by no greater, he swears by himself; and shall we not believe him? Even amongst men, an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife; and will you not believe the God of truth when he voluntarily comes forward and swears, by his own eternal and immutable being, that he has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, in the destruction of his own offspring? In his character, in his holy word, in the dispensations of his providence, there is nothing to contradict this solemn oath; but every thing to confirm it. Consider the benevolence of his character. God is love. He is good, and doeth good. His goodness is his glory. Consider the relation which he sustains to us. He is the Father of our spirits. Who amongst men, though they are evil, can take pleasure in the sufferings and death of their own offspring? A father pitieth his children; how much shall our Heavenly Father pity those immortal souls which he claims as his own? "All souls are mine." He never willingly grieves them; their punishment is to him a strange work; and in their condemnation and death, he has no pleasure at all. sider the obvious tendency, and the avowed design of all the arrangements of his providence. "God is not slack concerning promise, as some men count slackness; but he is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Consider, especially, the sacrifice to which he submitted, when he spared not his own, his only Son, whom he loved, but delivered him up for us all, that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but have eternal life. Look to Bethlehem, to Gethsemane, to the Judgment-Hall, to Calvary, to the cross, and there see how our Heavenly Father loved bis own offspring! Would he have given his "only begotten" thus to suffer and to die for them, if he had any pleasure at all in their ruin,-if he did not desire that they should be safe and happy in the bosom of his love? "O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean ? when shall it once be ?"

Con

Have you ever noticed that beautiful incident in the parable of the prodigal,"while he was yet a great way off, his father saw him ?" Oh, how touching! His father was looking out for him,—was longing for his return; and though in such extreme wretchedness, he saw him, and

Often

knew him, while he was yet a great way off, and ran to meet him, and embraced him with tears of joy. Thus, our Heavenly Father is looking out for you too. He is waiting to be gracious unto you. has he said concerning you, "O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?" "How shall I give thee up? how shall I set thee as Adnah ? how shall I make thee as Zeboim ? My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together." He has waited long; he has given you space to repent, and, alas, have you not yet repented? But he is not willing that you should perish, and therefore he is waiting still. Ob, turn to him ere it be too late. He bids you turn to-day, and live for ever. And JESUS bids you come. He gave his life a ransom for guilty men. "For the joy that was set before him "-the joy of pardoning sins, the joy of receiving returning prodigals, and of saving immortal souls," he endured the cross.' And now "he is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him." Neither can you doubt his readiness to save; for he assures you, "Him that. cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." And the SPIRIT of all grace! how often has he striven with you? and how often have you resisted him? Oh, quench not the Spirit; grieve him no more; but yield to his gracious influence; and HE, too, will rejoice over you, and will seal you unto the day of redemption.

V. It may just be added, that solicitude is felt for you also in other regions, and by other beings; it is felt by lost souls. Have you ever noticed the earnest entreaty of the unhappy spirit in torment to the "father of the faithful ?""I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my father's house; for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." This is not the raving of a wild or disordered imagination; it is the testimony of the faithful and true witness. Associates in sin. may cheer each other on; but companions. in misery-oh, my soul, come not thou into their secret! There is not a lost soul which does not wish thee to escape the place of torment.

Lay these things to heart. Make Christ your refuge; for why should you die?

THE SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF

SERVANTS.

To the Editor of "The Church."

Dear Sir,

I have long felt that there are circumstances in the arrangements of some christian families, which interfere with the spiritual welfare of their servants. This may have arisen, in some instances, from a want of consideration. Will you permit

me to point out a few of these? One or another may possibly exist in the families of some of your numerous readers.

I have lamented to hear that, in many households, the servants have an opportunity of attending family worship only in the evening-a time at which, in consequence of rising early, there is frequently a degree of drowsiness which disqualifies even those who are pious from enjoying the service, and effectually prevents those who are not, feeling the least interest in it. Suffer me to plead on behalf of those who are thus debarred, and entreat their employers to consider whether matters might not be so arranged, that every servant might attend, at least in turn, in the morning also. There is an old proverb, "Prayer and provender hinder not;" and I trust they will find one branch of this verified, that the sacred engagement of the morning will spread its influence over the duties of the day. I am here taking for granted that all serious christians engage in family worship morning and evening. If among your readers there are exceptions, let such seriously consider whether they can expect the divine blessing on their families, while they enter on the duties of the day without seeking it, neglecting a duty which has so beneficial an influence on all engaged in it. I knew a case, some thirty years ago, of a deacon of a Baptist church, in whose house the only season of family worship was on the Lord'sday evening, and I know that that was considered by a relative of the family, the cause of many evils which I will not particularize. I trust things have mended with us since that, and that in the present day no such case is to be found; but I fear that there are still instances in which excuses are frequently made for the omission of the duty.

But perhaps my observations will apply in a still greater degree to the privileges of the Sabbath. In many genteel families, the men-servants are prevented attending public worship, by the carriage being put in requisition morning and evening. I have seen at an afternoon service, the larger number attending which were servants, four or five gentlemen's coachmen at one time, most, if not all, of whom lived with men sustaining a christian character in other communities. One of them told me that Iwere it not for that service, at which he felt it difficult to be in time, after having put up his horses and taken a hasty dinner, he should not hear a sermon from year's end to year's end, unless his master should happen to have a fit of the gout, and his mistress to be poorly at the same time.

There is another arrangement, by which female servants are debarred from privileges which they might otherwise enjoy, and I fear it is very extensive,-I refer to Sunday cooking. I am aware that I am treading on tender ground, the habit is so inveterate; but having kept house now nearly fifty years, I am happy in being able to say that I have never had a dinner cooked on the Lord's-day, and I have not felt that I was exercising any self-denial. In addition to the relief to the servant-for even if obliged to keep house, she might still employ her time in reading, if she had not her cooking to attend to-I am persuaded that if a family will have the resolution to relinquish it, every member of that family will find the afternoon much more profitable, whether spent in the house of God or in retirement, than when appetite has been excited by a hot dinner; and those who attend Sunday schools as teachers or otherwise, will derive great benefit from the change of system.

But I fear that many heads of families, who do not thus occupy their servants, still debar them their privileges, by always themselves attending the services which they consider the most interesting and profitable, leaving open to their servants those in which they would feel less, or, it may be, no pleasure. Now, I cannot help hoping that some of your readers will, on reflection, consider this practice to be wrong. Many servants, even if pious, are not, from want

of education, able to improve their time as their mistresses, who are more in the habit of reading, would do, and they depend, in consequence, for their improvement, to a greater degree on public worship. I could point to families in which this is felt and is fully acted upon, the mistress equally dividing with her servants the Sabbath and week-day services, and extending this also to family worship, taking her place in the nursery, that the servant may have the opportunity of attending. I trust your readers will forgive me if I suggest whether there are not many cases in which the services most likely to engage the attention and interest the heart, should be given to the servant.

Some of our friends reside at a considerable distance from a place of worship, and in consequence of the distance, and the necessity of attention to the farm stock, there are many servants whose privilege of attending the house of God is confined to once on the Lord's-day. I rejoice when I find that, in such cases, there is a service held in the farm kitchen in the evening, the head of the family reading a sermon, and occasionally obtaining the services of his minister, or some other friend. Will those of our friends who conduct such a service in their houses-and God grant that the number may be greatly multiplied-permit me to suggest whether they may not render

it useful to their labourers, and the servants in other houses, where the importance of religion is not felt? If the Lord shall bless the effort, it may be, as it has been in instances to which I could refer, the commencement of a religious interest. When I say the "head of the family," I use the term advisedly; for there is an instance, known I doubt not to some of your readers, in which a flourishing church was commenced by a lady, the widow of a farmer, thus consecrating herself and her house to the service of God.

I have felt it necessary to confine my letter strictly to the design I expressed at beginning it. I regret that it is so long. I hope that some other of your correspondents will take up another subject, quite as important, if not more so, namely, the means of exerting a direct influence on the minds of servants, with a view, under the Divine blessing, in some instances, to their conversion, and in others, to their growth in grace, by talking with them, and, where it is necessary, reading to them and instructing them, and at the same time, setting before them that example which will recommend the religion they profess, and thus make our families nurseries for the church. I

am, dear Sir,

JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY: THEIR INTIMATE RELATION AND ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCES, IN REPLY TO A PAPER IN THE

FREE CHURCH MAGAZINE. By J. A. HALDANE. Pp. 61. London: A. Hall and Co.

This tract is a reply to some strictures in the Free Church Magazine, on Mr. Haldane's Exposition of the Epistle to the Galatians. We have not seen the "Strictures," but can perceive distinctly enough that the author of them Judaizes in regard to Infant Baptism and State - Churches. Mr. H.'s remarks will, however, be read with much interest as an independent tract. We think that all Pædobaptist and Establishment sects must be regarded so far as "weak brethren;" as precisely parallel with those who in Paul's time could not see their way

out of the entanglements of carnal ordinances and worldly institutions. Dr. Halley and many under his guidance have made a bold leap from the carnality of baptizing on the ground of carnal descent from believing parents, but it is into the carnality of baptizing "all we physically can." The old carnal grounds of Infant Baptism did some homage to religion, by requiring that the parent at least should have it. Dr. Halley scouts any religious ground of baptism. "Baptizing all nations" means, he says, baptizing literally all you physically can; that is, all your carnal capabilities will enable you to reach; all, indeed, who are carnally near to you. The Doctor is driven to this, because if he allow any limitation to the words, "all nations," except the physical one, why then it must be a spiritual

one, and must be assuredly the faith, and capacity of being taught, mentioned in the context!

All who will not venture into the Charyb dis of Dr. Halley, Mr. Haldane fully shews must find an equally fatal Scylla in the Assembly's Catechism and the Free Church standards and doctrine on these points.

THE SOUL'S ERRAND; OR, THE NEGLECTER OF SALVATION ADDRESSED, WARNED, AND ENTREATED. By GEORGE Staples, Author of "Macedonia." Pp. 171. London: Houlston and Stoneman.

This is a very usefully and impressively written little work. It contains a plain and forcible statement of the great truths of Christianity especially of the Scripture plan of salvation; and its appeals and entreaties are well calculated to rouse the attention of the unconverted. May it be made useful in fulfilling the object which the writer so devoutly wishes, and may all his prayers respecting it be fully answered.

THE PROSPERITY OF ZION: A SERMON PREACHED AT CHURCH-STREET CHAPEL, BLACKFRIARS - ROAD, LONDON, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF HIS PASTORATE, JANUARY 7, 1849. By JOHN BIGWOOD. Pp. 24. London: Benjamin L. Green.

An useful and interesting discourse from Psalm cxvii. 25, containing remarks on, 1. When a church may be said to have prosperity; 2. How the prosperity of this church may be secured. Though more

especially interesting, of course, to the church to whom it was delivered, and by whose request it is published, it would be read with profit by the members of our churches generally.

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, ITS COUNTERFEITS, HELPS, AND HINDRANCES: A DIALOGUE. By JOHN COX. Pp. 36. London: Nisbet and Co.

CONVERSE WITH CONSCIENCE: A FEW WORDS FOR MEMBERS OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. By JOHN Cox. Pp. 12. London: Nisbet and Co.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO ENQUIRERS: A FEW WORDS TO ANXIOUS SOULS. By JOHN Cox. Pp. 12. London: Nisbet & Co. These tracts are all excellent. Though small in size, and cheap in price, they contain a large amount of solemn and impressive thought. The second on the list," Converse with Conscience," we could especially wish were carefully and prayerfully read by all professors of religion.

THE MECHANICS' ORGAN: A JOURNAL FOR YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN. Published Monthly. Pp. 12. London: Benjamin

L. Green.

From what we have seen of this little Magazine, we should think it is likely to be a very good one. It is, we understand, edited by a mechanic; but it is evidently the production of earnest, thoughtful, intelligent men, and cannot, we are sure, be read without benefit by the young men and women of England.

THINGS FOR WHICH SALVATION IS NEGLECTED. Oh, how trifling, how poor, how mean, how sordid, how contemptible, are the greatest objects of human solicitude, to say nothing of the smaller objects of man's wishes, compared with salvation. Wealth, opulence, rank, and influence, are but as the small dust of the balance in the light of eternal glory. None of these things can satisfy the human mind. Ask that man who has been the most successful in his worldly affairs, whether he has had his heart filled with its objects. Ask the avaricious man, whether he has accumulated wealth enough to fill the void of his heart: he has engrossed much of it, but he is not satisfied. Ask the ambitious man, whether he is satisfied with honours; whether he has enough of the applause of the world; whether power has poured itself

The

upon him in a sufficiently copious stream. So far from this, it has only irritated his passions and rendered him more affected by reproach. The void in his heart widens and he becomes more eager after glory. Alexander and Cæsar, those mighty monarchs, who, each in his day, conquered the world, were far from being satisfied. one is said to have wept because there was not another world to conquer, and the other to have exclaimed, when in the full possession of empire, "Is this all ?" And if those objects on which men fix their mind, could for the time being, afford them satisfaction, how uncertain is their continuance. "Passing away" is written upon every thing here below. Wealth flies, health decays, friends fail, and power itself is frail. You have heard of a monarch in our own day, who was firmly seated on his throne, having a

hundred thousand of the best trained soldiers at his command; but in one short week he was dispossessed of his crown and kingdom, and compelled, in disguise, to escape for his life. And at the longest, how short is the season in which those things can be held on which you may fix your heart. At death, the world and the whole circle of its objects will become a perfect blank to you. The sun will shine, but you will not behold its light; the birds will sing, but you will not listen to their melodies; the flowers will bloom, but you will not inhale their fragrance. Your house, another will inhabit; your land, others will cultivate; your money, others will expend. Human improvement, in every department of literature and science, will continue to progress, but you will not witness it, nor contribute to it. On your tombstone may be written"How lov'd, how valu'd once, avails thee not; To whom related, or by whom begot, A heap of dust alone remains of thee;

'Tis all thou art!-and all the proud shall be." Oh, then, is it not folly the most extreme, and without any parallel, to neglect salvation for those things whose nature cannot satisfy, whose continuance is so uncertain, and whose duration is so limited? There was a man among the tombs who mangled his own limbs; there was a profane Esau, who sold his birthright for a morsel of meat; and there was a heathen Lysimachus, who exchanged his kingdom for a draught of water; but they were wise compared with that man who neglects salvation for any thing here below. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul" (Mark viii. 36.)-Staples' Soul's Errand.

SELF-DENIAL.-There was one thing our Lord was most remarkable in, and which makes a great part of the pattern he hath set us; I mean his perfect self-denial, and absolute resignation to his heavenly Father's will, and most perfect acquiescence in it. Thus we find him always professing that he came not into the world to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. Nor did he even seek his own glory, but his heavenly Father's; and to this great end the whole business of his life was devoted. The apostle sets this self-denial and resignation in a very strong light by the high rank which he held; for "though he was in the form of God," and possessed all the glory and blessedness which belong to such an exalted station, yet he willingly "made himself of no reputation, was found in fashion as a man, took upon him the form of a servant," and submitted to all the sorrows and sufferings that could take place without sin. In conformity to this, he taught his disciples to say in their prayers, "Thy will be done;" and made it the first step every one should take who proposed to follow him, "to deny themselves."

I do

but just observe how shamefully this precept, or rather solemn certification, is commonly trifled away. When we prevail with ourselves to renounce any trifling gratifica

It

tion, we give it the name of mortification or self-denial. But it is ourselves we are called to deny; and it is the flesh, or old man, all that we are by Adam, which we are called to mortify, resigning ourselves entirely to the will and disposal of our heavenly Father. What our blessed pattern adds in that certification he gave to his hearers, determines the meaning of this part, and carries the resignation recommended by his example to its proper height: he was obedient to the death, the death of the cross; and if we mean to follow him, we must do as he did, deny ourselves, and take up our cross. were to be wished that this was the only instance where the scripture meaning is observed or mistaken, by applying to the words the sense which has been affixed to them in later times. We have, I know not how, affixed the name of crosses to the little ruffles we meet with in common life; and when we can anyhow submit without fretting or murmuring, we flatter ourselves that we have fulfilled his command, and may pass among his followers. But the words he used had no such meaning when he uttered them. The cross was the instrument of death; and to take up one's cross, was to act as convicted criminals did, submitting themselves to the death awarded them: and as that is the case of every child of Adam, nothing less can be meant by it, than acknowledging the justice of the sentence, and accordingly resigning and giving up the life which it strikes at, (and that is unquestionably all the life we have from the first Adam), into the hands of justice to be destroyed, and have a final end put to it. This is a very hard saying to the children of Adam; it is renouncing and giving up their all; and which, indeed, is impossible for man to do, but in the strength of that faith and hope through which our blessed pattern endured the cross, and despised at once the shame and the torment, because he knew that it was in this way he was to enter into his glory. In this prospect he cheerfully resigned himself to a scene of sufferings, such as no man, either before or after him, was or could be exposed to, having the curse which sin had brought on all the children of Adam, the whole weight and burden of it, laying upon him; and thus, "being made perfect, through sufferings, he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him."-Riccaltoun.

ON THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS TO INSIST ON POINTS OF DIFFERENCE.-No sentiment can be more abhorrent to every principle of moral honesty, or more deleterious in its operation to the best interests of divine truth, than that which holds that the disciples of the Saviour ought to be at more pains to teach what they hold in common than to insist on points of difference. This would not only lead to the most dangerous compromise, and, if carried out, to the criminal sacrifice of all right principle, but would be the surest method of prolonging our disputes to all generations, and would render their settlement impossible. It is not on points on which we are agreed that instruction is