Jamaica, when on his way to the station to which he had been appointed, he preached to a large and attentive congregation of Negroes; at the end of the service the whole assembly arose and, with uplifted hands and tears in their eyes, they entreated him to remain and become their pastor. From his previous engagements he was unable to comply with their earnest petition, other places of ás much importance requiring his presence. For years past the missionaries in Jamaica have been applying to these countries for assistance, and, melancholy to relate, they have applied in vain. Notwithstanding all the openings for the spread of the Gospel which are there to be found, notwithstanding the repeated appeals of the missionaries, the liberality of the Christian public has hitherto enabled the Society to establish only six stations in the island. In fact, the Society has been burdened with debt for the last two years in meeting the expenses of its present establishments, while the Directors are earnestly wishing to take advantage of the opportunities which are every day presenting themselves for the furtherance of the Gospel. The receipts of the Society for the last year were about £6900, of which about £217 was sent from the North of Ireland. Such a fact speaks volumes for the nonexistence of a missionary spirit among us. Is it not known to thousands among us that this Society has, year after year, been appealing for increased support, and pointing to the success of its labours as an inducement to kindle our zeal in its cause. Do we not know that the Negroes in the West Indies are anxious to hear the message of peace-that they are looking for assistance from us, and calling on us to go over and help them? Do we forget that the command of Christ is just as imperative on us as it was on the apostles and early disciples-where is one sympathy-where one love for souls-for the glory of God, for the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom shall we not blush to think of our lofty profession and our glorious privileges, when we see what zeal has been spent in the collection of £217 per ann. for such a society? Adopting the sentiments and the language of the Directors, we assert it has peculiar claims on our support. It was instituted long before the Church of Scotland or the Secession Church thought of establishing missions to the Heathen,-it has, on the faith of public support, formed two missionary stations in Russia, Karass, and Astrachan; four in the East Indies-Bankgate, Hurnee, Poonah, and Bombay; and six in Jamaica-Hampstead, Petersfield, Hampden, Cornwall, Luna, and Green-island, and has lately given aid in commencing a mission amongst the Aborigines of New South Wales. At these stations there are a number of missionaries, who, with their families, are dependent on the Society for support; and, in the East Indies, there are a considerable number of schools. To these undertakings the Committee are by no means disposed to limit themselves. They are anxious to carry on operations on a much more extended scale, provided they had a greater number of well qualified missionaries, and funds adequate to the necessary expenditure.

SUBSCRIPTIONS RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT OF THE PRESBYTE RIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

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Annual subscription of Rev. Thos. Leslie, Kilraughts, 0 10 0

"My days are like a shade alway,
Which doth declining swiftly pass;
And I am withered away,

Much like unto the fading grass.
But thou, O LORD, shalt still endure,
From change and all mutation free;

And to all generations sure

Shall thy remembrance ever be."-Ps. cii. 11, 12.

READER, whosoever you may be, hearken to a word from one who has been with you in many griefs and joys, but has now bade you a long farewell. It is the voice of the departed year that addresses you. Give ear, then, for a few moments, to the testimony of its experience. "The voice said unto me, cry. And I said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. Surely the people is grass."-Isa. xl. 6-8. This is the worm in the gourd of every worldling-of all men whose hearts are not right with God. The grass and the flower of the spring, and summer, and autumn, are in the dust. O man without peace from God in Christ, blessing thyself in the earth, and putting away from thee the thought and the sight of the grave, nature holds up to thine eyes her mirror, to show thee thine own vanity and death. In it thou mayest read, written with the finger of God upon thy brow-" Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.'

What numbers might make reply-"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."-Jer. viii. 20, &c. Spring, summer, harvest-every one of them severally has witnessed the cutting down of the grass, and the fading of many a flower. The year has struck its last hour, and perished are the grass and the flower of the field, which but lately flourished in its light.

Spring sows its seed, good or bad. From the beginning it

K

has been known-" Whatsoever thou sowest, that also shalt thou reap." Sow, young men, your follies, your revellings, your mockery of religion, your unconcern for the soul, your forgetfulness of God, and judgment to come, and eternity. Spring is your sowing-time. The field is the world-is human life. Scatter before you the seeds of your hardening hearts, your thoughtless minds, your gay and giddy career. But remember the reaping-time! Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment."-Eccles, xi. Surely the fruit of the seed sown by your own hands must by right be your portion and Sow now-reap hereafter. your lot.

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Youth also may go forth bearing precious seed; it may "sow in tears," but it shall "reap in joy."-Ps. cxxxii. Denying itself to the enticements and the snares of vice, with a changed heart and a mind enlightened by the Spirit of truth, it may sow its purity and rectitude of purpose, its well-doing, its burning zeal for the glory of God and the highest interests of man, its separations from the ungodly, its gentleness, its temperance, its resolution, through grace, to be faithful unto death. And through him whose blessed name it bears, it shall doubtless "come again rejoicing, bringing with it its sheaves❞— its reward and fruition for eternity.

Spring proclaims-"As thou sowest, thou shalt reap that day." Men who are taken away in that season, reap in eternity what they began to sow in time.

Summer-the summer of life-has watered and sunned the sown seed into the thickening tares or the waving wheat. The youth of sin has passed into the manhood of iniquity-the spring oflevity and guilt into the summer of increased and increasing guiltiness. Habits which held the character only with a young and flexible grasp, are now rivetted with the stern rigour of an armed man. The current of corruption runs deeper and broader-it has worn itself into the core of the affections and energies, and is wide-spread over the whole life. This is the natural course of sin in man. If he still choose that course, if God in mercy arrest him not, mark its progress-it stops not. While in like manner the good seed is cheering the observer's eye, and blessing the ground on which grows. There is progress and promise in the appearance of it every day.

it

Should men die in the summer of life, as they grow so shall

they fall. Growing in the holiness and spiritual mindedness of heaven, they shall fall heirs of heaven. Growing in the likeness and image of the wicked one, they shall fall into their own place." Summer takes its character usually from the spring it foreshows, too, the nature of the harvest.

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Then cometh the harvest. "The harvest of the worldof the field of life-is ripe." The tares are ripe. They have been ripening for a long space. The vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction. Man himself, yielding to the dominion of Satan, sowed the tares in his own path. Man fits himself in his character as a vessel of wrath. The tares are ripe, and they are reaped. The wheat is ripe, and it is reaped. The harvest is wholly reaped. "Bind ye the tares in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." "BE NOT DECEIVED: GOD IS NOT MOCKED.' As ye have sown, so shall ye reap that day.

At that time shall the voice of remorse and of weeping tell "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, AND WE ARE NOT SAVED."

READER, the unconverted are not saved in death. Dying impenitent as they have lived, they die as fools. Listen to a man who forsook God, as, in the bitterness of his anguish, he tells to a spirit from the dead-"I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war upon me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more." Often it is known to procrastinate in death. Repent to-day, 'tis madness to defer

"To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
But to-day ye die."

"If death were nothing, and nought after death
Then might the debauchee untrembling
Mouth the heavens. Then might the drunkard
Reel over his full bowl, and when 'tis drained,
Fill up another to the brim, and laugh
At the poor bugbear-Death!"

"Believe on the Lord

Know thy sins-thyself in time. Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

READER, the unconverted are not saved in judgment. Their works go before them to the judgment. Mountains or rocks cannot hide them from the Judge, or divide them from their sins, their works, the fruit of their lives. Their sentence is passed and pronounced "DEPART." And the reapingtime is over, and the fruits are with their lost souls for ever and for ever! Their wickedness, their falsehood, their revellings, their blasphemy, their odious diseases, their profaneness,

their sins as the worm that never dieth shall cry-“We are thy works, and we will follow thee."

The Baptist's sermon in substance was- "Flee from the wrath to come. Behold the Lamb of God." This you may take as the voice and warning of the departed year. It reminds you of the word spoken by a well-known voice to the Roman in his sleep-" WE MEET AT PHILIPPI." We meet at the judgment, Reader, in the day of dread decision and despair, is the sound of THE DEPARTED YEAR. :

THE TIMES-LIBERALISM.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 88.) ·

In pursuing this discussion, we shall not take up in detail each of the crude, dangerous principles, that come under the name of liberalism, but shall confine ourselves to a Scripture exhibition of three grand points which appear to meet them all. 1. The importance of the truth. 2. The nature and importance of faith: and, 3. As the consequence of the two former, the duty of zealously defending and promoting the truth. Let these be firmly established in the minds of men, and the doctrines of liberalism will cease to corrupt.

1.-We shall endeavour to present the Scripture-view of the importance of the truth. We formerly stated, that by the truth we understand the great distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel, as the manifestation of the divine nature in the mys terious relations of Father, Son, and Spirit-the guilt, corruption, and ruined condition of fallen man-the abundant mercy of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ-the atoning sacrifice and justifying righteousness of the Son-the renewing work of the Spirit-the headship of Christ-the glorification of his body, the church, and all the doctrines vitally connected with these. Now if these doctrines are, indeed, the truth, (and in the present discussion we are entitled to assume this,) shall we be required to prove their importance? Is not the simple statement of them sufficient? Do they not commend themselves to every man's conscience, as in the highest degree momentous ? Yes, like the sun in the heavens, they shine by their own light, and arrest us by their native grandeur! The glory of God-the grace of Christ-the salvation of sinners, are the mighty interests they reveal: all that should engage our regard, excite our gratitude, or inspire our veneration. Accordingly they are an