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THE PREACHING SCENE.

THERE is something equally affecting and instructive in contemplating the ordinances of God and their results. The kind providence of God furnished me with an opportunity, not very long ago, to spend an interesting and profitable day, with a number of Christian ministers and others, in attending on divine. worship and devising plans for the further advancement of the Redeemer's cause. These are occasions which furnish grounds for joy that the interests of holiness are kept alive and extended in our world; they excite humility that we have done so little to promote what is so excellent, and inspire us with new zeal in the works of faith and labour of love. seasons, too, afford opportunity for the exercise

Such

of the best feelings of the heart, and supply a delightful foretaste of the happiness in reserve for the Christian in the world to come.

The village of which I am writing is situated twelve or fourteen miles west of London: it is adorned with many of the lovely scenes of nature, but, alas! its inhabitants are generally under the influence of unsanctified dispositions. It had been arranged that the evening of the day should be devoted to religious worship out of doors, on the village green. About six o'clock, a far larger congregation assembled than the chapel could have held; many highly respectable persons attended, some in their carriages, but a large proportion of the hearers were those who never worshipped God in any form. The preacher was a devoted minister of Jesus Christ, happily eminent for piety and learning, for zeal and usefulness. His pulpit was a chair, and his sounding board the canopy of heaven. The works of the God of nature displayed their beauty, and the light of his word exhibited in a manner still more glorious the character of the Great Supreme. It was

indeed delightful to hear the preacher announce, as the commencement of worship, the wellknown hymn

Come let us join our cheerful songs, &c.

Deep and solemn silence prevaded the crowd while he presented an impressive and scriptural prayer. None of the assembly seemed disposed to offer the shadow of opposition; each seemed to say, "We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of Him." Prayer ended: the preacher read for his text the interesting statement of the venerable Apostle John, " Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins." (1 John, iv. 10.) It would not comport with the length to which this paper must be confined, to give even the outlines of a discourse equally scriptural, simple, and appropriate. The preacher remarked, that nothing in our world called for so much admiration as love; and that if this disposition between creatures was delightful, it must be far more

us.

so when it existed between our Creator and He proved, that however men ought to love God, they really hated him, which they manifested by refusing to commune with him, neglecting his word, and opposing his authority. He then impressively observed, that though we had no reason to expect God to shew us anything but hatred in return for our hatred, yet he still loved us, and loved us so much as to send his only beloved Son into our world to atone for our sins and prepare us for heaven. The preacher closed by presenting the most powerful motives to prevail on the sinner to forsake evil, and to believe in Christ, and in exhorting Christians to live as it became those who are saved by infinite mercy from eternal misery. The scene was profoundly interesting: the shades of the evening had, before the worship closed, enwrapped the earth in darkness; but not an individual appeared to move. Many a tear was shed, many a devout prayer was breathed to God, and if an inference might be drawn from the silence and undivided attention of the people, many of the five hundred

persons assembled sang with the heart and the understanding, after the sermon, the language of the sainted Watts:

of

Blessings for ever on the Lamb,

Who bore the curse for wretched man:
Let angels sound his sacred name,

And every creature say-Amen.

Such a scene must have impressed the mind every minister of Christ present with a conviction that out-of-door preaching has no difficulties; it must have powerfully affected many hearts; it was lovely in the estimation of angels and the sight of God; nor is it too much to hope that some, at least, may carry the holy impressions they there received into the regions of eternal glory.