroad among the nations to preach the gospel and organize churches, in almost every province, in almost every city, in almost every nook and corner of the Gentile world, they found more or less of these early converts, to hold up their hands, to join with them in prayer, to assist them by their counsel, and, in fact, to furnish a nucleus around which churches might be gathered; and the apostles rejoiced, while they marvelled, at the depth, and height, and perfection of the counsels of God. Now, for more than thirty years, communities at a distance have been emptying their population into the great valley. Not only have the streams poured in from the older states of our happy Union, but European nations have sent over their thousands and their hundreds of thousands. With the alien character of our foreign population, and the proneness of the American emigrant to forget his religion when he goes to the west, we know not what the results might have been, had no other element been thrown in by divine Providence. But God had interposed. He had imbued the strong, resolute western man with supreme love to Christ and his church. He had, by his Holy Spirit, made this fearless, decided western man a Christian and a Protestant. And the minister who for more than thirty years has travelled in the west, preaching and organizing churches, has found this firm, determined western man standing up at every point for the honor and for the church of his divine Master. And he, with great frequency, is the nucleus around which young churches are formed in the wide west to the glory of our Redeemer. Other agencies have come into the field since, and they have done well. But "render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Be it known, therefore, unto thee, “O earth! earth! earth!" that the mighty west is a Christian and Protestant land, because the God of glory appeared there at an early day, and poured the abundance of his salvation upon her people. Ah, she will carry down to far distant ages the decided impression and fixed character instamped upon her childhood by the seal of the Holy Spirit. RECOLLECTIONS OF GENERAL JACKSON. COLONEL SAMUEL M. GRANT, of Northern Missouri, first waked up my mind to the importance of recording and preserving the testimony of General Jackson on the subject of the truth and value of the Christian religion. Said he, "I was in Palmyra at the time the news was received of General Jackson's public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. A gentleman, whom I had long known as a professed rejecter of the gospel, hailed me at the door of his office, and desired me to come in. I entered, and he held up a newspaper, and said, 'I have just been reading the account of General Jackson making a profession of the religion of Jesus Christ. It is long since my eyes have known a tear; but now I have been weeping freely in view of that venerable old man standing up in the church and confessing Christ as his Savior.'" Such was Colonel Grant's account of this incident in Palmyra, which, he said, affected his heart much, as he had long known this gentleman, and had regarded him as hopelessly sunk in the vortex of infidelity; and now he was surprised and gratified to find him startled and roused to such an extent by the public religious stand taken by General Jackson. Colonel Grant then proceeded to remark, "In my early days, the palpable and notorious |