volved in the direct performance of duty. No mercy, no grace, no compassion of God is revealed to authorize continuance in sin. Each passing moment of prolonged probation, should indeed be hailed as more auspicious to his conversion, than any future moment can be; and should, as such, be consecrated, with instant and decisive effort, to the very act of giving his heart to God and his soul to Christ. And not only so; but all future moments of life, instead of being viewed as bright with hope, and cheered with the prospect of successful effort, should be regarded as overcast with that uncertainty, apprehension, or even despair, which may be necessary to destroy all reliance on any future effort and to concentrate the whole energy of the soul in one present act of duty. True, delightfully true it is, that God is now on the mercy seat, and with the call to life, wears the smile of inviting love, to allure the sinner to return to Him by penitence and faith. But along with this attractive influence by which He draws, with "the chords of love and the bands of a man," He pours on the way of the sinner, who would persist in determined sin, the tempest and the fire of His indignation. In that path stands death, with which the sinner has made no covenant. In that path, even at the first step in it, a sin-avenging God may meet him—or, a reprobating God may say of him, "he is joined to idols, let him alone." To right moral action-to duty-to compliance with God's terms of salvation, be the form of describing it what it may, and to this only, is the sinner to be exhorted by him, who comes with God's commission, to reclaim a sinful world from ruin. We need not say, how diverse from the other, this view of the subject must be in its practical influence, both on those who hear, and those who bring the message of salvation. The former instead of believing, that they are to take simply the attitude of passive recipients, and like statues to wait for a divine blessing, would feel themselves to be agents pressed and urged to instant action, by the moving message of wrath and of mercy. The later, instead of comforting themselves in the unfruitfulness of their ministry, by referring it to the counsels of irresistible grace, would find the way open for the summons of heaven's high sovereign to the conscience and the heart of his rebellious subjects, and would wield the weapons of their warfare not with a faint heart and palsied arm, but with the skilfulness and vigor of men who would expect and whom the world would expect, to produce results. These weapons, would thus become mighty through God, and the prayer of the church, thy kingdom come,' would sooner be answered. Oh! when shall the day arrive, when the plain truths of the bible-the awful and enrapturing truths of the bible, shall thus become the power of God unto salvation? When shall the gospel be preached and heard with the impression, that it is designed to be a cause of present efficacy? When shall this conviction possess the mind of its preachers, and rouse them to that zeal and strenuousness in effort, which become them as workers together with God! And when, by relying on Him without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,' shall their labors be crowned not merely with the occasional conversion of a sinner, but with the results of Apostolic days! Errata.-Page 626, for receive the order which Providence has assigned; read revere the order which Providence assigned it. Page 651, 1. 18, for confined read confirmed. Page 666, 1. 18, for force read fame. Page 635, 1.33, for long read large. INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE QUARTERLY CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR. Atonement, view of, 145, 147. Barber, John W. his pamphlet on Methodism, 509. Boston, Rev. Thomas, Memoir of his life, time, and writings, 583: tender- Canada, religious state of, 268: its discovery and history, 269: division Capo d'Istria, John, his proclamation, 197. Cause and effect, inquiry concerning, 352, 354. Christianity, a scheme of restoration, 293. Christmas, J. S., his residence in Canada, 268. Clarke, Rev. Adam, his discourses, 553: the mercy and foreknowledge of Commentary, Stuart's, on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 112. Correspondence with the Editors on their review of Taylor and Harvey, 530. Cromwell, Oliver, his character, 385: King and Parliament, parties, the Dana, Richard H,, his poem, entitled Thoughts on the Soul, 674: charac- Dickinson, Rev. Austin, his National Preacher, 235. Dunallan, 247: religious novels, their character and tendency, 247, 258. Earth, works on the structure of, 464; geology, theories of, 465, 468: Economy of Methodism, Barber, John W. his pamphlet, 509: Wesley, Erskine, Thomas, (Advocate,) on 'the Gospel, 289: pardon, faith, atone- 306. Evangelists, the employment of, in the older settlements, 425: disadvan- Exercitation on the second Psalm, 100: its author, occasion, scope, struc- Fellenberg, Establishment at Hofwyl, 625: motives of the founder-de- German universities, 636, 662. Greece, works on, 178, 313, 322: Howe, Dr., his history,-Millar, Col., Gridley, Rev. Elnathan, his character and labors, 331. Harvey, Rev. Joseph, on human depravity, 343: definition of sin, 346. Herttel, Thomas, 447, 449. Hooker, John, Memoir of, 307. Howe, Dr. Samuel G., 178. Infidels, exclusion of, from judicial oaths, 438: law of England.—of the James, Rev. John Angell, on christian charity, 453: character of the work Kent, Chancellor. his discourse before the New York Historical Society, Knight, Jonathan, M. D., his Eulogium on Professor Smith, 204. Lindsley, Rev. Joel Harvey, his Lectures to the middle aged, 41: subjects Millar, Col. his Journal, 179. National Preacher, the value and character of the work and its contents, Oath, nature of, 443. Paley, William, D. D. his Natural Theology, with plates, 341. Pitkin, Timothy, LL. D., his political and civil history, 78: the Colonies, Pond, Charles, Memoirs and Select Remains of, 526. Regeneration, means of, 1: explanatory remarks, 18: using of, the means Religious novels, their character and tendency, 247. Religious state of Canada, 268. Remains of Rev. Carlos Wilcox, his character, 52: familiar correspon- Silliman, Professor, his Outline of geological lectures, 480. Smith, Nathan, M. D. Eulogium on, 204. Spencer, Chief Justice, on nature of an oath, 449. Sprague, Dr., his Letters, 267. Spring, Rev. Gardiner, on the means of regeneration, his views, 10, 11. Stuart, Rev. Moses, on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 112. Suliotes, 184. Sunday Mails, Reports concerning, Memorials, Mr. Johnson of the Senate, Taylor, Rev. Nathaniel W., his sermon on human depravity, 343. Tyler, Rev. Edward R. his sermons on future punishment, 598. Universities in Germany, 636, 662. Washington, President, his testimony in favor of religion and morality,98. Wilberforce, William, his Practical View, Wilson's edition, 679: low Wilcox, Rev. Carlos, his Character and Writings, 52. |