hath prepared for him that waiteth for him," see also 1 Cor. 2. §. These rich and heavenly showers are calculated and intended to make the christian grow-to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Being moistened with the dews of Heavenly grace, the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon; they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing. They shall flourish and grow, "till all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Besides this coming down in gentle showers, upon this and that portion of the earth, we are assured that ere long Christ shall come down upon the whole length and breadth of the earth, as rain upon the new mown grass, and showers that water the earth," for all the earth shall see the salvation of God &c. Let us my friends consider the duty to which we are exhorted in this passage, and the important blessings promised. 1st. Having experienced the pardoning mercy of God in Christ, his great and unspeakable love to dying sinners, his ability and willingness to save; it is our duty to recommend a crucified and risen Savior and the salvation he hath wrought out, to our fellow sinners, and exhort them to return to the Lord from whom they have departed and to assure them that he is an almighty and all-sufficient Savior. 2. The judgments of God upon our land or ourselves, whenever they come, or in whatever form they present themselves, should cause in us a great searching of heart, loathing of sin, and an earnest seeking after and returning to the Lord. 3. We may encourage ourselves with the consideration that God cheerfully and heartily welcomes the returning sinner, and promises a full pardon of past offences and a full fruition of all spiritual blessing, and finally a seat at his right hand where are pleasures ever more. 3. Although God seems to wait long before he comes, yet will he come in due time, in his own time: "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on Lord"---for "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" &c. Amen, the From our Philadelphia Correspondent Philadelphia, Feb. 21, 1845 Mr. Editor:-The diversities of character and disposition in a city whose population is nearly 300,000 are very great and the means of public excitement are always in operation. At one time the theatre, the circus, the operatie concerts and a vast round of amusements, decidedly immoral in their tendency, throw open inviting doors and are crowded by the idle, the dissipated, the irreligious and sometimes by strangers who would shrink from such appearances of evil in their distant homes, but do not hesitate here to strengthen by their pres-ence and money the hands of men whose steps take hold on Death. At other times Literary associations are very generally popular. In these besides well selected Libraries and weekly exercises in composition, declamation and debate, men of acknowledged talent and worth are sought to deliver lectures on the most useful subjects that can be selected; and in this way many are diverted from places of dangerous resort, libraries are enlarged and established in various sections, habits of reading and study are formed, and the mental and moral welfare of the man is thoroughly promoted. During this winter lectures of a more public character and subjects of a more general interest have been greatly in vogue, Early in the season the subject of Intemperance awakened a lively interest. It was ascertained that in one District (the city embraces six) with a population of about 14,-. 000 there were ten licensed taverns and 262 unlicensed places for selling ardent spirits---that during the last two years over 400 persons had become drunkards in that District---about 900 children had been thereby left destitute of proper guardianship and some 4630 commitments had been made to the prison by the several magistrates. In the beginning of the New Year a Mr. J. B. Gough appeared in our midst---to tell with an eloquence that but few if any. in this country have ever excelled---the enormities of this vice and the direct dency of the trafficker to destroy both body and soul. He spoke with the fervor of one whose own experience dictated his affecting message---and yet with all the kindness of one who felt that he himself had learned the letter, and been touched by the spirit and owed his all to the grace of our holy religion. The effect was amazing. Hundreds were compelled to leave our largest buildings unable to gain admission. Many were led to vow temperance in all things. Churches whose Pastors and Elders had for years mourned over members falling under the terrible saying "No drunkard shall inherit the king- ten dom of God" formed congregational associations to discourage the dreadful vice; and many who had long trafficked in this article relinquished that business and endeavored to wash their hands of Habakkuk's terrible woe. Hab. 2. 15. It is already felt that much good has been done. Soon afterwards a Mr. S. Bonhomme appeared in our city as an agent of the "American Society for meliorating the condition of the Jews." This Society was organized in New York Dec. 30, 1816. It aims at searching out the children of Israel in our own country--administering relief to those who are in distress, and circulating among them by means of missionaries Bibles and Tracts the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It issues monthly at the low price of one dollar per annum a periodical of 24 pages styled the Jewish Chronicle and thereby spreads out a vast amount of interesting intelligence concerning the Jews at this day throughout the world. Mr. B. stated that there were about 60,000 Jews in the United States--that he has not been repulsed in scarcely a single instance in preaching Jesus as the Mediator---that their Bibles have been very generally stripped of the prophecies which refer directly to Christ---and that as a people they are emphatically sitting in darkness, and yet there is not a single minister employed by the American churches to labor among them. To these lectures many listened with solemn attention & evinced their feelings by substantial gifts. The movement of your Synod on behalf of Palestine is regarded with deep interest. The Free church of Scotland and the General assembly of Ireland are being extensively blessed for their noble zeal in this cause. The Providence of God has placed upon the British throne the daughter of one of the first and most substantial friends of the Jews in England and richly imbued her with the spirit of her father. The King of Prussia too has a warm heart and a full hand to do for the Jew. The Turkish empire is crumbling to atoms, The prejudices of ages in the breasts of Gentiles and Jews are being softened and removed---and prophecy and Providence alike seem ushering in a day when another delivered multitude from the loins of Abraham shall take up the shout "Jehovah hath triumphed, His people are free." The subject of Romanism is now occupying much attention. The American Protestant association which was organized about two years since and now numbers nearly one hundred ministers of different denominations in the city has brought forward a course of Lectures which have been eagerly sought. On this subject our inhabitants have keenly felt. They have encountered the united influence of nearly 50,000 Ro manists---clamoring for the expulsion of the Bible from the public schools as a sectarian book, and for the expunging of every sentence in any book which gives a true history of the spirit and the deeds of the papal church. They have seen their public meetings assaulted and broken up, and their fellow citizens shot down in open day; and though events transpired which filled their hearts with sorrow and their city with disgrace,---yet they felt that Rome was the cause and have crowded those places where her principles and practices were exposed. Already has strong ground been taken that the church of Rome is not a church of Christ; and her spirit has been proved to be that of idolatry, deception, delusion, persecution and infatuation. Other Lectures upon her bearings upon the civil and religious institutions of our country are yet in prospect. The association aims at doing good also by means of a very able Quarterly Review which for the sum of one dollar a year brings out every three months over one hundred pages of most important matter on this great subject. The present volume has been ordered to your Seminary at Oxford among many others. Its extensive circulation will greatly aid other appointed means in exposing that "wicked one" "whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming." Yours, J. B. D. THE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. To its Supporters and Friends connected with the various Evangelical denominations in the United States: BRETHREN:---At a recent meeting of the Executive Committee of this Society, the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen President, in the chair, letters were read requesting explanations as to certain complaints recently brought against the Society in the public prints, it was referred to the undersigned, resident members of the Publishing Committee, to present to the Christian community a brief view of the proceedings in the Society's publishing department. The Publishing Committee, who, by the Society's constitation, represent as many ecclesiastical connections as there are members, and issue only publications in which they all agree, have for nearly twenty years harmoniously proceeded in publishing Tracts and books replete with the great] truths of salvation through the blood of Christ VOL. II:-SIG. 32 and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Their work at the outset ap. peared to be responsible and difficult: but seeking light from on high, keeping before them the steadfast aim to issue publications evange lieal, spiritual, and abounding in saving truth; and sending forth no work, which, in view of all the circumstances, they have not unanimously approved---God has given the publications favor with the evangelical community, and made them the evident means of salvation to multitudes.. As to objections recently urged against the Society, the Committee would prefer never to allude to them. Not that they claim any perfection in their services; or that every thing the Society does is not open to investigation; or that the Committee are not ready to profit by suggestions from whatever source; but the character of the Society resting solely on christian confidence, and designed to unite rather than sunder the efforts of God's people, requires those engaged in it rather to suffer wrong and commit their cause to Him, than resist the wishes of any. Still it is believed that the sacred interests intrusted to the oversight of the Committee require that attention should be called to a few particulars. It seems necessary to state that no com plaint whatever has been made directly to the Publishing Committee.. They would gladly have facilitated all fair and candid investigation, and shown the reason for all their proceedings, by which satisfaction might have been given, and the painful spectacle of public collision in respect to the cause of Christian benevolence avoided; but they have had the sorrow to meet strictures on their proceedings first in the columns of the public journals, where injury cannot be retrieved, and the correction of errors may involve the Society in controversy. It should also be observed that these complaints have been made sole-ly on the responsibility of a few individuals, whose proceedings may or may not receive a sanction from the ecclesiastical body with which they stand connected; while none who read them can fail to perceive that they involve points of collision between Evangelical denominations, in reference to which this Committee can consistently take no action. Truth and right also require the Committee to state, as they do with deep regret, that the recent strictures are calculated to give a most erroneous impression as to changes made in the Society's publications. The Publishing Committee know nothing of perversions of the author's aim in any publication of the Society; or of mutilation properly so called; or of falsification of history; or of deception in their prefatory announcements; or of diluting or obscuring the great |