Many of these devoted men have, in such positions, at once perceived the true nature. of their mission. They felt that the truths they had to announce could only find access to darkened minds by channels opened through the affections. They went among the poor, and carried relief and succour wherever they were able. They visited the sick, administering medical aid without charge. The lame and the blind and the suffering, in many cases, resorted to them in multitudes. When the missionary is a physician, or is accompanied by one, the resemblance of his mission approximates more closely to that of his Master. How profound the impression which has at various times been made by such missionaries! The pagan is made to feel that nothing in his religion approaches in sublimity the beautiful kindness of the disinterested messenger of Christ: his great difficulty is to realize that such kindness is real; that there is not some lurking selfishness, some covert design concealed from sight

Every doubt, however, falls before a continued ministry of kindness to the poor, to the afflicted, and to children: the missionary might rejoice in conquests for his Master greater than his most sanguine dreams ever anticipated, but for the practical repudiation which Christendom affords of Christian principles and practice.

What can the missionary in India say to objections raised upon the conduct of officers, agents, soldiers, and servants of the East India Company, who are all reputed to be Christians by the natives? What can the missionary in China say in defence of that Christianity which forces opium upon the Chinese at the cannon's mouth? What can the missionary to the Sandwich Islands say for the conduct of the people of Christian nations who touch there; and of those who force brandy upon them under the guns of men-ofwar; and what can the missionaries to the poor Indians of this country say to the policy which has driven them from their homes, de

prived them of their lands, and exterminated tribe after tribe?

Mere Protestantism makes no claim upon the sympathies or affections of any people; and when the law of kindness is held up as the law of Christian life, the idolater points to the conduct of Christian nations and the lives of the people. Some among them are always ready to avail themselves of this means of discrediting the new worship, and show themselves well-informed as to the delinquencies of Christian life. The barrier to the success of the missionary is not merely the inconsistency between Christian precepts and practice-it is the practical denial of the great law of charity which the missionary preaches, and in his own life exemplifies. This law or rule of life, which would soon bear Christianity into all the world, not being respected by Christians, cannot secure the confidence of the heathen, multitudes of whom regard it as a pretence and a covering for more designing selfishness and deeper iniquity. We think it

right thus to distinguish between the missionaries and other clergy, because the former present to our minds the only true exemplars of a Christian ministry. When once engaged in their work of love, they look back upon the narrowness of sectarian views with horror and surprise. They regard the squabbles of ecclesiastical assemblies with pain and mortification. They begin to understand their mission as ministers of Christ, and to see how little that mission is comprehended by theologians and divines, the well-paid ministers of rich congregations, many of whom plume themselves chiefly upon being the successors of the apostles, whilst they are certainly not even earning the title of the humblest of Christ's servants.

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TOPICS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF CHRISTIAN TEACHERS.

THE sins of society are the sins of the individuals of which it is composed, however willing the individuals are to shift or cast off the responsibility. Christians are thus accountable for much iniquity which they might prevent. They become hardened, by custom, to that which is occurring all around them; but their duty is not less binding, to overcome the ills of society, and to point out the errors which are consecrated by habit. When they become able to lay aside the pride of position, the conservative stubbornness of an easy life, and to regard the present constitution of society under the full light of Christ's life and precepts, they will find abundant cause of lamentation. They will find that almost all the maxims and requirements of business are opposed in spirit and results to these precepts.