WESLEYAN DAY-SCHOOL EDUCATION.-The valedictory service held at Christmas, at the Training College, Westminster, was this year one of unusual interest. The transition state of the education question, in consequence of the legislation of last session of Parliament, rendered the proceedings anything but formal and perfunctory. The discussions and action during the year, both in and out of Parliament, gave so great an impetus to dayschool education that applications were received at the Training College for teachers to supply about one hundred and thirty new schools. To meet this great and sudden demand, the whole of the first year's students in the College, with the exception of about seventeen, have been given up at once to the work of their profession. The President of the Conference being unable to attend to deliver the valedictory address, his place was ably supplied by the Secretary of the Conference, the Rev. John H. James, D.D., of Hull, who delivered an address well worthy of the occasion. Several short speeches were made by different speakers, all of whom rejoiced, with the teaching staff of the College, that the controversies of the in connecyear tion with the new Elementary Education Act, had not hindered, as some feared, but rather furthered, the establishment of new Wesleyan Day-schools. Indeed, Dr. Rigg, the Principal of the College, expressed his conviction that in a year or two the number of Wesleyan Day-schools would reach at least one thousand. This is matter of rejoicing; for we have the guarantee that the teachers employed are, and will be, godly men and women, who care for the souls of the scholars. These institutions, it is true, are denominational in their management, but are utterly unsectarian in their spirit and object. PARTICULAR RELIGIOUS SERVICES.-Surely the religious services of a special kind which are so extensively held at the close of the old year, and at the beginning of the new, will not be "in vain in the Lord," but will be owned of God. The Watch-night services were interfered with, more or less, through the bad modern habit of late Saturday-night shopping and marketing. These services, however, continue to increase in number, year after year, through the adoption of them by clergymen of the Established Church and Dissenting ministers. The Covenant service, on the first Sunday of the new year, is one of the most solemn and profitable that is held during the twelve months. This year we have heard of several large attendances on the occasion, of spiritual influence imparted, and baptisms of blessing obtained. The week of Special Prayer has now become an institution of Evangelical Churches. It may be hoped that these and other particular services may result in a revival and extension of the work of God. Аст.THE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION This important measure is already in operation-doing some preliminary work. The election of School Boards in London and other large cities and towns has excited throughout the country an unusual interest. The result, so far as men can be judged of by their character and antecedents, is, upon the whole, satisfactory. On the important matter of admitting the Bible to the schools, the constituencies were very decided. The majority of the candidates elected stand pledged to the electors on this matter. Secularists, so called, were almost everywhere out-voted. The Roman Catholics, it is true, who are hostile to the Bible, succeeded in several places in carrying a candidate, and in some cases brought in their man at the head of the poll. This was through the operation of the cumulative vote. In most of the provincial towns each elector had fifteen votes, all of which he might, if so disposed, The result was that give to one candidate. The in Manchester, Sheffield, and Birmingham, The Alpine Missionary: J. T. Rostan. Missionary-Pastor in France, Switzerland, and the Channel Isles. OHN LOUIS ROSTAN was born in the JOHN year 1807, at St. Marcellin, a hamlet in the commune of Vars, Upper Alps. Being gifted with a good memory, he readily learned the little that was taught in the village school. His agricultural employments kept him from many temptations, and his natural timidity tended also to preserve him from the vitiating influence of ungodly company. When he was about seventeen a great transformation took place in his disposition and habits, and the gentle and submissive child, called in derision by his comrades "the little saint," was VOL, L. MARCH, 1871. fast becoming metamorphosed into the selfwilled and opinionated young man. He became impatient of reproof, and gave free rein to the violence and impetuosity of his nature; and none can say to what extremes it might have led him had not the grace of God interposed, and, turning back this mountain torrent to its source, opened up for it a new channel in which its peaceful and wholesome streams might permanently flow. The spiritual pedigree of the saints would form a study of vastly greater interest than the researches of the antiquarian, and if the D 34 : THE ALPINE MISSIONARY. dust of ages could be removed from the names of multitudes of Christian heroes, whose only record is in heaven, a true apostolical succession would be discovered of far more value than the fable in which the Anglicans trust. What Elisha was to Elijah, and Timothy to Paul, that John Rostan was to Felix Neff. In the year 1824, the latter visited Vars for the first time. The simple earnestness of that devoted missionary won the young mountaineer's heart. The early seriousness reappeared, and he began, although still deeply ignorant of the way of salvation, to seek after God. His ignorance and sincerity are both apparent from the prayer that was at this time frequently upon his lips, "O God, make me to know my own heart, and convert me, that I may be happy." The work was not yet accomplished circumstances arose which tested the house built upon the sand, and it fell. In the spring of 1825, Rostan paid a visit to an aunt, living in one of the Vaudois valleys. This was misspent time for him. He gave himself up to his former frivolous pursuits. But a gracious Providence was watching over the future herald of the Cross, and as Evangelist encountered Christian, when he was wandering away from the path he had prescribed to him, so Rostan, in the midst of his follies, was startled by the appearance of Felix Neff. The latter had been invited to visit these valleys, and his visit, so blessed to the Vaudois churches, made a deeper impression than ever on Rostan's soul. In an agony of mind he came to Neff, and said, "What must I do to be saved? Will prayer save me?" "No," he replied, "prayer is not the Saviour: it is only the channel of salvation." He then went on to point out, in a most affectionate strain, the way of salvation. "From that moment," says Rostan, "with a broken heart, I put my hand to the plough; but," he adds, "I put the plough before the oxen. I succeeded in cleansing the outside of the cup, and whitening the sepulchre; but all the refuse was still within. I now for the first time was conscious of the rule of sin in my heart. After many conflicts and falls, I succeeded in bringing myself under a second reformation, which for more than six months I thought to be real conversion. Then, urged forward by a mighty zeal, but a zeal without understanding, I would have traversed land and sea to preach repentance. To convince men of sin was the only thing to which I applied myself. I accosted all I met, without considering persons or rank If I had thought I should be heard, I would have called fire from heaven to consume those who were rebelling against the truth. I believed I knew the way of salvation, whereas I did not yet know my own heart." Toward the close of the year, Rostan returned home, the light was soon to shine upon his mind. During the winter of 1825-6, Neff established a school in the village of Dormilhouse, in the upper part of the wild valley of Freyssinières, where his labours during the summer had been abundantly blessed. Rostan was one of his first pupils. Neff said of him, "Among the best of my scholars, as regards spiritual things and secular too, is John Rostan, of Vars: he is probably destined for the ministry such, at least, is my hope." Intercourse with the Dormilhouse Christians opened Rostan's eyes. Still, he says, "I wished to bring to the Saviour at least a little repentance, or faith or love, but I had none to bring. I asked for signs, visions, miracles, in order to be assured of the pardon. of my sins. Meanwhile, everything seemed to increase my burden and harden my heart, -the tears of penitents as well as the joy of believers-because I could not myself either weep or rejoice. My daily prayer was, 'Lord, show me my sins, pardon my sins, suffer me never to lose sight of my sins, until by Thy grace I am delivered from them."" The Lord did not long leave so earnest a seeker without the consolations of His presence. One day, when he seemed to have reached the furthest extreme of anguish, that mighty word of promise fastened on his mind, "The son of Man is come to save that which was lost!" 66 My heart opened," says he, "and the Sun of Righteousness dawned upon it, bringing faith and, with it, grace, peace, and joy. My burden fell off: my fears of hell and death were gone. Thou, too, art saved then,' said I to myself again and again, since thou art of the number of the lost.' Thus the God I sought revealed Himself to me. By His presence everything in the physical as well as in the moral world, seemed changed. I could say with Solomon, 'The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.' All nature seemed to wear a smile: I felt that I had passed from death unto life." He soon found that the first victory was not, as he supposed, the final one; but, though temptations and trials abounded, he retained his steadfastness by faith in the promises of God. LORD LAWRENCE. The four years Neff spent in the High Alps ruined his health. His labours, even in the depths of winter, were enormous, and pursued with such total disregard of the rigours of those inhospitable climes, that the lowlander was a source of continual astonishment to the hardy highlanders. In the spring of 1827 he was obliged to leave the Alps, and retired to Geneva. The person he selected to carry on his work was John Rostan. He received the charge with trembling. How he acquitted himself of it may be seen from the following account :-" Every three weeks, on an average, I started, with my parents' consent, and went a journey of four, five, six, and even seven leagues to hold meetings on Sunday; and, in order that my parents might have no reason to complain, especially during the summer work, I returned from my expedition during the night of Sunday. When I was tired, I rested myself a little under a tree or beside a corn-stack, and arrived early in the morning at the house of my dear parents, who blamed me for nothing except tiring THE myself too much." His gifts and success clearly pointed out his true vocation; on all sides he was urged to prepare for the office of the ministry in the French Reformed Church. He consequently left for the Faculté de Montauban in the autumn of 1827, but in less than a year returned, partly on account of ill health, and partly from other motives, among which must be reckoned an ardent desire to resume his evangelical labours. After his return, he continued for four years to labour in the field by day, and to preach the Gospel at night to a willing and attentive people. In 1832 he commenced to travel as a colporteur, and in this work spent three years, ever labouring to the utmost of his strength, not contenting himself with the sale of his books, but, as he tells us, "sowing with hands and mouth the incorruptible seed of the Kingdom." But now an incident occurred, which gave an unexpected turn to the current of his history, and determined his vocation for life. (To be continued.) Lord Lawrence, CHAIRMAN OF THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD. THE Elementary Education Act, passed last session of Parliament, has already called into existence School Boards in most of the cities and large towns throughout England. The election of these bodies has excited throughout the country unusual interest; occasioned, no doubt, partly, by the fact that this was the first election under the new Act; partly, by the novel method of voting by the cumulative process; and very mainly by the important powers committed to the Boards by the Act. It is true that these new organizations are not quite supreme in the domain of education; for in several particulars they are subordinate to the old Committee of Council. Still, when it is considered that the practical solution of what is called the "religious difficulty," is largely left to them, and that the whole question of compulsory attendance at school is in their hands, it will be seen at once how very important are the functions which they have to exercise. No wonder, then, that they have excited amongst the people so considerable an interest. The Metropolitan School Board, representing, as it does, three millions of people, attracts, of course, the largest share of public attention. It consists of forty-nine members, two of whom are ladies. The fol. Of these the six following are Wesleyans, of well-known zeal and liberality in the cause of education. The Rev. Dr. Rigg, Sir Frances Lycett, and Messrs. Pearce, Kiell, M'Arthur, and Ingle. The London School Board has been |