for the strongest and most anxious Pastor to fulfil the course to which he is called, without aid. The Society* on whose interests this lecture is appointed to bear, now affords 41 lay helpers, and 246 clerical, but what are they in respect of the demand? I intended to say much on the character and training of the men that are needed, but I have exceeded my bounds, and must therefore desist.

A word then in conclusion; and that, of application. Beware of resting in the attainment of mere knowledge : it has been ruled by authority, from which there is no appeal, that a man may have all knowledge, and yet be nothing before the eyes that weigh the spirit. Let this question be resolved, has Christianity, which a good God sent to our land, found an entrance into, not my understanding only, into a quickened conscience, into the warmest affections of my heart? Is truth received, without cavilling, with a childlike mind; it is burdensome, that when I would do good, evil is present with me; am I delighted with ordinances, because the Master of assemblies is in them; do I labour to have a conversation in heaven while I fulfil the claims of earth? Let a witness within yourself speak to these questions, and we will rely on our Lord to keep your feet from falling, and to preserve you to his heavenly kingdom. Then shall we see in you, the spirit of a single-minded Paul, forgetting things that are behind and pressing to those that are before; then there will be a growing up into Christ in all things. That Christianity may have progress within you, that you may be manifestly cast into the mould of the Gospel, true religion will have daily a place in your lives. To early prayer, neglect not to join early meditation. This will dispose you toward recollection of God in the employments of the day and at eventide, give not sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids till you have cast up with conscience the accounts of the past hours. Invaluable are the fruits of this practice: man is clothed with humility, the blood of Jesus is endeared, the need of God's sustaining grace is felt. It is then you will enjoy peace of heart, and will enter upon the affairs of life with quietness of mind. These are the blessings I ask of God for you; and in their attainment, you will so pass through the temptations, the troubles, the employments of the present, as to be willing to depart when the Master calls, and to be with Christ, which is far better.

The Church Pastoral-Aid.

:

A LECTURE,

BY THE REV. J. J. REYNOLDS.

Ir is at all times delightful to the Ambassador of Christ to be permitted to speak of those deeply interesting and important matters which relate to the extension of his Master's kingdom. It is never more so than when, as on the present occasion, he is privileged to address "young men in Christ," associated together as his "soldiers and servants," to contend against his enemies, not with carnal weapons, but with those which are mighty, through God, to the pulling down the strong holds of Satan, rescuing immortal beings from his dominion, and "translating them into the kingdom of God's dear Son." Your's, my brethren, is a holy and therefore a noble warfare. The great Captain of our salvation, by whose command you are marshalled, and in whose name and strength you array yourselves on the wide field of the world, leads onward to certain victory, and although, ere the day of that consummation dawn, you may have been removed from the conflict, yet shall you share his glory; for when all enemies are subdued under his feet, when he returns in his glorious majesty, "those also which sleep in Christ shall God bring with him," and they shall "behold his glory which he had with the Father before the world began.”

the

Be strong then and of good courage; "take unto you whole armour of God," that not only in your single-handed conflicts with sin and Satan you may be victorious, but that as brethren and fellow soldiers you may encourage and support one another, and manfully fighting “against principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places," may off more come than conquerors through Him that hath loved you and given himself for you." In Him is your strength; depending upon this, and obeying his command,

your happiness will be to promote his glory in all you do, and in every successful enterprise to ascribe all honour and praise to Him.

I am truly rejoiced that in your association to promote the cause of Christ at home and abroad, you have embraced missions to God's ancient people Israel, and I rejoice in this, not only because you are thereby enabled to help forward the Society for promoting Christianity amongst them; but also because I believe you cannot be prayerfully interested in their behalf, you cannot rightly regard their welfare, without yourselves deriving a direct and present blessing from Israel's God. In all we do to advance his glory there is a blessing to ourselves—a reflected blessing. In the case of the people of Israel there is not only this, but also the fulfilment of a gracious promise, "I will bless them that bless thee." You cannot pray for the peace of Jerusalem" in sincerity and faith but you must realize the fulfilment of the promise, "They shall prosper that love thee."

The subject of the present lecture is, in many respects, peculiar, and is distinguished from others of a missionary character by many remarkable circumstances. It has much in common with them; but it is invested with an interest and a grandeur that none besides can claim. In common with other objects of missionary exertions, the Jew is one among the "all nations" to whom "repentance and remission of sins were to be preached," forms a part of that accountable and immortal multitude which includes the "6 every creature" to whom the gospel was to be proclaimed; has, as a man, the same claim on your compassion and love as others have who know not God nor Jesus Christ whom He hath sent;" must stand before the same tribunal and the same Judge; must be dealt with by the same impartial justice, and endure the same eternal sentence. Were this all, it should be sufficient to call forth our most earnest endeavours and ceaseless prayers"that Israel might be saved;" but there are peculiar motives to lead us to labour in their behalf-they are the one nation whom God chose as his own, and who are still beloved for their fathers' sakes, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance-they are our benefactors, the chosen instruments selected to hand down to us an uncorrupted Bible, written by their inspired ancestors-they were the channel

through whom came to us, not only the Bible, but salvation"of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever."

"They, and they only, amongst all mankind,
Received the transcript of the eternal mind,
Were trusted with his own engraven laws,
And constituted guardians of his cause;

Theirs were the prophets, theirs the priestly call,
And theirs, by birth, the Saviour of us all."*

"God hath not cast away his people;" they are still preserved as a distinct and peculiar nation, and the Word of God is full of promises of mercy yet to be fulfilled to them; the eyes of the Lord are still upon them, and in all their wanderings He watches over them and will keep them, though men may scorn them. He will restore health unto them and heal them of their wounds, though men may call them "outcast," and say, "this is Zion whom no man seeketh after."+

My duty, this evening, is not to dwell on the promises and purposes of God which are to be accomplished in their behalf; but on the "efforts which have been made for the conversion of God's ancient people." Alas, my brethren, what can we say? we can speak of scorn and wrong, of reproach and cruelty, of persecution, of robbery, of banishment, of massacre. These were fruitful topics in the history of Israel as a sojourner in christian lands; we can speak of dishonour done to our Master's name and our Master's cause, of Christianity so mis-represented to the Jew, that he justly called that which he saw bearing its name, Idolatry. We have heard of his calling our Lord "the man that taught the Christians to worship idols," and of his turning away with horror, crying, "blasphemy, blasphemy, no woman god," when the creature has been presented as the object of worship instead of the Creator. We can speak of the terrible results of our worldliness and our indifference, of our Sabbath-breaking and immorality, of our distractions and divisions, but of our efforts to convert the Jews, of our love to their souls, of our gratitude for their instrumentality, brief is the history. Its records are not of the united efforts of the whole Church of Christ, but generally of those of individuals; and even in our own days, unequalled as they are in exertion for the good of

Israel, very weak and very limited have such efforts been. We can tell of centuries when all Christendom was oppressing the Jew; we can only tell of few and slight attempts to promote his highest good.

If we go back to apostolic times, we have the bright example of the great Apostle of the Gentiles before us, and we follow him in his journeyings to Gentile cities, and find him everywhere beginning with the Jews. Even in Athens, with her large idolatrous population, we find this Apostle of the Gentiles first in the synagogue. In another Gentile city we hear him telling his countrymen that it was necessary the Gospel should first be preached unto them. At Corinth, at Ephesus, in Rome, the glad tidings were first proclaimed to Israel, and many thousands in these various places, as well as in Jerusalem, were obedient unto the faith. The command, "begin at Jerusalem," was not geographical, but characteristic; and thus we find Paul understood it, for, as his manner was, he went first into the synagogues, to open, and allege, and prove from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Multitudes of the nation believed, and for a considerable period a Hebrew-Christian Church, the mother of all Churches, existed in Jerusalem. Fifteen Jewish Bishops in succession occupied the see of St. James, and then the hand of violence drove from the holy city the despised followers of Christ.* "The ancient Church" after Apostolic times "appears to have made no provision for preaching the Gospel to the Jews. Some few of the fathers wrote against them in languages which the Jews considered profane, and therefore did not read; but no systematic attempt was made by the Christian Church; individuals were moved to seek the welfare of the Jews and their attempts were blessed,"+ but generally speaking, the most opprobrious epithets were applied to them, and a line of conduct pursued such as was calculated to make their prejudices perpetual. Christians knew nothing of Hebrew, the New Testament had never been translated into that language, and from the time of St. Jerome to that of Raymund Martyn, a period of nearly 800 years,

*See Cartwright's Hebrew Christian Church of Jerusalem.

+ Dr. M'Caul's Sermon on the equality of Jew and Gentile in the New Testament dispensation.