trated it by a reference to the wonderful events that occurred on the day of pentecost, when Divine blessings descended not merely in drops, but in a copious shower, and the Spirit was poured upon the assembled multitude.

Mr. Annesley. I remember the discourse perfectly. Mr. Manton observed, that in allusion to the amazing showers that fall in the east, the Spirit of God is often described in his gracious operations on the hearts of his people, and in his influence on his church. All the success of the ministry depends upon the blessing of the Sacred Spirit. The Word of God, like the seed thrown into the earth, may be cast judiciously into the human heart, but it cannot germinate without Divine influence; no. sinner will be converted, no backslider reclaimed, no hard heart softened, no mourner comforted, no believer edified, without the showers of heavenly grace. Paul plants, Apollos waters, but God only gives the increase. Hence the necessity of frequent and fervent prayer, and the propriety of stated and special meetings for supplication, to implore the Divine blessing on the word preached, on the Bible circulated, on tracts distributed, on children instructed; that the church of God may flourish, in the saving conversion of sinners to God, and in planting in the hearts of Sunday scholars, unfeigned love to God, and devotedness to his service and glory. My dear Charles, you have seen the effects of this shower upon the plants and trees, and they will be soon still more evident. If the seed of the word be now germinating in your soul, you will "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," (2 Pet. iii. 18,) "Rooted and grounded in love," (Eph. iii. 17,) "Filled with the fruits of righteousness," (Phil. i. 11,) "Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the Great God, our Saviour Jesus Christ," (Titus ii. 13,) “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul," (1 Pet. i. 9.) May God enable you, my dear son, to consider these things.

Charles. I trust I shall, and that the temporary disappointment occasioned by this seasonable rain, may be followed by the blessed showers of Divine grace descending upon my heart, that I may live to the glory of God on earth, and enjoy his glory in the highest heavens.

Penryn.

R. C.

us

THE CHRISTIAN'S QUALIFICATION.

WHAT was Peter's qualification for the ministry? He has told - he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. It would be well if all who are now in the ministry could say this, instead of contending for imaginary qualifications. The man who has won Christ-who sees him evidently set forth, crucified for his own sins, and the sins of all the world; and who is habitually contemplating his sufferings, is the man best qualified to exhibit Him to others. Every minister of the true tabernacle knows something of the fellowship of those sufferings: he feels his christianity himself, and while pointing others to the Lamb of God; can enter into the feelings of the beloved disciple when he said "he that saw it, bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe."

THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE.

"Is it so proper to hew out religious reformations by the sword, as to polish them by fair and equal disputations among those that are most concerned in the differences, whom not force, but reason ought to convince ?"

PARTY.

"PARTY cordes and wythes will hold men's consciences no longer than force attends and twists them, for everie man soon growes his own pope, and easily absolves himself of those ties, which not the commands of God's word, or the laws of the land, but only the subtilty and terror of a party casts upon him."

THE ABUSE OF PRAYER.

"It is no less than a mocking and tempting of God to desire him to hinder those mischiefs whose occasions and remedies are in our own power; it being every man's sin not to avoid the one, and not to use the other."

THE BIBLE.

Ir the bible had not come from God, "the world itself would not have been able to contain all the books" that would have been

written in its praise. The historian, the poet, and the philosopher would have fallen down before it; and its praises would have been in all the schools. It is only by looking into the corrupt and wilful heart of man that we can understand why this has not been the case; but when we take a proper view of the littleness and pride of our fellow creatures, the mystery is solved at once. If man had written the bible, we should have complimented ourselves in praising it. All its sublimity and beauty of conception and execu tion-all the unfathomable resources which it supposes-all the majesty and purity of its doctrines-all the originality, importance, and exclusiveness of its facts, would have been but so many proofs and exhibitions of "the dignity of human nature," and would in fact have been passed to the credit of our own balance-sheet against the "little infirmities," and occasional follies to which the lord of creation is admitted to be liable!

But when the bible comes to us, not merely as one claiming, but as one “having authority," swellings and tumults in our own unrenewed hearts follow as a necessary consequence. It does not come to ask our sufferance or our praise, but to tell us we are poor and miserable and blind and naked; and that we have no sure teacher beside. And what follows? Herod and Pontius Pilate are at once made friends against it. It is openly denounced and decried it is slighted by the very men who owe it most, and even in the house of its friends, is wounded by apology and adaptation, and unworthy comment. When will the watchword of all who "profess and call themselves christians" be, "Let God be true, and every man a liar!"

FOLLY OF IDOLATRY.

THOSE men who talk so much of the philosophy of heathen rites and ceremonies, know little about the matter. They entirely overlook the testimony of scripture which always speaks of idolatry not only as extremely foolish in itself; but as tending to make fools of all who follow it. By the very act itself the foolish heart is darkened; and though it may have possessed originally some sparks of philosophy; those sparks are soon extinguished when it turns from the great source of light, and determines no longer to retain God in its knowledge.

GEOLOGY NOT REPUGNANT TO SCRIPTURE.

(A Lecture delivered before the Young Men's Society at Chatham, by the Editor.) GEOLOGY is sometimes called an "infidel science." But it would be no less absurd to talk of an infidel tract of country, or an infidel group of stars. "Men of perverse minds, and destitute of the truth," will always take pleasure in misrepresenting matters to suit their own views; and the class of those who wrest even the scriptures themselves from their true meaning, is by far more numerous than may be generally supposed. Infidels, whilst they profess a great attachment to truth and demonstration, really dislike nothing so much, and are consequently most busy in the twilight, hoping best to carry on their designs when it is neither "perfect day, nor perfect night." If, like the mole, they were accustomed to plot entirely in the dark, the gloss and speciousness with which they cover their real object, could not attract us; whilst, on the other hand, they are afraid to submit it to the full blaze of noon. Geology is yet an infant science: it is in its morning twilight; and as it thus affords them full play for deduction, and assumption, and generalization, they warp it to their own ends, and it becomes in their hands, but in theirs only, an infidel pursuit.

As a novel study that has as yet scarcely passed its minority, little is generally known respecting it, and the ingenious and designing sceptic may consequently palm off its crudities upon the world without much fear of detection, and with all the plausibility of a theory established upon the broad and stable basis of facts. But those who are conversant with the intrigues of infidelity in all ages, will not be imposed upon by these statements. The history of other sciences and studies has prepared us for this abuse of geology. Astronomy in its early stage was one of the strong-holds of infidelity. The undevout advocates of this sublime pursuit knew very well that the world generally had no check upon the minute and intricate calculations it involves, and they said just what they pleased regarding it, clenching their statements by the assertion, that they proceeded on the principles of "a rigid and infallible geometry."

So it was also with the antiquities of Egypt when they fell into the hands of the French savans. Their numbers, their authority, and their resources, all gave them the vantage ground, and they knew very well how to use it. The famous painted zodiac found

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