NEWELL
11
NEWFOUNDLAND
ters and the sermon preached at her fimeral, has passed through many editions in its Enghsh dress, and has also been translated into foreign languages. The cause of missions has been greatly promoted by the delinea- tion of her character and the description of her suffer- ings. Says Dr. Whedon, of the Mcth. Qu. Rei: (April, 1875, p. 346) : " Both Samuel J. Mills and Harriet New- ell perhaps accomplished more by their early death in the mission field than they would have done by the most efficient life. Their memories shed a sacredness over their work. . . . There was a pathos in the life and death, especially, of Harriet Newell that touched the heart. The Church at home saw that her mission- aries were capable of the most heroic self-sacrifice, and could meet death in triumph ; and how could she shrink from the enterprise to which she was so evidently called?" See Jaraieson, Cyclop, of Mod. Relkjious Bioij- raphy, s. v. ; Pierson, A mer. Miss. Memorial, s. v. ; also Memoirs of Harriet Newell, by Samuel Newell ; Eddy, Daughters of the Cross; Heroines of the Missionary En- terprise ; Women of Worth ; Anderson, Hist, of the 3Iis- sions of the A . B. C. F. M. in India (Bost. 1874). (J. H. W.)
Newell, Samuel, a noted American missionary and Congregational minister, was born July 24, 1784, at Durham, Me. He graduated at Harvard College, class of 1807, and studied theology at Andover. He was, with four others, ordained a missionary Feb. G, 1812, in Salem, whence, with the Rev. INIr. Judson, he sailed for Calcutta, where they arrived June 18, but were ordered to leave the country. Mr. Newell sailed for the Isle of France, and arrived Oct. 31. Feb. 24, 1813, he went to Ceylon, where he remained until early in 1814, when he removed to Bombay, where he labored faithfully for the Christian cause until removed by sudden death from cholera, March 29, 1821. In connection with Mr. Hall he wrote The Conversion of the World, or the Claims of Six Hundred Millions (Andover, 1818), and a Memoir of Harriet Newell (q. v.). Sir. Newell was one of the first of the American missionaries in foreign fields, and a signer of the paper which led to the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. See Sprague, Annals oftiie Amer. Pulpit, ii, 538.
Newell, Thomas Marquis, an American Pres- byterian minister, was born at Cross Creek, AVashington County, Pa., Oct. 10,1815. He made an early profes- sion of religion and joined the Church. In 1834 he graduated at Washington College, Pa., and in 1836 at the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny City, Pa. Soon after he was licensed, and in 1843 was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Wells- burg, Va. In 1851 he removed to Jacksonville, HI., where he taught in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, mean- while preaching in the surrounding destitute regions. In 1857 he took charge of the Church of Waynesville, where he labored until his death. May 10, 1865. Mr. Newell was one of the original members in the organi- zation of Bloomington Presbytery in 1850, and was the first commissioner from that presbytery to the General Assembly. As a man, he was naturally modest and un- assuming: as a preacher, clear, pointed, and experi- mental; as a citizen, intensel}- interested in national af- fairs, giving all his influence against slaverj'. See Wilson, Fresh. Hist. Almanac, 1866, p. 139. (J. L. S.)
New England Theology. SeeTHEoi>oGY,N.E.
New Fire, a term for the fire kindled on Easter Eve in Romish and Anglican churches for relighting the church lamps, which were extinguished on Good Friday, though in some places the upper candle of the tenebnc was reserved for the purpose, and in others, as at Rome in 750, in the pontificate of Zozimus, three lamps were concealed, emblematical of the three da^vs in which Jesus lay in the tomb; but usually the new flame was kindled by a burning-glass from the sun, as a type of the Orient on high, or, as mentioned by Leo IV in the 9th century, from a flint, symbolical of the Rock
(1 Cor. X, 4), as at Florence, from one brought from Je- rusalem in the time of the Crusaders. The rekindling represented both the resurrection and the fire which Christ came to cast upon the earth (Matt. xii,49). The fire was used to light three tapers branching from a common stock in the form of a lance. See Walcott, Sacred A rchmology, p. 397, 398.
Newfoundland, an island and British colony of North America, lies in the Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, separated from Labrador on the north by the Strait of Belle Isle (about twelve miles broad), and extending in lat. from 46^ 38' to 51° 37' N., and in long, from 52^ 44' to 59^ 30' W., is 370 iniles in length, 290 miles in breadth, about 1000 miles in circumference, and has an area of 38,850 square miles, or about 23,000,000 acres, of which only about 3,000,000 are set down as good for cultivation, and even of these but little has thus far been much tilled. In 1845 the only crops raised were oats and hay ; but with- in recent years large supplies of grain and vegctaljle and garden seeds have been imported, and in 1869 the number of acres under cultivation was 41,715. It will now probably not run far from 50,000 acres. The pop- ulation of Newfoundland has increased rapidly in recent times, and will no doubt in a short time greatly enlarge the figures for land under cultivation. In 1763 New- foundland only counted about 7500 souls; in 1874 it re- ported by census 101,455, from which, however, 8651 must be deducted for settlers of the French shores, and 2416 for Labrador. The main employment of these people is fishing, vrhich has proved a very profitable source of income. The mineral wealth of the country is also very great, and has in recent times been greatly developed. Newfoundland's surface is diversified by mountains, marshes, barrens, ponds, and lakes. The mountains in the Avalon Peninsula (stretching south- east from the main portion of the island, and connected with it by an isthmus of only about three miles in width) rise in some cases to 1400 feet above sea-level ; while, both here and along the western shore, the height of 1000 feet is frequently reached. The number of the lakes and "ponds" (the latter name being used indis- criminately for a large or a small lake) is remarkable, and it has been estimated, though perhaps with some exaggeration, that about one third of the whole surface is covered with fresh water. The " barrens" occupy the tops of hills. The coast-line is everj'where deeply in- dented with bays and estuaries, many of which are spa- cious enough to contain the whole British nav}'. Of these inlets, the principal, beginning from the northern extremity of the island, are Hare, White, Notre Dame, Bonavista, Trinity, Conception, St. Mary's, Placentia, Fortune, St. George's, and St. John's bays. These bays vary in length from twenty-five to seventy miles, are of great breadth, and are lined — as indeed the whole coast is — with excellent harbors. The rivers, none of which are navigable for anj' distance, communicate be- tween the lakes of the interior and the shore, and are narrow and winding; occasion all}', however, they are turned to account in driving machinery. The main streams are the Exploit, with its affluent the Great Rattling, and the Ilumber. The climate of the island is very moderate. In the summer the thermometer rarely ranges above 70°, and in winter it seldom foils below zero; yet the cold weather remains so steady for seven or eight months that the winters are pro- nounced severe. Verj' little activity is manifest during that period of the year.