History of the Seven Wise Masters and Mistresses, The History of the Seven Champions of Christendom, The History of the New World, and some fifty more of like character.

of

Although it may not square with certain received maxims, it is nevertheless maintained, that it was such reading as the catalogue of his boy-library indicates, that gave Adam Clarke his literary taste, and bent his mind to intellectual, philosophical and metaphysical pursuits. He observes:-" Had I never read these books, it is probable I should never have been a reader or scholar any kind; yea, I doubt much whether I should ever have been a religious man; books of enchantments, &c., led me to believe in a spiritual world, and that if there were a devil to hurt, there was a God to help, who never deserted the upright; and when I came to read sacred writings, I was confirined by their authority in the belief I had received, and have reason to thank God, that I was not educated under the modern Sadducean system." By the Sadducean system, he means a course of reading, which ignores, or leaves ignorant the child's mind of God and angels, of Heaven, spirits, and spiritual potences and influences.

He was deeply in love with the Gaelic Tales especially. He could repeat accurately their blazoning forth of the piety, fortitude, noble descent and valorous achievements of the Irish forefathers. Among these the account of Fion ma cool was his favorite. St. Patrick's preaching was attended with much success all over the Green Isle. When the Chief of Erin, Fion ma cool, presented himself for baptism, St. Patrick, being weak and decrepit, supported himself on crutches. During the ceremony he shifted his crutch and unwittingly planted the pike on Fion's foot, and pinned the convert's foot to the ground. The good saint, expressing his surprise and regret, asked Fion, "why he had not informed him of the mistake at once?" The noble chief answered: "I thought, holy father, that this had been a part of the ceremony."

In a word, any book that savored of the heroic, whether in the secular or sacred line, suited the boy-mind of Adam Clarke.

HIS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

At a very early age, his mind had become seriously impressed. He tells us somewhere, that he cannot designate the earliest and initial period of his conversion. When about six years old, whilst he and little James Brooks were walking in the field, the subject of eternity was introduced. They wept bitterly, and begged God to forgive their sins. A mutual promise was made to amend their lives, both feeling very pensive. His father belonged to the church of England; his mother was a Presbyterian of the old

Puritanic school. When Adam told at home, how he and James Brooks had felt and done, the father seemed to have but little encouragement to offer; but the mother spoke cheeringly and prayed heartily for little Adam. He thinks and says, that if his father had pointed out for him the Lamb of God, he believes himself to have been as capable of repentance and faith, even at that tender age, as he ever afterward became.

Mother Clarke had been well catechised in her youth, and had been drilled in the Holy Scriptures with care and profit. She pursued the same course with Adam. He was taught to read and reverence God's Word, whilst certain parts were deeply impressed. The mother, whenever she corrected him, applied some portion of it, to strengthen and deepen conviction. So familiar was she with all such salient points, that there could scarcely be a delinquency for which she would not with great readiness quote a condemnation. "See what God has guided my eye to in a moment!" she would often say. Adam one day disobeyed her with a sneering look and gesture. She flew to her Bible and opened on Proverbs xxx. 17-" The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it!" commenting on it in an awfully solemn manner. This was too much for Adam. He ran out, cut to the heart. But lo! he soon heard the hoarse crook of the ravenactually saw the ominous bird. He clapped his hands over his eyes and ran in, and begged his mother's pardon. Her own reproofs he could bear; but when she shot a dart from God's quiver, he was terrified as by a midnight cry of fire.

The severe creed of his mother, emphasized the God of Justice, more than the God of mercy, it is true; but certain it is, that the son attributed his life-long fear of God, to the religious instructions of his mother. "My mother's reproofs never left me," says he, "till I sought and found the salvation of God. She taught me such a reverence for the Bible, that I dared not whistle, or sing, or be facetious, while the Book was open in my hands. I invariably shut it and laid it down beside me."

She taught him to pray. Every night, before they went to bed, he knelt at her knees, repeated the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, together with a child's prayer. Different Psalms had to be memorized, such as the 23d, the 138th, and others.

Every Lord's Day was strictly sanctified; no manner of work was done in the family. She catechised and instructed the household; would read a chapter, sing a Psalm, and go to prayer. The church Catechism, and the shorter Catechism were both committed to memory. Who can doubt the good effects of such an educaAre we not all ready to expect a speedy vegetation?

tion ?

ACCIDENTS IN HIS BOY-LIFE.

Twice did God give Adam back to his parents. Once he fell from his father's horse with a sack of grain over him. It was attempted to draw blood from him, but in vain. He lay insensible for two hours, and was not known to breathe. All said, he is dead. And yet, in twenty-four hours he was completely restored. He thought, in the ordinary course of nature, he could not have survived. Again he was unhorsed in the river Ban. How long he had remained unconscious, he cannot tell-nor can any one else. But a ground swell brought him to shore, and lay him snugly down." My preservation might have been the effect of natural causes; and yet it appears to be more rational to attribute it to a superior agency "-are his own words.

The boy had now become a youth, and both he and his parents began to think of casting his lot for life. The ministry was thought of; but poverty seemed to shut the door. Medicine might do; but, no-he must remain at home. How his lot was finally determined, will hereafter appear. God willed and fulfilled.

AUNT TABITHA.

Whatever I do and whatever I say,
Aunt Tabitha tells me that isn't the way;
When she was a girl (forty summers ago)
Aunt Tabitha tells me they never did so.

Dear aunt! if I only would take her advice!
But I like my own way and I find it so nice!
And besides, I forget half the things I am told;
But they all will come back to me when I am old.

If a youth passes by, it may happen, no doubt,
He may chance to look in as I chance to look out;
She would never endure an impertinent stare,—
It is horrid, she says, and I mustn't sit there.

A walk in the moonlight has pleasures, I own,
But it isn't quite safe to be waiking alone;

So I take a lad's arm,-just for safety, you know,—
But Aunt Tabitha tells me, they didn't do so.

How wicked we are, and how good they were then!
They kept at arm's length those detestable men ;
What an era of virtue she lived in !-But stay-
Were the men all such rogues in Aunt Tabitha's day?

If the men were so wicked, I'll ask my papa
How he dared to propose to my darling mamma;
Was he like the rest of them? Goodness! Who knows?
And what shall I say if a wretch should propose

e?

I am thinking if Aunt knew so little of sin,
What a wonder Aunt Tabitha's aunt must have been !
And her grand-aunt-it scares me- how shockingly sad
That we girls of to-day are so frightfully bad!

A martyr will save us, and nothing else can;

Let me perish-to rescue some wretched young man !
Though when to the altar a victim I go,

Aunt Tabitha will tell me she never did so !

-From the Atlantic Monthly for March.

THE FOUNDERS AND DECEASED CONTRIBUTORS OF THE GUARDIAN.

BY THE EDITOR.

Rev. E. H. Hoffheins.

In Abbottstown, Adams County, Pa., there is a marble monument in the village grave-yard, erected by the Reformed congregation there to the memory of a departed pastor. It is a plain monument some ten feet high, with a suitable inscription. Underneath it sleeps in God Rev. E. H. Hoffheins. Not far from here, in Dover Township, York County, he had been born, September 18, 1815. And on March 28, 1863, he fell gently asleep in Abbottstown as pastor of this charge, where devout men carried him to his grave, followed by a grateful flock, amid much lamentation and weeping.

Not the life of a great man, in the usual sense of the term, will I here describe, but of a good man, an humble country pastor, whose memory remains embalmed in hundreds of grateful hearts. His life consists of the humble characteristics and earnest tough battles, which mark the history of many useful men. He was born of humble parentage, the child of a farmer who from his birth seemed destined to thrive by the plough rather than the pulpit. In Dover Township, York county, Pa., his father was for many years engaged in tilling his farm. He was known as an industrious, thrifty farmer, who strove to lead a godly life. For many years he served as an Elder in the Reformed Church under the pastoral care of Dr.

Daniel Ziegler. His first son, the subject of this sketch, was born September 18, 1815. Though American born, the parents spoke German. Indeed this language was almost exclusively spoken in this neighborhood. Schools were then few, and of an inferior quality. The community seemed to have cared little about them. Thus E. II. Hoffheins learned to speak his mother-tongue, as it was then spoken among Pennsylvania Germans. He says, "My schooling was very poor, and consisted of a little reading, writing and arithmetic. I was able to read both in English and German, but did not understand any English, not even that used in common conversation."

From a very young boy he was trained to farm work, and continued at hard labor until he was nineteen years of age. He was strictly brought up according to the teachings and customs of the Reformed Church. In early childhood he was baptized. As there were then no Sunday-schools in that region of country, his religious training was confined to the efforts of his parents. He became a catechumen of Dr. D. Ziegler, in the Streher's Reformed congregation, in which he was confirmed May 18, 1833.

Already in early life he had a strong desire to enter the Gospel Ministry. For a long time the way into the sacred office seemed to be blocked up. His religious privileges were very meagre; the nearest church was three miles off. Religious services were held here but every four weeks. Thus he rarely attended church. No Sunday-school, or weekly religious meeting aided the training of the farmer boy. At least three Sundays out of four he was tempted to mis-spend. He says:

Many a Sabbath was thus idly and wickedly spent. Some in playing ball, pitching pennies, fishing and hunting. Oh, what a blessing those children enjoy who have the benefits of regular Sabbath preaching and Sabbathschool instruction. * * Besides this, they have the influence of religious people around them. A thousand times have I regretted, that none of these blessings were accorded me in my younger years. A thousand times have I looked back, and wondered how I happened to escape. What could have influenced me to undertake so great and responsible a work? It could have been no other but the hand of God.

One winter evening, when I was about eight or nine years old, my mother perhaps made a remark, the importance of which she little felt at the time. I was sitting in the room, repeating some Scripture passage from Ephesians vi., which I had learned in school. Upon hearing this she said she thought I would one day become a preacher, as I could learn so much by heart out of the Bible."

The remark made an abiding impression upon him. Ever thereafter he had a strong desire to become a minister of the Gospel. For a long while he pondered over it, but shrank from revealing his desire, lest his friends and acquaintances would ridicule