house but as that of the wayfaring man who turneth aside from his far journey for a night?

Oh, let us, then, now enter into fellowship with Christ in the work given Him to do, and which he has commanded us to "fill up even that which is behind and still unfulfilled, of the universal efficacy of the sufferings of Christ," and "the glory that is to follow" the preaching of the Gospel, "whereof we are made the ministers" or agents. Christ, though in the form of God and being God, entered into fellowship with us in all our infirmities, nay, in our miseries, in our sin and guilt, in our condemnation and death, in all our pains and penalties, in all our sorrows and solicitudes. To be able thus to sympathize with us, and succor and save us, Christ united Himself with our very nature, and became A PROPITIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD. Having done all this He now invites us to enter into fellowship with His divine nature, with His gifts and graces, His glory and blessedness, His death, resurrection, and ascension, His ever-living power and presence with His people,by preaching the good tidings to every creature in all the world, making them His disciples, and teaching them His will. To have such communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, is the honor, the dignity, and the happiness of the believing heart. Oh, then, being exalted to such a heavenly privilege, let us not be like brute beasts, understanding it not, but rather let us rejoice in it, and count all things but loss for the excellency of being lifted up from death and pollution to this fellowship with the throne, the society, the friendship, and the service of the Great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Oh, let Him come in and take possession, and have full and transforming fellowship with these cold hearts of ours, these dead and carnal affections, these low and grovelling desires, and with whatever in our hopes and powers, our influence and activity, our money and our means, He will be pleased to use for His glory, and our mutual endearment and happiness. This, yes this, will be the felicity of heaven, and this, yes this, may impart to us heaven below, and, in the full exercise of this grace, ripen into an early blossom the fragrant flowers of Paradise.

And as it has pleased Christ in His infinite wisdom and mercy to represent Himself as present and visible in these poor and perishing souls around us, and in these heathen who are His inheritance and heirs to His testamentary blessings, oh, Thou divine and blessed Saviour, who canst give power and quicken into life, oh, give us faith to look upon them as such! Help us to look through their unworthiness, their vileness, their ingratitude, their hard and impenitent and blinded hearts, and to see in them Thee, our Lord and our God. As strangers, let us take

them in. As sick with the foul leprosy of sin, as bound in the prison of the great adversary who leads them captive at his will, as hungering and thirsting and yet spending their strength for naught and their labor for that which satisfieth not, help us to visit them, to give them the bread of heaven and the water of life, and in so doing to feel that we are doing it all to Thee, and that we shall in nowise lose our reward, when Thou, our righteous Judge, shalt say to all such "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

Give us, then, O divine and merciful Saviour, faith and love, to break through this selfishness, this self-seeking, this worldliness, this covetousness which is idolatry, this flesh-lusting spirit, which freezes up our warmest affections. Help, oh help us to bring these objects of Thy love, which are distant, near; to render them visible to the eye of our minds though unseen; to make them present though absent; creditors though debtors; friends though foes; dear and beloved though black and uncomely; and all this because they are Thine and dear to Thee, and yet to be brought nigh and given to Thee for Thy possession.

Most blessed Saviour! Thou who only art

The sacred fountain of eternal light,

All-powerful magnet of my inmost heart!

Oh, Thou, my heart's desire, my soul's delight!

My soul irradiate and Thy power impart,

And then my soul shall prize no good above Thee,

And then my soul shall know, and knowing, love Thee,

And then my trembling thoughts shall never start

From Thy commands or swerve the least degree,

Or even desire to move but as they move in Thee.

Thus living, loving, serving Thee below,

Do Thou Thy strength, Thy grace, Thy peace bestow.

"God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us."-Psalm lxvii. 1-6.

"It shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see my glory," Isa. lxvi. 18. "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it; and many people shall go and say, Come ye, let us go up to the 26-VOL. VII.

mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths," Isa. ii. 2, 3. And again, "Behold, thus saith the Lord, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people, and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders," Isa. xlix. 22. And again, "Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that know not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee," Isa. lv. 5. O blessed, then, ever blessed be thy name, O mighty and most merciful Saviour, who hast been pleased to make Thyself known among us Gentiles. "Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength; give unto the Lord the glory due to his name," Psal. xcvi. 7. "All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee, they shall sing unto thy name," Psal. lxvi. 4. “All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee," Psal. xxii. 27.

Ye who your Lord's commission bear
His way of mercy to prepare ;

Angels He calls ye; be your strife

To lead on earth an angel's life.

Think not of rest, though dreams be sweet,

Start up and ply your heavenward feet.

Is not God's oath upon your head,

Ne'er to sink back on slothful bed;
Never again your loins untie,
Nor let your torches waste and die,
Till when the shadows thickest fall
Ye hear your Master's midnight call?

NOTES.

NOTE A.

As this is a truth which enters into our conclusion of the obligation and duty which this constitution implies, I will give some illustration of it. The late Amos Lawrence, among his private entries has the following: "Jan. 1, 1849. I adopted the practice ten years ago, of spending my income. My outgoes since the first of January, 1842, have been upward of $400,000, and my property on the first of this year is as great as on Jan. 1, 1842. The more I give, the more I have." Again: "Jan. 1, 1852. The outgoes for all objects since Jan. 1, 1842 (ten years), have been $604,000 more than five-sixths of which have been applied in making other people happy." Here is an example of reproductive profusion,-"The more I give, the more I get;" scattering, yet increasing. And, along with the increase of substance, what is still rarer and more precious, the increase of personal felicity. Instead of scattering, had he concentrated all this outlay on himself, had he spent the half million on dainty viands and costly wines, on sumptuous furniture and glittering vehicles, he would have done no more than many do, on whose careworn, dissatisfied countenances, God has inscribed the curse of self-idolatry; but by spending it in the effort to make other people happy, Amos Lawrence extended the sphere of his enjoyment as wide as the objects of his philanthropy, and in his shining face he habitually showed that God had given him the blessedness of a man for whom many prayed and whom He Himself greatly loved.

So essential to the truest enjoyment is a generous disposition, that we cannot refrain from quoting the words of one whose kind deeds were almost as numerous as his brilliant sayings, and who gives the following "Receipt for making every day happy:"-"When you rise in the morning form the resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving trifles in themselves, light as air, will do it, at least for the twenty-four hours; and, if you are young, depend upon it it will tell when you are old; and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum look at the result; you send one person, only one, happily through the day; that is, 365 in the course of the year; and, supposing you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine,

you have made 14,600 human beings happy-at all events for a time. Now, worthy reader, is not this simple? It is too short for a sermon, too homely for ethics, and too easily accomplished for you to say, 'I would if I could.'

What Sydney Smith recommends was the practice of Cotton Mather, two hundred years ago. Few men have ever condensed into the narrow limits of human existence so much substantial service to their fellow-creatures as that good man, whose name is still a household word in New England homes. And it would appear that it was his custom every morning when he awoke to consider these three things,-What is there I can this day do for the welfare of my family? What is there I can do in the service of my neighbor? What is there I can do for the glory of God?

Of this principle, Sydney Smith affords a most pertinent example of what the experience of Wilberforce, Howard, every philanthropist, missionary, and liberal-minded and liberalhearted Christian will confirm.

I was very poor, says he, till I was appointed to St. Paul's. The valuable living of Edmonton, which was in the gift of St. Paul's, fell vacant. By the rules of the Chapter, he could have taken it himself, or given it as he pleased. The late vicar, Mr. Tate, was a friend of his own, who, years before, as a Yorkshire clergyman, had stood up with him in favor of Catholic Emancipation. He left a family behind him, his eldest son having been his curate; and Sydney Smith writes to his wife the following account of his interview with the widow and family, after he had determined to give the cure to the son of his old friend, in place of giving it to himself:

"DEAR KATE,-I went over yesterday to the Tates, at Edmonton. The family consists of three delicate daughters, an aunt, the old lady, and her son, then curate of Edmonton :-the old lady was in bed. I found there a physician, an old friend of Tate's, attending them from friendship, who had come from London for that purpose. They were in daily expectation of being turned out from house and curacy..... I began by inquiring the character of their servant, then turned the conversation upon their affairs, and expressed a hope the Chapter might ultimately do something for them. I then said, 'It is my duty to state to you (they were all assembled), that I have given away the living of Edmonton; I have written to our Chapterclerk this morning, to mention the person to whom I have given it; and I must tell you, that I am sure he will appoint his curate. (A general silence and dejection.) It is a very odd coincidence,' I added, 'that the gentleman I have selected, is a namesake of this family. His name is Tate. Have you any rela