It

that love that he who is altogether lovely hath put into my heart, years ago, for my dear Mr. Savage. I believe it is reciprocal; and though business, and other avocations, prevent our frequent interview, yet in heaven our mutual love will be known, and we employed in praising the God of love for evermore. Till then, I desire to work hard for him here below. It is very pleasant, and our Lord causes it to prosper in my unworthy hands. Great is the harvest, indeed-greater than ever. is supposed that, in Yorkshire, in about a week, above 60,000 souls heard the Gospel. On Whit-Sunday, Howarth church was almost thrice filled with communicants. We had a feast of fat things. Even in Manchester, some, I believe, have listed under the Redeemer's banner. All was quiet there. I am now going to Kendal and Whitehaven, to beat up for fresh recruits, and to exhort those that have already listed to behave like good soldiers of Jesus Christ. This is a petition I beg my dear, dear Mr. Savage to put up for me. Fain would I die fighting. Fain would I hold out to the end. Fain would I be kept from flagging in the latter stages of my road. Jesus is able to do this for me and you. And he is faithful who hath promised, and he also will do it. Let us, then, look up, my dear brother, my dear friend, and go on our way rejoicing. I commend you, and your dear yoke-fellow, and dear little maiden, to his never-failing mercy. I send you as hearty good wishes as ever came from the soul of one friend for another, and why? Because I am, my very dear Sir, Yours most affectionately, in our eternal Lord Jesus, G. W.

perfected in the celestial world. There, distance of place or difference of sentiment will never interrupt the communion of saints.

O that our thoughts were more employed in meditating on the heavenly world! Probably this might have a tendency to stir us up to give more diligence to make our calling and our election sure. We profess to be only strangers and sojourners here; that here we have no continuing city, but to be looking for one to come. A young man under age, who is heir to a large estate, is often ready to be looking forward, and thinking how rich and happy he shall be at such a period. And may not the heir of glory do so, with infinitely greater propriety? Most certainly he may. I rejoice that Providence seems to be appearing for you, in sending you a minister. I wish he may be one divinely furnished for sanctuary service. To have an able gospel minister, in the discharge of whose work faithfulness and affection are united, is an inestimable mercy. Your trials at Bicester have been singular. Perhaps the Lord has thereby been fitting you for a degree of prosperity. A severe winter often prepares the ground for fruitfulness in summer. We want preparing for the suitable reception and proper enjoyment of our mercies. The Lord frequently does this by trials. Unsanctified trials are the sorest of all judgments. May the refiner and purifier of the sons of Levi answer his glorious character in his gracious conduct amongst you. His dealings with his people, as one said, may be sometimes keen, but always kind. It becomes us always to be on our watchtower, looking out for the coming of the Son of Man. Yesterday an aged Christian was as well as usual, and died in a few moments, in our town. What a change! To be conversing with mortals, in a world of sin and sorrow, and singing before the throne with adoring

angels and admiring saints, in the regions of purity and peace, within the compass of an hour! Imagination cannot conceive the nature and happiness of such a change.

interest in your prayers at the throne of But I must have done. Begging an

grace,

ON THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST.

HAIL, sacred morn!
That spring, or winter drear,
Or autumn's golden ear,
Didst with thy beam adorn :
When, of the Hebrew maid,
The SON OF GOD was born,
And in a manger laid.
--Then that prophetic star,
Athwart the heaven divine,
Did on the Magi shine,
In eastern lands afar.

And hark! on Bethlehem's plain,
The blessed jubilee,

That charmed each shepherd swain,
Loud as the swelling main;
Heaven's highest minstrelsy!

For angels bright and holy,
Through the mid-air descending,
Did purge the night's dark womb,
Of all her irksome gloom,
And shadows melancholy,
Their light and music blending.
"Ye midnight watchers, hail!
That tend your fleecy sheep,
And ceaseless vigils keep,
Lest ravening beasts assail,
While all mankind do sleep.
Fear not to you we bring,
From heaven's eternal King,
The wondrous, joyful story;
For even now is born,
(This long-expected morn,)
The Prince of light and glory!
And Satan's reign is ending,
Behold the fiend descending,
From yon aërial throne!

His power and kingdom gone;
And lost his victory.--
To David's city haste,
The shadows now are flying,
The deeper gloom is chased,
From off the mountains wild;
Go! find the holy child,
In humble manger lying."

So spake the voice divine, The ear with rapture bending, While heavenly quires attending, Their harmony combine : "Glory to God Most High! O'er earth let peace and love Their balmy pinions move; Bid human tears be dry :All silent is heaven's thunder, And God is reconciled, Through the blest Virgin's child: Let men and angels wonder!"

GOD UNSEARCHABLE.

"Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?"-JOB xi. 7,

WE see, O Lord, from day to day,

In every work of thine,

That goodness, power, and skill --which say,
Thou ART! and art DIVINE!

We feel this truth, from hour to hour,
When deep within the heart

Thy Spirit, with resistless power
And love--declares Thou art.
More would we know--Thyself alone
Canst banish every doubt;

Vain all researches of our own
Must be to find thee out.

Oh! teach us, then, thine outward word
To study more and more,
And be its oracles preferr'd,
To perishable lore.

Instruct us to thine inward voice
To lend a wakeful ear;

In its approval to rejoice,

At each rebuke to fear!

Thy word our law, thy voice our guide,
Thy truth our only stay,

Show us a Saviour crucified,

To Thee, the light, the way. Thus be that saving knowledge won, Which only their's can be, Who through the Spirit, and the Son, Are brought, O God! to Thee. BARNARD BARTON.

Christian ministry has been impeded in its operations through an influence not recognized in the New Testament, and a greater curse has been entailed than the flames of Smithfield, or the dun

one discourses, intended, as the title imports, for the use of families. They are, accordingly, very brief, seldom extending to sixteen pages. We are mistaken, however, if they will not be found deeply to interest the general reader, both by the variety of the subjects they comprise, and the

eminent talent not a few of them evince. They are all, as we understand, by living writers, who have furnished, we presume, their several manuscripts to form the whole; but as there is no index of the names, the reader must be left, as we are, to his own conjectures in solving the question, who are the authors.

In the fourth sermon, on the subject of Christian Fellowship, from Acts ii. 47, after a description of the primitive converts, as those who should be saved, the duty of uniting in communion with believers is enforced, and the following passage occurs, containing, as we think, remarks highly important to Christian churches, who, in the present day of cheap and facile profession, are not unfrequently in danger of being too much influenced by the secular respectability, rather than the piety of those who are candidates for their communion; hence worldly men have, not unfrequently, gained that ascendancy which was only due to moral and Christian worth; and as a necessary consequence, the church has been secularized in her administration, where the form was scriptural and pure; pure; the

latter proved to the church but the furnace of purification, the former is a millstone about her neck; nor is

it the less weighty and ruinous, though fastened with a chain of gold. The passage we allude to is the following:

"Another motive to Christian fel

lowship is, that we may receive and im

part spiritual blessings, and be edified by the mutual faith of one another. Solitary piety is in danger of being extinguished, or if not its flame languishes; but as iron

sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Who has not found his mind invigorated and inspired with new energies, by uniting in social worship, where all the varied gifts of Christian brethren are engaged in supplication and in praise, and where the cloud of incense ascends from the altar to the throne above. Here it is we have the power of co-operating with God, in the diffusion of truth and piety; and in no

other way can we so effectually advance the great purposes of his kingdom upon earth. While however it is the duty and the interests of all real converts to unite themselves to a Christian society, it is much to be lamented that any but such should obtrude upon the sacred enclosure. All unconverted persons that are admitted to communion bring with them an alloy that debases the gold of the sanctuary;

instead of adding strength to the church by their accession, they debilitate and relax all its energies, they weaken the hands that already hang down, and the feeble knees. Along with their influence or their wealth they bring with them so much carnal policy, so much of a worldly spirit, and so much moral contagion, that they corrupt and defile the holiest things, and paralyse the affections and the By their means the ordinances of the Gospel fall into disesteem, and its discipline into neglect and desuetude."-pp. 51, 52.

efforts of the most efficient constituents.

The discourse on the "Agency of Providence," from Rev. xii. 16.

contains the following pertinent remarks on the connection between the progress of knowledge and the advancement of religion; a subject which, in our humble opinion, needs yet more, in some quarters, to be understood and enforced; we would particularly recommend it to the attention of our youthful readers, who have a taste for intellectual improvement. The following views have our most cordial suffrage.

"The earth is still aiding the church by a great variety of institutions, which have for their object the general improvement of mankind. Seminaries of learning, scientific projections, benevolent societies, the circulation of books, and a general system of education among the poor, have their origin in human wisdom and policy, without any immediate view to the interests of religion; yet those interests are materially served by them. It is by the grossest ignorance and darkness that men become the passive instruments of power, that their minds and consciences are enslaved; and it is chiefly through the operations of voluntary institutions, where a large mass of intellect is concentrated for the purpose of sending forth the streams of knowledge and science, that the human faculties are fertilised and improved, and the lowest ranks of society rise into the independence of human beings, and are prepared for the investigation of moral and religious truth. Whatever tends to excite a love for reading, or to awaken a spirit of enquiry, is ultimately beneficial to the church of God. The nature also of Christianity is such that it can never be injured, or its evidence impaired, by the most powerful efforts of reason; like the pure gold it loses none of its worth or its lustre by the fire. Real learning is its most efficient ally, and cannot but advance its interests; it is a religion of evidence, and light is essential to its growth and propagation. No intelligent Christian, no one who understands the genius of the Gospel, can possibly be averse to the advancement of learning; it is a harbinger to prepare the way, and accelerate its progress through the earth."pp. 223, 224.

In perusing the collection, we discover the unequivocal traces of a master, whose hand may be known, like that of some eminent artist, though employed only on a sketch. This circumstance alone will confer a value and importance

on the work. Without attempting to be more explicit, we shall leave to our readers the pleasure of judging for themselves, assuring them they will not fail to be amply repaid. The following beautiful remarks are selected from the sermon on the "Glory of the Resurrection."

"Our present corporeal frame, though fearfully and wonderfully made, is of a feeble texture; it is a frail tabernacle, fitted only for a temporary residence, and liable to innumerable accidents and dangers. On the least exertion we are subject to fatigue, and require repose in order to recruit the exhausted energies of nature. The senses also are weak and feeble, and unable to meet the demands of the mental faculties; the eye becomes dim with seeing, the ear is oppressed with hearing, and all is vanity and vexation of spirit. In process of time the keepers of the house begin to tremble, and the strong men bow themselves; the silver cord is loosed, and the golden bowl is broken. But the body we shall receive at the resurrection is strong and durable, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We shall be as the angels of God, who excel in strength, and flourish in immortal youth and vigour. The lapse of ages makes no impression on their celestial forms, but they retain all their pristine youth and beauty; hence the angels which appeared at the sepulchre resembled young men, clothed in long white garments, though they must have existed some thousands of years before. Of the powerful agency of these celestial beings we may form some conception, from the account given of their operations in the Holy Scriptures. In one night an angel smote all the first-born of Egypt, and in one night a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. Well, therefore, may they be styled the mighty angels, or giants of the celestial order: yet shall the saints vie with them in strength, when they come to bear the image of the second Adam, who is head over all principality and power, thrones and dominions being made subject unto him.

"The body in its present state is liable to constant fluctuations, to pain and sickness, and a great variety of disorders; the seeds of which are thickly sown in the human constitution, and the causes of life and death are so interwoven that they may both be in operation at the same instant. Every thing within and without tends to disturb the order of nature, and the least collision with other bodies may disorganise its several parts; hence a numerous train of evils is produced, from which no one is exempt. The ordinary course of things