as messengers with sad reports of the abuses they have received? Time comes to you bearing this message, "Behold now is the day of salvation?" If you disregard his message, he will fly to the throne of God with his complaint against you. How many such complaints have been alrea. dy entered in the records of heaven, and stand charged in the book of God? How many days, and months, and years, which have favoured you with friendly visits, have fled, fled forever; fled in anger to lodge a grievous information against you? Other days still come; oh send no more of them away disappointed and offended.

Think of this, ye slaves to the world. What profit have you found in all your labours? What is worldly gain to you, while you gain nothing else? God is bountiful, but you are unthankful. You receive good things; but what is your enjoyment? It it only sensitive; and this embittered with anxiety, vexation and fear. The true enjoyment of worldly good consists in that faith, which looks up to God as the giver, feels a sense of obligation, and studies grateful returns. The true end of life is to glorify God, do good to men, and prepare for a happy existence hereafter. To the man, who thus lives, time, as it passes, brings real good. But to those, who seek a portion only in this life, time brings labour and trouble. It may announce success in business, and treasures laid up for many years; but it also announces, that they are mortal, and that death is approaching, which will eject them from their possessions, consign their bodies

to the narrow limits of a grave, and send their souls to a world, where they have no goods provided; no treasures secured, This is the report, which every day makes to them. They hear it with reluctance, and let it pass with the day which brings it, How miserable is the life of the man of the world, who has nothing to enjoy, but what this world can give, and has no portion in that world where he must live forever? Live, then, under an impressive sense of another world, and, in reference to that, order all your conduct.

Revelation has taught us how the happiness of immortality was purchased, and how it may be secured. It was purchased by the blood of the Son of God, and may be secured by faith, repentance. and obedience. Take a serious

review of life, repent of your past sins, seek God's mercy through his Son, and devote your lives to him. In a word, walk by faith." This brings future things to be present, overcomes the world, enlivens benevolence, teaches patience in affliction, contentment in every condition, resignation to God's allotments, zeal for his glory, and diligence in every good

work.

That we may maintain such a life of faith, we must converse with the word of God; this makes the man of God perfect. We must live near to the throne of grace; here we find grace to help in time of need. We must apply providential admonitions in our personal afflictions and the deaths around us; these are monitors sent to awaken our slumbering souls. We must commune with our own hearts;

thus we learn, what we are, what we have done, and what we have to do. Every day should begin with a new dedication of ourselves to God, and with humble supplication for the protection of his providence in the dangers, and the assistance of his grace in the duties before us. And every day should be closed with a review of our tempers and actions, and with prayer for the pardon of all our irregular passions, foolish meditations, and known omis sions of duty.

If our days thus pass we shall see much good; a good conscience, a good hope, good works done or designed. Our time, as it runs, will drop by the way some agreeable reports concerning our Christian progress, our title to heaven, and our usefulness in the circle of our connexions. Time is swift; but not too swift. The only evil is, we are too slow. We are accountable for no more time than we have; let us use this well, and we shall render our account with joy.

The swiftness of time is a reason for immediate attention to every duty as it calls; for while we delay, time passes, and the opportunity may be lost. But this is no reason for complaint or discouragement, for time, swift as it is, if well improved, will be sufficient for all the purposes of our present term of ex

istence.

If time is short, let us not shorten it by waste or mispense. The expedient to make life long, is to use it wisely. We are apt to complain, that our days fly away too swiftly. But before we complain, let us inquire, what we are doing while they are Ay

ing. If we make no use of them, what should we gain by their slower progress? If we spend them only in sin and folly, no matter how soon they are gone, If we employ them in our prop er work, the swifter they fly, the sooner they will bring us to that world, where is fulness of joy.

There the swiftness of time will no longer be matter of our notice; but days, and years, and ages will be lost, swallowed' up, and forgotten in an eternal, incomprehensible duration. NUNCIUS,

LETTERS OF A CLERGYMAN TO
HIS SON.
LETTER V.

Son Francis,

You wish to be successful in your business. But what is it to be successful? Is it to be rich and great in this world? or to be useful here and happy hereafter? The former, God has not promised, and is the lot of but few. The latter you may expect with assurance, if you transact your secular concerns on principles of piety and benevolence, and apply your devotional exercises to the improvement of these principles. Let your secular and your spiritual vocations be conducted on the same prin ciples, and they will be mutually subservient; they will become one; they will never interfere. If in your worldly vocation you are prudent and just, and in the appropriations of its proceeds you are sober and beneficent, you are then successful in your business. If in your social relations you study to promote peace, virtue and happiness, you will reciprocate the benefits, and

be successful in these relations. If in your attendance on divine institutions you become more pious and benevolent, more devoted to God, and more zealous of good works, your example will do good to many, and you may reckon yourself successful in your attendance. Perhaps you will not always see your success immediately; but "commit your works to God, and your thoughts will be established." "Be not weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap if you faint not,"

In works of charity obey the calls of providence, and the dictates, of a benevolent heart. Good may be done, which you do not see, and a return may come in a time and manner quite unexpected. "Cast thy bread on the waters, and after many days thou wilt find it. Give a portion to many, for thou knowest not what evil may be on the earth;" nor what occasion thou mayest have for the charity of others, or even of those, who are now the objects of thy charity. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which of them shall prosper, or whether both shall be alike good." "He who goeth forth and scattereth precious seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him."

The faithful minister acts on this encouragement. He holds forth the word of life, and keeps back nothing that is profitable. But knowing that the word preached becomes mighty through God, he commits it to him, imploring his grace to accompany it. Thus he trusts that he shall

save some, and " that he shall be a sweet savour of Christ in them. that are saved, and in them that perish."

The pious parent imparts instructions and counsels to his children, and commands them to keep the way of the Lord. And his parental labours he commits to God. And though he should not see their present success, yet he continues in them, trusting that they will not be in vain. And "if he should deliver neither son nor daughter by his righteousness, yet he knows he shall deliver his own soul."

The young person, deeply impressed with a concern for his salvation, inquires, What he must do to be saved. He consults the word of God. He learns what are the terms and means of salvation. He attends to them with some degree of diligence and seriousness. But perhaps he finds not the success which he expected. He is still in darkness and fear; still a stranger to that hope and comfort of which some improved Christians can speak. And he is tempted to say, "It is vain to seek the Lord, and keep his ordinances." But this is too hasty a conclusion. If he sees more of the corruption of his heart; more of his own impotence and unworthiness; more of the evil of sin and the worth of his soul; more of the justice of God in condemning such sinners as he is; let him not say that all this is vain, but remember, that such views of himself are necessary preparations to his receiving the Saviour with faith, gratitude and love. Let him attend on all the means, and apply himself to all the works, which God has pre

scribed, not relying on himself to do the works, or on the works done, as his recommendation to favour, but on the grace of God as the principle of strength, and the righteousness of Christ as the ground of acceptance; and let him wait on God, and continue instant in prayer. Thus he may trust that he shall not seek in vain; but shall know, if he follow on to know the Lord. He is to set no time, when God will meet him with the joy of of salvation, but to seek diligently until he find. He is not to indulge the proud and impatient thought, that God is unjust in withholding from him so long that comfort and joy, which others have obtained with less labour and in a shorter time; but wait on God and be of good courage till he shall strengthen his heart. He is to commit himself and all that he does to God, hoping for success, not because he is worthy, but because God is gracious; not because his works are valuable, but because God's mercy is abundant.

There are some, who seek to enter into heaven, and are not able. The reason is, either because they seek too late, and only after the door is shut; or because they seek too faintly and abandon the object too soon; or because they place an undue reJiance on their own works, and forget their dependence on the grace of God.

If you are engaged in the work of your salvation, go on; work with diligence; hold out with patience. This is a work, not for a day, but for life. Conversion is but the beginning of the Christian life. It is a turn

ing from sin, that you may forsake it finally; it is a turning to God, that you may serve him forever. That temper of mind which constitutes real conversion, constitutes the Christian character. Whatever is essential to the former is essential to the latter. Conversion is the religious life begun. The religious life is conversion continued and improved. By a patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, honour and immortality, and you will receive eternal, life. I am, &c.

EUSEBIUS.

SKETCHES ON THE TIMES.

STANDING on the threshold of a new year, it may be useful to take a cursory view of recent past events, and of the existing state of things in the world. Such a survey, however brief and imperfect, may help to excite our gratitude to God, and our zeal in his service.

To begin with our own country. Though torn, distracted and weakened by our unhappy divisions, insulted by foreign nations, and threatened with war, yet, amidst the political earthquakes, which have shaken and desolated other nations, we have been permitted to remain in peace. Though we have neglected to prepare and array the. means of defence, which we possess; and though our national sins and ingratitude have been of the most provoking kind; yet God, in his infinite forbearance and long suffering, has hitherto protected as under the wing of his omnipotence, and prevented our ruin. When all things are

brought into view the situation of Europe, and of those nations particularly, with which we are connected by, treaties and commerce, and also the peculiar state of our own country, it is a wonderful instance of the divine goodness, that we have been preserved in so great a degree of tranquillity and national prosperity. Whatever may be the future course of events, and God only knoweth what this may be, let us not forget past mercies. "Hitherto the Lord hath helped ts." Praise is therefore due to his great name. And while we prepare to meet him in his righteous judgments, in whatever form he may inflict them, it be comes us still to hope in his mer cy, and to trust in his goodness. Let me next direct your attention to the other continent, on which scenes of vast moment and interest to the happiness of man. kind have been and are still act ing.

Behold what desolations the Lord bath there made, which, under his governing providence, shall all be made subservient to his praise, and redound to the glory of his great name. And while we are distressed at these tremendous scenes, and weep over the miseries of the millions, who are the actors and sufferers on this bloody theatre; yet in the firm belief that the Lord Jehovah manages all these awful affairs with unerring wisdom and infinite goodness, we may and must rejoice.

But while God thus "rides upon the" political "whirlwind, wisely directing the storm," he is in other and widely different ways , accomplishing his kind designs toward our ruined race. The attention of a number of Christian

philanthropists in Great Britain, for years past, has been turned toward the degraded and much injured Africans. The suffer ings and slavery to which many millions of this unhappy people have been subjected, and by nations too, who enjoy the light of the gospel, and boast their civilization and refinement of manpers, excited the commisera tion of these friends of humanity, and prompted them to devise and prosecute measures to effect, if possible, the abolition of this abominable traffic in human flesh. After struggling for years, with noble, fortitude and perseverance, against various and formidable opposition, their efforts have been crowned with success ; and on the 25th of March last, the act, abolishing the British slave trade, received the royal sanction. So important was this event considered by multitudes of the friends of religion and humanity in England, that they appointed a day of thanksgiving, to offer their hearty thanks to God for effecting it. And with a view" to repair, as far as practicable, the wrongs inflicted on Africa," a large number of the most respectable men in EngIland have associated under the name of "The African Institu tion," for the purposes of diffus. ing useful knowledge and exciting industry among the inhabitants of this benighted portion of the world. In this work of na tional justice and humanity, that Christian patriot, the Hon. Wil liam Wilberforce, Esq. has taken a leading and most active part. This is an event which calls for our grateful acknowledgments to God. The language of it to us, as a nation, is, "Go thou and do