the conditions of our being, that this brief anticipation of what is in its nature inevitable, shall be abundantly rewarded with an eternal weight of glory. Whosoever hath forsaken father, or mother, or brethren, or sisters, for my sake and the Gospel's, shall receive an hundred fold in this present life, and in the world to come, life everlasting.

Leaving, therefore, with this passing remark, the consideration of these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, let us spend the brief interval which remains to us, this evening, in such reflections as may assist in qualifying you the better to accomplish that object to which you have consecrated your lives." pp. 4, 5.

After this most appropriate introduction, Dr. Wayland goes on to describe in a brief but forcible manner the magnitude of the undertaking to which the Missionaries are about to devote their future lives, and the actual amount of means in their possession for its accomplishment. Their object is to convert a whole empire to Jesus Christ" a mighty nation of twenty millions of souls." What then are the resources on which they rely. Not on their number. Compared with those who are to be converted, it is scarcely as one to a million. Not on political patronage. In the very act of leaving their native shores, they surrender all claim even to the protection of their native country. Not on their personal talents, and learning; for these, however respectable, would be overrated if supposed adequate to effect even a political revolution of any great extent in a single city. How much less the moral revolution of a whole nation lying in wickedness. Not on their wealth; for they go forth in voluntary poverty. What then is the sum total of their resources?

"You have merely your voices with which to urge men to forsake their sins, which they love, and to love that holiness which they hate; and you have your hands with which to multiply these exhortations, and to circulate them around you, as they issue from your presses. Such is the power which you bring, with which to accomplish this enterprise.

"But, you may reply, We expect to accomplish only a part, and the remainder will be left for others. True; but if you do any thing, that which you do, must be, by far, the most important part. You are to lay the foundation of the temple of Christ, in Burmah. You are to give the first impulse in a whole nation, to the most astonishing revolution of which the mind can conceive. You and your brethren are to originate that change of sentiment, which, as it widens and deepens, will overspread the whole people, and turn them from the service of idols, to serve the living God. In ages to come, the religious character of these multiplying millions will be traced back to your labors, your self-denials, your preaching, and your prayers. It depends, in no inconsiderable degree, upon you, whether this work is to go onward, right onward, to the millennial glory, or remain alternately advancing and receding, through long ages of a sickly minority; whether it is to advance gloriously, in the pure light of eternal truth, or grope though the misty darkness of error and delusion." pp. 6, 7.

The conclusion follows that all their reliance for success must be upon God.

"In every change that we behold, we easily recognize two distinct exertions of agency; the one, the agency of means, the other, that of absolute efficiency; the one, the agency of man,-the other, the agency of God. Man can do nothing but obey the laws of stated antecedency, while God himself effects the change. No means, of any kind, having any intrinsic efficiency, a God may make use of one as well as another. It is He, in all cases, who speaketh, and it is done,-who com

mandeth, and it stands fast. He may, if it so please him, operate as well by the feeble means which you use, as by any other. I hear you say, then, that you go not forth, placing any reliance upon your own instrumentality, but placing all your reliance upon the power of Him who speaketh to things that are not, and behold they are." pp. 7, 8.

The preacher then inquires what evidence the Missionaries possess that it is the will of God to exert his absolute efficiency, for the conversion of all nations; and having found satisfactory evidence of this fact in divine revelation, he next inquires for the divine sanction of the means they design to employ, and of their authority to employ them. These are cogently but briefly answered by an appeal to 1 Cor. i. 21, and Matt. xxviii: 18, 19. The preacher then demands what special indications appear of the Divine purpose in respect to Burmah.

Never were such indications more manifest. Burmans perishing for the lack of vision, are travelling, for many days' journey, to inquire after Jesus Christ's man.' Tracts are sought after, with avidity, from every region of the empire. So remarkably has the Holy Spirit been poured out-so unusual have been his illuminating and converting influences, that, without the aid of the living teacher, sinners have been turned to righteousness, by the reading of a small portion of the word of God; nay, through the instrumentality of a single tract. Nor is this true

of individuals only. The attention of whole neighborhoods has been arrested by no more efficacious means. In some cases, entire villages have renounced their idols, and have endeavored to worship the true God as well as they were able, from no other knowledge of him, than was acquired by a few pages of divine truth, which had been providentially thrown in their way.

Sach, then, are the encouragements, under which you go forth to labor. How strong the assurance of success! how glorious and how responsible the opportunity for exertion! Nothing, since apostolic times, has exceeded, nay, has equalled it. "But one question more arises. Supposing that we know the means which God has appointed for the accomplishment of his purposes, and that his promise is pledged that these means shall succeed, there are still other conditions remaining, on which success is suspended. In the physical world, though the connexion between means and result be established, yet, unless the means be employed under the conditions established, the result follows not. The sowing of seed is the appointed means for the production of harvest; yet, unless the seed be sown at the proper season, and cultivated in the proper manner, no harvest will be reaped. Thus, also, in spiritual husbandry. Though the preaching of Christ crucified, be the means appointed for the salvation of souls, yet, unless Christ crucified be preached under the conditions which God has appointed, no souls will be saved. And, although God has ordained that Burmah shall be converted to Christ, by the very means which you go forth to employ, yet, unless you employ these means under the conditions which he has rendered essential to success, you will labor in vain, and spend your strength for nought; for none will believe your report, and to none will the arm of the Lord be revealed.

Let us, then proceed to examine some of the conditions on which God has made success, in the use of his appointed means for the conversion of souls, to depend. pp. 8, 9.

These moral conditions are then stated to be the following: Success may be expected in proportion,

1. To the amount of labor exclusively devoted to this object : 2. To the fervor of your piety:

3. To your faith, or unwavering confidence in God:

4. To your humility:

5. And lastly, to your union of feeling and effort.

But

Most gladly would we follow the eloquent Author in his admirable illustration of these requisites to Missionary success. our limits forbid, and we must confine ourselves to the following extract, in which he sums up and applies the whole, not only to Missionaries abroad, but to Ministers at home, and Christians of all classes. In the mean time we are consoled for our inability to transfer to our pages the rich and powerful reasoning, by which he previously establishes his positions, by the reflection that each of our readers can so easily procure the Address, which the Board of Missions has now put into the permanent possession of the public.

"My Brethren in the Ministry,-you will, I doubt not, agree with me, that the conditions of a missionary's success are such as I described. Who of us is not aware that he who labors for Christ, among the heathen, cannot expect to bear fruit, unless, besides being exclusively devoted to his work, he be also devout, believing, humble, and charitable? But, my brethren, do the conditions on which success in the labors of the Gospel depend, vary with time and place, with circumstances or situation? If the Missionary can expect success only on these terms, can we expect it upon any other? Are we not liable to error, in this respect, brethren? Are we not prone to look for success, simply from the use of means, without sufficiently bearing in mind the conditions on which God has made our success to depend? Only the least important part of our work is done, when we have studied and preached: unless we have done this with the moral dispositions which God has commanded, we, also, may expect to labor in vain, and spend our breath for nought. Do not the facts in the present state of the Christian church indicate that such is our deficiency? There is among us a great amount and great variety of the means of grace. Scarcely a day in the week passes in our populous towns, in which we have not the opportunity of enjoying religious teaching. But, does the moral result, in our own hearts, and in the hearts of others, correspond to these advantages? Is not the average rate of Christian attainment low? Do we succeed in raising ourselves or our brethren to that degree of piety which we desire? Do we not frequently labor, for a considerable period, without any visible effect? Now, when we use the means which God has appointed, and they produce not the effect which he had predicted, must not the cause of the failure be, that we do not use them aright? And have we not observed that, in general, our labors have been successful, very much in proportion to the fervor of our own individual piety, and the humble confidence in God with which these labors have been performed? And does not this fact indicate to us the manner in which our success may be increased? As Pastors in Christendom, we need the missionary spirit, as much as pastors in Burmah. Let us, then, with renewed moral vigor, give ourselves to the work. Let us cultivate, with additional industry, those Christian graces on which the salvation of our own souls, as well as that of others, depends; remembering that as a man soweth, so shall he also reap.

My Christian Brethren of every name,-do you not believe that it is necessary, that ministers of Jesus Christ should thus live, if they would advance the cause of our common Redeemer? But, let me ask, has Christ given one rule of life for Ministers, and another rule of life for their people? Have you, in fact, or only in name, been buried with Christ? Is it in profession, or in reality, that ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God? Have you not devoted your all, your possessions, your talents, yourselves, to the service of Christ? We have done no more, we can do no more. All the difference between us, is, that Christ calls us to one mode of service, and you to another. Both of us are called to surrender all to Christ, and to make the promotion of the interests of holiness the great object of our existence. And the conditions on which we are called to labor, are precisely the same. Christ calls you, not merely to contribute your property, and your personal service to his cause, but to do it with precisely the same moral feelings which he requires of a missionary to the heathen. Let me

ask, then, brethren, are not the alms of the church, at the present day, greatly in advance of her prayers? Is not this the reason why our efforts are not attended with better and more animating success? I suppose that there is, every year, poured out upon the world, in the form of Bibles, tracts, and preaching of the Gospel, a greater amount of religious truth, than existed on earth, for ages after the commencement of the Christian era. But this truth does not now produce the effects that it produced then. We have multiplied the means, without cultivating, in our own hearts, those conditions on which alone God has promised to accompany the means with his blessing. While, then, we send abroad the word of God, let us send with it the prayer of faith, arising from hearts full of the Holy Ghost; and let us be excited to Christian diligence, by the consideration, that the conversion of the heathen to Christ, is most intimately connected with our individual and personal holiness.

Let me add one other reflection. You see, brethren, that there are two kinds of means which God has made necessary to the conversion of the world; the onethe promulgation of truth; and the other-those prayerful and holy dispositions in the hearts of his people, in answer to which His Spirit is sent to render the truth effectual. Now, it is manifestly not necessary that both of these means be used by the same individual. That Christian, in answer to whose prayers a sinner is converted, is, in a more important sense, the instrument of his conversion, than he who merely holds forth to him the word of life. Behold, then, brethren, the missionary field open to every one of you. You may not be called to go abroad to proclaim the message of salvation, but every one of you may be, in as delightful a sense, the means of the conversion of the heathen, as though you spent your life in the midst of them. You may never see a Burman on earth, but you may, at the judgment day, behold a ransomed multitude, who, in answer to your intercession, have been rescued from the pains of the second death, to be your joy and crown of rejoicing throughout eternity. In this work, men and women, rich and poor, young and old, may labor, at all times, and in all places, Remember, that every day, Bibles and tracts are going abroad to the heathen, who are perishing. And I think that I speak in the spirit of the Gospel, when I say that every one of you may be the instrument, every day, of the conversion of perishing souls, who will be reckoned as the fruit which you have borne to Christ, in the day when the secrets of men's hearts shall be made manifest." pp. 22-24.

THE FRIENDS OF CHRIST KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS; OR, OBEDIENCE THE TEST OF DISCIPLESHIP. A Sermon delivered before the Old Colony Baptist Association, introductory to their session, at Kingston, Mass. Oct. 1, 1834. By HIERVEY FITTZ, Pastor of the Central Baptist Church, Middleborough, Mass. Published by request. Middleborough: Benjamin Drew, Jr. 1834. pp. 26, 8vo.

This is decidedly one of the best practical discourses we have read for a long time, and could our wishes have any weight with our brethren, we should be glad to see it in the hands of every Christian professor, not only in the United States, but wherever the English language is spoken or read. If the topic be one of the most trite in the circle of theological truth, the manner in which it is here treated is novel, ingenious, striking, and, what is still better, scriptural, searching, thorough, profound. Slight inaccuracies may indeed be discovered in the detail, but they are merely spots in the sun. The general plan and execution of the discourse is such as to throw a flood of light upon the topic dis

cussed, and were a new solar orb to break out in the sky, it could not produce a more startling effect upon the dwellers on earth, than the luminous body of truth here concentrated upon the real nature of the Christian profession in one steady, continuous, and fervid blaze, upon the mind of a worldly-minded or careless professor of religion. We cordially approve the judgment of those friends who demanded its publication. It ought not to die with the occasion which called it forth. It ought not to be confined to the circle of the author's immediate hearers. It deserves a wider circulation. It deserves to be deliberately read in the devout retirement of the closet. It deserves to be perused over and over again, weighed, appropriated, and incorporated with the most valuable sentiments and maxims of our daily life.

It is eminently fitted to do good in this age of spreading and superficial profession. When the sacred name of CHRISTIAN has become cheap, not so much from its commonness, (would to God it might in sincerity become universal)--not from the rapidity of conversions, or the haste of making profession of faith in the Redeemer, (for these do not even now equal the power and promptitude of the Apostolic times,)--but from the low standard of attainment and character in which most fashionable professors rest, it is truly a subject of thankfulness to the Head of the church, and an indication of His care for the purity and honor of His kingdom, when He puts it into the hearts of his ministers to preach and publish such searching and awakening discourses as this. The consciousness of the source from which issues every good gift and every perfect gift, is as necessary to the reader as it is to the author, who surely will not be the last to acknowledge, with deep humility before God, how far he himself is from perfect conformity to the high and scriptural standard of Christian character he has so ably displayed.

The text chosen by Mr. Fittz is John xiv. 23. If a man love me, he will keep my words. After a brief and pertinent exordium, in which he defines the keeping of Christ's words to comprehend all the duties of his religion, he advances to the general proposition so evidently contained in the text, that THE FRIENDS OF CHRIST

WILL KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS――or, OBEDIENCE IS THE TEST OF DIS

CIPLESHIP. This proposition is sustained by three distinct series of argument, derived from the nature of the case, the usual mode of applying language, and the current representations of the word of God.

His argument under the first head is founded on these principles; that man is made for action; that interest and inclination are the main springs of action; that these may be at variance with each other; but that if they lie in the same direction, man will necessarily act in that direction.

"From the preceding remarks it is evident, that if we neglect to obey Christ, it must result, to say the least, from one of two causes; either we do not believe that it will be for our interest to keep his words-or our love for sin, and aversion to holiness, overpower all considerations of interest, and influence us to act in op