so?-Our Missions are cramped for want of suffiçient aid. Brethren, pray then fervently the Lord of the Harvest, that he will THRUST FORTH Labourers into the harvest!

Finally, receive cordially the call, which is now made loudly upon the Churches of Christ-not more distinctly by the voices of Brethren, than by all the signs of the times and the testimony of prophecy: pray for the fulfilment of that great reserved promise of the Divine Word, the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh in the latter days. This it is, which alone can give effect to the bestconcerted plans for the conversion of Gentiles and of Jews. You, Brethren, know this to be true, from the limited and partial success which yet accompanies Missions. We have painful evidence of the fact upon the spot-as we stand in the midst of the Heathen, and behold as yet but little fruit of the Ministry among them. Here and there, a Paul is planting, an Apollos is watering, but how small is the increase! The abundant rains and dews of Heaven are as yet withheld. As the Prophet in vision (Ezek. xxxvii. 1-10), we look through a vast and dismal valley full of dry bones; and behold, as Missionaries prophesy, a shaking, bone coming to bone, the sinews and the flesh, and the skin covering them, but, alas! there is no breath in them. This is the prospect which we have witnessed-and still we have to mourn over the dead! No breath cometh from the four winds, to breathe upon the slain that they may live! And why? Is it not, that the Lord not only would make us feel that the whole excellency of the power is of Himself, but would thus especially stir up his servants to

a more distinct and sensible acknowledgment and glorifying of the blessed Author of the Divine Life in the Soul, and of sanctification in the Churches; and to a more combined and holier importunity in prayer for the promised gift, more suitable to the dignity of the Divine Agent, and the vastness of the blessing which is to flow forth to the nations?

Hail then, Brethren, the call for this new effort of piety and love! Be of one heart and of one mind to honour the Holy Spirit; and call upon Him, and He will hear you. Stir ye up one another, and your prayer shall enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts: the Redeemer will manifest his glory, and the whole work shall be consummated. Brethren,

we speak no vain thing; for He cometh, for He cometh, saith the Scripture, to judge the world in righteousness and the people with his truth. He cometh, and his reward is with him. He cometh to take unto himself the Kingdom, under the whole heavens. And then, in that day, when He shall himself gather in the fruit unto life eternal, then indeed shall he that soweth and he that reapeth rejoice together. Then, welcome unto Him, welcome among the chief shall they be, who have most abundantly laboured, in the mind and spirit of our Lord, to promote the Salvation of Mankind. To such faithful servants He will say, with especial joy, "Come ye blessed of my Father-ye, whose meat it was, even as mine, to do his will and finish his work-who shrunk not from sacrifices, perils, and pains-who freely gave your substance, your children, your own-selves to my service, in any land or in any clime: the day is come-the day which by faith ye beheld-the day of your desire-the day of

my triumph: rise ye and reign: enter ye into the joy of your Lord, in the day of His great joy!" Is the vision yet for an appointed time? At the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come; it will not tarry. Blessed, let every heart respond, blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things! and blessed be his glorious Name for ever! And let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

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NOTE.

(See p. 17.)

In the year 1820, a Tract appeared in Calcutta, in the Bengalee Language, written by a Native, since deceased, Brajamohan Majmoodar, a Native of Bengal and a friend of Rammohun Roy, against the prevailing System of Hindoo Idolatry, which may be allowed to put an end to all doubt in reference to the enormities of the Gods, the Worship, the Priest, and the People of India. A translation of this Tract into English was published, last year, at the expense of Rammohun Roy.

a

Of this Tract, it is justly said, in "The Friend of India," published in Quarterly Numbers at Serampore, that it contains " masterly exposure of the absurdities of the present Hindoo System." It is well added, "If indeed we needed any thing, to demonstrate the invariable tendency of Idolatry to plunge every succeeding age deeper in immorality, and with what ease the most offensive rites and the most degrading practices may be engrafted on its corrupt stock, we might find it in this work."

The mind of the author, in exact accordance with the leading principles of this Sermon, seems to have been deeply impressed by the dishonour done to the True God, and the misery of his Countrymen, through their deplorable superstitions; the consequences of which he scruples not, contrary to the chilling refinements of modern candour, to extend even to eternity! "How can we feel any affection for you," he asks (p. 65), "while you reproach Him, whom we consider as the holy, omnipresent, indestructible, supreme God, by saying that he was born, or that he died; and by accusing him of adultery, theft, revengefulness, voluptuousness, anger, and other sinful passions !"-" miserable, ignorant persons, whose gods are earth, stone, wood, and metal; and whose objects of worship are monkeys, bears, kites, jackals, and such like creatures" (p. 68). Their Religious Rites, in many instances, he speaks of as "such things," that if they were done" on common occasions, “in the presence even of the most profligate, it would excite a feeling of shame in them" (p. 26): and the necessary tendency and moral effect of their system, generally, he thus describes-"Your system of worship through sensible objects pollutes the mind, and encourages the perpetration of sins"-" It excites only sinful lusts in the mind, and pollutes the soul" (p. 45)." The soul is polluted thereby, and it proves, consequently, an impediment in coming to the supreme God" (p. 52).

The expression of the author's feelings toward the people is, throughout his book, that of the liveliest "pity, but not of hatred," scarcely restrained oftentimes from deep contempt. Toward their Pundits and Gooroos he manifests strong indignation-" those im

postors," he says of the Pundits, "who, by exciting you to the worship of images, extort money from you, and make you miserable in the present world, and in that which is to come!" (p. 58)-and

your Gooroos, proud, imperious persons, who are full of pride, the worst of all crimes, and given to sin and deceit" (p. 66). At the same time, it is not a little remarkable, that, in further contradiction to the sentiments of many among ourselves, he pronounces his people, miserable as he deems them even to Eternity, to be yet without excuse.

The whole Tract is, indeed, a surprising illustration of the views and arguments of St. Paul, in the First Chapter to the Romans; and is highly worthy the attention of all the friends of Missions to the Heathen, and particularly of all who may have had any doubt on the urgency of the call for Missionaries in India.