(2.) But the folly of such conduct is as great as the guilt of it ; because it is impossible to destroy the threatenings or avoid the judgments of God, by neglecting or mangling, or cutting in pieces his holy Word. Jehoiakim tried this experiment; and the account given in the 36th chapter of Jeremiah furnishes us with the result of it. After he had burnt the roll, God, who had noticed very minutely all that had passed, ordered Jeremiah to write another roll, and to "add besides, unto what had been written before, many like words;" so that instead of preventing the arrows of God's wrath coming upon him and his nation by burning the roll, he brought upon himself and upon them so many more arrows from that dreadful quiver, and that too in a very short time after this bold and daring act of impiety. Now this will be the case with all who expect to avoid and escape the threatenings of God's wrath by neglecting his Word, by shutting their eyes and ears against it, and by frittering and explaining it away, and thus cutting it to pieces. The folly of such an attempt is not very unlike that of the ostrich, who, in the season of danger, immediately hides its head in the sand, supposing that there is no danger, when it sees none. We have heard of a man who, in order to avoid the thoughts of death, never would see a funeral, and had recourse to a certain expedient of blackening his grey hairs, that he might not be reminded of the approach of his dying hour; and thus by putting off the thoughts of death, he vainly imagined he could put off death itself. Just as foolish and absurd (or rather infinitely more so) is it for any one to suppose he can avoid the threatenings and curses of God's Word, by shutting his eyes and ears against them, or by over-looking them, and leaving them out in his religious principles. God has still more arrows in his quiver,

which he points towards all who despise, and ridicule, and mangle his Word; they may as well try to tear a leaf out of the "book of life," or the "book of God's remembrance," as try to cut out or leave out a single passage in the Bible, because they do not like it, or because it seems to be against them; and all those who wish to leave out a single verse, or try to fritter it away, and by any means to get rid of it, are exposed to that dreadful threatening in the last chapter of the book of Revelations

"if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the book of life."

Now, much as some of my readers may think this subject does not belong to them, it may yet be made a touchstone to try their character. Do you, like David, esteem all things in God's word to be right, and right because it is God's word? Do you esteem it to be "holy, and just, and good," however contrary it may be to your natural inclinations and corrupt desires? or would you, if you could, alter the Word of God in any thing? Is the plan of salvation, as revealed in that Word, too humbling for your proud heart to stoop to? Do you dislike the thought of receiving it as a free gift, the purchase of Christ's blood, and bestowed upon all that believe in Christ and apply to him for it as poor lost, guilty, and condemned sinners? Are these terms too humbling for you? Could you like to take the penknife and alter them, and cut some part of this method out of the sacred roll, and make it more suited to your corrupt taste? Then again, Are its commands too strict for you, and the duties it enforces too severe ? Do you secretly wish that it would allow you more indulgences, and not require such sacrifices, and such self-denials? Would you be more satisfied if you were allowed to spend the Sabbath

day more in accordance with your own natural wishes, and if the Bible licensed you to buy and sell, and attend to your worldly calling on that holy day? Would you like the Bible better, if it did not forbid you to indulge in impure desires, sinful passions, and unholy actions; if it permitted you to love the world a little more, and to seek your happiness in its vanities, and its sinful pleasures? Do you ever

secretly wish that such and such a passage were not to be found in the Bible? And would you be glad at heart, if some eminent philosopher and scholar were able to prove, in the most satisfactory manner, that the Bible was not the Word of God, but a gross imposture on the world, and nothing but a forgery; and that you might therefore be at liberty to indulge in all the sinful desires and lusts of the heart? If it were possible for you to destroy the word of God by a penknife, and thus put an end to all its dreadful threatenings, would you do it? Do you, in your heart, wish it were less holy, less spiritual, less strict? Then, you have the same dislike and enmity to God, and his Word, that Jehoiakim had, though you may not exactly shew it in the same way.

Again, When you attend the preached Gospel, do you wish your Ministers to alter, or to leave out any part of God's Word? Would

you wish them to speak less of heaven, of hell, of eternity, and to talk a little less about your sins? Do you wish them to speak smooth things, and to preach such sermons as would not distress and alarm you, but leave you quite comfortable in your sins?

Would you wish them to take the knife and cut, or leave out, such and such solemn truths as are unpalatable to your taste? Then, indeed, you may see your own likeness in the history of this wicked king; and, oh! that Jehoiakim's doom may not be yours. We know who has JULY, 1839.

said, "to the pure all things are pure.” Such persons stumble at nothing which God has been pleased to reveal. Do not my words do good to them that walk uprightly?" and for this, among other reasons, that they are not disposed to quarrel with his words. If the penknife were to be run through the heart of your sins, and to be directed at the life of your corruptions, you would then be much less inclined to apply it to any part of God's Word. The Bible would then appear quite a different book in your eyes, and you would not wish to have a single command altered, or a single precept or doctrine frittered away, or even softened down, to make it more congenial to your taste. May the Spirit of God grant that his blessed Word, like a two-edged sword, may pierce your heart, and wound your soul, and cut your sins in pieces. And here it may not be amiss to mention a circumstance which occurred in this country a few years ago, and which is rather an appropriate illustration of the subject on which we have been writing. A young man, a soldier, who was leading a dissolute life, was often reproved by a pious friend, but all to no purpose: at last his friend gave him a Bible; the young man immediately said, I will cut it in pieces before your face; which he did instantly with his sword, and ever after shunned his friend's company. About two years after this had occurred, he was brought to a sick and dying bed, and sent for his friend, and expressed a wish to have a Bible brought to him. He received it, and read it; and one day he clasped the book with both his hands, and exclaimed, "Oh! that ever such a wretch as I should be permitted to read this blessed book, which I once cut in pieces. book has now cut my sins in pieces, and led me to Christ as my Saviour. Oh, that I could recall my

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property and murdered time; all, all, should be spent in distributing this blessed book.' Oh! may the same effect be produced on all into whose hands this little book may fall. May each remember, that if the Bible cut not their sins in pieces, it will cut their souls, and rend and tear them with unutterable anguish, and that for ever. May the Spirit of God so apply his own word with power to the heart of all our readers, that it may cut the chain of their sins, and the cords by which they are tied to the world; that it may cut their heart, and pierce their souls, and bring them to Him who was pierced for their sins, even the Lord Jesus, whose blood alone can heal the wounds which the sword of his Spirit may make in their hearts; that thus the enmity of their heart may be slain ; that they may love the Word of God, yea, every part of it, and "esteem it to be dearer to them than thousands of gold and silver." Should any, who read this, love the Bible, the whole Bible, we would say to them, How thankful should you be that Divine grace has changed your views and opinions! Once you could not bear the Bible, because you were conscious it was against you. You did not like this verse, you could not bear that chapter; and, in general, you neglected the whole of its contents. If you have, therefore, any love for it now; if you delight in it, approve of it, the

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whole of it, and would not wish to alter, or soften down any part of it; if you "esteem all God's commandments concerning all things to be right,' "what an amazing change has Divine grace produced in your heart! If such a change has been produced in your taste, your views, and your opinions, it is a complete proof that the Spirit of God has renewed you in the spirit of your mind, and has wrought a blessed change in your soul. If you have indeed found by experience, that the Word of God is a sword that has pierced your hearts, and cut your sins, let this induce you to hear it, and to read it more constantly, and pray that the Spirit of God may accompany it from time to time with power to your heart. You are still " tied and bound with the cords and chains of many sins," and this "sword is the chief instrument which the Spirit of God uses to cut them asunder; then often use it for that purpose, and be thankful for those chapters and those sermons that most effectually discover to you the evil of sin, and the plague of your heart, however painful such a discovery may be at the time, that you may thus be led to see more of the preciousness of that Saviour who has been provided for poor lost guilty sinners; that you may trust in him more entirely, and love him more fervently, that he may be "all your salvation and all your desire." W. B.

SIR-Your last Number contains a series of valuable extracts from the addresses delivered at the Anniversary Meetings of some of our great Societies, which I am persuaded have been read and will be referred to by many with great pleasure and satisfaction. I was however myself much concerned at

finding from those statements that the funds of the Church Missionary Society had sustained a material diminution, at the time when its expences have considerably increased, and when there is every reason to expect that it will be subjected to still larger demands. May I then venture to intrude on

your pages with some inquiries as to what should be done both to meet the existing exigency and produce some permanent enlargement of the Society's income.

It is indeed to be regretted that these important institutions should at any time appear to be losing ground, that any falling off in their resources or any check to their benevolent efforts should occur: but we must ever remember that it is part of the divine dispensation thus to try the faith and patience of his servants. Summer and Winter succeed each other in their appointed course, there is an incessant ebb and flow in human affairs, and the history of the church as well as of the world evinces that the servants of God have continually to struggle against crosses and changes-to walk by faith and not by sight. We should not therefore be cast down by any check or disappointment with which we meet, but endeavour rather to consider whether there may not be some necessity for such a dispensation; whether it may not be intended to lead us off from sacrificing to our own net, or burning incense to our own drag; and to impress upon our minds the important truth, that the extension and the establishment of the church of Christ is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts.

If for instance we look at the history of the primitive church, we find that at a very early period, Stephen and James were subjected to a violent death. The laborers were then few, but their number was diminished by the removal of some of the most eminent; and thus at the period of their formation, a dark cloud hung over the church, while the fires of Smithfield consumed many of whom the world was not worthy; yet these painful trials were through the divine mercy overruled to the advance

ment of the Redeemer's cause, and

the establishing of that pure form of divine worship with which we are graciously favoured.

Instead therefore of looking at the present defalcation of the funds, or the suspension of one or two of the Society's Missions, it becomes us ever to keep our principles in view; to exercise faith on the divine declarations, and to evince that faith by a corresponding course of action, however great may be the apparent difficulties and discouragements with which we are surrounded.

The principles ever to be kept in view are the lost and perishing state of the heathen world; their cruelty, licentiousness, and consequent present misery; the insufficiency of human reason and moral suasion to suppress or even materially check the grossest abominations; and the consequent indispensable necessity for the promulgation of the Gospel of Christ in order to terminate or even mitigate their present miseries and secure their final salvation. The fulness, freeness, and sufficiency of the Gospel of Christ for the deliverance of the whole human race from present misery and eternal death; the efficiency of the Holy Spirit to quicken, enlighten, renew, and sanctify the most depraved; the will of God as revealed by his dear Son, and expressly enjoined in his holy word, that this Gospel should be preached to all nations; and the consequent duty ever incumbent on his church and people, to make known this salvation even to the ends of the earth. When these principles are fully received and firmly maintained, the conclusion inevitably follows, that it is our duty as the servants of Jesus Christ to use every exertion for the establishing and maintaining of Missions among the Heathen.

I lay down these positions because it seems to me that many professing Christians are very imperfectly impressed with their truth,

importance, and necessary consequence. Many, instead of viewing Missions and Missionary Institutions as the natural and necessary result of attention to the Saviour's precepts, and as indispensably required by the petitions we are daily taught to use, regard every plan of this nature as somewhat of a scheme, a fancy, a contrivance, perhaps of good, but not very wise men; or possibly as the offspring of some carnal or secular policy, whereby some worldly advantages or paltry interests are in some way or other to be promoted. But so long as the injunction remains in the Word of God, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature," and so long as the petition is adopted, "Thy kingdom come," so long is it the duty of all Christians to labour in promoting the missionary cause.

It sometimes indeed happens that when these principles are distinctly recognized, their force is diminished by certain real or imaginary objections. There are so many Societies, say some, we know not which to support. There is this or that, in the conduct of each, of which we do not approve. We have remonstrated with the Committee, the Directors, the Managers, on such and such points, and have not been attended to. We have known excellent men, who have offered themselves as missionaries and been rejected, while others less deserving have been appointed; we cannot therefore support any institution which is not better conducted. Yet after all, these objections only prove that no Society and no Institution is perfect; that no Committee, Directors, Managers, are infallible; and if you wait until the plan, the agents, the measures are all absolutely and entirely what they should be-all exactly conformed to your own individual views, you will never be long satisfied wiht any Institution.

The grand inquiry is, Does the proposed Society honestly aim at promoting the desired object? Are its measures in the main right? Is it conducted by pious and disinterested individuals? Then though I may doubt of some particular measures, I must yet not venture to withhold my support.

It has indeed of late been repeatedly said, we prefer contributing to the two other societies in connexion with our Established Church, the venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. These two societies have the same object in view, with the Church Missionary Society, and therefore this latter institution is unnecessary, and not strictly in accordance with the principles which our Ecclesiastical rulers have laid down for the conduct of Missionary undertakings.

But observations of this nature rest on imperfect or incorrect assumptions. The fact is, that the objects of the three societies referred to, are essentially different, and that the main object of the Church Missionary Society was not contemplated by any other Church Institution at the time of its formation, and is still very imperfectly recognized by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Allow me to dwell a little on these positions, which I apprehend are not sufficiently understood by churchmen in general.

There are three distinct fields of Christian labour which demand our attention, and every one of which admits of various subdivisions: our own country, our colonial possessions, and the Heathen and Mahomedan nations: while the Christian Knowledge Society, the Propagation Society, and the Church Missionary Society, have a real and distinct reference to these several fields.

The Society for Promoting