thousands. What fruits sometimes proceed from a small tract! With what power, with what sweetness, will a single passage of the word, under peculiar circumstances, descend into the troubled heart! And in the absence of every means, how sensibly are the reviving communications of the divine will sometimes made to us, when we least expect, and perhaps little desire the mercy! As the sacred instrument with which the Psalmist accompanied his devotion, when placed in a favorable state, needs nothing but the breath of heaven to draw forth its rich and touching melody, so the bosom of the believer, if but calmly resigned to the love of God, will sometimes find the gales of his Spirit breathing upon its affections, and wakening in them, without the ministry of man, an impulse, a voice of devotion, which ascends and mingles with the song of angels.

There are some considerations peculiarly encouraging to us, when we engage in this cause. It is well known that the principles of our Church are equally distinguished by their evangelical, and liberal character; and that while she overlooks the minor and sectarian peculiarities of opinion among her Christian brethren, her articles and creeds are more universally admitted, than any others, to be a true standard of gospel doctrine. In extending to a Missionary Society, established under such auspices, your sanction and aid, you contribute to the common cause of Christianity, at the least possible expense of sectarian interest, and prejudice. "Cast then, thy seed upon the waters;" GOD's providence will guide the current; "and after many days, thou shalt find it again." Could you witness the gratitude of a single poor, but devout family, after living for some years remote from the sanctuary and its ordinances, at the first approach of the Missionary to their humble home; could you behold the mingled cheerfulness and sanctity, which his presence imparts to their sabbath, the comfort in their trials, the contentment diffused throughout their lone condition; with what enthusiasm would you engage in our cause! would not inordinately magnify mine office, brethren, but there are other seasons in which it is mournful and terrifying to be alone; - I mean, to be without the embassador for CHRIST. VOL. III.-20

I

And when the trembling spirit is wrestling in its last earthly agony, with phantoms of temptation, as they arise in remorse for the past, dread of the unknown future, the faintings of a dissolving body, the anguish of parting with all that is beloved and worthy, -with all that must be helpless and destitute without us; oh, then, what a holy power is delegated to the servant of GOD, at that bedside! Never was a cup of cold water as precious to the fevered lips of the dying, as the voice of him whom JESUS sends to whisper there; -"When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. In the valley of the shadow of death, my rod and staff shall be thy comfort; for though thy sins were as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they were red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Only the revelations of that day wherein CHRIST shall translate his Church militant, rich in the spoils of the subjected and hallowed earth, to his triumphant kingdom, can disclose the amount of virtue and happiness, which such a society, in all its branches, by all its agents, through the whole period of its operation, may impart, virtue and happiness to man, glory to God. And if, instead of caring "for none of these things," with Gallio, in sustaining this cause, you should incur any sacrifice or privation, remember the injunction and the promise implied in the words of the good Samaritan: "TAKE CARE OF HIM, AND WHEN I COME AGAIN I WILL REPAY THEE."

THE SAVIOUR'S "GIFTS TO MEN."

As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of GOD.-1 St. Peter iv. 10.

THE earth that in her genial breast
Makes for the down a kindly nest,
Where wafted by the warm south-west
It floats at pleasure,

Yields, thankful, of her very best,
To nurse her treasure:

True to her trust, tree, herb, or reed,
She renders for each scatter'd seed,
And to her LORD with duteous heed
Gives large increase:

Thus year by year she works unfeed,
And will not cease.

Wo worth these barren hearts of ours,
Where Thou hast set celestial flowers,
And water'd with more balmy showers,
Than e'er distill'd

In Eden, on the ambrosial bowers-
Yet nought we yield.

Largely Thou givest, gracious LORD,
Largely thy gifts should be restored;
Freely Thou givest, and thy word
Is, "freely give."*

He only, who forgets to hoard,
Has learn'd to live.

Wisely Thou givest—all around
Thine equal rays are resting found,
Yet varying so on various ground
They pierce and strike,

That not two roseate cups are crown'd
With dew alike:

Even so, in silence, likest Thee,

Steals on soft-handed Charity,

Tempering her gifts, that seem so free,

By time and place,

Till not a wo the bleak world see,

But finds her grace:

St. Matt. x. 8.

Eyes to the blind, and to the lame
Feet, and to sinners wholesome blame,
To starving bodies food and flame
By turns she brings,

To humbled souls, that sink for shame,
Lends heaven-ward wings :

Leads them the way our Saviour went,
And shows Love's treasure yet unspent ;
As when the unclouded heavens were rent
Opening his road,

Nor yet his Holy Spirit sent
To our abode.

Ten days the eternal doors display'd
Were wondering (so the Almighty bade)
Whom Love enthroned would send, in aid
Of souls that mourn,

Left orphans in Earth's dreary shade
As soon as born.

Open they stand, that prayers in throngs
May rise on high, and holy songs,
Such incense as of right belongs

To the true shrine,

Where stands the Healer of all wrongs
In light divine;

The golden censer in his hand,
He offers hearts from every land,
Tied to his own by gentlest band
Of silent Love:

About Him winged blessings stand
In act to move.

A little while, and they shall fleet
From Heaven to Earth, attendants meet
On the life-giving Paraclete,

Speeding his flight,

With all that sacred is and sweet,
On saints to light.

Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, all
Shall feel the shower of Mercy fall,

And starting at the Almighty's call,

Give what He gave,

Till their high deeds the world appal,

And sinners save.

KEBLE.

BY THE REV. HERMAN HOOKER, DEACON,
MINISTER OF ST JOHN'S CHURCH, TROY, N. Y.

"Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" Lam. iii. 39.

THAT man, in his best estate, is a suffering being, who that thinks, and feels because he thinks, can doubt? In our natural constitution we see evidence of this truth. Reason teaches us to infer, that creatures of the same nature will be disposed to seek happiness in the same way; and this is true, as far as we can discover, of all brutes, and would have been true of ourselves if we had continued in favor and communion with the Creator. But, as the case is, we wander in every direction seeking rest and finding none, or finding it to our harm. This constitutional uneasiness, and the exertion to which it prompts, evinces the want of the materials of enjoyment within ourselves; a want which external objects cannot supply, and which they can relieve only by directing the mind from it. While gazing at distant objects, man may, indeed, forget his condition, and the expectation of happiness from them may quicken his flight from himself; but the forgotten evil is borne along, and lodges with every new possession, so that, where he had expected repose, he is restless still. In pursuit of rest he is ever changing, and in every change finds only additional care. Thus perpetually disappointed, he never becomes so wise as not to hope for contentment in something to be obtained, and never possesses so much, as not to think something still more desirable. He is VOL. III.-21