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the bounteous care, the infinite wisdom, of her Almighty Lord. He has re-plumed imagination's drooping wings, and bidden her extend her flight, even to those regions of light and love, which surround the throne of the Most High; and return thence to gladden the distant abodes of men with the brightest colours of her magic pencil, of those things which "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard."

But why has the Redeemer of the world thus bidden light to shine where all was darkness; and melody to breathe where all was discord? Why does he still maintain this blighted earth in her place amongst the bright constellations of the heavens, and hold her far above the abyss of darkness, into which the judicial sentence of the Holy One had, but for his interposition, condemned her to be cast?

Oh! it is because his heart yearned over the wanderer from his happy flock, that he thus came into the wilderness to seek and restore it.

It is because his bosom overflows with compassionate tenderness towards the sons of men, whose sinless dwelling, in Creation's morn He delighted to visit, that he has received in his heart's core the shaft of Divine Justice, and has hidden it there. And upholding this trembling guilty world by the arm of his might, he has guided her still along her appointed track in the fields of space, and caused his sun to shine, and his genial dews to fall upon her, "filling the hearts of her sentient inhabitants with food and gladness."

This he has done, and more than this. Yes-we would speak it with reverence, he has done all that he can do without the consent of his intelligent

creatures.

The end, the glorious end, to which the desires, the labours and travail of the immaculate Son of God have been directed, is the restoration of the ruined family of man, to a rank among the sons of. God, higher, and unspeakably more blessed, than that which they have lost. And why is it that six thousand years of probation have rolled over our world; that for six thousand years, in the exercise of that compassion "which faileth not" the Redeemer of mankind, has “borne and had patience," and still the creatures for whom he has done and suffered so much, continue to frustrate his design?

There is cause indeed to marvel at the madness of delusion which has taken such fatal possession of the soul of man, whom we behold looking abroad with smiles of self-complacent repose over the expanse of a creation, every feature of which ought to awaken in his breast the most grateful remembrance of a Saviour's love; he can say, in his heart at least, if the words find not utterance from the ready lip, "We are gods, we will come no more unto Thee."

But there are some whose hearts have responded to the voice of redeeming love; whose eyes have beheld by faith, the glory of the Saviour; and who have by the most sacred and endearing pledges taken upon themselves the vows of allegiance to his rightful authority.

Do they frustrate his designs? "Let no man judge his brother," but let each one who has enrolled himself amongst the band of God's faithful ones, apply to his own soul, the standard of holiness: yes, and of holy peace and joy, which the word of God declares it to be the will of the Almighty Father, that the present state, the present portion of each of his

ransomed children should be; and in so far as the picture drawn by the pencil of inspiration, differs from the lineaments of him, who yet would not willingly acknowledge the likeness to be wholly wanting; let each one enquire, and as in the sight of God, why it is so? Let each one determine, by the grace of God, that he will not rest until the picture of what God wills his children to be, presents in every feature, a faithful portrait of himself.

Christian friends! have there not been moments when some cherished desire has been granted, or some fervent prayer answered, and our overflowing hearts have hardly known how to pour forth their songs of praise unto him who "fulfilleth the desire of them that fear him," or when communion with our Redeemer, more intimate and endearing than it was our wont to enjoy, has been vouchsafed, and the soul refreshed, as by the dew of the morning, sparkling in the light and exhaling its perfumes beneath the warm beams of the Sun of Righteousness?

Have there not been such moments, dear Christian friends! when we have breathed from our spirit's inmost depths the prayer-"Let the whole earth be filled with thy glory." When we have longed to see all nature reposing in the sunshine of a Saviour's smile, and to hear the song of the ransomed ones before the throne, echo from the thousand homes of earth, "Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood." Alas, however deep may be our love, however fervent our desires, we possess not the power of securing to our Saviour God, this his rightful sovereignty. But there is an empire, his purchased possession too, of which each individual of his ransomed family may yield to him the undivided supremacy.

To him every power of the intellect may be devoted. In him every affection of the heart may find repose.

Is it so, dear friends, with us? If it be not, He who is mighty to save, awaits but our consent, and his power shall accomplish the victory that he died to obtain. And every power of our renovated nature, rejoicing in the liberty wherewith Christ has made it free, shall yield to him a willing subjection, and lavish its treasures at his feet.

Then, when the judgment waits upon his guiding eye, and the pure waters of the heart's affections sparkle in his smile, and the intellect listens with an infant's quiet faith, to the lessons of heavenly wisdom that fall from his lips; when the peace of reconciliation to God has so quieted the heart, that every whisper of his voice is heard in its deepest recesses, and the light of his countenance shines so clearly around the soul, that it treads with unerring footstep its heavenward way: when every portion of the garden of his own heart, given each child of God to "dress and keep," is carefully ploughed and sown, and bearing its appropriate fruit (for it were sin to leave uncultivated any part of that possession, redeemed at so costly a price) then, and not till then, shall we fulfil the prayer, the desire, which for ages have mingled in the intercessions, and breathed from the heart, of our now exalted Redeemer :—then, and not till then, shall we obey his command, and "Render unto all their due."

C. G. H.

JEWS, TURKS, INFIDELS, AND HERETICS.

MADAM,

A LATE number of the "Christian Lady's Magazine" fell accidentally into my hands. The first paper I read in it, is headed "Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics," and it is on this subject that I am now bold to make a few remarks. Doubtless (ere this) you will have received the same charitable caution, which this letter is intended to convey, from more worthy labourers of God's harvest than myself. Should I, however, be singular in thus noticing a publication, which, however well intended, is not always strictly orthodox, believe me, I am not so in the opinion I have formed of it. I therefore offer no further apology, than that I believe it to be the duty of even the least of Christ's husbandmen to pluck the injurious shoots from every growing plant, and to cleanse the vineyard from the weeds of false doctrines.

First, Madam, with respect to the particular collect, of which you complain, I regard it as one of the brightest gems in that master-piece of holy composition-the Prayer-Book. It is an example of that pure and extended Charity, which the Gospel of Christ requires. The praying for all sorts and conditions of men, is a duty which no Christian will presume to lessen or disparage: we are exhorted by

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