Though long and obstinate has been their unbelief, and dreadful their rejection, and their sufferings marked with God's burning indignation, yet are they not totally and finally disowned. No! God hath not cast away his people, whom he foreknew. No;---He yet remembers his covenant unto Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and his law unto Jacob. It is a covenant forever; the word he commanded to a thousand generations.

There is a sense, in which, compared with the other nations of the world, they are still the objects of God's peculiar regard; and in some way they shall yet in a peculiar manner share his blessings and show forth his praise. We are told, that if the root be holy, so are the branches;---that they are the natural branches of the good-olive-tree, and so stand a fairer chance to be re-engrafted,---that their restoration is certain, whenever they shall return from their unbelief, and their return from their unbelief is secured by the sure word of prophecy, and the covenant of God;---that blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so ALL IsRAEL SHALL BE SAVED: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. We are further told, that their reinstatement in all the privileges of God's covenant people, will take place through the instrumentality of the Gentile church---that through our inercy they also shall obtain mercy;--and will be attended with stupendous effect in the conversion of the world to God; that on that day the triumphs of the gospel will be more extensive and complete, and its blessings more abundantly and widely lavished upon the world, than in the day of their rejection, which was the apostolic age: "Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness For if the casting of them away be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" Then it is not the raving of enthusiasm, but faith in the sure word of the Living God, to expect their conversion as a nation, and in connection with it, displays of mercy and grace greater than marked the Apostolic age. Saving the miraculous endowments of the Holy Ghost, the scenes of Penticost will be more than renewed. The light of the gospel shall flame forth with the brightness and energy of the lightning; the earth shall see and tremble; hills shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth; the heavens shall declare his righteousness, and all people shall see his glory: all that serve graven images shall be confounded, all that boast themselves of idols; all the gods of earth shall worship him. The power of God, going along with the gospel, shall triumph over all opposition, and usher in the glories of the millenial day.

Brethren, have confidence in this enterprize. The events above named are the burden of prophecy along its whole path in the word of God. And these events shall be developed in that very land to which your missionaries are sent, Israel's return to the God of their fathers, shall be preceded by their return to their own land. "The Lord shall set his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from

Hamath, and from the islands of the Sea, (or all the countries reached from Palestine by sailing the Mediterranean, all Europe, north-wes tern Africa &c,) and he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." "He will take them from among the heathen, and gather them out of all countries, and will bring them again into their own land; clean waters upon them, and make them clean, and give them a new and then will sprinkle heart, and a new spirit." Regard your missionaries then as gone to the very spot where God will display these wonders of his grace;---to the land, not only hallowed as the land of patriarchs and prophets and apostles, and as the land where the Savior trod, and bled; but to be hallowed as the scene of the most amazing outpourings of God's Spirit, as the centre of the most wonderful emanations of spiritual light and influence, and as the cherished metropolis of an evangelized and regenerated world.

Brethren, how grand---how important---this enterprize! Let your souls be filled with its magnitude and importance. And let all your energies be aroused to sustain it. Our sufficiency is of God, and faith in Him links the weakness of the Does it seem above our strength? creature in with the almightiness of the Creator. And true faith will stimulate to prayer and to vigorous effort. Faith without works is dead.

The cause demands your prayers. Zion, he shall appear in his glory: He will regard the prayer of the "When the Lord shall build up destitute and will not despise their prayer.' ries have gone, and in vain will they labor and spend their strength, In vain your missionaunless God be with them. If Paul, with all his miraculous endowments, was so dependant on the prayers of God's people, that he constantly solicited them, how dependant the missionary now! Consider the peculiar circumstances of your missionaries; their separation from country, kindred, and christian society; their dwelling in a strange land, with a people of barbarous habits and of a strange language, with whom they will have to speak with stammering lips; and the opposition and discouragements which they shall have to encounter, in the strong prejudices, the untamed passions, the corrupt morals, customs and institutions of those among whom they will be called to labor. Consider what faith, what courage, what wisdom and prudence, what zeal and devotedness, what patience they will need, and how the power of Him, in whoss hands are the hearts of the chil

of usefulness, and give them favor in the sight of the heathen; and so bow your knee to the God and Father of mercies in their behalf. Remember them, and the cause in which they, and you with them, are embarked, in the closet, at the family altar, at the social prayermeeting, the monthly concert, and the house of God. And persevere. Importune. Be it your resolution, and carry it out, "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake will I not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth."

Let your alms, as well as your prayers, ascend for a memorial before God. And not to all the other trials of your missionaries the an guish of worldly cares. Hamper not their usefulness by stinted means. They have left all for Christ in this cause, and be ye fellow-laborers with them, by liberally putting into their hands, not only the means of subsistence, but of doing good Bibles and tracts will have to be distributed, schools sustained, journies taken, opportunities of doing good embraced; and it will never do for them to be compelled to sit still and fold their hands in inaction for want of means. The cause of missions in the Associate Reformed church for years to come, will depend on the vigor with which this mission is sustained. Not only 60: on it will depend her standing as a church of Christ. Failure to sustain with the requisite funds a mission so important will argue want of piety, criminal indifference to the cause and glory of Christ, and to the salvation of sinners, and idolatrous love of the world; and will bring down on us the displeasure of the Great Head of the church. Remember, you are Stewards of God in whatever you pos sess, and it is required of a steward, that a man be found faithful. Be faithful in the appropriation of your Lord's property. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. You know not how soon it will be said of you, Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. But above all, remember your obligations to Christ, and imitate his example, who though he

was rich, yet for your sakes became poor that ye through his poverty

might become rich.

A BROTHER,

and fellow-laborer in the Gospel of Christ.

EDITORIAL NOTICES:

Union of Reformed Churches.---We are pleased with the proceedings of a meeting of the laity on Massie's creek, and should have had no objections had they gone a little farther, and recommended, that, to accomplish a union, not only should national covenanting be made a matter of forbearance, but that nothing should be said about what is called "covenanting," as the Westminster Confession of faith which was drawn up in covenanting times, contains all that was deemed by its framers, necessary and important on the subject. The things in which these churches agree are amply sufficient to be the basis of a happy and edifying union---with respect to the things about which they differ, they might safely "agree to disagree." Does any one believe that such forbearance would render them a less holy, spiritual, and edifying body of christians? What says experience?

Would it be a sin for the members of these churches to reciprocate ministerial and christian, or if you will, church communion, with each other, notwithstanding their present hard to be explained, and hard to be understood differences? We of the Associate Reformed church, it would seem, are bound to answer this question in the negative: that is, to say that the most full and cordial communion should exist between them; nor do we consider this as at all involving the gener al question of inter-communion with other churches. For,

It is well known that when the union was formed, which gave rise to the Associate Reformed Church, it was intended to be, and, legally speaking, was, a union of the Associate and Reformed bodies in America. Every member of both the original constituent bodies, in good standing, had a right to demand privileges in the united body, and to receive them. For, though a basis of union of some ten articles was agreed upon, it was never proposed, nor was acquiescence in it required, as a condition of Church fellowship. It being understood that they could adopt the confession of faith as received by this church (a few sections in the Westminster confession which relate to the power of the civil magistrate, being amended so as to make them agree to the actual state of sentiment then existing, and still existing in these Churches: for all agree as to what those original sections should mean, though they may differ a little as to what they

least, was simply this---Do you think you can join with us without sacrificing any precious truth! If so, there is nothing in our terms of communion to exclude you. We do not require you to believe that our union is the most perfect imaginable; but if you are satisfied that it approaches so nearly to the Scriptural standard, that you can serve Christ and be edified in our communion, we do not ask what are your peculiar views on the questions which divided the original bodies---questions, which when viewed through the medium of christian love, it must appear may safely be left unsettled.

or

But may be asked---Would you think it right that Associate Reformed, Associate, and Reformed people. should commune together as they are---should there not be union before communion? Yes, there should be union: but certainly not union in every sense of the word; certainly organic union should not be considered a sine qua non. Happily there are facts which show that, at least we of the Associate Reformed Church, hold no such sentiment. There is no more ganic union between the Associate Reformed Synod of the West, and the Synod of New York, than between us and either the Associate, or Reformed Presbyterian church: and yet we consider this no reason why we should not reciprocate ministerial and christian communion with our brethren of that Synod. Nor has there ever been a time when, we would have excluded from our communion, though but occasionally sought, members in known good standing with the Secession Church of Scotland or Ireland, though there is no organic union between us and the churches in Britain.

If ever a happy cordial and edifying union be realized, we must begin to look at things in this light.

The Book of Psalms in metre, &c. Printed from the Glasgow Edition. Approved by the Board of Publication of the Calvinistic Book Concern." Ciucinnati, Stereotyped and Published by J. A. James, 1845.

This is a plain, neat, edition of the approved version of the Psalms. We have not had time for a full examination, but we are told that pains have been used to have it correctly printed. We perceive that the obsolete word sith, wherever it occurs, is exchanged for since: but this is using little, if any, greater freedom, than was used when such words as favor, Savior, &c, began to be spelled without a u. The Board of Publication of the Calvinistic Book Concern is composed of members of the Associate, the Reformed, and the Associate Re formed churches.