HUMANITY IS CONCERNED IN THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL.

ONE should have imagined that the gospel of Jesus could have no enemies. It breathes only peace. It has but one subject—to promote the felicity of mankind. It sweetens every connection of human life. It strengthens the cause of philanthropy. The only favour it entreats is, that men would love themselves and while it pours a thousand blessings on the present transient existence, and lightens all the trials of the way, it shows wretched, erring man, "the path of life." And yet every man's hand is lifted up against it! From its birth to the present hour, every age has blended all its wisdom and all its force, to crush Christianity. Had it required the man to sacrifice "his first-born for his trangression, the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul"-who would have wondered that nature should rise up against it ?-Yet, strange to say, the horrible religion of the Gentiles, which actually did require this unnatural offering, was supported, and defended against Christianity, with vehement obstinacy. The rage of man, on the one side, exhausted itself in defence of altars on which their children had been immolated; and on the other, was directed against a religion which hastened to overthrow these blood-stained altars, and which said, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of heaven!"-Had it destroyed the peace and exis

tence of society; had it scattered war and bloodshed over the earth; had it trampled on the dearest rights of human nature-why then, some reason might be given for the wrath of man against it. But it disseminates "peace and good will to man," abroad upon earth, while it brings in a revenue of "glory to God." We can take its most furious persecutor by the hand, when he raves, "Away with it from the earth!" and say, "Why? What evil hath it done ?" And he shall be unable to assign a single reason for his conduct: unable to lay one sin to its charge: unable to prove that in any one instance it is injurious to society: unable to deny that it has been productive of the most beneficial effects-that it has removed all the clouds of heathenism—that it has extinguished the fires through which wretched parents caused their children to pass, and in which the fruit of their body was consumed-that it has given to the world a new and perfect code of morality—that it has thrown open the gates of mortality-that it has removed the bitterness of death-and that it has established, solely and unaided, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead: he shall be compelled to admit all this, and yet, without a single reason, merely from his natural enmity to it, he will continue to despise, to reject, and to persecute it! Humanity is concerned in the progress of this religion: Humanity raises her voice in favour of revelation, and entreats, "Rise up, Lord, let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee, flee before thee!"

MAN THE SAME IN ALL AGES.

CUSTOMS change with years. Yet is man in the present day, what he was in ages that are passed; only he was surrounded by different scenes, he was led by different habits. His peculiar situation, his local circumstances, exist no longer: but he had the the same principles common to human nature, same feelings, the same necessities, the same expectations. Our fathers felt, like ourselves, the pleasures of hope, the anguish of disappointment, the pantings of suspense, the throbbings of joy, the pangs of fear. They lived uncertain of the future. They trembled as they approached the brink of time. The world which they now inhabit, and the mysteries of which are now laid upon to them, was once as secret, and as much an object of the mingled emotions of apprehension and of hope, to them as to us. There were moments when their faith was not in lively exercise, and when the fear of death was as powerfully felt in their bosoms as in Then they fled to this word for support, and derived from it the sweetest consolation. Yes, -and we are hastening to be what they are. After a few years, we shall join their society. We are floating down the same stream, over which their vessels have already passed: borne along by the same current, we sail between the same winding banks, pass through the same straits, meet with the same rocks and quicksands, and are agitated by the same tempests: but they have safely an

our own.

chored in the haven, and we are stretching all our canvass to make the same point of destination, that with them, we may be sheltered from the storm forever! We avail ourselves of the directions which they have left behind them, because in all ages "the Author and Finisher of our faith" is the same. He will be to future generations, what he When our posterwas to them, what he is to us. ity shall trample upon our dust, when our very names shall have perished from the record of time when new faces shall appear on this wide and busy scene of action, the name of God will remain to our children, the same as it appears this night to us, the same as it was announced to Moses from the bush which burned with fire and was not consumed "I AM THAT I AM!"

ONE MAN DIFFERS FROM ANOTHER.

IN respect of TALENTS, man differs from man. We sometimes meet with a spirit emerging from its native obscurity, and attracting the admiration of the world. Every thing conspired to throw the man into the shade. Poverty frowned upon his birth, and shut the doors of knowledge against him. When he entered life, he mingled unnoticed with the crowd. But none could close the book of nature before him, and no disadvantages could suppress the vigour of a spirit, born to rise, and to astonish. Following only the benignity of nature,

he brings from his mind such ample stores of observation, and discovers so much native genius, that he ascends at once to eminence; and like a sun veiled from his rising, reveals at once to the world his glory in its noontide brightness. Hard by him stands one, forced into notice. He was born noble and affluent. Every possible mean of improvment was put into his hand, and the book of knowledge was opened to his view. No pains were spared, no expense was withheld, in his education. And yet his very elevation is painful. It is that of fortune, and not that of nature. He is always placed in a conspicuous situation, to be always despised; and the literary advantages which he enjoyed, have been unable to correct the deficiences of nature. They descended upon his unfruitful mind, like the showers of the spring upon the sands of the desert, which imbibe the rain, but return neither grass nor flower. In respect of LITERATURE, one man differs from another. Here stands a favoured son of science, who has access to nature in all her parts through the avenues of deep and learned research. He has made the dead, and the living, contribute to his pleasure, and to his improvement. He has plundered time of all the treasures, which he had snatched from falling empires, and rescued from the greedy grave of oblivion. And he moves among his fellow men, an angel for illumination, and an oracle for wisdom. There stands his neighbour, gazing with unconscious eyes upon the page, which he is devouring. He sees no beauty in that ora