prayers, but they do what they can to promote the great cause. Ministers give themselves to their work; preach with simplicity, unction, and earnestness; make "full proof of their ministry." If they "suffer," they are "not ashamed;" if reviled, they take it patiently. They seek men's salvation; they aim to win souls to Christ. The word then becomes the "power of God to salvation." It is a "hammer," a "fire," &c. Pious people do what they can. They are not "hearers only," but "doers of the word." Means of grace are regarded; an example is set to the world. Their "good works glorify their Father," and in some instances induce others to do so. They are "ready to every good work;" and as they owe their all to God, they are disposed to give all to him. When Zion thus travails we may expect glorious results.

III. The happy result. 1. God has appointed, in general, that in proportion to the pains and labours of men shall be the fruit which they reap. This is the case generally, both in temporal and spiritual things. "The diligent hand maketh rich." "He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly." The apostle's exhortation respects both man's temporal and spiritual interests: "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." Hence, when the church is asleep, like the foolish virgins, or lukewarm, like that of Laodicea, no good can be expected-no enlargement-no breaking forth on the right hand and on the left. The form may remain, but without the spirit, power, and life. But when Zion is alive and travails with ardent desires, fervent cries and prayers, what may we not expect? "For as soon as Zion travailed," &c.

2. Zion "travailed" and " brought forth" not formal professors only. This is the only fruit of human policy in secularizing religion, in connecting it with the world, in reducing its high claims, diminishing the spirituality of its doctrines and duties, and endeavouring to harmonize it with the opinions and vices of men. This was the state of the great bulk of the Jewish church. Their religion, if it may be so called, was nothing but a compound of hypocrisy and vice; and such has been too often the state of the Christian church.

3. But the text refers to the spiritual seed which the church should bring forth; such as should be "born not of blood," &c., John i. 13; such as were "born of the Spirit" operating with the

word. "Of his own will begat he us," &c. This spiritual birth was shown and is yet shown by the humbling views individuals have of themselves, by the repentance they exercise, the spirit of prayer they receive, by their desire to be saved from the miseries of hell and from their sins and sinfulness. They show it by their love to the means of grace, by their change of conduct and pursuits. They "live no longer according to the course of this world," &c. They seek for mercy, taste that God is gracious, and give themselves unto the Lord. They trust in the Saviour, and glory in him. They "count all things but dross," &c. Such a spiritual seed is the glory of the church; and it may be said to the honour of every such man, "He was born in Zion."

4. The text seems to foretell what should be effected when Christ and his apostles should labour in Zion. And during this period "Zion travailed," &c. Many, doubtless, were the converts of the Saviour throughout Judea; but on the memorable day of Pentecost, Zion no sooner "travailed" but "she brought forth children." Here was a sudden spiritual progeny of three thousand. And what power attended the word! The preaching of Christ crucified melted the hearts of even Jews, and they became "obedient to the faith." Subsequent success brought to the church thousands and even tens of thousands. Zion has "travailed" and "brought forth" at many periods since in a wonderful manner; at the era of the Reformation, by Luther, Calvin, and others; in our own country by the labours of George Whitfield, John Wesley, &c., &c. And does not Zion yet travail and bring forth? Here, alas! who has not cause to mourn? Now and then there is one born to God; now and then one is coming forward and telling in the gates of Zion what the Lord has done for their souls. "Oh! arm of the Lord, awake," &c. Spirit of God, of life, and power, descend and quicken those "dead in trespasses and sins." Oh! become a Spirit of grace and supplication in those graceless and prayerless persons who sit under the sound of the gospel. Still perform thy office, and "convince of sin," &c.

5. We are allowed to hope from the signs of the times that Zion is now travailing, and will "bring forth her children.' Look abroad, and we see that much has been and more will be done. Look at home; sabbath-schools, tract,

Bible, and missionary societies, and what numerous instruments are engaged in the work! We hope He who has excited the desire, the prayer of his people and their liberality also, will crown their labours with success. Let us pray, and not faint; labour in the vineyard, and the vintage shall be gathered. "The harvest truly is great, &c. Observe, when Zion brings forth it gives joy to her sons and daughters, as being an answer to their prayers, as a proof of rich grace and faithfulness, and as a pledge of the Redeemer's triumph over sin, Satan, and the world.

WORDS OF LOVE TO WEALTHY CHRISTIANS.

For the Christian Witness.

MAY a word of exhortation be addressed to you? Consider what our Lord has done for you; not so much in the wealth he has given you as in the grace he has bestowed, whereby you are led to seek something better than the riches of this world. Not many wealthy persons are called to the faith of Jesus; and therefore the grace given to you is the more distinguishing and remarkable. Consider what would be your state if you were buried in wealth without the knowledge and love of Christ. And what should you do for your Redeemer, for him who shed his blood for you? Can you hold back anything he gives you, and which he asks you to give back again to him, in his people and his cause? He asks for some of your wealth, that it may be employed in supporting men who may preach his word. There are many prepared for labouring in the kingdom of God; but if you will not give of your wealth, and after an enlarged order of contribution, how can they be supported? And consider what will be the consequences to many most destitute places if they are not visited by the light of the gospel; and what also the consequence to your own heart if you keep back from your Lord what he asks at your hands. Will you not at least be left in darkness, and be exposed to temptation, and will not your family suffer? Will not their hearts be hardened through your hoarding up too much wealth for them? While on the other hand, your heart would be enlarged with holy fire, with light and love, and your children's minds would be deeply imbued with the things of the kingdom of God, if you were to do more

for the furtherance of the gospel. Your children look at your actions as well as hear your words, and if they see you value money as much as they do, and that you give sparingly to the kingdom of God, will they not say your heart is more in the world than in the church, more with your wealth than with Christ? Ponder, we humbly but earnestly beg you, the saying of our Lord: "No man can serve two masters;" and "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And may his Spirit lead you, with subdued and enlarged hearts, to begin anew your Christian course with asking, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

SOMETHING FOR THE THOUGHTLESS READER.

HAVE you ever seriously reflected that you are a sinner, and, as such, exposed to God's righteous indignation? In all probability you are aware of this fact, but have never bestowed upon it any serious attention. You care for none of these things; or, it may be, you think religion a matter which you will have time enough to attend to in after years. But let me remind you that you know not whether you shall live a single year more; and even if you should, is it not more than likely that at any given future period you will feel even less inclined to religion than you do at present? Let me therefore urge you even NOW to flee from the wrath to come, and seek an interest in the favour of Him who willeth not that any should perish, but that all should return unto him and live. Do you ask how you can obtain the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of your soul? The answer is explicit: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Believe this and live. It is a faithful saying, one every way worthy of belief, that Jesus Christ can save even the chief of sinners. It is his delight to save. He became man and died upon the cross for this very purpose. Oh! believe then in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only way of salvation; for he that believeth not shall be damned. Perhaps you are ready to say that you do believe. If it be so, happy are ye. But take care that in this you are not deceiving yourself. Mistake here is not only dangerous, but fatal if persisted in. Faith is not, as too many suppose, a mere unconcerned assent of the mind to the truths of the gospel; it is an active, ruling principle; and wherever it exists it regulates the heart and forms the character. It works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world; and if it does not so operate in you, be assured you are destitute of faith, whatever you may think. If you believe in reality you will love the Lord, and this will appear in the following among other ways:

First, You will keep his commandments. Sin it will be your endeavour and your prayer to hate and avoid; and holiness in all manner of

conversation will be your constant aim. You will desire and strive to do all that God commands, and to shun all that he condemns.

Second, You will love to pray to him. Regularly evening and morning will you retire by yourself and pour out your heart unto Him who is the hearer of prayer and answerer of requests. Those who lie down at night and rise in the morning, like the beasts that perish, without prayer to God, need no other proof that they are without love to Christ, and if they die in this condition will perish for ever.

Thirdly, You will love your Bible, and read it frequently. If you have no relish for the word of God, and seldom or never take it up of your own accord, but only, it may be, when you are called to do so, as at public or family w *rship, it is but too evident that you love not the Lord;

for if you did you would love his word, and if you loved it you would read it frequently. Whereas, by thus rejecting his counsel and despising his reproof, you are in effect saying, "Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways;" and what will the answer in the end be but "Depart from me; I know you not, ye workers of iniquity ?"

Be persuaded then, O reader, if you be thoughtless and unconcerned, to bethink yourself before it be too late, and return unto the Lord, who will have mercy upon you and abundantly pardon. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

THE STREAM OF LIFE.

From a Letter of Dr. Arnold, addressed to his Wife from the Elbe.

WE are now near Pirna, that is, near the end of the Saxon Switzerland; the cliffs which here line the river on both sides—a wall of cliff rising out of wood, and crowned with wood-will in a very short time sink down into plains, or at the best into gentle slopes, and the Elbe will wind through one unvaried flat from this point till it reaches the sea. There is to me something almost affecting in the striking analogy of rivers to the course of human life, and my fondness for them makes me notice it more in them than in any other objects in which it may exist equally. The Elbe rises in plains; it flows through plains for some way; then for many miles it runs through the beautiful scenery which we have been visiting, and then it is plain again for all the rest of its course. Even yet, dearest-and

we have reached our middle course in the ordinary run of life-how much more favoured have we been than this river; for hereto we have gone on through nothing but a fair country, yet so far like the Elbe that the middle has been the loveliest. And what of course is henceforth to run through plains as dreary as those of the Elbe, for we are now widely separated, and I may never be allowed to return to you, and know not what may happen to you. Then the river may be cur comfort, for we are passing on as it passes, and we are going to the bosom of that Being who sent us forth, even as the rivers return to the sea, the general fountain of all waters. Thus much is natural religion not surely to be despised or neglected, though we have more given us than anything which the analogy of nature can parallel. For He who trod the sea, and whose path is in the deep water, has visited us with so many manifestations of his grace, and is our God by such other high titles, greater than that of creation, that to him who puts out the arm of faith, and brings the mercies that are round him home to his own particular use, how full of overflowing comfort must the world be, even when its plains are the dreariest and loneliest. Well may every one of

Christ's disciples repeat to him the prayer made by his first twelve, "Lord, increase our faith;" and well may we wonder-as the Scripture applies such a term to God-that our faith is so little. Be it strengthened in us, dearest wife, and in our children, that we may be all one, now and evermore, in Christ Jesus.

AN INFIDEL'S END. MIRABEAU, like all the leading names of France for the last century, was an infidel; it was the melancholy fancy of the time, and considered essential to the reputation of all who pretended to philosophy. There was but little in the religion of the land to rebuke the evil spirit, and its name was Legion. His last effort, when his speech failed him, was to write on his tablets "Death is but a sleep," and a request for some opjum, to extinguish his life and his pains together. Still, even in this fatal insensibility to all that constitutes the greatness of the dying mind, and of those illustrious hopes and feelings which to Christians throw their light across the grave, the sinking man of genius showed some of that brilliancy which had once given him such distinction among his countrymen. "Take away from my sight," said he, "all those funerallooking things. Why should man be surrounded by the grave before his time? Give me flowers, let me have essences, arrange my dress. me hear music, and let me close my eyes in harmony." But this passed away with the return of pain, and he once more asked for opium to end the struggle. The physician, to quiet his mind, gave him some water in a cup, telling bim that it was opium. He swallowed it, dropped back upon his pillow, and was dead.

Let

THE MISSIONARY'S WIFE. THERE is something exceedingly interesting in a missionary's wife. I saw much of the missionaries abroad, and even made many warm friends among them; and I repeat it, there is something exceedingly interesting in a missionary's wife. She who has been cherished as a plant that the winds must not breathe on too rudely, recovers from the separation from her friends to find 1

self in a land of barbarians, where her loud cry of distress can never reach their ears. New ties twine round her heart, and the tender and helpless girl changes her very nature, and becomes the staff and support of the man. In his hours of despondency she raises his drooping spirits; she bathes his aching head, and smoothes his pillow of sickness. I have entered her dwelling, and have been welcomed as a brother; and sometimes, when I have known any of her friends at home, I have been for a moment more than recompensed for all the toils and privations of a traveller in the East. And when I left her dwelling it was with a mind burdened with remembrances to friends whom she will perhaps never see again.-Stephens' Incidents of Travel.

PREPARATION FOR DEATH.

WHEN you lie down at night compose your spirits, as if you were not to awake till the heavens be no more. And when you awake in the morning, consider that new day as your last, and live accordingly. Surely that night cometh of which you will never see the morning, or that morning of which you will never see the night; but which of your mornings or nights will be such you know not. Let the mantle of worldly enjoyments hang loose about you, that it may be easily dropped when death comes to carry you into another world. When the corn is forsaking the ground it is ready for the sickle: when the fruit is ripe it falls off the tree easily. So when a Christian's heart is truly weaned from the world, he is prepared for death, and it will be the more easy for him. A heart disengaged from the world is a heavenly one, and then we are ready for heaven, when our heart is there before us.-Barton.

GOOD INTEREST FOR MONEY. Nor many years ago a person died, leaving a very good estate to his widow and two sons; but the young men were profligate, and the widow, who was a Christian lady, seeing how they were running through the property, and determining that it should not all be lost, sent £20 to a Missionary Society. The sons complained sorely of it, and told her she might as well have thrown the money into the sea; but she said she had cast it upon the waters, and should find it again after many days. The sons enlisted into the army; their regiment was ordered to India, and when the eldest was several hundred miles up the Ganges, he was, by the preaching of a missionary, brought to the knowledge of the truth. He went down to Calcutta, to his younger brother, and died there of cholera almost immediately. The first news his mother heard of all this was of his happy and triumphant death; and she exclaimed, "Here comes my £20 back." But before his death the elder had induced the younger to attend the worship of God, and he also was converted; he took orders, became a missionary, and came to England just before his mother died, closing her eyes in peace, and enabling her to say, "Here again comes my £20 back."-From Speech of Major Jacob.

GEMS OF SCIENCE.

THE gannet is destined to feed on the fishes which swim beneath the surface of the water; not like the gull, on those which frequent or approach it. And being unable to swim under

water, as the divers do, in pursuit of its prey, it plunges from aloft into the sea, and with such force as to sink thirty or forty feet or more. Such are the velocity and weight that the blow would probably kill the animal, were it not for a contrivance forming so singular an exception to the universal structure that we can neither question the design nor avoid admiring the invention. The skin of the breast is detached from the body, excepting along the ridge of the sternum; and the animal has the power of inflating it, so that the body becomes inclosed within a temporary bladder, the elasticity of which prevents that shock which would otherwise be deadly. And this contrivance serves also as a buoy to bring the bird and its prey up to the surface; since, at the depth to which it sinks, and without the power of submarine swimming, it would otherwise be drowned. As an analogous contrivance, for the more ordinary purpose of general levity, there is in the eagle, the stork, the lark, and some others, a provision for inflating the skin of the neck and shoulders, in addition to the air-cells of the bones; thus producing an extraordinary buoyancy in cases where it is most needed.-Macculloch.

The secondary office of a bat's legs, in forming a portion of its wings, renders it almost impotent on the ground; and its dwelling places demanded the power of perching. Man contrives a hook on which to hang such things as the ground will not conveniently receive, or he attaches the hook to the object itself. This has been done for the bat. It has two hooks, and it hangs itself up to rest. Here, at least, he who doubts the design and the artist must deny his own ingenuity and inventions.-Ibid.

He who should compare the sluggishness and awkward construction of the chameleon with the activity of his food, would determine that it would never succeed in securing its prey. But the Creator of all things is never at a loss. That sluggishness and form were a part of the plan; and the activity of the tongue is a match for that of the food, careless of the rude animal to which it belongs, or unable to distinguish that which is so often undistinguishable by ourselves from the tree on which it resides; while for this purpose it is believed that a peculiar structure of the skin, with a power of inflation by means of its monstrous lungs, enables the animal to vary its colour, so as to increase the power of concealment. The total contrivance is complex, but the reason is plain. And if the motion of the tongue has the rapidity of lightning, such is its mechanism that we can scarcely analyze its action, while it is inimitable by us, even where ascertained.-Ibid.

The mouth of the whale offers an instance of ingenuity and foresight. Comparing it to human inventions, it is a shrimping net; while no one could have divined that the largest animal of creation should have been commanded to seek its food among the smallest; that millions should be daily destroyed to support one life. So, however, has it been ordered. But had the whale been condemned to swallow all the water which it must draw into its mouth together with its prey, the inconveniences which would have followed are obvious. To prevent this it is provided with a singular piece of machinery, con

sisting of a series of flat hoops, meeting from both sides of the mouth into arches, and carrying ranges of bristles, which form a strainer and also a kind of net. The water is thus rejected, and the mass of shrimps is delivered to the throat.-Ibid.

The horny beak of a chicken, with which it is supplied for the purpose of breaking its shell, and which falls off a few days after its birth, furnishes complete proof that every exigency of animals has been foreseen and provided for. Truly was it said that even a sparrow was an object of the Creator's care; and literal must be that truth, when, for this senseless and unborn creature, there has been made a provision so peculiar and minute, the want of which would have rendered all other cares for it useless. And does he not also watch over the life which he thus provides for? If he does not, when does that care cease, or why should the power which thus cared that it might produce a living and enjoying animal, abandon it when the end is not even yet attained? To assert this would be very inconsequential reasoning in any case; and yet it is the reasoning of those who deny the providence of God.-Ibid.

GEMS OF TRUTH.

I ONCE asked a deaf and dumb boy, "What is truth?" He replied by thrusting his finger forward in a straight line. I then asked him, "What is falsehood ?" when he made a zigzag with his finger. Try to remember this: let whoever will take a zigzag path, go you on in your course, as straight as an arrow to its mark, and shrink back from falsehood as you would from a viper.-Barnaby on Truth.

SEVENTH REPORT OF THE INSTITUTION FOR EDUCATING THE DAUGHTERS OF MISSIONARIES, ESTABLISHED AT WALTHAMSTOW, 1838.

ONCE again, in the good providence of God, are the friends of the Mission School invited to listen to the Report of another year's engagements. The events of the year have proved the occasion of mingled joy and sorrow; and while your Committee have still reason to mourn over their own deficiencies, and to feel humbled in the review of their failures, they are constrained to acknowledge with devout gratitude that God has not withheld from them renewed proof that his grace can and will bless even feeble instrumentality when prayerfully employed to promote his own cause and glory.

The details of an institution so purely domestic as that whose interests have convened us to-day, could not be appropriate materials for a public report; and the results of labours directed mainly to the correction and improvement of individual character, can never become properly the subject of public notice. As in the natural world some of its most beautiful and fragrant flowers are found springing up in the morning beneath the shelter of the leafy forest

which would wither and die if exposed to the noon-day sun, so in the moral world the glare of public notice would be ill adapted to promote the growth of those gentle virtues which most adorn, and most ennoble women. Some blossoms have already ripened into fruit, and that fruit has appeared in the character and piety and intelligence of young friends, who, having left the institution, are now giving satisfactory evidence, that the time which they spent there was indeed not time lost.

Your Committee could point to one of these early scholars, who, now as a wife and mother, is shedding sweet fragrance around the domestic hearth; to others who are rendering valuable help to their parents in distant lands;-to others who are gaining for themselves an honourable provision in this country; and even in those few cases, where these results do not yet appear, who would affirm that the seed which lies concealed for the present shall not spring up and yield fruit in due time to the glory of God.

There have been for the past year forty-eight children in the school, and others have been waiting admission. It is with feelings of no ordinary joy and gratitude that your Committee have to state that this large family has for the most part been preserved in health; no epidemic