Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-06-28
| NEW FIELD FOR HOME MISSIONS
For the Termo1t Telegraph.
No II

his way, and that there is readiness on {
he part of boatmen and passengers to listen Il
O the subject when properly introduced, s.
will here sketch few incidents which oc-
cured in journey Of some three or four
hundred miles west, which an intimate
friend of mine, (whose name, for certain e
reasons, shall withhold from the public, =
year ago last fall. My friend =
took passage in a stage at Lanesborough, |
Mass, for Albany he fouLd himself seated
among entire strangers fora while he was
a silent listener to their discourse, which
was exclusively Of business character
They talked of loss and gain, seemed
eager for the world, but were evidently
strangers to true goodness: which, with
con,entment is great gain; SO far from 1t,
that they were often profane in their Ian
language. At length, pause in their dis
course, afforded my friend an opportunity to
speak, which be readily improved. He ad-
dressed the company something In the tol-
lowing manner: Gentlemen, have hlther-
to been silent observer Of your CONVEX sa-
ton; have as yet taken no part; perceive
however that you are men OF business, ex-
pert in calculating loss and gain; will you
allow me, gentlemen, to propose question
of this character % to which they all re-
sponded hearty assent. He then propound-
ed the following question: "What shall
man be pro6ted, if he gain the whole world
and lose his own soul?" The gentlemen
were utterly COMPOUNDED, they knew moth
ing about the subject, they acknowledged
their ignorance, and referred it back to him
for discussion. He dwelt at some length,
upon the value of the soul, and the infinite
loss man must sustain, should he barter it
away for this vain and fleeing world, His
silent, attentive hearers, quaked under the
influence of truth. They parted in Albany,
and God only knows the result of his faith
fulness. My friend proceeded to Science
tady, and took passage in boat for the west,
about one o'clock P. NJ in company with
| ldISe HuluUel VI pdSseHSolS'
The afternoon was mostly spent in o.
servation upon the probable character OF the
company, and in planning how he could be
most useful while on board The result Of
, his observation was the conclusion, that
! there was not christian among the vas1
mu ltitude of passengers floating along with
D him to the far west. He groaned in spirit
and breathed forth the fervent prayer Of {
converted soul, "L0rd 4chdt 1ciH tho,
a hare me to do" for those undying souls
e bound with me to the bar of God 2 H.
: sought an opportunity with the captain, ant
e obtained his consent to hold prayer meet
s ing that evening in the cabin. At an earl,
hour, all the passengers, the captain and a
l. many of the boatmen as could be sparet
S from deck, were seated below; and m,
l. friend commenced the exercises with few
" observations, something like the following
+ "Providence has thrown US together in thi
u boat for short time, but we shall soon b
y parted never to meet more until the trum1
8 of God shall call US to his awful bar; an,
=. / wish to improve the opportunity with ref
y erence to the solemn account which will b
: required Of me at that day" After singin,
10 the we'll known evening hymn, "Tne da,
e is past and gone," &C., he led in prayer an,
# was followed by two others; it was solemn
Is melting season all felt that God was there
re This opened the way for religious CONVEX
TT saton, when it was ascertained that larg
e number of the passengers were professedI,
l. pious, and were ready to converse on tn,
e subject, after it was broached After this
is my friend was treated with more than or
2 binary respect and attention, there was n,
re more Protane swearing on board while h
a remained, and they had prayers mornin.
d and evening in the cabin till he left. Eter
re nifty alone will disclose the final results @
|, the faithful and affectionate labors of tbi
~ herald OF the cross on board that boat. Pro
- fessors Of religion were aroused to a sens
% of duty, and were emboldened to stand u
in the defence of truth. Others who wer
~ INDUCING secret hope of sins forgiven, bu
- had never renounced the world, were ex
- horted to come out from among Gods enc
= mics and take the yoke Of Christ uno,
them; and others still whose attention ba,
+ been called up to this subject, and their con
j. sciences exceedingly trddbled, had taken
Is journey to the west, it would seem, for tn
- purpose of forgetting their trouble tbes
a. too, were warne3 of their danger, and urge
a. to speedy repentance aud submission f.
lie God. o! that every christian, purposip