siderable extent for the purchase of Bibles, though our missionaries are expected to be active in their distribution.

"By furnishing a depot of cheap copies of the Prayerbook, our society will prove a convenience even to those parishes which are supplied with pastors; and if to those, how much more to such as are just organizing.

“Tracts are acknowledged by Christendom to be a pow erful means of doing good. They are the small artillery of the army of the cross, but, like the rifle corps in the days of the revolution, they perform essential service to the cause. They are missiles of great efficiency. Like rays of light, or drops of morning dew, they dart and penetrate every where, and, though silent in their operation, are visible in their effects. They proved a useful engine in the days of the reformation, and much did the Papists complain of those noisome little books.' From the blessing that accompanies them now, it appears evident that the Head of the Church intends them as one effectual means, by which He will usher in the millennial day glory. On the wing of these messengers of salvation,' the Society hopes to speed Bible-principles in every direction.

"Other channels of grace will probably present themselves from time to time, but these are they which press upon our immediate attention.

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Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to the harvest. They call on your sympathies as men and as Christians. See the Sabbath profaned as a day of hunting or amusement. Hear the sound of frolic and of riot from the frequent tippling-house. See the rags and the beggary of mothers, and of children, more wretched than widows and orphans. And amid these examples the young are growing up, with none to lead them to the fountain of morals, or open to them the volume of hope. Here and there, perhaps, a family endeavours to stem the general torrent, and to preserve itself from the prevailing contagion.

Here and there an aged matron, who remembers better days, recounts to her descendants the times of old, when she took sweet counsel, and walked unto the house of God in company and here and there a patriarch, as he reclines amid his sons and his sons' sons, points to the remains of the well-used Bible, and the few leaves of the tattered Prayerbook, relics perhaps of his grandsire, and heralds of brighter years, and the tear glistens in his eye, as, lifting it towards Heaven, he exclaims-Lord shall I ever see thy salvation!'

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"Behold your missionary approaches :-He is hailed with delight by the few Simeons and Annas who yet linger around the altar; their influence is exerted, and the congregation assembles their sanctuary is the shade of a few widespread oaks, or a room in some private dwelling; or it may be the ruins of some ancient temple, whence the unwilling cattle have that morning been driven, and where the birds, as they hover around the preacher, proclaim in clamorous tones their long undisputed right: he sounds the accents of devotion: he reads the sacred page: he offers up those prayers hallowed by the lips of an army of martyrs: he preaches to them Jesus. They go to their homes; he joins them at their firesides; he recounts to them the excellencies of the Redeemer, and the truths of the book of God ;the tear trickles down the cheek of age, and the light of pleasure beams in the manly eye- the church shall be built-the congregation shall be gathered-by the blessing of God there shall be a change !'-Such is the resolution oft repeated, and the blessing of God descends and makes the resolution effectual. Now mark the result. The Sabbath is hallowed; the sanctuary rises-all hands ply the work, for all hearts are stirred up, and every spirit is made willing; the top-stone is brought forth; the congregation enters;-praise from a full choir ascends; those psalms whose echo once sounded throughout the holy place, and died away at the entrance of the Holy of Holies, are re

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sponded; have mercy upon us, miserable sinners!' rises from many tongues; the doctrines of the cross are expounded; households present themselves at the baptismal font; the table of the Lord is spread :-Who can count the tears of penitence and of joy that mingle as they flow, while parents lead their children to the emblems of the body and the blood of the Redeemer :-There, kneels an aged one, who, as he bows his gray locks, whispers, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;—there, seeking in vain to hide his grief, is a returning prodigal, bowed at his father's side;-angels as they hover round, haste their ascent to convey the glad tidings, and God remembers his promise: He that watereth shall be watered also himself. But all is not yet told; again the Sabbath returns; their missionary is not with them, but the steps of the people again are directed towards the house of prayer: In what are they employed? A Sunday-school :-The youth are teaching the children from the book of God, while those of mature age, as they watch o'er all, are heard to say, 'Oh that these privileges had blessed our early days.' The tavernkeeper wonders what detains the throng from his bar-he follows, and is himself converted. Industry now presides throughout the fields, and cheerfulness beams around the dwellings: Plenty takes the place of riot, and benevolence of covetousness. Instead of the Almanac and the Dreambook, tracts now compose the library of the cottage; and instead of the novel and the newspaper, Doddridge and Hannah More are ushered into the richer dwelling the Bible has its place in every house, and the Prayerbook lies by its side: morning and evening witness the ascent of incense from the family altar; and the sick bed has its spiritual comfort, and the bed of death its brightening hope. All the blessings of the Gospel are scattered throughout the land, and the wilderness blossoms like the rose.

"Brethren, these are no fancies; their counterpart can be shown you in facts, as many who now hear me can testify : for such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Now you bless the returning Sabbath, for it brings you the voice of the preacher; you hail the morn and even, for they prostrate you in family devotion. In days not long gone by it was not thus with you; but it has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to visit you messenger after messenger has been sent, minister after minister has appeared, almost in the mis sionary character, and now you sit in your ceiled sanctua ries; and now you surround your own altars; and now the Church of your fathers has taken her harp from the willows, and is sounding forth a song of praise. And will you not remember your brethren !-will you not send tidings to those yet in the wilderness !-will you not tell them of the grapes of Eschol, of the feast of fat things, of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined! Some of them are without any opportunity of hearing a preached Gospel, will you not commiserate their case especially, and speed to them the heralds of salvation!

"Oh, I have seen the aged mother, who, for twenty or thirty years, had passed her silent Sabbaths, except when a stranger voice sounded the Gospel in her ear, hail with delight the missionary: I have seen her drag her weak, infirm, and tottering limbs, o'er miles of rugged road, to the place of meeting: I have seen her drink with avidity every word as it fell, and amid her tears exclaim, 'my heart is satisfied.' Long had she waited, and waited in vain; the noise of riot oft echoed around her humble dwelling, but not the sound of the assembling congregation. Sad and solitary she poured forth her prayer: She wept as she remembered former days, and she was ready to say, My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God? at

length the hour arrived: and how great was her comfort— how great her delight; and how brightly beamed her setting sun as it left this world to shine in a celestial hemisphere!

"I have seen the eye of the parent sparkle with pleasure, as he beheld his children grouped around to catch the voice of catechetical instruction: I have heard him bless the day that then shone upon his habitation: I have seen him weep as he grasped the hand of a returning prodigal: I have seen him resume the vigour and the activity of youth at the prospect around him. Long had he stood as a sentinel amid ruins, and, as they slowly mouldered beneath the touch of time, he had mingled his tears with their ashes; the banner of his cause was trodden under foot, but still his gray locks floated above it, and his withering hand was stretched forth to its rescue; his children were wandering abroad ;—and when, at length, the clarion of revival was sounded, and his sons and his daughters were gathered in, I have heard him give them his parting blessing, amid songs of gratitude to a God of love.

"As the shepherd foldeth his flock in the forest, or the hen gathereth her chickens from the foe, so have I known the father to hover around his little ones in the moral waste; all the while anxious, lest the blast should seize them, and all the while praying for the feet of him that bringeth good tidings: the old man died and saw not the missionary, but the missionary came, and the children surrounded him, and they are now pillars in the temple of the Lord.

"Blessed be God! I have seen the desert blossom: I have seen a band of spiritual soldiers arise, like new-born bodies from the tomb of death:-and my brethren too have seen, and they could testify: they have known and they could tell :-but enough. You will help us; you will consecrate of your ability to the sending forth of our missionaries; to the spreading a table for the wanderers in the wilderness: you will enrol yourselves and your children among the