Connexion; perhaps, a year of mercy and grace, that but few years of our Connexional existence will equal. In the same year I remember an esteemed Father in the ministry referring to his fasting and prayer on the forenoon of each Friday, and to the refreshing seasons with which he was favoured.

In the year 1839, the following remarks were made in the Address to the Societies:-"At the last Conference a discussion took place on the want of general psosperity that had been experienced in the previous year,-the Brethren at the Conference were humbled; prayer and supplication were made, and means adopted to secure greater prosperity, and give stability to the work of God among us; and we are happy to state as our deliberate conviction, that the revival with which we have been favoured, has been the result of the feeling produced on that occasion. The impression experienced during the discussion on the subject, led to the solemn decision to seek for greater measures of personal holiness, to observe the forenoon of each Friday as a season of fasting and special prayer for the prosperity of the work of God among us, to attempt more fully to establish our discipline, and to strive to make our intercourse with each other more spiritual and edifying; and we again, most affectionately and earnestly call your serious attention to those important subjects."

A difficulty may arise in the minds of many as to getting time for attending to this duty, as it is desirable, though not absolutely necessary, that all secular affairs, for a time, should be laid by. There are certainly many who have much time at their own disposal, and with them this could be no difficulty. And if the sabbath were rescued from its profanation in being spent in a loose and an idle manner, and also from cooking and other secondary engagements; and at times a great part of it devoted to God in this duty, the good to individuals, to families, and to the Church, would be abundant. At how much pains are many to defile their consciences and to rob their souls on the Lord's day? It should be humiliating for Protestants to consider that many Papists cleave to a Divine ordinance which they so regularly neglect. But the benefit of this, as well as other spiritual exercises, is only obtained and appreciated by being practised; "He that doeth his will shall know of the doctrine." The duty should be attended to with faith in God. It should be begun, continued, and ended in faith. A good degree of the zeal and self-denial of Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus, with faith in the great promises of the New Testament, would soon raise the whole church to her primitive purity and power. It is hoped that proper ideas as to the nature of this duty may be obtained by the study of these articles on the subject; further light may be had on the subject from Wesley's sermons and the Holy Scriptures. These hints

in this paragraph are given, as there is no time or space to enlarge. The writer begs to say that he is conscious of numerous defects on his own part, but having himself obtained some benefit from the practice of joining fasting to prayer at times, he humbly offers the remarks made on these articles for the consideration of the brethren in the Ministry, Local Preachers, Class Leaders, Stewards, and Members of the Bible Christian Connexion. Should these humble endeavours provoke any to love and good works, he will be glad to receive from any the like benefit.

With the following remarks the subject will be concluded.

"Then the virgin Temperance, who began this discourse about moderation in eating and drinking, and whose proper office it was to interpret and expound that statute, called for two lamps, which were immediately brought by Obedience, one of the waiters. Now one of the lamps gave but a dim light, so that you could hardly discern whether it was burning or not; on the contrary, the other shined very bright and clear. Then said Temperance, You see the difference between these two lamps; how the one affords but a weak and dim light, and the other sheds her beams around with great splendour. The crystals are both alike, but only one of them is sullied and furred, as it were, with smoke and vapours, and the other is transparent and clean. These are emblems of moderation and riot in eating and drinking. The soul of man is a lamp which will burn and shine with great splendour if the body be kept clean and purified by temperance, abstinence, and fasting; but if a man by excessive eating and drinking, does pollute and stain his body, his spirits, which are the crystal of his soul, become clouded and thicken with vapour and smoke, so that he neither shines in good works to others, nor has much delight himself, "and if the light that is in him be darkness, how great must that darkness be."

"Tender-Conscience. Pray give me leave to trouble you with one question more about fasting, because I think you mentioned that just now, as one means to purify and cleanse the body, and render it more instrumental to the operations of the soul. I desire to be informed what example you have of fasting in Scripture, and whether it be now requisite and profitable for a Christian to fast, and what are the proper effects of it?

Temperance. It will be no trouble to me, but a delight to satisfy you on this point, according to my ability, as it is my office.

"Know then that fasting is a practice frequently recommended in the book of God, and warranted by the example of sundry good and holy men. We read that Moses fasted forty days and forty nights in the mountain; and though no mention be made of fasting before the flood, yet the lives of men in that

infancy of the world, in all probability, was a daily fast, or at least a continuous abstinence from flesh; so that what seems now so grievous and burdensome a discipline, was then, peradventure, esteemed but a natural and universal diet observed by all mankind, whereby they preserved their bodies in inviolable health and vigour, and prolonged their days almost to a thousand years. But now, in the latter ages of the world, the bodies of men are grown weaker, and men count it a heavy task to fast once a month; nay, once a year seems too much for some dainty constitutions.

"There were several occasions of fasting among the people of God in old time, Leviticus xxiii. 27-32. There was a day of atonement commanded to be yearly observed by the Israelites, throughout their generations for ever, in which they were to fast and afflict their souls from evening to evening. This was an annual day of public humiliation, enjoined to the people forever. It was customary to fast on any mournful occasion, as David fasted when his child lay sick, 2 Sam. xii. 16, 17. And the men of Jabesh-gilead fasted seven days, while they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son under a tree at Jabesh, 1 Sam. xxxi. 13. And as soon as David heard the news of their death, "both he and all the men that were with him, took hold of their clothes and rent them; and they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel." 2 Sam. i. 11, 12. Moreover the people of Israel used to fast in time of any public calamity; and not only they, but other nations also, as the inhabitants of the great city Nineveh, when the prophet Jonah foretold the destruction of that stately city would come to pass in forty days. "They proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even unto the least; for word came unto the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes; and caused it to be proclaimed through Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, "Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing; let them not feed nor drink water.' Jonah ii. 5-7.

"But, besides these solemn and public fasts, we read of some private men who practised it; as the prophet Daniel, who fasted three full weeks, in which time, 'he ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into his mouth.' And this fast of his was so acceptable to God, that he sent one of his holy angels to him, who saluted him with the title of 'a man greatly beloved,' bidding him not to fear or be troubled; for,' says he, 'from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days.' Dan.

x. 11-14. And when he had thus comforted and strengthened Daniel, he revealed many wonderful and sacred things, that should come to pass in the world. So that by these great favours shown to Daniel, we may plainly see how acceptable religious fasting is to God. Many more examples of this kind might be produced out of the Old Testament; but these may suffice to show, that fasting was a duty often practised by the people of God, and of holy men under the law of Moses. And the gospel recommends it, from the beginning to the end, by the examples of Christ and John the Baptist, of Peter, Paul, and the rest of the Apostles, as well as by their counsels and exhortations: there is nothing more frequently inculcated than this duty of fasting, throughout the writings of the New Testament. And without all doubt it is now as requisite as ever it was, since we are liable to the same infirmities, exposed to the same dangers as the former christians were; against all which evils fasting is the proper remedy. Fasting mortifies the body, and tames concupiscence, it quenches lusts, and kindles devotion; it is the handmaid of prayer, and the nurse of meditation; it refines the understanding, subdues the passions, regulates the will, and sublimates the whole man to a more spiritual state of life; it is the life of angels, the enamel of the soul, the great advantage of religion, the best opportunity for retirements of devotion. While the smoke of carnal appetite is suppressed and extinguished, the heart breaks forth with holy fire, till it is burning like the cherubim, and the most extasied order of pure and unpolluted spirits. These are the proper and genuine effects of religious and frequent fasting, as they can witness who make it their private practice.

"Tender-Conscience. You have made me in love with fasting by giving so fair an account of it, and discovering its consequences to the mind and body, and I am resolved to make a trial of it myself hereafter; for in my opinion, as you describe it, it causes a man to draw nearer unto God, while his soul being by abstinence and fasting withdrawn, as it were, from the body, and abstracted from all outward things, retires into herself, and in the secret tabernacle within, she sits under the shadow of the Divinity, and enjoys a more close communication and intimate union with God-Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. E. J. TRIBLE.

URIM AND THUMMIM.

THE first mention of this sacred oracle, occurs very naturally, in Exod. xxviii. 30, in giving to Moses the instructions respecting the vestments and insignia of office for the High Priest, of which the Urim and Thummim formed a very important and distinguishing feature. They occur again in Levit. viii. 8, in des

cribing the compliance with those instructions; and again in relation to Levi in Moses's blessing of the Twelve Tribes. Deut. Xxxviii. 8. The only occasion on which they are mentioned again together is in the time of Ezra, chap. ii. 63, and Nehemiah vii. 65. In Numbers xxvii. 21, we find the term Urim used by itself, in reference to the manner in which Joshua should inquire of the Lord; and Urim is again used by itself in a like general expression, in describing how Saul was deserted, and his inquiries unanswered. 1 Sam. xxviii. 6. Perhaps in nothing are the opinions of Commentators more various, or more vague, than respecting the Urim and Thummim; none of the attempts to define them appears to have any solid or satisfactory foundation. In one point, however, Commentators seem to be universally agreed, that the terms denote "light and perfection;" or as the Hebrew is plural, "lights and perfections;" or in other words, manifestation and truth, all of which qualities this divine oracle possessed.

As Moses describes so very minutely the materials, the form, and the construction of the breast-plate, Exod. xviii. 15—28, yet gives no intimation of either material, form, or construction of the Urim and Thummim, are we not naturally led to one of these conclusions; 1st. That the Urim and Thummim were something mysterious, committed to the charge of Moses in the Mount when he received the Tables of the Law; and therefore not designed to be revealed to the prying eye of man; or, 2nd, that they neither consisted of material, nor possessed form, or construction. As the sacred records afford us no light to determine either form, material, or construction, concerning this sacred emblem, it would, on the first supposition, border at least on folly and presumption, to endeavour to penetrate within the veil. Perhaps, therefore, we have some rational grounds, for entering upon a consideration of the subject, in reference to the latter supposition.

In Exod. xxviii. 30, and in Lev. viii. 8, we read "thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim;" and "he put in the breast-plate the Urim and the Thummim." On both these occasions the term put, is expressed by a Hebrew verb which in its primary signification means, to give, also to grant, bestow, though it also signifies to put, place, &c.; and the Hebrew particle which is rendered, "in," quite as properly signifies, "to;" hence we are under no necessity of understanding anything of substance, put or placed by Moses within, or on the breast-plate, but may at least, with equal propriety, understand some property, or quality communicated to it. As Divine wisdom condescended by a miracle to keep untainted the "manna" in the golden pot; and to preserve Aaron's rod that budded; Heb. ix. 4; Exod. xvi. 33; and Numb. xvii. 10; perhaps it will not be deemed improbable, at