'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.' But further, the christian must also be a patriot christian. Patriotism is one of the noblest of qualities. Christians ought therefore to speak of what God has done in the past for the land in which they live. The present is only the continuation of the past; it is all that is left of it, so to speak; it is the result of all those combined influences that have been operating for centuries, by which each of us must necessarily be more or less affected, and by which God has been working for us long before we were born. To neglect or overlook these is not to acknowledge what God has been doing for us before we had a being. Whatever God has been doing either in the land we live in, in the church of which we are members, or in the families with which we are connected, is just his manner of working for us before we came into existence. We are the heirs of the past. We have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.' And the deliverances he has wrought in the church ought to be matter of grateful praise to all generations. Another subject of frequent discourse ought to be the sins of the land against God, whether past or present. These ought to be remembered with deep humiliation, and bewailed with mourning, lamentation, and woe. When God visits for these things, a mark is set upon those who sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land. Sin ought to be confessed; until confessed, it will never be put away; and unconfessed sin, whether in a nation, in a church, in a community, or an individual, seals up the windows of heaven, hinders the descent of the Spirit, and the success of the preached gospel; for when sin is not felt, the gospel itself cannot profit, even as the most efficient remedy will be altogether unavailing while the disease is unacknowledged. If, then, we would not have those divine influences restrained, by which the means of grace and the gospel ministry become effectual unto salvation, we should confess the sins of the land. This is work to which we are now specially called. Iniquity is abounding; it has broken forth and overspread the land. "The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.' 'By swearing, and lying, and stealing, and killing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood; therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish.' For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is evil, and their force is not right.' The name of God is blasphemed-his day profaned-and a tide of semi-barbarism is setting in. Men's moral sense is becoming extinct; it is burnt out, as it were, like an exhausted volcano, blackened and consumed to a cinder by the flames of ungodliness. Well, then, does it become those that fear the Lord to be found considering, and confessing, and bewailing the sins that are lying upon the land, taking up the language of Daniel—' We, our kings, our princes, and our fathers, have sinned against thee and done wickedly;' or that of Jeremiah, O that my head were waters,

and mine eyes fountains of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!' A more noble position cannot be imagined, than thus to stand in the breach-to come between the living and the dead, as advocates and intercessors with God for a guilty nation; with confessions and supplications, earnestly pleading that He would turn away from the fierceness of his righteous indignation, and pardon and pass by, for his name's sake, the iniquities and transgressions wherewith the people have transgressed against him. But, as in the confession of personal sin, it is not the mere acts of sin that we should confess, but ought to trace them up to their source, the sins of our youth and the sins of our nature; so should we trace national sin to its source. We should look to those fountains of degeneracy whence they flow-a neglected gospel, violated engagements, broken covenants, and national support and countenance given to the enemies of the Lord.

Once more, christians should commune together respecting what can be done to stem the tide of abounding iniquity; to encourage one another, and to stimulate one another in this great work. As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend.' Means must be used-something must be done; and the question is not, What could be done, if all men would unite to do it? but, What can we do each in his own sphere, however narrow or however humble? What can be done-what ought to be done for the locality immediately around us? What plans can be devised? what efforts can be made? Let us take counsel together. Men in earnest will not meet and part without some important result of their conferences, to tell, for aught they know, on generations yet unborn-to go down the stream of time to a distant posterity and a far-off future-bearing, with deathless influence, on unforeseen, unthought of destinies. Christian society has no time to trifle; or, at all events, that time is not the present. In this utilitarian age, all things are made subservient to the advancement of science, the acquisition of gain, or some one of the many objects so keenly pursued by the world. All men are busy -shall the christian be idle? In the closet, in the family, in the sanctuary, he acknowledges that the vows of the Lord are upon him. In society, is there no christian obligation to be discharged?-no christian duty to be performed? Fellow-christians! ye that bear the name of Jesus, rouse to this consideration. Imitate that example, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.' The honour of God demands it. The cause of Christ demands it. The safety of the church demands it. National privileges demand it. National sins demand it. A day of grace far spent, and a coming night, demand it. A night of shadows far spent, and a breaking morn, demand it. Let not the last trumpet surprise you with idle words' upon your tongue.

THE HEATHEN WORLD AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH; OR, EVANGELIZATION THE INDISPENSABLE DUTY AND PROPER WORK OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.

TRUE christianity is essentially diffusive. Brought by it into a state of safety, comfort, and joy, the christian cannot look with an eye of supercilious arrogance, or cold indifference, on his perishing fellowsinners. His privileges are not exclusive; and he himself is a monument of the freeness of that grace which bestows them. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief.' This, which is the spirit of individual christianity, is also the genius of the church as a divinely-organised society, not voluntarily constituted by the dictates of human sagacity, but having her whole discipline, worship, and order, laws, rulers, and modes of administration, distinctly specified and proclaimed by her divine Head.

On the solemnity of his ascension to his mediatorial throne— when God was among them as in Sinai in his holy place,' He came and spake unto his disciples, and said unto them, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.' Thou hast ascended on high; thou hast led captivity captive; thou hast received gifts for men.' Let us approach here and unrol that heavenly charter so solemnly left behind, and learn from it the privileges and obligations of thy servants and people. The time, the place, the character in which the Saviour spoke-just when sitting down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens-the parties whom he addressed, their relation to him-all, all are instructive. How venerable is this place! Let us at present look particularly to two clauses, referring to two distinct departments of the church's work, which, though apparently incompatible at sometimes, are never really so. (1.) Go and teach all nations. (2.) Teaching them to observe all things.

The church in covenant with Christ, in order to earn the character of faithful, must combine these two things-evangelizing and testifying, -teaching all nations, and teaching all things. Testifying must not supersede evangelizing; evangelizing must not suppress testifying. What he has joined together let no man put asunder. And yet there are two classes of christians by whom this is done. The one class will have the church to teach all things, but overlook the all nations. Their church must be testifying at any expense and at all hazards; but they forget that, to be faithful, she must be evangelizing too. The converse of this is the extreme, into which a more numerous class are ready to fall. They are concerned to teach all nations, but they forget the all things. Their church must be evangelizing, overlooking that, in her high commission, it is provided that she be testifying too-being

at once the pillar and ground of truth; the ground of truth, to hold it fast; the pillar of truth, to hold it forth. Nor does it appear that any compromise is here admissible.

Evangelistic zeal, however ardent, will not compensate for unfaithfulness to the purity of the gospel. The urgency of souls perishing for lack of knowledge did not divert or decoy away the apostolic church from contending for the faith. Paul and Barnabas have gone down through Attalia and are come to Antioch, where they are gathering in a rich harvest; for the Lord is giving testimony to the word of his grace. But they come to a stand; they abandon the scene of their success, and go back to Jerusalem, where all the apostles and elders are convened. And the reason is, they must teach not only all nations, but teach them all things which Christ has commanded. Some are insisting that the Gentile converts must be circumcised; and it is necessary that, in this matter, the simplicity, spirituality, and freedom of the gospel be vindicated. The imposition of circumcision on Gentile converts seemed, perhaps, an error in circumstantials; and, as a matter of form, it had, in some instances, been connived at, if not practised, under apostolic sanction. Yet, had this question not been decided as it was; had the christian worship been amalgamated with the Mosaic ritual-such an error, at the first construction of the system, would have permanently impeded its extension and neutralised its influence; and, though for a time this dissension seemed a formidable obstacle to the propagation of the truth, yet, had the apostles not been the uncompromising vindicators, they would not have been the successful disseminators of the gospel.

Under divine direction, the apostle again pauses in his high career. Why? Is his work done? Is his zeal grown cold? Is the door of faith not open to the Gentiles any more? Ah, yes! On the shores of yet unvisited Europe, the man of Macedonia-representative of its pagan millions-is crying, 'Come over and help us.' But the apostle is set for the defence as well as the promulgation of the gospel. The existence of christianity is endangered in a church which he has planted, by perversion of doctrine and infringements on the purity and freedom of discipline; and at this juncture, the first of the controversial epistles, that to the Galatians, is inspired. That they might rightly teach all nations, it was necessary that the apostles should do so in the way of teaching them all things.

And, if we take an extensive view of the history of the progress of christianity, and of the causes of its decline and extinction in large regions of the globe, where it was early promulgated, and appeared for a time impregnably established; if we take an extended survey of the causes still in operation to obstruct its onward progress, and deteriorate its spirituality, where it has been nominally received-after such a survey, he must be singularly blinded by prejudice who does not acknowledge, that deviations from truth in doctrine, corruptions in the government and administration of the church, and a wrong adjustment of the reciprocal relations of the civil with the ecclesiastical polity, have contributed, far more than want of personal zeal, to circumscribe the boundaries, obstruct the progress, and effect the sup

pression of christianity; and that, by wrong constitutions, wrong systems-minutely wrong in the estimation of their abettors-Satan has regained possession of large territories from which he had been expelled-planted the crescent where the cross had stood, and transformed the mystery of godliness into the mystery of iniquity, until, as it comes from the Propaganda, the religion of the New Testament is something less spiritual and heavenly than either the Talmud or the Koran.

There are some positions in which the necessity of conserving the purity and efficiency of christianity, as a direct means to its universal diffusion, is at once obvious. The British flag now waves on every sea. British skill and courage have visited every islet and every shore of the habitable globe. The British sceptre is swayed over dominions on which the sun never goes down; and thus affords to science, philanthropy, and religion, a world-wide arena on which their enterprises may be achieved. An Africaner in a palaver of half-naked savages, meditating reprisals on a neighbouring tribe, is a great and a good man, when he represses their war-whoop, and, calming their angry passions, sends them peacefully home. But his benignant influence is small compared with that of a Wilberforce, who, through that senate where his voice is heard, gives an impulse to the cause of philanthropy, and peace, and holiness, that will be felt over the world.

There was then the purest philanthropy as well as patriotism in that reformation which Alexander Henderson and his coadjutors projected for Britain more than two centuries ago. To have had these three kingdoms drawn into a scriptural conjunction and uniformity in religion-the three kingdoms united in one solemn league and covenant, to encourage and support the true religion, not only at home, but in all their colonies and dependencies abroad, then they that are scattered would have gone everywhere preaching the word. And where, we would ask, have missionaries gone, or can they go, where they do not find those defections from the Reformation against which we testify, in present operation, to obstruct their progress? Where does the semipopish hierarchy of England not exert a neutralising influence? Where is the influence of a popish ascendancy in Ireland not felt-pouring out its teeming myriads-reducing our fairest and largest colonies, the embryo empires of the future, into provinces of the popedom? In British India, all that the missionary obtains from a christian government, in his evangelistic efforts among the unnumbered millions of the Hindoo population, is strict neutrality and unequivocal protectiona recent and reluctant boon; while he cannot remember, without shame and sorrow, that the first English missionaries obtained entrance into India, and carried on their operations, under the protection of the Danish flag-while, by the British government, the atro cities and impurities of Juggernaut were long as much countenanced and firmly guaranteed, as the Episcopal Liturgy in England or the Romish Missal in Lower Canada. The Indian missionary knows the connection between teaching all nations and teaching them all things.

Distance of place may enable us to see how missionary zeal and