ments in the way; and all that portion of your substance which can do him honor.

Who then is on the Lord's side? I feel the more confidence in pressing this inquiry on every conscience, at the present moment, because I know there cannot be such an anomaly in the kingdom of God, as a Christian who does not rejoice in the triumphs of the cross. The Christian's interest and happiness are identified with the prosperity of Zion-his heaven begins in his devotion to Christ in the present world. Do you then know the extent of the devastations sin has made? and the only method by which they can be repaired? and the obligations that rest on you to send the Gospel to every creature? If you know these things-let conscience declare what is your conduct -and whether you have in truth arrayed yourselves on the Lord's side.

The solemnities of this day are not essentially dissimilar from those at Antioch, when Saul and Barnabas received the imposition of hands from the brethren, and were sent away to their missionary laborsnay more, they cannot fail to remind us of the parting scene at Bethany, when Jesus gave to his disciples their commission with his blessing, and ascended to heaven to receive gifts for them.

Not often is there an assembly convened for such a purpose. It is to us a precious privilege to witness the designation of these two beloved disciples to go to Jerusalem;-to the birth-place of Jesus our Prince and Savior;-to the scene of his personal instructions-his sufferings-his death-his resurrection and ascension to heaven. They go on an errand

of mercy-to proclaim that "He is risen indeed," and that "he ever liveth to make intercession”—to gather the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah-to summon the world to meet on his holy hill of Zion. They know not what shall befal them there. Perhaps bonds and imprisonments await them. Their trust is in God. But have they no claims on us? Are they not our messengers, as well as the ambassadors of Christ? Do they not go for us to fulfil the last injunction of our dear Redeemer? Yes, brethren; and do I not hear you say, we will never forget them-we will never cease to pray for them -they shall never want any good thing in the power of our hand to bestow? Well then-let heaven record our vows to day-and if we no more see their faces in the flesh,-when we meet them at the bar of God, let it be their testimony of us that we have been faithful.

You, brethren, beloved for Jesus' sake, having freely devoted yourselves to the work of the Lord, and looking forward with strong desire to the commencement of your labors on missionary ground, will love to remember, that you are treading the path, in which Saul and Barnabas have gone before you-and that the same Jesus, who left not his disciples comfortless, when he was received up to the right hand of God, still says to you, "Lo! I am with you always." He will be on your right hand and on your left; he will go before you and be your rereward. I need not tell you, that those of our countrymen, who have gone before you, in earlier or later times, have found these

promises verified. A falling Warren and Mills could testify with their expiring breath to the faithfulness of Jesus; and that father of missionaries, that prince in our Israel, who so lately fell the victim of ceaseless care, in his last moments was comforted, "because he had been enabled to do something toward the great object," to which you this day pledge your livesyour all. Here I should love to stop with youand listen to the plaintive accents of the daughter of Zion, as she bends over the grave of her beloved Worcester. But no! "onward"-is the voice of the immortal Spirit that has quit the tenement, in which it so long struggled with sin and death:-"onward," let our hearts respond-onward in the path so gloriously illumined and leading so straight to rivers of pleasure at God's right hand.

Wherever you go-and wherever God may determine the bounds of your habitation, you will be followed by the prayers and blessings of thousands in your own land; and we trust by the blessing of thousands ready to perish in heathen lands. Only be faithful unto the death;-and whether you wander amid the desolations of Jerusalem, or on the banks of the Ganges; or in the forests that stretch toward the setting sun;-whether you fall by pining sickness, or

your

the pestilence that walketh in darkness, or by the hand of violence, you will meet the approbation of Savior--and awake in the morning of the resurrection to hear him say to you, and to all saved from sin by your instrumentality-"Well done good and faithful servants, enter ye into the joys of your Lord.”

THE

CHARGE,

BY THE REV. DANIEL THOMAS, A. M.

PASTOR OF THE SECOND CHURCH IN ABINGTON.

DEAR BRETHREN,

DEEPLY interesting to us all, and especially to you, are the transactions of this day. God has brought you to this hallowed place, in which, by the imposition of hands, and by prayer, you have been publicly and solemnly consecrated to the sacred office of the Gospel Ministry, with a view to your being sent forth to the Jews and the Heathen, as Missionaries and Evangelists. There is reason to conclude, that these transactions will be followed by consequences to you, and to Zion, and to the universe, which will be continually unfolding and extending through the whole course of endless duration. We hope and trust, that you will so discharge the duties of the holy office, with which you are invested, and so perform the particular service on which your eyes and hearts have long been fixed, as to be able to review these solemnities, and contemplate their momentous results, with tranquillity and joy through life, in the hour of death, and at the tribunal of God.

But yet, on this deeply impressive and affecting occasion, it will be neither improper nor unseasonable, affectionately to urge you to ceaseless fidelity in the arduous and self-denying work, which you have deliberately chosen; to which you are separated; and on which you expect and hope shortly to enter. You will therefore readily receive a word of exhortation from your brethren of the Council, by whom you are now constituted Ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Messengers of his salvation to those, who "sit in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death."

And now, beloved brethren, in the name of Him, who is Head over all things to the church which he hath purchased with his