this nature in the family; and we are sure that every righthearted and accurate observer of the working of Sabbathschools, will at once feel and admit its equal necessity there. The Sabbath-school is a means of instructing the young and neglected, springing entirely out of the ignorance or remissness of parents; and hence, whatever is fitted to assist the parent in executing his task, must be equally available for the use of the Sabbath-school teacher. How often have the precious hours been spent in these schools, in the very drudgery of teaching children to spell and read! The Bible, or extracts from it, may have been the book used; but the utility of the Bible is felt only so far as its truths, in their rich, beautiful, important meaning, are impressed on the young intellect, and entwined with the deep feelings of the tender heart. Hence, wherever religious instruction is not made the special aim and business of the Sabbath-school teacher, we hesitate to designate his work by any better name, than a sanctimonious desecration of the Sabbath. We grant, and are sure, that where the negligence or extreme ignorance and destitution of parents incapacitate them from teaching their children to read, or sending them to weekly schools for this purpose, such children, when sent to the Sabbath-school, must be taught to read; and we grant, as readily, that more advanced children will, in the midst of other exercises, be effectually and materially improved in reading. Still, in each case, the art of reading is a mere instrument to the attainment of an ulterior and nobler object. Now, while the progress of the religious education of the young has been greatly accelerated by the enlightened efforts of Mr. Gall, and others of kindred zeal and benevolence, we think the habitual use of the present work would tend much to mature the minds of the teachers, to systematize and expand their views, and to make them efficacious in teaching "the young idea how to shoot" into a plant of celestial seed and unfading beauty.

Its use to pastors must be obvious in the preparation of young intending communicants, for an enlightened and right approach to the table of the Lord, and in the conducting of other classes for scriptural instruction. On this we deem it unnecessary to dwell, after what we have said respecting the adaptation of the work to the family and the Sabbath-school. Neither have we thought it necessary to make extracts, because the greater part may be found in our pages, but chiefly because we found selection difficult, where all is excellent. Did we venture to point to any part of the work as peculiarly interesting and instructive, we would name the essays on "the Scripture character of God," "the Scripture account of Man,"

"Faith," "the Law of God," "Repentance," and "Prayer." -We cannot conclude our remarks without adverting to an additional use of the volume, which, we humbly trust, will be equally interesting to many of our readers,-its tendency to elevate the tone of practical piety. In this respect, it is emphatically the genuine emanation of its author's mind. Those who are blessed by the enjoyment of his public ministrations, and have felt the delightful unction of his private converse, would, we are convinced, form just such another expectation as they will here find realized. It furnishes nothing of the airy, visionary semblance of piety, abounding in the crude, and hasty, and, in so many cases, erroneous productions that incessantly teem from the press. Its pathetic and touching appeals to the conscience, after the inspired model of the apostolical epistles, is invariably based on the instruction previously communicated. The exhibition of doctrine, and the inculcation of duty, are inseparably connected in all successful attempts to produce permanent good impressions on the heart. The religious feelings arising from mere excitement, is an effervescence of fervour that must soon subside,-transient in its continuence as the vegetable life of the seed sown on stony ground, fleeting as the evanescent lights of the northern sky, and equally ineffectual in warming the bosom with celestial fire. As a means, which, we trust, God shall bless to many, in enlisting the intellectual powers and the moral susceptibilities on the side of piety, we most cordially recommend the work to our readers; and one of the best wishes we could express, so far as the circulation of religious books may become instrumental in promoting men's everlasting interests, is, that it might be possessed, and attentively read, by every family in the land.

SCOTTISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE FRIENDS OF MISSIONS. BY THE REV. JAMES WATSON OF JAMAICA.

BELOVED BRETHREN,-In again leaving my native land, to rejoin my companions in the toils and difficulties, the trials and dangers of the Missionary warfare, it will not, I hope, be deemed improper in me to address a few words to you at parting. To part from those we love and esteem is, under almost any circumstances, painful; but if there be occasions in which the pang of separation is alleviated by such considerations as seem fully to warrant it, this assuredly must be one of them. The honour and glory of God, the extension of the kingdom of Christ, the salvation of thousands of immortal beings,

these are all intimately connected with our parting; and well are they fitted to check those feelings of regret wherewith one naturally bids adieu to his native land, and to the friends whom he loves. The cause for which we separate is the noblest on this side the grave. All heaven is, and all earth will soon be interested in it. It is consoling, it is cheering to think that the sacrifice of home and of friends may be the means of bringing thousands of the sons and daughters of Ethiopia home to God, of uniting, as friends to Christ, those who but for this might have been for ever banished from his presence into hopeless and irremediable woe; of making them heirs of his kingdom and glory, throughout eternal ages, With such considerations before our minds, the pangs of separation are soothed, and we can say, "Sorrowful, yet rejoicing,-Finally, brethren, farewell!"

God's glory is the object of our labours. This is the end of our creation; and how can we fulfil it better, than by carrying the water of life, which we ourselves have tasted, to those who are perishing for want of it, than by conveying the glad tidings of redemption to the perishing heathen? God is supremely glorified, when a poor heathen believes and obeys the Gospel. But "how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent ?" Creation unfolds some of the Divine perfections:It illustrates the power, the wisdom, the goodness, of Him who brought it into being. But redemption glorifies all the Divine perfections, harmonizes what once appeared discordant, -and presents to the view of the intelligent universe such a display of the Divine character, as commands their highest admiration, inspires their deepest devotion, and calls forth their loudest and loftiest praise. And if even cherubim and seraphim,-dwelling, as they do, amid the uncreated glory of the upper sanctuary; beholding, as they do, the unveiled splendour of the heavenly temple; and taking part, as they do, in the pure and blissful worship of Jehovah the God of Hosts, if even they bend from their exalted thrones, and gaze on the glory of the cross as excelling in lustre all the glory wherewith they are surrounded, as containing an attraction so solemn and powerful, and an interest so deep and profound, as to absorb all their faculties, what shall we say and feel on a subject so amazing?-we who are the objects of redeeming mercy,we, for whose eternal welfare the wondrous scheme was devised and carried into full accomplishment,-what, I ask, shall we say to it? Surely it well becomes us to hold it in everlasting remembrance, and to make it the business of our life, the joyful work of every moment of our days, to sound the praises of it in the hearing of the poor

perishing heathen, and cease not to urge it upon their ассерtance, until the very last moment of our earthly existence. To make the poor negro see God's glory shining in the face of Christ,-to tell the sons of Ethiopia of One who died to redeem them from everlasting death, to point them to "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world," that they may be washed in his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit, and presented spotless before his throne with exceeding joy;-to accomplish this great and mighty object, we bid you, for a season, it may be for ever, so far as this world is concerned,-Farewell! We go to tell the poor negro that God is "just, yet the justifier of all who believe in Jesus,"we go to unfold to him that plan of mercy which originated in divine, eternal, inconceivable love, was embodied in the human nature of one, who "was in the form of God, and who thought it not robbery to be equal with God," and who, to purchase the redemption of a ruined world, "endured the cross and despised the shame,"-" who poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors, and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." We go to tell him, that the same infinite mind which planned the workmanship of the universe, and clothed his native mountains with all their magnificence and beauty, planned a more stupendous work, and in the fulness of time wrought out its full accomplishment. We go to tell him that these sun-burnt plains, these green valleys, and ever verdant fields, these majestic palms, these cloudless skies, and that mighty ocean, are all the workmanship of him who gave his Son a ransom for sinners; that he who presides over the storm, he that speaks in the thunder, he that guides the lightning in its course, and restrains the fury of the hurricane, is that self-same all-wise God who loved our world, and sent his Son to die for its redemption.

God's Word is the rule of our conduct. This is, unquestionably, the very best, as well as the very highest authority. If we are asked a reason for our departing from the shores of our native country,-if we are asked what impels us to exchange the privileges and enjoyments of happy Scotland for the unknown vicissitudes and trials of a far foreign shore,— our answer is this, the command of one whom we cannot, whom we dare not disobey. This authority is so plain, that we cannot mistake it,—so high, that we must not resist it,— so imperative, that we would peril our own souls were we not to obey it. Immortal men are perishing in ignorance and sin, and the command of the Redeemer is, "Go preach the Gospel to every creature." Esteeming it our honour and our privilege to be called to such a work, we hasten to obey

the high command, and to carry the glad tidings of great joy to the very verge of the Western world. There, amid the fairest and finest portions of the inhabited earth,--where nature wears her loveliest and richest aspect, man, immortal man, is sunk to the level of the brute creation, with whom, until of late, he was yoked and fettered to the soil. What though an endless spring and a perpetual summer are theirs? What though they sit under the wide spreading branches of the bread fruit, or drink the milk of the lofty palm? What though they spend their day amidst the prolific abundance of nature's choicest fruits? What though they are warmed by the beams of a tropical sun, and fanned by the breezes of the great western ocean? What of all this, while they know not God, and are ignorant of the Gospel of his Son? Yet are they the same deathless beings as ourselves,-they have souls immortal and imperishable as our own,-they are the offspring of the same Creator, the children of the same uature, and amenable to the same law. They fell when we fell, and are groaning under the same curse under which we groan, and are exposed to the same danger to which we are exposed. The redemption which we celebrate, they might celebrate,-the Lord whom we adore, they might also adore. He who died for us died for them; the salvation which we enjoy they might enjoy; the hopes which animate us might animate them; the joys which transport our souls might also fill theirs with tran sport. To make them partakers of these blessings, we leave all we hold dear, trusting in the protection of him whom we serve. Like Jehoshaphat, we make his oracles our counsellors, and whether he commands us to go forth to meet the enemy, or to stand still at his approach, we know that obe dience is our only safety and security, "for the voice of the Lord is as an army in battle, and by his breath he killeth and maketh alive."

Few of the people of God seem influenced by his authority as they ought. Schemes of doubtful importance, and of no less doubtful propriety, are eagerly engaged in, and indefatigably pursued by professed Christians; while the noblest of all earthly enterprizes is suffered to languish and decay, for want of men to carry it forward. It was not so with the patriarch Abraham, when the Lord said unto him, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fa ther's house, into a land that I will shew thee.' Did Abraham refuse to comply with this apparently harsh injunction? Did he begin to say, "spare thy servant in this matter; thy servant is more than seventy years of age; home is very dear to him; he loves his country and his kindred, and cannot go?" Did Abraham say, "My health is feeble, neither