must come to Christ, or perish. They are animated and excited to double their diligence; and so are all christians. But I must close. Farewell.

THE PARABLE OF THE VINE.

JOHN XV.

J. G.

How beautiful and how comforting is the idea of Christ's conde scending to exemplify the mutual love which exists between himself and all true Christians, under the parable of a vine and its branches. All are dependent on Christ for support, as the branches are on the vine, but more especially those who are his true disciples, since it is from him only that they can derive help in need, comfort in tribulation, and that strength and grace which can support them in trial and temptation. They feel themselves utterly incompetent to do any thing as of themselves; they see that without him they can do nothing. So it is with the branches of the vine: "the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine."

Depending on Christ, and relying on his consoling promises, the true christian bears all his trials, however severe they may be, with patience and humility; and instead of repining and thinking harshly of the Author of them, feels confident that they are only testimonies of his sincere love. So, pruning is not a proof of the husbandman's dislike towards the vine-far otherwise; it is a sure test of the tender regard he feels towards it: and as certain as it is that the husbandman will not prune his favorite vines more than is absolutely necessary for them, so sure may we be that our heavenly Father will not send more affliction than is indispensably requisite for us. far, indeed, is affliction a proof of God's love towards us, that a person who has never felt its sting may with justice fear that he is not one of those who are represented in the parable by the fruitful branches.

So

But there are some who profess to believe in the existence and power of our God and Father; in that Saviour who in kindness and mercy came down from heaven and died upon the cross, to rescue us from everlasting misery; and in that Holy Spirit without whose regenerating influence no one can be saved, yet whose faith is without works, and therefore dead, being alone. Alas! the very devils do as much as this "they believe and tremble," but never can be saved.

Those who are thus destitute of true living faith, are represented in the parable by the branches that bear no fruit;-these are "cast forth, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." In like manner, will all those careless sinners, who have been trusting to the mere outward profession of religion (being destitute of the inward fruits) at the last and terrible day of judgment, be collected together, and cast into that "lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," "where their worm dieth not, and where she fire is not quenched."

How important then is it for us to ascertain what is our real

state and character; whether we are merely outward and nominal Christians, who shall in the last day be forever separated from God; or those, who being united to him by a living and vital union, shall never more come into condemnation, but be kept by Almighty power unto everlasting life. If now we are afar from God, and discover our perilous condition, we may yet find mercy if we only seek in God's appointed way; for our heavenly Father promises to give his Holy Spirit unto them that ask him. But if we should imagine ourselves alive, while we are dead, how awful will be our disappointment in that day. God grant that all who are Christians only in name and form, may be renewed by the power of his grace, become living branches of the living Vine, and bring forth fruit unto life everlasting."

PRAYING CALVINISTICALLY.

We extract the following from an article in the N. Y. Evangelist under this singular head.

Many years ago, before the Anti-Calvinistic ministers had come out Unitarians, a young candidate preached one Sabbath morning in the pulpit of a certain Calvinistic minister not far from Boston. The minister was pleased with the young man's general deportment and apparent sincerity; but was so little satisfied with the sermon that he did not ask him to officiate in the afternoon. Still he felt an interest and a hope concerning him, on account of his prayer: though he preached an Arminian sermon, he made a prayer that was truly humble and Calvinistic.

On Monday, at parting. the minister told his young friend the reason of his not inviting him to repeat his labors, but begged as a favor, that he would reduce the sentiments of his sermon into a prayer, and address it to God in the closet. This he promised to do, and they parted.

Some time after, the same young man came to the minister on Saturday, and begged permission to preach for him. The minister remembered how he had preached before, and put him off. But he seemed so urgent that he at length consented. So on the Sabbath he again placed him in his pulpit, when, to his agreeable surprise. he heard a sound Calvinistic Sermon.

Coming out of the house, the young man said, "Sir, do you not remember the request that you made of me, and my engagement? That has been the means of greatly altering my religious views. I went to work, as you requested, to turn the sentiments of my sermon into a prayer. But I found that though I could preach Arminianism to the people, I could not pray it to my Maker. I am now a Calvinist."

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CALVINISTIC MAGAZINE—

Gentlemen-If you think the following extract a suitable article for the Magazine, I would like to see it inserted, It is from Dr, Chalmers' "Astronomical

Discourses"-The sermon on the "Extent of Divine Condescension," from the text-"Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high? Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth."-Ps. cxiii. 5, 6. These Sermons are designed to meet the Infidel argument, "That since astronomy has unfolded to us such a number of worlds, it is not likely that. God would pay so much attention to this one work, and set up such wonderful provisions for its benefit, as are announced to us in the Christian Revelation." I trust I shall always feel grateful for the privilege of reading these sermons of that great and good man. The Infidel himself I think would be delighted and edified in their careful and candid perusal. Dr. Chalmers' Evidences of the Christian Religion should be in every Christian Library, and his "Com-. mercial Sermons," also, shewing how a man may be just in his dealings, kind, charitable, affectionate and virtuous, and yet lack the 'one thing needful:' without which he cannot find acceptance with a Holy God.-These are all invaluable works, and greatly do I regret so small a portion of the community are acquainted with them.

A cheap Edition of selections from the works of Dr. Chalmers is now pub fishing, or has lately been published, containing the articles above alluded to. Yours &c. B. C.

EXTRACT.

The Infidel objection is, that

Such a humble portion of the universe as ours, could never have been the object of such high and distinguished attentions as Christianity has assigned to it. God would not have manifested himsel in the flesh for the salvation of so paltry a world. The monarch of a whole continent, would never move from his capital, and lay aside the splendour of royalty, and subject himself for months, or for years, to perils, and poverty, and persecution; and take up his abode in some small islet of his dominions, which, though swallowed by an earthquake, could not be missed amid the glories of so wide an empire; and all this to regain the lost affections of a few families upon its surface. And neither would the eternal Son of God-he who is revealed to us as having made all worlds, and as holding an empire, amid the splendours of which the globe that we inherit, is shaded in insignificance; neither would he strip himself of the glory he had with the Father before the world was, and light on this lower scene, for the purpose imputed to him in the New Testament. Impossible, that the concerns of this puny ball, which floats its little round among an infinity of larger worlds, should be of such mighty account in the plans of the Eternal, or should have given birth in heaven to so wonderful a movement, as the Son of God putting on the form of our degraded species, and sojourning among us, and sharing in all our infirmities, and crowning the whole scene of humiliation, by the disgrace and the agonies of a cruel martyrdom." This has been started as a difficulty in the way of the Christian Revelation; and it is the boast of many of our philosophical infidels, that by the light of modern discovery, the light of the New Testa ment is eclipsed and overborne; and the mischief is not confined to philosophers, for the argument has got into other hands, and the popular illustrations that are now given to the sublimest truths of science, have widely disseminated all the deism that has been grafted upon it; and the high tone of a decided contempt for the gospel,

is now associated with the flippancy of superficial acquirements: and, while the venerable Newton, whose genius threw open those mighty fields of contemplation, found a fit exercise for his powers in the interpretation of the Bible, there are thousands and tens of thousands, who, though walking in the light which he holds out to them, are seduced by a complacency which he never felt, and inflated by a pride which never entered into his pious and philosophical bosom, and whose only notice of the Bible, is to depreciate, and to deride, and to disown it.

Before entering into what we conceive to be the right answer to this objection, let us previously observe, that it goes to strip the Deity of an attribute, which forms a wonderful addition to the glories of his incomprehensible character. It is indeed a mighty evidence of the strength of his arm, that so many millions of worlds are suspended on it; but it would surely make the high attribute of his power more illustrious, if, while it expatiated at large among the suns and the systems of astronomy, it could, at the very same instant, be impressing a movement and a direction on all the minuter wheels of that machinery, which is working incessantly around us. It forms a noble demonstration of his wisdom, that he gives unremitting operation to those laws which aphold the stability of this great universe; but it would go to heighten that wisdom inconceivably, if, while equal to the magnificent task of maintaining the order and harmony of the spheres, it was lavishing its inexhaustible resources on the beauties, and varieties, and arrangements, of every one scene, however humble, of every one field, however nar. row, of the creation he had formed. It is a cheering evidence of the delight he takes in communicating happiness, that the whole immensity should be so strewed with the habitations of life and of intelligence; but it would surely bring home the evidence, with a nearer and more affecting impression, to every bosom, did we know, that at the very time his benignant regard took in the mighty circle of created beings, there was not a single family overlooked by him, and that every individual in every corner of his dominions, was as effectually seen to, as if the object of an exclusive and undivided care. It is our imperfection, that we cannot give our attention to more than one object at one and the same instant of time; but surely it would elevate our every idea of the perfections of God, did we know, that while his comprehensive mind could grasp the whole amplitude of nature, to the very outermost of its boundaries, he had an attentive eye fastened on the very humblest of its objects, and pondered every thought of my heart, and noticed every footstep of iny goings, and treasured up in his remembrance every turn and every movement of my history.

And, lastly, to apply this train of sentiment to the matter before us; let us suppose that one among the countless myriads of worlds, should be visited by a moral pestilence, which spread through all its people, and brought them under the doom of a law, whose sanctions were unrelenting and immutable; it were no disparagement to God, should he, by, any act of righteous indignation, sweep this offence away from the universe which it deformed-nor should we

wonder, though, among the multitude of other worlds from which the ear of the Almighty was regaled with the songs of praise, and the incense of pure adoration ascended to his throne, he should leave the strayed and solitary world to perish in the guilt of its rebellion, But, tell me, oh! tell me, would it not throw the softening of a most exquisite tenderness over the character of God, should we see him putting forth his every expedient to reclaim to himself those children who had wandered away from him-and, few as they were when compared with the host of his obedient worship. pers, would it not just impart to his attribute of compassion the infinity of the Godhead, that, rather than lose the single world which had turned to its own way, he should send the messengers of peace to woo and to welcome it back again; and, if justice demanded so mighty a sacrifice, and the law behooved to be so magnified and made honorable, tell me whether it would not throw a moral sublime over the goodness of the Deity, should he lay upon his own Son the burden of its atonement, that he might again smile upon the world, and hold out the sceptre of invitation to all its families?

to expunge We avow it, therefore, that this infidel argument goes The more we know of a perfection from the character of God. the extent of nature, should not we have the loftier conception of Him who sits in high authority over the concerns of so wide universe? But, is it not adding to the bright catalogue of his other attributes, to say, that, while magnitude does not overpower him. minuteness cannot escape him, and variety cannot bewilder him; and that, at the very time while the mind of the Deity is abroad over the whole vastness of creation, there is not one particle of matter-there is not one individual principle of rational or of anima! existence-there is not one single world in that expanse which teems with them, that his eye does not discern as constantly, and his hand does not guide as unerringly, and his Spirit does not watch and care for as vigilantly, as if it formed the one and exclusive object

of his attention.

The thing is inconceivable to us, whose minds are so easily distracted by a number of objects, and this is the secret principle of the whole infidelity I am now alluding to. To bring God to the level of our own comprehension, we would clothe him in the impotency of a man. We would transfer to his wonderful mind all the When we are taught by astron~ imperfection of our own faculties. omy, that he has millions of worlds to look after, and thus add in one direction to the glories of his character; we take away from them in another, by saying, that each of these worlds must be looked after imperfectly. The use that we make of a discovery, which should heighten our every conception of God, and humble us into the sentiment, that a Being of such mysterious elevation is to us unfath omable, is to sit in judgment over him, aye, and to pronounce such a judgment as degrades him, and keeps him down to the standard of our own paltry imagination! We are introduced by modern science to a multitude of other suns and of other systems; and the verse interpretation we put upon the fact, that God can diffuse

per