we done many wonderful works;" and yet for want of the one principle of the love of Christ in the heart, for want of the heart being devoted to God, this scriptural knowledge, this high character, these devout connexions, these hopes, these privileges, these duties, these labours, these prospects, are vain and empty as the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal, and shall prove evanescent as the morning mist at the bright shining of the last day. ward communion with Christians which may promote a hearty cooperation in plans of useful benevolence, and religious zeal and love. Retirement for prayer is perhaps the most efficacious mean of cultivating a Christian spirit; but it must be succeeded, as it ever was in the case of the Saviour himself, by some active work of mercy towards the bodies or the souls of men, for which it will also be found the most appropriate preparation. The most cursory observer of the signs of the present is a day of signal effort in religious philanthropy; and although it is of great moment that the Christian should not for one instant relax that vigilance over his spirit which alone, under the invigorating grace of God, can prevent his being carried away in that eddy of public and secular activity, by more or less of which all plans of utility are necessarily accompanied; yet to make this a plea for the total neglect of these duties, or for a very sparing and scanty co-operation in them, would indicate the remains of an unmortified spirit of sluggish indifference to the great interests of our fellow-men, and display the deadly weeds of natural selfishness still clinging around, if not absolutely choaking, the plant of Christian love; a delicate exotic, not to be fostered in the barren soil and chilling blasts of this world's atmosphere, without constant care and the warmer suns and heavenly dews of a purer region. If I may now hope that the mind of but one of my readers is convinced-times cannot but be aware that the of the paramount value of personal religion, of the duty and necessity of devoting himself to God, I doubt not that such an individual will be willing to proceed with me to the considerations which I had more especially in view in this paper, respecting the importance of sustain ing and realizing the hopes which are justly awakened by that new generation of professedly religious persons, who are entering life to fill the honourable but arduous posts vacated by those who have gone to their heavenly rest. The Chris tian world naturally turns to these young persons with anxiety. It beholds their fathers, their elders, closing their course, and leaving behind them an infinitely momentous work incomplete. It eagerly asks, Are they prepared to take it up, and to urge it forward to its full and final accomplishment? Will they, having devoted themselves to God, devote also their efforts to the promotion of his king dom and glory among men? At first sight it might appear, that a determination to the first of these obligations would necessarily involve in it the careful observance of the second: but this is not uniformly the fact; for it is the unhappy mistake of some Christians to connect with their religious profession too much of a speculative and secluded habit of life. But to be "separate from the world" does not require a separation also from the church, and from that out I would apply the present remarks in an especial manner to the cause of those great institutions of religious benevolence by which our land is at present delightfully distinguished. In some of these, not a few of the founders, supporters, and early friends, are now in a better world. The present agents also are mortal, like their deceased coadjutors, and must soon join them in their resting place. To whom then can the attention of the church of Christ be so properly directed for the furtherance of these plans of mercy, as to the children of the departed or yet surviving agents, composing a new, and I would trust "a holy," generation? For, in the first place, is it not a natural and reasonable expectation that they should occupy the posts left vacant by the removal of their fathers? If the intention of the great Author of their being can be collected from the relative position in which they have been made to stand to their parents, as respects their "labours of love" and their plans of useful ness, it is surely one which points this way. God does not intend that his work should be deserted: he cannot wish that a dreary blank ɛhould succeed the fair and fruitful prospect which former labourers under his propitious blessing have produced. He does not act thus in the works of nature; for we ever see him, "Before one flowery season fades and dies, Design the blooming wonders of the next." And the commission he gives to the works of his bountiful hand in the vegetable world, is to revive and resuscitate every decayed energy, and repair the threatened waste of a drooping creation. It is as natural then to look to the children of religious parents who have gone to their rest, to fulfil their labours, and carry on to its final completion their yet unfinished toil, as to expect the seeds which have dropped from the falling flowers of autumn to rise from the ground in their season, and spread their beauty and fragrance on the spot where the parent blossoms opened before. And it is further as desirable as it is natural. It is desirable for the very reason that it is justly expected. And by whom is it expected? The world expects it: for with a narrow and censorious spirit does it mark the conduct of the offspring of the righteous, as it once did the conduct of their parents Intent on their paths, it "watches for their halting," if only for the gratification of exclaiming, "There, there! so would we have it." The Christian church also expects and desires it; for that church knows well the interests that are at stake, and the perils of supineness. Its own features bear the marks of the wounds, even yet unhealed, occasioned by sloth, negligence, and the careless prosecution by succeeding generations of the momentous works commenced by preceding ones. Christian churches, some even favoured with Apocalyptic communications, in which a bright and gracious testimony was borne to their works, their labours, and their unfainting patience, have yet sunk into a mournful decay; and their tarnished glory is to be traced quite as much to the cooling zeal of their labours, as to the diminished orthodoxy of their creed. But further, it is desirable, because the Great Searcher of hearts expects it: he knows the means he has put in operation to qualify them for this labour. And, to say nothing of the disappointed hopes of the Christian church; to say nothing of the neglected interests of the heathen world; is it nothing to run counter to the purposes of God, and to misemploy the instruments which are put into our hands for his work, and "to sow to the flesh" what was meant to have been " sown to the Spirit ?" The neglect of Christian duty in the children of Christian parents is far more sinful and inexcusable than in others. which the united mercies of ProEvery advantage vidence and Grace could impart will appear in such cases to have been exhausted on a rebellious and unworthy offspring. Both example and precept have invited, exhorted, encouraged them to become "fellow-labourers," not only with their parents, but "with God;" and if all this should prove in vain, how great their ingratitude to their earthly parent and their heavenly Father; and how awful their final condemnation as "unprofitable servants!" But while remarks strong as these, approaching, perhaps, to severity, seem requisite to rouse the slumbering attention of many members of religious families, who are perhaps, as the Scripture emphatically terms it, "at ease in Zion," it is a subject for rejoicing, that to many others the duties of the times wear an aspect of a very inviting nature. To such the present paper will not speak in too harsh a tone; for their hearts already beat warmly in the cause of God, and would prompt the very language now suggested. With delight do their elder fellow-Christians hail the disposition of such; and earnestly do they wish to see them increasingly ready to step into the unoccupied ranks, from which casualty, sickness, disease, and death have dislodged one and another of their vigorous and successful predecessors. The young men and women of this generation should feel their peculiar position. They are placed, as it were, half way up that" ladder to the highest heavens;" on the summit of which, just ascending or ascended to their glory, are numbers of their advanced and devout forefathers; and at the foot of which, beneath them, are, let me trust, still greater numbers of the yet unestablished, but rising, Christian generation. As they look up to those who are on the verge of eternal glory, with one hand they receive from them the inheritance of their privileges, and the uncompleted work of Christian love; while with the other they are to hand them down in all the improved and augmented state of which they are capable, to refresh, enlighten, and elevate a still younger race. "I will remember," said the Psalmist, "thy name from one generation to another;" words which may not, perhaps, be unjustly paraphrased, "I will, by thy Divine blessing, so engage in works of Christian usefulness, so employ my entrusted talent, so devote all my disposable powers of glorifying God, and serving my generation according to his will, that, when I am gathered to my fathers, I may leave some humble memorial behind me, that I have not lived in vain, and transmit, not only unimpaired, but, if possible, greatly improved, the degree of religious knowledge, and the means of peace and joy, which a previous generation committed to myself." It was in this spirit that the saints of God have ever viewed those who were to succeed them when they sank in death. Witness the dying addresses of Moses, of Joshua, of David urging the continuance of their people in the ways of the Lord, and the renewed devotion of their efforts to his glory. Witness the Apostles so long as they were in this tabernacle "stirring up the minds" of their fellow-Christians to active duty and personal circumspection; to "stedfastness," and to an unmovable attachment and unlimited "abounding in the work of the Lord." The danger of supineness is always very great, and the temptation to it applies very strongly in the case of the children of religious parents. They may rejoice in the piety of their forefathers; but piety is not hereditary. Rank may descend from generation to generation; honours and wealth may be retained and transmitted; even physical grace and beauty may be traced successively in the features of the parent, the child, and the children of the child again; but the heavenly lineaments are incommunicable to the offspring, but by that same Divine Spirit which impressed them on the parent: while the very circumstance that there does descend to the children of good men a sort of prescription for piety, 66 a good name more to be chosen than great riches," very much tends to increase the difficulty of disentangling the real character, as it exists in the sight of God, from that view of it which is perhaps charitably taken by the religious connexions of the parent, who, in their leniency and partial affection for the offspring of their departed friend, may be apt to pass on them a more favourable sentence than can be ratified either by their own conscience or by the Omniscient Judge. Another circumstance also may conduce to this supineness. The good habits of the parent who, perhaps, fought his way through the world to wealth or eminence, may leave his children in possession of advantages which may induce a relaxation of diligence and exertion on their part, and at length settle into habits of absolute indolence and self-indulgence. And although this degeneracy would principally affect the personal condition of the individual and his immediate dependents, yet it would also naturally impart its soporific influence as respects his assigned proportion of labour in those plans of public utility and benevolence which an anxious parent had hoped to transmit to him as an invaluable part of his inheritance-an heir-loom in his family for ever. Again, the labours of Christian zeal and love may be seen and engaged in till they lose most of those attractions which arise from novelty. And it demands the discipline of a mind which bears perpetually in its view the great results which these labours are designed to consummate, to sustain its energies in the midst of circumstances which all tend to promote their exhaustion and decay. In this view the children of religious parents, accustomed from their infancy to witness, and share in, a variety of pious designs, should be strongly on their guard that the absence of novelty does not check their zeal or cause their love to wax cold. Parents also should take care not to make either the doctrines or the duties of religion irksome to their children by over-strained requirements on their infant energies. But the most important part of these considerations is that which affects the individual himself. Religion is a covenant, and he must be one of the contracting parties. It is perfectly possible that he may admire the seals of it, exalt its stipulations, recommend with some powers of description its prospects and promises to others, and even make some sacrifice to facilitate to them the approach and possession of its benefits, yet all the while forget that his own name is sacramentally and visibly affixed to it; that its conditions are binding upon him with the most imperative necessity; and that if these are passed over by him, however he may be instrumental in conveying to others the lifegiving blessings of this covenant, they are all shut for ever against himself. It is, indeed, a matter of congratulation with respect to the connec⚫ tion of the new generation with our religious charitable institutions, that these works of benevolence are not now to begin, that the ground has been marked out, and that many of its obstructions have been levelled. But even here arises a danger. If we have not to fight the battles of these societies, we may forget, in the peacefulness of their operation, the large demands which their purposes should create on our efforts. We may slacken our diligence and abate our circumspection, and the enemy may take advantage of our slumber to scatter his tares over our field; and we may awake to discover an adulterated soil, and a mixed and spurious crop. But if all these difficulties are watchfully observed, and vigorously counteracted, we shall not have to dread the desertion, by one generation, of projects of mercy most auspiciously commenced by a former. True it is, that fluctuation and change will continue to characterize the doings and the very being of the children of men-but it will be but as the change of the solar light; a succession, not an alteration; and as "day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge," so, as one generation drops its labours of love, and its songs of praise, another will take them up and send them onward, till "Hills after hills shall catch the flying joy; Earth roll the rapturous Hosanna round." H. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. HAVING, in my two former communications, endeavoured to point out the great practical usefulness of the prophetic parts of Scripture, and the duty of devoting to them a degree of study and attention suited to their relative importance in the word of God, and the economy of the Christian dispensation, I venture humbly to propose the following suggestions respecting the frame of mind proper for studying them with spiritual advantage. The literary rules for reading the prophecies have been often pointed out and pressed upon the attention of Christian students; but there are also moral rules not less necessary to be obseryed by those who wish their investigations to go beyond "the letter which killeth" to "the spirit which maketh alive." It is to be lamented that the study of prophecy has been too often conducted as a merely intellectual exercise, from which little or no benefit is derived to the heart. The current rules usually laid down for understanding Scripture-prophecy are something of the following kind :-to become well acquainted with the emblematic language of holy writ, particularly the emblematic names given to Christ, to the church, to particular nations, armies, &c.; to study the analogy of the Bible, so that every interpretation may be consistent with the doctrines of salvation, the revealed plans of the Almighty, and the precepts and maxims prescribed for human guidance; to study history, particularly biblical history, in order to acquire a competent knowledge of those scenes and facts to which the prophecies relate, and to be able to ascertain what pro phecies and events correspond to each other; to take the whole of the prophecies together, ranging them in their order and connexion, so as to discover those which relate to the same point, and throw mutual light upon each other; to examine the successive steps in the fulfilment of a prophecy; to distinguish what is literal, what is figurative, and what is spiritual; and to consider which of the prophecies have all these references, and which have only one or more. The intelligent reader of our leading systems of interpretation, will be able to add to this list various other directions of a similar character. But it is obvious that all these truly useful and excellent critical rules may be observed, and a very correct scheme of prophetic interpretation in consequence be acquired, without any shadow of spiritual benefit to the soul. But was this barren information the effect intended by the Omniscient Inditer of prophecy to result from the study of his sacred communications to a guilty and perishing world? Did he give us the prophecies only that we might enlarge our knowledge, or gratify our curiosity? Assuredly not: the prophecies, like all other parts of Scripture, are connected with a far higher object. To study them aright, we must read them in such a manner as not merely to ascertain their historical drift, but to enter into all those moral and spiritual relations which they imply or involve; and in order to do this, the following brief suggestions may not be unserviceable, as to the frame and spirit in which they should be perused. 1. In studying the prophecies, cherish deep humility and self-diffidence.The usefulness of such a habit of mind will be found even in an intellectual point of view, since it will guard the student against those numerous, and often absurd, mis takes which arise from pride and self-conceit. Had Swedenborg, or Brothers, or Southcot-not to mention less gross instances—seriously |