Transubstantiation.

Absurdity.

'that the bread and wine are changed by the consecration into the body and blood of Christ; and are so changed that Christ himself, true God and true man, is truly, really, and substantially present in the sacrament.' With this doctrine in view, I went to witness the administration of the Eucharist. I went to St. Peter's, in Barclay Street. The communicants drew around the altar upon their knees. With a little box in his hand, the priest passed from one to the other, taking a wafer, smaller than that used in sealing a let ter, from the box, and placing it upon the extended tongue of the communicant. I was always taught that the teeth must not touch the wafer-that it must melt upon the tongue. This I find to be the law of the Church. I witnessed the ceremony, as I had often done before. I retired from the scene asking these questions: Is that little wafer the real body and blood of Christ? Does the priest, in that little box, not as large as a snuff-box, carry two or three hundred real bodies of Christ? Do these communicants, each in their turn, eat the real body and blood of Christ? I can not express the violence with which my mind rejected the absurdity. Look at it in what light you may, it is abhorrent to our common reason: it gives the lie to every sense with which God has endowed us. It is a wicked imposition. It is an impious priestly hoax, which, if practiced by a juggler, would subject him to the penalties of the law against blasphemy.

"Having gone through this process, not with a light and trifling, but with a serious mind, my prejudices rising in stormy rebellion against my convictions, I

The delusion gone.

Nothing left.

raised my eyes, and behold, my religion was gone! The priest was a juggler, and his religion a fable! Every thing that I had ever learned from parent and priest to esteem as religion was now rejected as false; and not knowing but that this was all of religion that was in the world, I had no alternative but infidelity. I had no test of truth but my reason, and when I brought the Roman Catholic system to that, I was compelled to reject it, not only as false, but as a monstrous absurdity, and with it all religion.”

Rev. Dr. Mason.

A probationer.

CHAPTER II.

Hears Rev. Dr. Mason.-Conversion. -Joins the Brick Presbyterian Church.- His first Prayer in Public.-Letter from Rev. Mr. Steele.-Meets Rev. Dr. Proudfit.-Letter from him.-Encouraged to study for the Ministry.-Goes to Amherst Academy.Writes to Rev. Dr. Griffin.-Letter from him.

IN the perplexity and darkness which beset him when compelled to abandon the miserable religion he brought with him from Ireland, Mr. Murray was kindly and rapidly guided into the way of light and truth. During the months of his conflict, and while he was actually persuading himself that the conflict was over, and all religions were alike impostures unworthy of his belief, he was led one day to hear a sermon by the Rev. Dr. John M. Mason, and another and another. One from that distinguished preacher on the First Epistle of Peter shattered his poor fabric of infidelity into fragments. He awoke to the consciousness of his condition as a sinner in need of salvation. The way of life by Christ Jesus was opened to him by the Spirit. He was received as a member on probation in the Methodist Church, and so remained for a year

or more.

About this time he was thrown into association with some of the young men who belonged to the Brick Presbyterian Church, of which the Rev. Dr. Spring was pastor. He had sought religious counsel

Mr. Kirk.

Rev. J. B. Steele.

and instruction from Dr. Mason, whose reception did not encourage him to repeat his visit. But his young companions soon brought him into communion with Dr. Spring, and when his religious views became more settled, and he had had time to give the subject serious study and reflection, he made a public profession of religion in this church.

In the autumn of the year 1820 young Murray, still in the employment of the Harpers, became a boarder in the house of Mr. Kirk, in Liberty Street. Mr. Kirk was a worthy and well-known member of the Church of the Rev. Dr. Mason, and one of the straitest of the denomination that held fast to the forms and faith of the Kirk of Scotland. Equally did he hold in abhorrence the practice of reading sermons in the pulpit and the use of Watts' hymns. Dr. Mason, with others of the Church which he adorned, had established a school for the instruction of young men in theology, and the families of the Church were in the habit of "taking student boarders," thus giving them important assistance in making their way through their divinity course. Among the students to whom this kindness was extended was one who is now the Rev. J. B. Steele, of the Reformed Dutch Church. He gives me his recollections of that winter with Nicholas Murray :

"In the winter of 1820, I resided with Mr. George Kirk in Liberty Street, and was a student in my senior year, in Dr. Mason's Seminary, receiving the instruction of Dr. Alexander M'Leod, Dr. Alexander M'Clelland, and Dr. John Knox. Mr. Kirk was a

Margerie M'Leod.

The young Irishman.

Scotchman of the old school, very intelligent, pious, orthodox, and a great hater of Dr. Watts' Psalms and Hymns. He was a member of Dr. Mason's Church. There was also in the family a maiden lady of great intelligence and piety, Margerie M'Leod. She was a prim lady, wore a high turban, was very dignified in her manners, and a very kind-hearted woman. She still lives, and is over ninety years of age. She had a select school of young ladies from the best families in the city, the second school of the kind in New York after Mrs. Graham's. She had with her in her school her niece, an educated young lady. Into this family came young Murray in the fall of 1821; he was seventeen or eighteen years of age. At that time he was a stout, thick-set, clumsy-looking boy. He was singularly dressed; had a round, open, generous face; was full of Irish wit, humor, joke, and blunder. His manners, though awkward, were soon overlooked, and he became the favorite of the whole family. At every meal we anticipated his good humor; and, while we all enjoyed his pleasantries, it was not long before we discovered that he possessed real native talent, and the high-turbaned lady was the first to say, 'That young man should be educated.' Mr. Kirk kept a store, which prevented him frequently from attending morning prayers, and sitting with his family at meals; and it usually fell to my lot to conduct the devotions of the family, ask a blessing and return thanks, according to the good old custom, when people had time to eat and thank the Lord. Murray at this time had. made a profession of religion, and appeared to be a