bellion, and makes them the voluntary subjects of the Lord Jesus. Let us do likewise with our brethren." If one be overtaken in a fault, those who are spiritual shall restore him, in the spirit of love and meekness." So Paul did to the poor backslider at Corinth. He had grievously sinned, he was justly smitten; but it was with affliction, with anguish of heart, and with many tears. The tender, the amiable Paul, wrote again, "Give him not up to utter despair, forgive him, console him, receive him." Let us admire, let us imitate this! They will gratefully receive it; and their prayer shall be for us in our calamity, when we are in similar circumstances, when we are in spiritual darkness, in providential adversity, in misfortune. Let us also petition the guardian watchfulness of the righteous. Let us sing, "O may the righteous, when I stray, Smite, and reprove my wand'ring way! Cornwall. ELFRIDA A WEEK WELL SPENT. BY DR. C. MATHER, OF BOSTON, IN NEW ENGLAND. IT was constantly one of the first thoughts in a morning of this very successful minister, "What good may I do today?" He resolved this question into the following particulars : 1. His question for the Lord's Day morning constantly was, "What shall I do, as a pastor of a church, for the good of the Block under my charge?" 2. For Monday, "What shall I do for the good of my own family!" 3. For Tuesday, "What good shall I do for my relations abroad "Sometimes he changed it for another, namely, "What good shal! I do to my enemies? And how shall I overcome evil with good ?" 4. For Wednesday, "What shall I do for the churches of the Lord, and the more general interests of religion in the world?" 5. For Thursday, "What good may I do in the several Societies to which I am related ?” · 6. For Friday, "What special subjects of affliction, and objects of compassion, may I take under my particular care? And what shall I do for them ?" 7. For Saturday, "What more have I to do for the interest of God in my own heart and life?” * In the first year of his ministry (though only about 18 years of age) he had reason to believe he was made the instrument of co..ver.i: g at least 30 souls. REFLECTIONS ON 1 JOHN IV. 8. THERE are certain combinations which are so powerful, that no efforts or artifices can separate them. Among these may be reckoned the union which exists between guilt and fear.Hence it is that we always feel a certain dread of those whom we are conscious of having wilfully offended; and this dread is usually accompanied with a degree of enmity: so that the poet's remark is but too just, that "Forgiveness to the injured doth belong; "But he ne'er pardons who has done the wrong." From this principle it may arise, that man, who has rebelled against his God, and offended him in the highest degree, is ever prone to consider him as a hard Master;" one who has imposed upon his creatures a law, which he knew it was impos sible for them to fulfil, and as little better than a spiritual ty. rant, sporting with the feelings, and taking pleasure in the misery of his creatures: - and having formed, in their own imagination, such a God as this, it is no wonder that they run away from Him, and prefer the drudgery of Satan (hard as it really is) to the service of the Most High! But let us listen to the volume of inspiration, and it will give us a far different description of Him, "in whom we live, and move, and have our being." This represents him, not only as benign and compassionate, but as absolutely and essentially love so that he is the substance; and all the affections and kindness found among his creatures, are but the shadows. He is the Fountain; and all the tender and benevolent sensations, known by mortals, are but the streams : He is the Sun; and all that is amiable and delightful in heaven or earth, is but the reflection of his rays. I have often thought, that even believers, those whose views of God, and of themselves, have been changed and rectified, lose much solid comfort, by not sufficiently contemplating the Deity under this endearing character of loveWere this more regarded, it would have a powerful tendency to subdue our remaining unbelief, pacify our trembling apprehensions, and enable us to give to the winds our heart-rending anx ieties, and corroding cares: for, Is God love?-then he will not, cannot, refuse to extend pardon and favour to the awakened sinner, who, terrified by the thunders of Sinai, casts a wishful look to that only quarter where he sees a possibility of safety, and longs to fly from his sins and his self-righteousness, and find shelter beneath a Saviour's bleeding wounds! No, trembler, no; thy God will not cast thee out! He has given all that a God could give, even his Son out of his bosom, to atone for thy xv. - Y y - transgressions, and open a way for thy return. No fiery flames. now issue from his throne to hurt thine affrighted soul, these have all been quenched by blood divine, and now he holds out the golden sceptre of his grace, and in the most encouraging accents, invites thee to draw near. Banish then thy fears, approach with humble reverence, pleading the name of Jesus, and thou shalt not die, but live, and testify that God is love. Is he love? and will he not forgive the repentant child, who, drawn aside by temptation or perverseness, has transgressed his will, and swerved from the path of duty? O yes, he will. Correct that undutiful son,-that rebellious daughter, he may; nay, correct them he assuredly will, but he will not cast them off. Perhaps, Oh disobedient child, he has chastised thee, and the strokes of his rod have brought thee to thyself, and almost broken thy heart, under a sense of thy vileness: weep, lament, and mourn; for this thou oughtest to do, upon the reflection of thy ungrateful returns to so kind a Parent; but do not despond, there yet is hope. Christ's blood is still efficacious, God is still gracious, and he will multiply pardons. Art thou a parent? Then consider the emotions of thine own heart towards thine offspring. If thou performest a parent's part, thou wilt correct their faults; but thou wilt not forget that they are thy children: thy bowels will yearn over them, even while thy hand is exercising the rod; and thon wilt gladly accept their submission, and receive them again to thy paternal embrace: and God loves his children better than the tenderest earthly parent. Take courage, then, poor backslider! avail thyself of the kind intercession of thine elder brother, and with deep contrition come to thy Father's feet: he will receive thee graciously, and love thee freely; for God is love. Again, Is he love? Certainly, then, he will take care of his household, and supply the wants of all who trust in him, Why, O my soul, dost thou feel so much anxiety about futurity? why all this painful thought about what thou or thine shall eat, and drink, and put on? O thou of little faith, wherefore dost thou doubt? Canst thou commit thy soul to God for eternity, and yet darest not entrust him with thy body, and its perishing concerns, for a few fleeting years? How inconsistent, how dishonourable, is such conduct! Does he feed the fowls of the air, and clothe the lilies of the fields, and will he be regardless of his own people? No,-rather than they shall perish, the ravens shall forget their own hunger to supply theirs; or the heavens rain down manna for their sustenance. Art not thou, O doubting Christian, careful to provide for thy family? and has not God declared that, though even a mother should forget her suckling at her breast, yet he will not forget; he will never, never, no never forsake his saints? And this engagement comprehends far more than any thou canst make; - thou canet at most only supply the temporal wants of thy dependents; but he is the Lord of all things in heaven and earth, and can and will communicate every needful blessing, both for soul and body, to his. Commit then thy concerns into his hands, and he will supply all thy need out of his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. O trust him, then, for He is love! Is he love? If so, he will kindly sympathize with his suf fering people, under all their troubles, pains, and sicknesses ;--indeed, they are of his sending, for these things spring not out of the ground; they are sent, not for his pleasure, but our profit; for he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. Christ, the compassionate High Priest of believers, is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. In our British Psalmist's beautiful language," He in his measure feels afresh, what every member bears. When they are in the furnace, he, as the careful Refiner, sits by, attempers either the fire to their strength, or their strength to the fire, and will support and uphold them while in it; and, in due time, bring them forth as gold seven times refined. Look up, then, poor, tempted, tried, and afflicted saint! roll all thy burdens upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. Remember the cross is the royal way to the crown: however galling it may appear, it yet is lined with love; and thy Redeemer himself bears its greatest weight. To him then have recourse in all thy difficulties, and thou shalt set thy seal to the sweet truth, that God is love. Is he love? and will he forsake his friends in their expiring moments, forsake them in the last extremity, when they most need his sympathy and his support? Impossible! Say, O husband, wife, parent, child, friend,-say, couldest thou act thus by the object of thy tenderest affections? When he or she whom thou lovest, lies stretched upon the bed of languishment, racked with excruciating pains, and just about to experience the last agonies of dissolving nature, couldest thou with cold indif ference withdraw or stand, by an uninterested spectator, and not sustain the sinking head,-wipe off the clammy drops, administer the needed cordial, and bedew the pale cheek with the tear of sympathetic tenderness? We insult not thy feelings by waiting a reply; but we ask how thou darest to suspect thy God of conduct at which thy own nature would recoil? O do not wrong him thus! "Precious in his sight is the death of his saints;" and he is ever intimately nigh them at that eventful pe riod. True, indeed, all are not equally sensible of his presence: some favoured souls are privileged to behold, by the eye of faith, unutterable things! To them the gates of Heaven are opened, and the beautiful vision begins ere Jordan's river is completely forded while to others, he stands, as it were, behind the curtain, and veils the glories of his face. This difference may be best referred to his sovereign pleasure; yet we believe it may be advanced as a general truth, that those who have walked most closely with him, and been most zealous in his service, are com monly favoured with the largest draughts of divine consolation in their departing moments. But though all are not alike triumphant, all are equally safe. Thy Lord, O sincere believer, will be with thee, and make all thy bed in thy sickness!-He will rebuke the rage of thine enemy, and speak the tempestuous billows into peace. The hand that has conducted thee all thy journey through, shall bear thee up while thou passest through the dark waters, and land thee safely on the farther side, where commissioned seraphs shall welcome thy arrival, and waft thee to happiness and Heaven, to glory, and to God. Meditate much then on death, for it is a profitable subject: but think not of dying agonies, without anticipating dying grace, and remembering that God is love. E. T. DRUIDISM YIELDING TO CHRISTIANITY. Mr. Editor, As Britain has enjoyed, for a long season, the blessing of Revelation, it must be pleasing to observe how the gospel was first introduced into it, and the means by which Providence demolished every opposing system.— The following passage, taken from Dr. Smith's Gælic Antiquities, as it tends to cast some light on this subject, will, I doubt not, be interesting to many of your readers. It clearly shows, that all events are under the control of Jehovah, that he will cause the wrath of man to praise him, and make it instrumental in accomplishing his designs; and that those ambitious mortals, who desolate the earth with the besom of destruction, are in a manner exceedingly contrary to their own conceptions, preparing the way for that "kingdom, which shall break in pieces and consume other kingdoms, and stand for ever. Homerton. NATHOS. "FROM the amazing growth of the Druidical System, whose roots extended so deep and so far, it is surprising how any storm could overturn it, were it not that the seeds of decay are interwoven with all the affairs of men, which, like themselves, cannot possibly survive a certain period. From almost the days of Noah to those of Julius Cæsar, had Druidism subsisted in Gaul and Britain; and, even in that advanced age, such was its strength, that it almost defied the Roman power to conquer it: all the legions brought against it, only wounded, without killing it. The severest edicts behoved to follow them ; * and the still keener, though smoother weapon, the erection of schools and academies. At last, worn out with age and sufferings, this formidable phantom was forced to take shelter in the retired isles of Anglesy and Jona; where, though weak and effete with |