to Christian friends from a sister church in a distant country. Next came the baptismal service for those unbaptized. One man and one woman, both of middle age, presented themselves. They ad

vanced to the rail around the elder's seat and kneeled. With us it is so uncommon a circumstance not to have been baptized in infancy, that when it is required, the service is as it were smuggled by in the session-house or in the manse. open profession is the more becoming method, inviting the prayers and the brotherly oversight of the whole flock.

The

On Saturday afternoon, when the children of the church are usually presented for baptism, there stood a mother with her full heart and watery eye, offering her boy-about six-in one hand, and her girl-about three-in the other, awakening the sympathy and petitions of many of us—specially that her heart's wish for the conversion of her husband might be granted. The boy looked up in the minister's face and smiled when he first poured the water and then laid his wet hand on his head to bless him. The girl gave a startled cry at the shock of the cold water on her face, and then was still. Here was a sight good for a church, calling forth many family and Christian sympathies.

Next approached five or six pairs side by side; the fathers, with that tenderness for the feebler sex which is unfailing in America, carrying the babes, till the pastor took each one in his own paternal

arm, named and blessed it in the name of the Lord. The vows, as to training in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, were laid on both parents.

There was given here a striking testimony to the esteem with which true religion is regarded. The pastor's own family had been called to resign to heaven, about ten years before, two lovely children, aged eight and six years, and but recently another lamb of their flock. But the more recently removed was passed by, and the name of the dear child of ten years' memory selected, both name and surname, for two of the babes now dedicated to the Lord. The good man's voice trembled as he named the first, but the father's heart within him gave way quite when the second evidence of respect for his little one in glory was given. Her memory is fragrant, and, as we learned afterward, nearly a dozen of her name are growing up in that congregation.

On the Sabbath, no table was covered, save that on which the elements were placed. On the previous day, an exhortation, somewhat like what we call "fencing the tables," had been delivered, so that the preliminary services differed nothing from what is usual on common Sabbaths. The body of the church was filled with communicants. We did not arise and go to a table as in Scotland, but the elements were handed to us where we sat. The service was simple, solemn, and appropriate, detaining us only half an hour longer than usual. We had an afternoon sermon, and at night, in the lecture-room,

an elder's prayer-meeting very well conducted, and thus closed a refreshing and very pleasant Sabbathday.

The few country churches which I have had an opportunity to attend are marked by order and neatness. They are remarkably clean, and neatly painted, each having its stove, and aiming at its band of singers. In the city churches, a good effect is produced by the taste and uniformity with which they are fitted up. The carpets and cushions are all alike, and the seats have a sloping back, which much promotes the ease of the sitter. If the wood be painted white, it is banded with a broad border of some rich dark wood; or if mahogany, it is banded in the same manner. The divisions are low, the doors sloping gracefully, and the number or name of the proprietor is engraved on a silver-looking plate on the dark band. Any one purchasing a pew is bound not to paint or carpet it except in uniformity with the furnishing of the church-and thus the eye is not offended as it may be in old churches here, by a red-fringed cloth spreading over the front of the gallery in one seat, and next to it a brown, and next again a green. A stranger from a colder clime has the eye drawn to the amazing number of fans sticking between the cushions and the back of the pew. But let him wait till a right hot day, and he will see the wife profiting by the ventillation of her husband's fan; the little ones placing themselves within the gale of elder brothers

and sisters; the choir fanning most violently; and the very minister using all occasions of cessation from speech to fan himself, while his tumbler of iced water on the neat marble table within his lengthened rostrum is frequently resorted to in the progress of his discourse.

The buildings of the Reformed Dutch are probably on the exact model brought from Holland at first-nearly square; a façade of steps, on which are erected six dazzling white fluted pillars which support a pediment, forming a broad piazza, at the back of which open the wide folding-doors into the church. The pulpit, at the opposite end, consists also of a long range of steps to a platform, which in the centre has a frontage on which the desk is fixed, while it is without door or interruption, and has at the back, perhaps, a centre chair with a sofa at each side, or three chairs and a small movable table. This is graceful, admits a free circulation of air, and leaves the orator more at liberty than when he is shut up in something shaped like a tulip or a lily of the Nile, with a spiral stair by which to reach it, and an impending extinguisher called a sounding-board; an arrangement which, to a troublesome imagination, calls up paintings of fairy revels, with Oberons and Titanias just emerging from bell-flowers.

Most of churches have an organ and a choir, which might be agreeable if every one would sing. But it is not right to praise God by proxy, nor even

wise to withdraw all the fine voices which would be naturally sprinkled over the church, and congregate them in one spot, thus leaving the imperfect musicians amongst the worshippers, afraid to make a "joyful noise" in the condescending ear of the Father of mercies, lest they make a discordant one in that of their brethren.

On our return to England, we landed on a Sabbathday. One of the freshest enjoyments of my return to my native land in safety, was on that evening uniting with the multitude in a good old psalm of praise, led by a single precentor. Every one sung their best, and filled the roof with sounds, if not so scientific, at least conveying more of the melody of hearty devotion, than if we had listened to an instrument, or whisperingly and timidly followed a choir.

It is painful to be disturbed during prayer, as sometimes happens, by the rustle of music sheets, and also by the whispered intercourse of singers during the sermon. This only occurs in churches where the choristers are hirelings, but it is much to be lamented. On the contrary, in some other churches, the amiable willingness to "help along," and the heartiness in the cause, so characteristic of the people, will induce persons of refinement and standing in society, and even married people, to forsake their own seat and join the choir. Should any casualty befall the organist, the instrument will not