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exercised for some time about these perishing millions of souls. Until we could enter Japan, my mind is fixed upon Ningpo, on the eastern coast of China, having intercourse with the Japanese, and within two or three days sail of Niphon, the principal island. The climate is more adapted to Europeans; the providence of God seems to be calling us to enter, and the Bible has been prepared. It has appeared to me desirable to extend the mission, and my whole soul would frequently urge me to say, if possible, 'Go and preach in China the unsearchable riches of Christ, and make what preparation you can for reaching the Japan isles when the barriers of pagan despotism are removed.' The symbolic language of China is difficult to learn: I believe it is; but from several modern works on China, that difficulty has materially lessened in my estimation. The principal discouragement appears to arise from the diversity of tones, and the variety of sounds. I think I have a natural talent for imitation, an ear to lay hold of different tones or sounds, and a voice to reach the expression of them. I do think that these, with ordinary capacity and diligence, will enable a person to learn the Chinese. And why should we not send some? I do not wish to weaken the Oreah mission: it wants help, and should by all means have assistance to extend the Gospel through the province of Orissa. But should not the Committee consider the propriety of sending two to China? Does not Divine Providence seem to be calling us to make an effort in that direction? Is it quite a clear case that we cannot do it? And ought we not to make an attempt? It strikes me that the subject ought to be taken up and discussed. Is not this the time to examine the question in several bearings? Providence opening the way to three hundred and sixty millions of pagans, and not try to send a General Baptist missionary. Who can think of this without agony? Who could bear the responsibility of refusing to try?" "For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart." What is the duty of our Churches at this crisis? If, thirty years since, some sanguine friends had predicted, that in ten years the General Baptists would have a Foreign Missionary Society, and the holy land of Juggernaut, the province of Orissa, allotted to them by the consent of the tribes of Israel, who would not have said, "Is Saul among the prophets?" Yet in February, 1822, the standard of the cross was erected in the British cantonments of the capital of Orissa, and the most influential of our countrymen attended their ministry. Is it not more probable, that before 1850, we may have a mission in China, and another in Japan? What is the lot of our inheritance in these immense territories? Surely some portion of them belongs to us. Why should we not attempt this great work? It is a good saying, "The man who wants me is the man I want." Look at these extracts. Here is a brother who wants, like the colossus of Rhodes, to set his feet upon Ningpo and Niphon. Is not this the man we want? But the reply will be made by many, like Gideon, "Oh, my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." Let us remember, "It is not with the Lord to save by many or by few."

"Ye armies of the living God,

His sacramental host!

Where hallowed footsteps never trod

Take your appointed post.

"A barley cake o'erthrew the camp

Of Midian, tent by tent;

Ere morn, the trumpet and the lamp
Through all in triumph went!

"Though China's sons, like Midian's, fill

As grasshoppers the vale,

The sword of God and Gideon still

To conquer cannot fail.

"Though few, and small, and weak your hands,

Strong in your Captain's strength,

Go to the conquest of all lands

All must be his at length."

MONTGOMERY.

Should not a special subscription be commenced for the Chinese mission? This was done for the Orissa mission just ten years since, with very good effect. Who will now "fill their hands to the Lord?" The writer feels it a duty to "honour the Lord with his substance, and the first fruits of all his increase." An unexpected legacy has fallen to his children, and he will cheerfully engage £10 if £500 be raised for China and Japan, and £10 more if the subscription and bequests amount to £1000. A rich old man at Derby has recently died, and left £300 to the mission. When Swartz was dying, he said, Let the cause of Christ be my heir." Who will hear the cry of the perishing millions of China and Japan, and hasten to send our missionaries forth who are saying, "Here am I, send me." March 8th, 1843. AN EARLY FRIEND OF THE MISSION.

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ON THE BEST MODE OF PERFORMING THE DEVOTIONS OF THE SANCTUARY.

THE worship of God is the highest and holiest employment in which created spirits can be engaged. Probably no part of the service of the sanctuary is so grateful to the Redeemer, in his glorified state, as this; and in none does the Church in the wilderness bear so pleasing a resemblance to the worshiping assembly before the throne. The design of this part of sacred service is, to give to the greatest and best of Beings the glory due to his name; to thank him for providential and gracious favours; to entreat for ourselves, and our fellow-worshipers, all needful blessings for this life and that which is to come; to unite with all the faithful in earnest supplication that the reign of idolatry and antichrist may cease, and that Messiah's triumphs may be consummated in the glory of the latter day. If it be attended to in a becoming manner, our own minds cannot be unprofited: we shall be awed by the majesty of God; affected by his condescension; melted by his love; shall give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness; and exult in the cheering hope, that a Being so great and so good "will be our God while here below, and ours above the sky." In short, our holiest and best feelings will be called forth; our impressions of eternal things will be deepened; our compassion for the ignorant and careless strengthened; and our spirits increasingly prepared for the sublimer and purer services of the Church on high. The position of the minister, therefore, when he stands up to express the wants and feelings of a considerable congregation, or rather of the pious part of it, to God, must be regarded as a very solemn and responsible one; and it becomes a serious question, how far the devotional engagements of the sanctuary accomplish those important ends which they are designed and adapted to answer? With deference, it is submitted, that

this topic has received less attention in discourses and treatises on the christian ministry than its importance demands; and in preparing for the pulpit, it is perhaps not unwarrantable to assume, that ministers think, we would not say, too much of the sermon, but too little of the prayer.

It is no part of our object in the present essay, to enlarge on the propriety and scripturalness of free prayer. We can concede, that many of the petitions and thanksgivings in the liturgy are pre-eminently suitable: we do not deny, that these formularies may have aided the devotions of many of the followers of the Lamb: we can admit, moreover, that forms of prayer prevailed in the Jewish Church at the time of Christ, and that probably he united in them-a consideration which the learned Prideaux observes, "Would satisfy our dissenters, if any thing could satisfy men so perversely bent after their own ways." It is sufficient for us to affirm, that liturgies were unknown in the best days of the Jewish economy; that they are no where commanded; that they derive no countenance from the Lord's prayer; that apostolic usage is against them; that they did not prevail in the Church till lively, spiritual devotion had well nigh taken its flight; and that, in our judgment, they have damped, not increased, devotional fervour. Far, therefore, from envying those who are restricted to the use of forms, excellent though in many respects they be, we rejoice that we can from the fulness of the heart express our desires to God, and that by varying our petitions, we can adapt them to the ever-varying circumstances in which we, and those who unite with us in the sacred exercise, are placed.

The remarks about to be offered will be based on the principle, that it is desirable, as far at least as there is a similarity of circumstances, to imitate the devotional examples furnished in Holy Scripture. Assuming this, it is submitted,

1. That the paternity of God should be more frequently recognized in our adorations and requests. It is an interesting fact, that on every occasion, with one exception, on which the Lord Jesus addressed the adorable object of worship, the paternal appellation was used:* the language wrung from him by the agony of his spirit on the cross, constitutes the exception we have mentioned-"My God, my God," &c. This consideration derives additional force, as it seems to us, from the frequency with which the Lord Jesus had occasion to speak of God in his conversations and discourses, inasmuch as it is almost invariably in the same manner: the proofs are too numerous to be cited. The frequency, moreover, with which the apostles used the appellations, "God our Father," and "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," merits attention. Various other phrases are used in the specimens with which we are favoured of the devotions of the primitive Church, such as, "the Father of glory, God of hope, God of patience, Father of mercies, God of all comfort, God of all grace, King of saints," &c.; but with far less frequency than those which recognize his paternal character. In this respect, a marked difference obtains between the prophetic and apostolic writings, characteristic, it may be added, of the two dispensations. The instances are extremely few in which the paternal relation of God is recognized in the prophets: the apostles are constantly introducing it, nor is this to be wondered at; they had sat at the feet of Christ; they had heard him use the endeared name in the hour of gladness, and in the day of

*See Matt. xi. 25, 26; xxvi. 39, 42 and 44; Luke xxiii. 34 and 46; John xi. 41; xii. 27, 28; xvii. passim, &c.

the bitterness of his soul; he had moreover instructed them when they prayed to say, "Our Father, who art in heaven," and such was their love to his name, that they felt a peculiar delight in using an appellation that he had hallowed and enjoined. Doubtless, too, when the apostle Paul bowed his knees at the shrine of mercy, and adored the divine Being as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," he felt that the relation subsisting between the Lord Jesus and the divine Father was in a high degree appropriate and encouraging to dwell upon in prayer, for Jesus Christ has revealed the will of God, and exemplified the character of God, as no one else ever did; hence, he is said to be "the image of the invisible God;" those that have seen him, are said to have seen the Father; he is denominated "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person;" so that we cannot conceive of any tender and attractive exhibition of the divine character, which the eternal Father could have displayed if it had been possible for him to assume human flesh, but Jesus Christ has furnished it; or of any achievment by which he could have displayed "his eternal power and Godhead," but Jesus Christ has wrought it. Besides, in every text in which the phrase commented on is found, the pleasing fact is recognized, that Jesus Christ is ours; "our Lord Jesus Christ," are words often repeated without considering their comprehensive import: we must die to know their ineffable and infinite sweetness. In using such an appellation, then, the apostle would feel that he was warranted in entertaining the fullest confidence, that whatever he asked at such hands would be graciously bestowed, if not abundantly exceeded. It cannot be irrelevant to advert to the circumstance, that the relation which the divine Being sustains to us, as our Creator and Preserver, is rarely introduced in the devotions of the New Testament Church. In reading the rapturous effusions of Old Testament saints, we find them celebrating with transports of holy feeling the majesty of God, the magnitude of his works, the boundlessness of his dominion, the perpetuity of his kingdom, the equity of his administration, &c. It cannot be wrong to imitate them in doing so, however, let us not forget, that the adorations and praises of the christian Church are for the most part addressed to the blessed God, as he has revealed his person and perfections in the atonement of his Son. The same remark applies to the songs of the Church triumphant,— Rev. v. 9-14; vii. 9, 10.

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2. We suggest the propriety of invoking the Adorable Object of worship under those perfections and attributes which are appropriate to the petitions presented. That this rule usually obtains in Scripture will not be denied : that there are not exceptions to it we by no means intend to affirm. The first prayer recorded in Holy Writ after the Saviour's ascension, supplies an illustration of this just and obvious principle-"Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all, show whether of these two thou hast chosen.”—Acts i. 24: they knew not which of the two brethren would be preferable, and therefore with great appropriatness addressed God as "He who knew the heart," and entreated his direction. The propriety of observing this rule is too evident to need enlargement; nevertheless, it is often strangely overlooked. It has been said, that on one occasion Mr. Hall left a chapel in disgust, when the officiating minister commenced prayer with, "O Thou that plumest the sparrow; Thou that adornest the lily, have mercy upon us." 'Who,"

said that eloquent man, "could stay to hear the Almighty complimented

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on pluming sparrows, and adorning lilies, when mercy was supplicated." The compilers of a book which many, unhappily, venerate equally with the Word of God, have, unintentionally we admit, furnished an illustration of our rule.-" Almighty and everlasting God, who alone worketh great marvels, send down upon our bishops .... the healthful spirit of thy grace," the inference from which obviously is, that when such are endowed with the healthful spirit of divine grace, a great marvel is effected. The justness of this sentiment in its application, at least, to many of the right Rev. fathers, we by no means question; but reasoning a priori, we should not have expected to meet with such a statement in the book of common prayer.

3. It may be doubted whether in prayer we sufficiently plead with God. No one can peruse the prayers recorded in Holy Scripture without being struck with this feature of them. The intercession of Abraham for Sodom, and of Moses, Joshua, Samuel and David, for the chosen nation, are cases in point. The language of Jeremiah (xii. 1.) is so apposite, that we venture to quote it-"Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are they happy that deal very treacherously?" The topics which may pertinently be pleaded in prayer are, the honour of the Divine name; the perfections of the Divine character, especially his holiness and love; the promises of the Divine Word; our necessities and corruptions; with the atonement and intercession of the Lord Jesus. It would be improper under this head to omit the fact, that the people of God under the ancient dispensation, frequently pleaded their consciousness of integrity, and habitual endeavour to walk uprightly before God: many texts might be cited in confirmation of this from the Psalms. By some, such a plea might be deemed inconsistent with the doctrines of grace; but we hold, that it cannot be wrong to follow where inspired writers lead; especially would the propriety of such a plea be manifest, if (as was the case with holy men of old,) we were brought into difficulties and straits by our firm adherence to the will of God. Let us, then, in this solemn exercise, "order our cause before him, and fill our mouth with arguments.”

4. Petitions and praises specially addressed to the Lord Jesus are highly Scriptural. The examples of worship paid to the Saviour are so numerous, and so decisive, that it is surprising any one should dispute it. The first martyr of christianity, when "full of the Holy Ghost," as the inspired historian is careful to inform us, committed his departing soul to the Lord Jesus, and besought him to forgive his murderers. The apostle Paul, at a time of peculiar trial, invoked the gracious aid of Christ; nor was his request denied. Many texts might be cited from the Epistles, in which the sacred writers turn aside for a moment from the theme of the discourse, to entreat the presence and help of him to whose glory they were entirely devoted, and whose love it was their highest delight to proclaim. An examination of the epistolary part of the New Testament, we think, will show that the examples of prayer offered to the Lord Jesus are as numerous, or nearly so, as those presented to the divine Father. See, amongst other places, 2 Cor. xii. 8-10; 1 Thess. iii. 11–13; 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17; iii. 5; 2 Tim. i. 16 and 18; ii. 7; iv. 14, 18 and 22; Rev. xxii. 20; and the benedictions. It may be objected, that some of these texts are not relevant, as the term Lord, and not Jesus, or Christ, is used. In reply,

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