in so sacred, so awfully responsible an office, without unequivocal evidence of possessing such a call. But may there not be danger of disobeying what really constitutes a call from Heaven ? Can there be any internal movement of the mind more suitable to a messenger of mercy, than the 'spirit of love, eager, enlarged, abiding, of which we have already spoken ? and is the possession of suitable talents and education, together with the ample field for ministerial labor, which speaks and is still opening wide on every side, not to be taken as a sufficient external indication of the will of God expressed in his providence, unless very weighty argu. ments can be brought from some other quarter to counterbalance these ? If it should be urged by any individual, that that spirit of love which should be the groundwork of all ministerial character, has lost much of its first ardor, is not the reply at hand ?—This is your fault. Ought not charity to grow, instead of abating in the progress of your course? And may not, very often, its decrease be owing to that very tendency to secular engagements, against which we now contend ? Every Christian ought to have this spirit, and none can justify the want of it. If it be lost, let him see that he regain it ; let him repent and do his first works, ere he be called to an account. “But if these qualifications alone constitute a call to the ministry, then all Christians may consider themselves called to preach the gospel !" And why not, as long as external providences indicate the way—as long as there remain heathen destitute of the gospel, or churches without pastors ? But are there not objections of a different character, secret or avowed, which are annually depriving Zion of that amount of aid which she might reasonably expect ? Some young man, arrested in his career of sin and worldliness by the hand of «divine grace, finds himself, perhaps, alone, amidst a large circle of relatives, who are insensible to the nature and power of that new principle which he has imbibed : and they cannot endure to see his fair hopes of worldly advancement and public honors blasted in the bud: a tender parent, perhaps, had identified his own happiness with the secular prosperity of a promising son: and how shall filial affection make the sacrifice of a father's or a mother's happiness, even at the foot of the cross? This is a painful view of the subject, but the Saviour has provided a reply. Is not his love paramount to all other? Is it not most reasonable to obey him ?-yea, rather than a tender parent! But, says one, “May I not be more useful in a secular employment? There must be lawyers, physicians, merchants : Is it not desirable that some of these should be religious men, that they may produce a good influence in their several spheres ?" Doubtless, it is desirable. But will there not always be abundant room for the exertion of such influence, on the part of those whose advanced progress in these professions may make a change unadvisable? or, who may be restrained by other providential circumstances of a special character? And as to the comparative amount of usefulness a a effected by the several professions, sacred or secular, look abroad through the world, and say who are the men that are now exerting the most influence on the interests of Zion ? Who during the last century have been the instruments of multiplying the number of churches at home-of spreading the news of salvation abroad, and bringing in the long neglected heathen? Doubtless a Thornton and a Wilberforce, by the aid of wealth and example, have done much, very much, towards these and other objects. But how few are those who can reasonably anticipate the attainment of such an amount of wealth or worldly distinction, as could make their secular influence, even when employed for the promotion of truth, at all commensurate with the direct influence exerted by a Whitfield, a Tennant, a Fuller, a Martyn, a Brainard, a Fisk, or even by hundreds of others of inferior name, who have devoted their all to Christ and his gospel ! To those who have been pursuing the practice, or, perhaps, are just commencing the study of a secular profession, the charge of fickleness, which a change of pursuit might bring upon them, appears, sometimes, an appalling consideration. But how soon will a young man, by a persevering, steady progress in the course now advocated, silence even the whispers of reproach on this ground? And, after all, the malignant insinuations of the enemies of the gospel, are no guide to the Christian in the path of duty. He must breathe a freer and a purer atmosphere, found far above the fogs and vapors that cling around this world. He must rise superior to the attacks of God's enemies, or he never will pursue a steady, heaven-directed course. But, besides the considerations already offered, we ask, Hare you well considered the perils of the life you seek? It is hard for a Christian to plunge into the vortex of worldly business and escape uninjured. It has been the grave of many a promising character. Alas! how many of those who have decided to engage in secular employments, and who, in all probability, had they enjoyed the spiritual advantages that belong to a ministerial life, would have made useful and respectable missionaries or pastors, have been carried away by the torrent of worldliness, broad and deep, that encircles every scene of secular occupation; and instead of setting the noble public example, and exerting the wholesome religious influence in society, the prospect of which flattered their early anticipations, and helped to seduce them, perhaps, from a different sphere, have not only defeated their own expectations, but have blasted the hopes the churches entertained respecting them, and have left it a matter of painful uncertainty whether the love of Christ really dwelt in their hearts ! A professional man, who has attained to some eminence in his business, and is then converted to the faith, may, indeed, continue to support his station by the reputation he has already earned, and may then usefully employ the influence his talents, or industry, has previously acquired. But when we remember that that influence depends on the good will of a multitude of persons hostile to the truth, and must be sought against the opposition of numbers, equally hostile, who are contending for the same prize, it is easy to see how small is the probability of success, to the youthful Christian, on entering such a race, as well as the extreme danger that must threaten the integrity of his religious principle. Perhaps in all the objections that may have arisen in the minds of brethren of the description now addressed, there mingles a larger portion of a worldly spirit than they would intentionally indulge. There is a splendour in civic and forensic honours, or the trophies of military fame; a captivating beauty in the prospect of literary ease, or mercantile affluence and respectability, especially where there exists that vigorous tone which characterises every branch of society in a growing republic, that is too likely to have its secret influence, and to throw the attractions of a life of toilsome missionary or pastoral labor, whose rewards are not of this world, somewhat into the back ground, in making the examination we have been considering. To meet this difficulty, brethren, our only appeal is to your Christianity. By the love of Christ—by the wants of the Church —by the worth of immortal souls—by your own eternal hopeswe conjure you to put far, far away from you the circæan cup that would thus beguile you—to close your ears against the syren song of this world's blandishments—Hearken, we implore you, to Zion's voice crying for help! It sounds through your whole countrythrough the world—its notes fall on the ear of some indigent mechanic—some unlettered ploughboy--some youthful stripling, whose early years and unformed character will hardly permit the church to judge of his fitness for the high office to which he aspires. How noble—how heroic, the enterprise in which these are ready to enlist! The weakness of youth; the painful impediments of poverty, known, fully, by those only who have felt them; the irksomeness of study, for the appalling period of ten or twelve years, perhaps, to one whose whole life has hitherto led him in all his habits, and thoughts, and desires, into an entirely opposite course; not any of these considerations, not all of them combined, can daunt the soul that has formed its determination in the spirit of heaven-born love, with the prospect of eternal retributions full in view. And will you, my brethren, with all your privileges, suffer yourselves to be outdone by those who labor under such heavy disadvantages ? Hearken once more, we say, to the cry of Zion, raised to heaven for help, praying the Lord of the vineyard to send forth laborers. Have you not yourselves joined in this prayer ? were you sincere in making it? were you willing it should be answered, let the coinmission fall on whom it might? How vast is the work remaining to be done! Your own country, increasing with a ratio double that of the ministerial supply afforded by all her schools and colleges combined, by the aggregate amount of public and private effort ! The cradle of Christianity—the spot embalmed in the memory of Christians, as the sacred ground where trod the feet of the Saviour himself, and of many a saint, and where his precious blood was mingled with that of his holy martyrs, still, after so many centuries of prosperity in the Protestant church, groaning under infidel bondage! The scene of Paul's triumphs over the refined ignorance of Grecian Philosophy, still scarcely known to Protestant missionaries! India, after having acknowledged for so many years the sway of a Christian government, yet to be possessed by the armies of the Cross ! And Burmah and the islands of the Indian seas, and Tartary, and Siberia, and China, and Africa, and the Western Coast of America-all, still to be illuminated by the Sun of Righteousness, after a period of eighteen centuries since his command,“ Go ye into all nations !" Oh how great has been the sloth and dilatoriness of Christians; of Protestants ! brethren, must we not say of ourselves! Pardon the freedom taken in urging, on you particularly, this question, and in begging you to make it a matter of renewed and solemn inquiry, whether the Lord of the armies of heaven, is not now crying in your ears, " Who will go for us?"-whether the answer of each of you ought not to be, “Here am I, Lord, send me." Yours, with Christian affection, ZENAS. MAKING LIGHT OF CHRIST. A POOR wretched man in one of our principal cities was lately overtaken by the strong arm of the law in the commission of a capital crime. When thus arrested, and all gazed on him as a spectacle of horror, he made light of it. When brought to the bar of court and called on to plead, he was speechless, had no excuse, no plea to offer. Of course he was found guilty : and when arraigned to receive his sentence of death, and every eye was fixed on him, and every heart seemed moved, when even the stern judges were melted into tears in view of their solemn and painful duty, he who was most deeply interested appeared perfectly indifferent. At length he was brought out to the place of execution, was conjured to spend his few remaining moments in preparation for eternity, and finally was ordered to mount the scaffold; but he still made light of it all. Most of the spectators regarded his indifference with mute astonishment. The few who uttered their sentiments exclaimed, “Is it possible that so much depravity, danger and insensibility, can be combined in a single individual! O what stupidity, infatuation, and madness!" I could not call in question the correctness of these expressions, for it is an awful thing to die thus. Yet how much more astonislıing is the stupidity and infatuation we often manifest in reference to a concern yastly more interesting and important. While actually condemned of Heaven, and on us the wrath of God abideth: --while the awful threatenings of an unchanging Jehovah, and the earnest invitations to the rich provisions of his mercy are sounding in our ears, there are those who make light of it,-while some are fleeing from the wrath to come, and some are praising the Lord for recent deliverance from guilt, many make light of it. Even when their neighbours and the members of their own families, their chilupon it. a dren or their brethren are rejoicing in that Saviour whom they before despised, they still make light of him. This would indeed astonish us beyond all things, were it not so cominon, and had it not been described and foretold in the Book of God. Many of those to whom Jesus Christ was first preached, who beheld his miracles, and listened to the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth, were still found among his despisers and murderers. Their condemnation was vastly aggravated. The final Judge of all has declared, that for Sodom and Gomorrah, elsewhere represented as “suffering the vengeance of eternal fire,” it shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment than for them. But our privileges are not inferior to theirs. The full provision of God's grace and love is set before us, and we are urged most earnestly and frequently to partake of it. Have you, reader, been hitherto urged and entreated in vain ? consent to hold serious and honest communion with your conscience and your heart, while I endeavor to describe this making light of Christ, in some of its most frequent and obvious forms, and then attempt a righteous estimate of its character. 1. They make light of Christ, who seldom read or hear his holy word. This word is God's message to them. He has caused it to be written and sent to mankind, commanding them most solemnly to give heed to its instructions, to search it, to meditate When a message is thus sent by a fellow worm of the dust it receives a careful perusal. Especially if it be on important business, in which the personal interests of those addressed is involved, they seize it with the greatest eagerness, and read it again and again. But no message from a fellow creature can be compared in importance with the Bible. If therefore you do not read it, is it not evident that you make light of Him whom it reveals to you? Once there was some excuse for those who did not possess the scriptures, especially if they were poor; but now every family may have this treasure. It is even urged upon you, and wherever necessary, it is bestowed without compensation. Your heavenly Father has also sent forth heralds to proclaim the gospel message-to preach Christ to you, and urge you to embrace him. If you will not hear them, does it not conclusively prove your light esteem of him who is thus preached? Will you plead the want of time as your excuse for not reading the Bible, and listening to the instructions of the house of God ? But you have time for the vain and sinful trifles of the world, for foolish jestings, and idle talk, and you will have time to die and go to judgment, to meet him who sent the Bible and the gospel to you, and render an account of your stewardship 2. If you hear or read with indifference and inattention, you make light of Christ. Do you hear the message of a neighbor thus? Do you meet your friend after a long absence thus? Would you not be ashamed to manifest such yawning indifference, and perfect inattention to any earthly equal or even inferior, who should beg your attention to that which he supposed was of great importance to the temporal interest of yourself and family, as you often manifest when the word of God's grace is preached to you? Are |