example encourage others to engage in the struggle for toys and gewgaws, and to despise the pearl of great price? Shall his conduct give the careless an occasion to p.ead, that they concluded from minutely observing his actions, that religion was a pretence, and salvation a dream? Shall he bring reproach upon his Savior, and harden the infidel in guilt? Let him awake, then, as he would avoid so melancholy a perversion of his influence; let him awake to activity, to a life of beneficent exertion. Let him remember, that vacancies are constantly made in our charitable societies by the ravages of death; that these vacancies must be supplied, and more than supplied; that as the benevolent are removed from the places which they occupied on earth, and as the field of labor is perpetually enlarging, the call is the more urgent for an increase of laborers. Let him bear in mind, that every individual can work in some part or other of his Lord's vineyard; that no man's talents are so humble, nor his sphere of action so circumscribed, as that he will be forbidden the honor and privilege of engaging in the grand labor of love. Who can think himself thus forbidden, that considers the case of the widow, who had no other means of sustenance than two mites, and who, nevertheless, surrendered these two mites to the treasury of the Lord, and received for her liberality the high commendation of the omniscient Judge?

The shortness of the time which remains to us, and the uncertainty how soon it will terminate, are powerful incentives to immediate action. Dr. Doddridge somewhere observes, while urging his readers to the daily practice of private devotion, that no Christian will have cause to regret having spent half an hour on the last day of his life, in communion with God and preparation for heaven; and that, as no man can tell how soon or how unexpectedly his last day may arrive, it is true wisdom to live every day as he would wish to have done, should he be summoned, without a moment's warning, to appear before God. The same thought may be happily applied to the plans which we may form, in reference to the new year. Let that portion of our time, our influence, and our property, be employed in the direct service of God, which we shall rejoice to have had thus employed, if we are removed, in the course of the year which has just commenced, from all participation in human affairs.

It is sometimes urged, in answer to charitable applications, that the person applied to has met with losses of property, and can therefore afford nothing in charity. Without denying that each person must be the judge of what he can afford, and that the loss of property in these changetul times, does utterly prevent many individuals from giving what they would gladly give if they were able, it may well be concluded that the above-mentioned excuse is carried too far. The question is not, how much a person has lost, but how much he has remaining. If he has lost much, and has much still remaining, which, however, he imagines to be in immediate danger, how much more reasonable is it that he should do good while he has it in his power. That such a man should urge his

previous losses, as a reason for stopping all the channels of his benevolence, is as plainly wrong, though not quite so glaringly absurd, as for a person, who has lost much of his time, to allege this loss as a reason why all his time in future should be devoted to private and selfis! objects. Whoever looks around him, and beholds immense fortunes suddenly melted away, under the scorching influence of some great public calamity, and reflects how much has been withheld, which it was the duty of the possessors to have given, will be convinced that it is a dictate of prudence, as well as of reli gion, that all should honor God with their substance.

In making estimates of his future contributions of time, property, and influence to public purposes, the wise and intelligent Christian will be on his guard against taking his standard from the great body of professing Christians, or even the great body of those, who are praised for their liberality. He will recollect, that, as there has been but one Howard, there has also been but one John Thornton in modern times; that among the many wealthy mén, who have deserved commendation for their liberality, John Thornton alone stands so pre-eminent, as that no one will venture to suggest, that he ought to have given more. Though he died immensely rich, the streams of his beneficence flowed during his whole life in channels numerous, broad, deep, and uninterrupted, and refreshed all around him to an unprecedented extent. Before the institution of Bible Societies he distributed Bibles in such numbers, as would now do honor to any society of secondary importance. Before the institution of Missionary Societies, he did all in his power to promote the Gospel in every region which his ships visited. Before the institution of societies for the relief of indigent pious clergymen, he relieved the wants of numbers of this most meritorious class of men; and not only relieved their wants, but afforded them the means of comfort, of hospitality, of administering charity to others. To the poor and destitute, on both sides of the Atlantic, he distributed money by faithful agents with a princely liberality. Though he received solicitations with the utmost kindness and urbanity, much the greater number of his favors were conferred without solicitation; and the great mass of those, who were the recipients of his bounty, never knew their benefactor, and never will know him, till all actions shall be revealed at the resurrection of the just. That there are not instances of similar virtue, on a more humble scale, it would be too much to affirm; but among those who are and have been very rich, though many have done worthily, there has yet been but one John Thornton. Let the eye of the Christian philanthropist be directed to such an example; let him use all the means in his power to obtain an enlarged view of his duties; and let hima look to God for a decided resolution to perform them.

Our readers will not deem it improper that we should bring to mind the relation which exists between them and ourselves. Fiow ever we may have occasionally erred, in their opinion, or fallen short of their expectations, we may confidently appeal to them, whether our work does not afford proof, not only of honest inten

the church puts beyond all controversy, that the most eminent servants of God have, from that day down to the present, highly valued the blessings of public worship.

If, then, we regard his authority, who instituted the Sabbath; if our feelings and desires are akin to those of the sweet Psalmist of Israel; if we regard the example of Christ; if we desire to walk in the steps, and participate in the bliss, of those pious men and women, who have gone to their heavenly rest, we shall reverence the Lord's sanctuary, by a conscientious and solemn attendance on public worship. Nay, unless some should choose to be more heathenish than the heathen themselves, they will not fail to unite, regularly, in public acknowledgments for the mercies which they daily and hourly receive.

But, alas, how many such heathens are there, in this land! How many, who have been baptised into the name of the adorable Trinity, live and die, in sight of the Lord's house, where they are never seen, unless it be used for a secular purpose, and then only to mingle in the strife of party politics! How many more have taught us not to expect them in our solcmn assemblies, except when summoned by the voice of death, in the removal of some near friend, or excited by curiosity to hear a new preacher, or an occasional sermon. How many saunter and sleep away half the Sabbath at home, and then bless themselves for obliging us with their presence a part of the day. How many sit down to eat and drink, after VOL. XI.

the morning service, and rise up to play.

Surely no candid reader will infer, from the preceding observations, that, in the opinion of the writer, absence from public worship can never admit of a scriptural justification.. God certainly no where requires of his creatures according to what they have not. When a person is confined to his room with a broken bone, or to his bed with a consumption, he plainly is not required to go out. Nor if he is so seriously indisposed, that he would be in great danger of increasing or prolonging his distemper. But some people are visited with a sort of intermittent or periodical disease, which comes on almost every Sabbath, and goes off by Monday morning.

We see and hear of them, every where, six days, but on the seventh they are confined. Now,it ought to be solemnly remembered, that it is not every slight complaint, which can excuse us from waiting upon God in his house. If we should feel able to expose ourselves as much, on a week day, and for a worldly purpose, the excuse is vain. If we are not so ill that we should be obliged, for that cause alone, to decline an invitation to dinner, or a tea-party, the excuse is vain.

Again; I shall readily admit, that drenching rains in summer, and drifting snows in winter, may sometimes render it hazardous for persons in health, especially females, to go out on the Lord's day. But it is not every threatening cloud, or fog, nor even every considerable fall of rain, or snow, that can be pleaded as a sufficient excuse. If ou

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