ignominious yoke. The tribes readily assembled in their embattled hosts, but the tribes of Reuben, of Asher, and of Dan, more distant from the immediate scene of persecution, refused to leave their homes to assist their afflicted brethren. The battle was fought without them, and without them was the victory won. Then, when they had returned, they raised a song of triumph, and as the tide of inspiration rolled along, thus sang Deborah-" Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves." She then recapitulates the tribes who thus offered themselves to the cause of God; but when she comes to mention the tribes of selfish Reuben, Dan, and Asher, she breaks into the mournful strain-"Reuben, why abodest thou among the sheep-folds to hear the bleating of the flocks? Dan, why didst thou remain in the ships? Asher, why continuedst thou on the shore?" "Zebulon and Napthali were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megeddo. Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord; to the help of the Lord against the mighty."

Would you, my brethren, prefer to resemble the ungrateful and selfish tribes of Reuben, of Dan, and of Asher? Was the deliverance of Israel from the yoke of Jabin, king of Canaan, a matter of greater moment than is the deliverance of your brethren from the captivity of sin and ignorance, and superstition and death? Strive then, by your personal influence, and endeavour with others to advance

the cause of Christ. It is your duty, founded on the benefits of Christianity which have been brought and laid as a free gift at your very doors. Refuse that exertion, refuse that personal influence and endeavour, and on the inspired scroll of prophecy is written "Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord; to the help of the Lord against the mighty." But offer yourselves, like the other tribes of Israel, willingly to God, and shall be written-"They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that help to turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."

3. You can, my friends, help forward the cause of Christ by your pecuniary contributions.

That this is the duty of Christians it would be an insult to attempt to prove. I boldly and fearlessly assert, that if you believe the Scriptures, you cannot doubt it. It is there written in the clearest and most positive language; and benefits done to a suffering brother with a proper motive, are represented as done to Christ himself. However little you may reflect upon it, brethren, yet you are but stewards of the bounty which God has bestowed upon you, and for the exercise of that stewardship you must render up an account to God. It is useless to keep back this truth; the wealth which you enjoy is not your own. It is given you of God for the purpose of employment to the good of your fellow men; and when in an effort to advance the increase of the religion of Jesus, you are asked for a pecuniary contribution, you are but asked to give a portion of that for the whole of which you are indebted to God, and for every farthing of which you must answer

unto God. But I will not detain you on this point. I have said that you could assist the cause of Christ by your generous contributions. Of this you must be fully aware; because it is through the medium of Bible and missionary exertions that the cause of Christ is to be advanced, and to effect these purposes of singular importance, pecuniary agency is to be employed. Tell me, ye who call yourselves by the name of Christians, if there be no binding obligation in the express commands of the Scripture "to do good and to distribute?" Tell me if there is no moral and Christian suasion in the question-"If any man see his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassions from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" Tell me if there is no awfulness in the description of our Saviour of the process of the judgment—“Inasmuch as ye did it not to the least of these, ye did it not to me. Depart ye cursed?" Tell me is there not rapture in the contemplation of the sentence-"Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these, ye did it unto me?"

With prayers, with personal efforts, and with pecuniary exertions you may, and I am persuaded you will, improve this open door. The object of all the means employed, is to convey to those who are perishing the news of salvation. It is to furnish every family upon the face of this whole earth with the word of God, written in its own language, and to send to every neighbourhood a preacher of the cross of Christ. That object will not be accomplished until every idol temple shall have been utterly abolished and a temple to Jehovah erected in its room; until this aarth, instead of being a theatre on which mortal beings are preparing by crime for eternal

condemnation, shall become one universal temple in which the children of men are learning the anthems of the blessed above, and becoming meet to join the general assembly and Church of the first born whose names are written in heaven; and that object will not be completed until

One song employs all nations, and all cry
Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us;
The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks
Shout to each other, and the mountain tops
From distant regions catch the flying joy,
Till nation after nation, taught the strain,
Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round.

Members of the Church of Philadelphia, from the habitation of his holiness, the Lord Jesus Christ looks down upon you, and as he calls to your minds your highly privileged political condition, your blessed country, your opportunities, he says, in a language which cannot be misinterpreted-Behold, I have set before you an open door, and as you value the eternal interests of men, and as ye estimate my favour, let not the opportunity be neglected. If you have hitherto been backward and lukewarm, be so no longer. If you have not as yet drunk in of the spirit of the age, go now to the living fountain. The Bible, the Missionary, the Tract, the Sundayschool, are all so many mighty methods by which this door of opportunity may be improved. I'do covet for this nation, and I do covet for my fellow citizens, that in the great march of the Gospel they may no longer lag behind.

My country, rouse

From thy deep trance! divide the long-drawn veil
Of thy lethargic slumbers.

VOL. II.

41

Christians, view the day

Of retribution! think how ye will bear
From your Redeemer's lips the fearful words,
Thy brother, perishing within thy gates,
Thou saw'st. Thy brother hunger'd, was athirst,
Was naked, and thou saw'st it. He was sick,
Thou didst withhold the healing; was in prison
To vice and ignorance, nor didst thou send
To set him free. Oh! ere that hour of doom,
Whence there is no reprieve, brethren, awake
From this dark dream.

Blot from the accusing scroll

Those guilty traces with repentant tears.
Teach thy red brother, in the day of wrath,
To stand and plead before the Judge: Forgive,
Forgive, for he hath sent thy holy word;
Hath told me of a Saviour, and diffused

The day-beam o'er my darkness. His kind voice
Taught me to call thee Father. Oh! forgive
Those earthly wrongs which he hath well atoned
By pointing me to heaven.

The time of hope

And of probation speeds on rapid wings,

Swift and returnless. What thou hast to do,

Do with thy might.

And publish on the

Haste, lift aloud thy voice, borders of the pit

The resurrection. Bid thy heralds bear

To thine own wilds, salvation. Strike the harp

Of God's high praises 'mid thy deserts lone,

And let thy mountains speak them. Lo! they rise,
Wafted on every gale. From Afric's sands,
From chill Siberia, from the restless wave

Of turbid Ganges, from the spicy groves,

And from the sea-green Islands. Rise and spread
That name which must be borne from sea to sea,

And from the river to the utmost bounds

Of the wide world. Then, when the ransom'd come

With gladness unto Zion, thou shalt joy

To hear the vallies and the hills break forth
Before them into singing; thou shalt join
The raptured strain, exulting that the Lord
Jehovah, God Omnipotent, doth reign
O'er all the earth.