rests of eighty millions of immortal spirits, I beseech you to "consecrate your gains unto the Lord" by yielding yourselves up to his service among the heathen. Imitate the noble example of a Christian father. "If I have any possessions," says Gregory Nazianzen, "health, credit, learning, this is all the contentment I have of them, that I have somewhat I may despise for Christ, who is totus desiderabilis et totum desiderabile, the all desirable one, the every thing desirable."

Rise still higher, and let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

But the insalubrious nature of the climate of India, it will be said, forms an insurmountable barrier to missionary operations in that country. This it cannot be denied is an obstacle, and a formidable one. Speaking after the manner of men, human life is shorter and more uncertain there than in Europe; but it is almost the only one which deserves the name, for apart from the climate, the personal sacrifices which are made are both few and inconsiderable. But is this obstacle an insurmountable one? Have the men of this world thought it so? the mercantile men, the military, the gentlemen of the civil service; yea, our nobility, have they deemed the climate of India an insurmountable barrier to the prosecution of their worldly projects? Have they not braved it in all its insalubrity? and that merely for wealth, for honours, for fame? And shall it be said that all the courage, and all the enterprise, and all the moral daring of the human race, is with the sons of the earth? Shall it be said that we who profess to have principles which strip death of its terror, and the grave of its gloom, dare not venture for the cause of truth and holiness, the cause of humanity and benevolence, the cause of God and of his Christ, where the children of this world venture for the perishable things of earth? Oh, it is a spectacle over which devils might laugh, and angels weep! O ye spirits of the mighty dead, men who have hazarded your lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, with what pity bordering on contempt, must ye regard us! And, thou Angel of the everlasting covenant, whose we are, and whom we profess to serve, well mightest thou be ashamed of us. Abhor us not, we beseech thee, but inspire us with thy own spirit, for thou didst exchange the purity of heaven for the pollution of earth, the light of glory for the shadows of the tomb; thou didst leave the air of immortality to inhale the breath of scorn, derision, obloquy, and death. Then shall the weakest of us be as David, and David as the angel of God; then shalt Thou have the dew of our youth; then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God shall bless us; God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall bless him.

I remain,

Dear young brethren,

Yours, in the bond of Jesus,

JAMES HILL.

PRIVATE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

AN EXTRACT.

Among the many other evils which have existence in this fallen world, the writer is especially anxious to address the word of caution

ary counsel to those individuals who deem it so very important to administer the Lord's supper to individuals lying on a dying bed.

Not only is the indiscriminate administration of this sacred ordinance, under these circumstances, an entire violation of its nature and design; but the writer conceives that its administration to any individual at such a crisis, is contrary to our Lord's original intention; and is likely, in most cases, to prove injurious rather than beneficial, both to the living and the dying; for we are not authorized to expect the divine blessing on the most holy services, when they are not attended to according to the divine will. It is not an ordinance for the dying, but for the living, said a good man, when its administration was proposed to him in private, at the eleventh hour of life; thus giving evidence that his sentiments were not drawn from human systems, but from the pure fountain of truth. The true Christian, who has lived in the service and enjoyment of God, bases his hope, in his dying moments, where it has been placed during his living hours, on the atonement of the cross; and instead of seeking comfort and support from attention to an ordinance for which he has no warrant at such a season, he looks for it from the word of God and prayer, which are the divinely authorized sources of blessing to the end of time. If, as the Scriptures seem most decisively to intimate, that the Lord's supper is a church ordinance, we cannot feel surprised if its end remain unanswered, and its blessings unrealized, except by true Christians, and when they assemble in the capacity of a church. But should any, disposed to doubt, still ask, "Did not our Lord himself administer it in a private room?" To this query, it may be sufficient to reply, "That there the church was met for the purpose of worship." In reply to the question, "Is it right, under any circumstances, to administer the Lord's supper in private?" Mr. James says, I think not, and on the following grounds: First. "The Lord's supper is strictly a church ordinance, and not an exercise of mere social religion, such as joint prayer, and therefore ought not to be observed but when the church is professedly assembled." Secondly. "The practice in question is contrary to one of the ends of the Lord's supper, which is to be a visible sign of the oneness of the church, and of the union of all its members in one body." Thirdly. "There is not a single instance of any company of Christians, whose meetings were merely occasional, and who were not united for the purpose of stated fellowship as a church, in a particular place, observing the ordinance of the Lord's supper." Fourthly. "As a precedent, the practice is dangerous; for if the Scripture mode of observing the Lord's supper be departed from in one way, it may in another."*

If the Bible is the word of God, then its cautions and counsels deserve and claim our most sacred and diligent attention; when we depart from them, whether in spirit or in practice, we dishonour, not man, but God, and neutralize the hope of realizing the favour and presence of the Saviour. Obedience is the directly constituted test of love to Christ, and that obedience must not only be without wilful deviation in the letter, but it must be the language of the heart. "If ye love me," says our blessed Lord, "keep my commandments;" and he also assures us, that the same obedience which is the evidence of true religion, is also the source of true enjoyment: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that

* James's Church Members' Guide, pp. 182, 183.

John xiv. 15.

loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him;"* and the canon of Scripture closes with the animated benediction, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."-London Evan. Mag.

FIFTY REASONS FOR NOT SUBSCRIBING TO CHARITIES.

The following paper, taken from the Christian Observer of August, was calculated for the meridian of London; but, as the almanac makers say, it will serve, without material error, for most of the cities and towns of the United States.

Having heard many excellent reasons assigned for not contributing to various charities, it is thought that a summary of them may be of use to those well-disposed Christians who, with great piety and benevolence, resolve never to give away a guinea till they have discovered a cycle of perfect institutions. The reasons being thus presented in a compact form, will be ready for general use, without the trouble of invention upon every special occasion. The opposite reasons are in parallel columns.

FIFTY REASONS.

1. "I think you said that your institution contemplates foreign objects." "I did." "Then I must decline: we have surely wants enough and poor enough at home."

2. "Are any of your officers paid, Mr. Collector?" "Yes." "I never contribute to societies which pay any of their officers: such works ought to be done from pure Christian charity."

3. "You send out only Bibles?" "Only Bibles, sir." "I prefer subscribing where I can get PrayerBooks also."

4. "I have a conscientious difficulty in regard to these modern societies: there is no knowing how they may end. I heartily approve of your object, but I object to every thing new-fangled."

* John xiv. 21.

1. "Your society is, I believe, entirely domestic in its operations." "It is." "I am sorry for it: think of the claims of hundreds of millions of perishing heathens: think of China, and Tartary, and the East Indies."

2. "Your plan of not paying your officers will never work well; it must be feeble, disjointed, and inefficient. Be good enough to mention this to the committee; and tell them I will subscribewhen I can-if they will adopt my system."

3. "I do not like your plan of dividing your funds between God's word and man's word. I prefer the system of the Bible Society, and should certainly subscribe to that institution if I did not see objections to it on other grounds. The Bible only, is my motto."

4. "Your old institutions are very apt to become decrepit. I prefer the modern societies; they have more of the vigour of youth and zeal. When I can spare a guinea, I intend to give it to one of these."

+ Rev. xxii. 14.

done for grown-up persons; begin overstocked with all kinds of with the young. We sadly want an