ter. Hundreds of these wretches have been convicted by our courts, many of whom are unable to understand a word of our language." Nor is this to be received on the authority merely of our own assertion; the confessions of the convicts themselves prove it. Many of the worst crimes in our country have been committed by these transported convicts. Kobler, the murderer of Zellerbach, now under sentence of death in Pennsylvania, is, according to his own statement, a convict from Germany.

Nor need we here repeat, what our readers have probably read, on the testimony of our Consul at Leipsic and Hesse Cassel, that "not only paupers, but even criminals are transported from the interior of this country, in order to be embarked for the United States." It is further stated, "that a Mr. De Stein, formerly an officer in the service of the Duke of Saxe Gotha, has lately made propositions to the smaller States of Saxony, for transporting their criminals to the United States, at $75 per head; which offer has been accepted by them. The first transport of criminals, who, for the greater part, have been condemned to hard labour for life, (among them are two notorious robbers, Pfeiel and Albracht,) would leave Gotha on the 15th of October, and it is intended by and by to empty all the workhouses and jails of the country in this manner. There is little doubt that several other states will imitate the nefarious practice."

"It is also attested, that it has of late become a general practice in the towns and boroughs of Germany to get rid of their paupers and vicious members, by collecting the means for effecting their passage to the United States among the inhabitants, and by supplying them from the public funds."

Such details as these, are not furnished with any invidious motive, or from a wish to vindicate our national character at the expense of others; but the facts which we have stated are either not known, or not sufficiently appreciated, as adding an item of fearful magnitude to the amount of our national crime.

In the midst of all these things, the church of Christ has been asleep, or has mingled too much in the idolatries of others. Too many of her members have been as busily engaged in amassing wealth to consume upon their lusts; and have become as rich, and as proud, and luxurious, and hardhearted as others. And is it not high time for God to interpose, if he would find faith on the earth? And shall he not visit us for these things? Shall not his soul be avenged on such

a nation as this? And is it cause for surprise, that a people so laden with iniquity should have come into their " present distress?" Is it not a marvel rather that they have not been overtaken sooner, and made to suffer more?

Would we then do a duty which the times imperatively enjoin, let us recognise the providential hand of God in this calamity. The rod will not rest on our lot any longer than it is needful for our welfare. So soon as we have been brought to say in true contrition-"I have done iniquity; I will do no more" he will unveil the sun of prosperity, just so far as we are able to bear it. Let us see in this distress the chastening of a Father, who still loves our nation, if not for their own, at least for their fathers' sakes. He has a glorious agency for us to sustain in carrying forward his purposes of grace in the earth.

And when we call to mind, not our ill deserts only, but his severe dealings with others, we are constrained to adopt the prophet's expostulation with the murmuring Jews, and ask "Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? Or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it; he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged."

Another important duty which the times prescribe to every lover of order and law, is to do all in his power to suppress undue popular excitement to exert his influence in favour of subordination to lawful authority.

The materials of which a community like ours is composed, contains a goodly proportion of explosive ingredients, which are easily ignited. Amidst the collisions of parties and the conflicting interests of the different classes of society, there is constant danger of eliciting the sparks which will set them on fire. To rouse the populace, and throw them into a tumult, as every one knows, is exceedingly easy, no matter what the cause, whether imaginary or real, just or unjust. Among them all, we know there are few who ever reflect or form opinions for themselves; they are accustomed to follow the commands of their leader, whose nod is a plenary commission for them to undertake, without investigation, whatever he may wish to have accomplished; to commit, if he please, excesses of the most atrocious description. How much has occurred within the observation of the reader, it is needless to mention. We do not deny, what is so palpable

to all, that the evils with which our land is afflicted are to be traced to certain well defined sources. It is as true in our day as it was in Solomon's, that, " as the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come." Nor will any dispute, that the agency of many in procuring the present distress, has been criminal and inexcusable. That in numberless examples, the honest and industrious are the victims of oppression and fraud; that they are made to suffer most severely in many cases who deserve it least. "It is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation." Every friend of virtue, honour, morals, and religion, must express the same opinion with regard to the evil, yet the surest method of redress, is not always to be learned from those who are most forward to suggest it. Least of all is the counsel which the times demand, to be sought in the tumultuous and excited popular assembly; nor to be gleaned from the anonymous paragraphs of an irresponsible press, which is uttering opinions as multifarious as the tongues of Babel. On the other hand, it should be the aim of the sober and judicious of all political parties, and of every order of society, from the lowest upward, to repress all undue excitement, and correct erroneous opinions that are emanating from such misjudging and contradictory oracles. And while the minds of many are chafed and embittered by losses and disappointments, and harassed by claims which they are unable to meet, how im portant that they be preserved from resorting to any expedients for relief of their trouble which would only make it greater. That right is better waived, (for the present at least,) which, by reason of the disorders of the times, is not secured to us by the regular operation of law. And no man that sitteth down first and counteth the cost, will ever forsake the constitutional tribunals of justice, and appeal for redress to the equity of a mob.

Above all, would we discharge the most important duties prescribed by the present distress, we shall use it to commend our holy religion.

In the midst of so many evils which are suited to disturb the spirits, and harrow the soul with anxiety, how important that we point to the rest and tranquillity which they enjoy who have taken refuge with David, "in the secret place of the Most High, and who abide under the shadow of the Almighty." For, "though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,"

they are not disquieted. "For, in the time of trouble, he shall hide them in his pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide them; he shall set them up upon a rock."

While disastrous occurrences, from day to day, are reminding us of that familiar and yet so little heeded monition," that riches certainly make to themselves wings; they fly away, as an eagle toward heaven;" let us not neglect to impress the moral of every such event, as it is furnished in the words of personified Wisdom: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;" and, "take no thought, (that is, no undue thought, no excessive, anxious, idolatrous, or atheistic thought,) saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink?` or, wherewithal shall we he clothed? for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:"-the mere worldlings, the disbelievers in Providence-the men whose sole dependence is upon themselves, without regard to God's providential blessing. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

We are well aware that there is no necessary nor perceptible connexion between the sorrow of the world, for temporal calamities, and a godly sorrow for sin; and yet the gracious Dispenser of spiritual influences is often pleased, in answering prayer, to make the former instrumental in preparing the heart for the latter. Thus, the afflictions of Israel, in the days of Joel, by the desolation of their fields, led them to fasting and humiliation, and a subsequent blessing. The happy reformation of Judah, in the time of Hezekiah, was cotemporaneous with their perils from the army of Sennacherib.

The distress of the times was great in Scotland in 1625, and onwards; when the spirit of God came down upon the labours of Dickson, and Livingston, and Welsh, and Forbes, and Rutherford, and others, and converts were multiplied like the drops of the morning. It was a day of rebuke and blasphemy in Ireland, in the former part of the seventeenth century, when the church enjoyed a refreshing from the Lord, which has been recorded as "one of the largest manifestations of the Spirit since the days of the Apostles." "When it was sweet (as ecclesiastical history reports) for Christians to come thirty and forty miles to the solemn

communions which they had; and there continue from the time they came until they returned, without wearying or making use of sleep; yea, but little of either meat or drink, and, as some of them professed, they did not feel the need thereof, but went away more fresh and vigorous-their souls so filled with the love of God." Nor will it be forgotten that it was during the public distress of 1837, that the Lord was pleased to visit one of our cities, containing 6000 or 7000 inhabitants; when, in the progress of the work, it was confidently believed that more than one in six who were not already professors of religion, became the subjects of grace.

How far these public afflictions, which, it need hardly be observed, are not confined to our country, but which in varied forms, more or less affect the whole earth; how far they are, as some suppose, the beginning of that "distress of nations with perplexity," which are to be the harbingers of "the Saviour's coming with power and great glory," to regenerate the world, we do not undertake to decide. That the times in which we live are portentous as well as peculiar, is the opinion, not of many religious observers merely, but of the most sagacious among the men of the world. "The very politician, purely in the way of cause and effect, anticipates a wide wasting war of principles, and a series of political convulsions, upon a scale of appalling magnitude; and, with his anticipations, the devout student of prophecy, deriving his expectations from a higher source, fully and unreservedly concurs."

That the state of blessedness denoted in the scriptures, by "the coming of the Lord," is to be preceded by a season of unparallelled judgments, is a sentiment in which the expounders of prophecy are generally agreed; however they may differ with regard to the nature, the time, and manner of his advent: whether it is to be a coming in person, or only in spirit-to be pre-millennial according to some, or after the millennium, as is contended by others—they all concur in the opinion that a prolonged day of "tribulation" is to go before it.

From the prophecy of Daniel it is evident, that "the kingdom which the God of heaven shall set up will break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms. And without recurring to those great political disasters in both Europe and Asia, in which these words have been progressively receiving their fulfilment they clearly import that every hinderance to