Public Prayer Meetings.

Amid the general destruction of property, and the affecting loss of life, it is truly delightful to witness the solemnizing and quickening effects produced upon the community by this striking visitation; the careless have been awakened, the slothful have been aroused, and the zealous have been stimulated to increased activity; prayer, earnest and devout, has been all but universal. In town and country, all the places of worship have been opened almost every night for religious exercises, and crowded congregations have engaged in these exercises with the most lively interest. Many who have not for years attended any place of worship, and who rarely, if ever, bowed a knee to God, have been brought to cry like the Philippian Jailor—“What must I do to be saved?” There has indeed been a great awakening—a shaking of hearts as well as of houses. God has been working, and many we hope will be turned permanently to the Lord. An unusual amount of labour and responsibility is devolved upon the Ministers of the Gospel, Sabbath School Teachers, Christian Parents, and all who profess the Gospel, that by their prayers, instructions, and example, they may help forward the work that has been so unexpectedly and auspiciously begun. Come, O breath of the Lord, breathe upon us that we may live!