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In this great matter, Paul is a pattern to all Christian missionaries. It is not enough, however, that similar views should possess and govern the souls of those who have entered the field of foreign labour; they should also thoroughly pervade the hearts of the home churches, and form a prominent feature in the creed and the conscience of the rising race. Accurate conceptions and appropriate feelings upon the subject of missions, are the true basis of all successful evangelical effort: they constitute the life and power of the enterprise, and are, therefore, especially deserving of study and cultivation. Upon this head, we, your fathers, have still much to learn our vision is dim, and our views are narrow; our emotions are comparatively cold and uninfluential. The business of gospel diffusion is still, in many of our minds, very much an affair of pecuniary contribution. supply of appropriate human agency, notwithstanding its acknowledged importance, is, with multitudes, not the first, but only the second consideration. Both objects, however, thanks be to God! are advancing towards their true position in the mind of the churches. We confidently anticipate the period when they will be transposed; when the first question will be men, and the second the means of their support. The time is doubtless drawing nigh, when all the churches of the saints will consider it a culpable neglect of duty, a stain upon their profession, a disgrace upon their character, not to share, in some shape, in missionary contributions; and when their gifts will bear a proportion to their numbers and their means. With this conviction of duty will necessarily be blended the further conviction, that gold and silver, great and pressing as is their importance, are not the prime consideration. The high question of

human agency will then take precedence of that and of every other. The great principle will at length be fully acknowledged, that it is the province of the "Lord of the harvest" to "send forth labourers," and that constant prayer to this effect is the paramount duty of all Christians and of all churches. The strong and persevering spirit of united prayer for this object, will be accompanied by a deep and growing sense of personal duty, with respect to the employment of all other appropriate and appointed means. The people of God will be animated by a holy desire to appear in the foreign field, either in person or by deputy, to publish the mercy of Heaven to a rebel world. They will consider this to be the highest honour they can enjoy on earth; and, in the absence of this, whatever may be their numbers and wealth, or their pecuniary assistance to spread the Gospel, they will feel their rank to be one of only secondary importance. So long as they send none of their members abroad" to the help of the Lord," they will consider themselves denied a precious privilege and a high distinction. There is reason to fear, that, at present, this feeling, where it is not dead, is yet dormant among the bulk of the British churches. There is reason to fear, that it is not very generally and intensely supplicated; and that, when the Lord puts this honour upon a people it is not always very thankfully received; facts which prove that such churches have yet to be baptized with the true spirit of missions. Mere money contribution is but an uncertain criterion of the missionary character of a Christian community. It may mainly depend upon the pastor, or upon a few active individuals, who put into motion the machinery of subscription, and uphold it; and without whose agency and zeal, for a single year, it

would go into derangement and decay. In this coarse and secular affair, much room, too, is left for the entrance and operation of mixed motives and earthly passions; so that, even in churches from which large sums annually proceed to the general treasury, there may, notwithstanding, be but little of the living and breathing power and spirit of real missionary enterprise. Even the missionary prayer-meeting may present a truthtelling and most condemnatory contrast to the treasurer's report. Under the improved condition of things which we anticipate, Christian churches will display harmony in this respect; and, when every fellowship shall have become one pure and flaming mass of missionary zeal, the question of pecuniary support will not lose ground, but will inconceivably gain it, by being placed in a position secondary to that of agency. Then, instead of being, as in too many cases it now is, an artificial stream, it will become a natural one, fed by the heart-fountain of ransomed millions. It will no longer be forced, as undeniably, to a vast extent, it now is; but will flow in copious torrents from its own bursting, grateful abund

ance.

The question of missions, the question of the world's salvation, will be mainly discussed and carried at the Christian fireside, and in the bosom of religious circles. When the current of enlightened missionary feeling shall have set strongly into churches, it will, at the same time, penetrate households. Godly parents will then come to consider it the choicest of all felicities, the loftiest of all distinctions, to have sons and daughters enrolled among the ranks of the servants of the Most High God, showing to men of foreign climes the way of salvation. The spirit of missions is simply the spirit of

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true piety existing in full power. With the spread of this piety, those views will increase and multiply; and, when this piety shall have attained a healthful maturity and a general prevalence, those views will impart a new aspect to the business of pecuniary contribution. The celestial fire of the spirit of missions will straightway subdue and melt the hearts of our monied men, and "loose the loins" of our merchant princes, to open before the world's Messiah "the two-leaved gates " of their golden stores; "and the gates will not be shut." power of that fire will everywhere go before him, and make the "crooked places straight," and "break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron;" it will sweetly constrain converted men to "give him the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places." The dissolving power of that celestial fire will at length release the hoarded millions of Christendom, and render them available to the cause of Christ. Men and money, missionaries and their support, like substance and shadow, will walk in company. Personal and relative fortunes will flow outwards, in torrents, for the sustenance of the armies of the cross, while the stillaugmenting mites of the accumulating myriads of the industrious classes will go on to swell the tide of their grateful munificence.

Teachers of the Christian youth of England! in connexion with this glorious anticipation, we look most wistfully to you. Your charge is the hope of the church and of the world. Heaven bless their blooming hosts, guide their hearts into the love of Christ, and fill their generous bosoms with the pure and lofty spirit of peace, and of missions to the Gentiles! It is of the utmost moment that their minds should be early directed to that

work, that they should become thoroughly acquainted with the entire subject in all its amplitude and variety of bearing, and be led rightly to appreciate the missionary character. The lamented Williams, who had deeply drunk into the spirit of Paul, has left them a solemn testimony concerning it. Although himself clothed with humility, he understood well how to "magnify his office." In his view, the missionary was the first of mortal men, and his functions worthy of angelic agency. He has, in the closing paragraph of his "Enterprises," recorded his sentiments relative to this great theme, in words suited to the exalted subject. The passage is appropriately placed in that position, as now sustaining all the weight and solemnity of a testamentary declaration. Since its appearance, the churches of Britain have had time to pause and to ponder, till the unlooked-for and sorrowful event of his death has broken the silence. Should some generous hand ever erect a monument over the recovered portion of his mangled body, that passage would form the most appropriate inscription that could be devised for his tomb. It is as follows:

"An enterprise beneficial in so many ways, presents a universal claim; and we hope the day is fast approaching, when the merchant will not only consecrate the gains of his merchandize to its promotion, but when he will also add the facilities which commercial intercourse affords, to further the great design; when the man of science will make his discoveries subserve this godlike work; and when, not only the poor, but the rich and noble also, will feel honoured in identifying themselves with missionary operations, and in consecrating their influence, their wealth, and even their sons and their daughters, to this work. And why should not the