regard to the Family Constitution; since the God of this world, availing himself of the peculiar genius of the Hindoo superstition, had applied it to all the ties of nature, and linking together the branches of a household by the chain of the cast, he had then retired to the centre or bosom of every family circle, and there he had thrown up his strongest entrenchment. Yet, taking as a specimen the very first 150 individuals who renounced cast and professed Christianity, we find not fewer than 64 individuals, at least, who came out of only 25 families, and, except in two or three instances, both Father and Mother were amongst the number. Nay, out of only six families there were 26 individuals, Parents and Children, old and young. The most remarkable of these, certainly, was that of this fine character, Kristno Pal-a household, including himself, of not less than ten souls! A particular list of the hundreds who have been since converted, is not upon record, but the same gracious regard to the Family Constitution still is manifest. "I cannot conclude," says one of the missionaries, in 1824, "without telling you, that this morning I have seen a whole family of natives, consisting of Grandfather, Father, Mother, and three Sons, all evidently seeking the way of salvation. They were first aroused to a sense of their condition by a tract left at the house of a neighbour, which he threw indignantly into the road, and one of the boys, about fifteen years of age, carried it home. They read it-came for more-I gave them the four gospels-and I do hope that time will shew it has not been in vain."

Thus, certainly, to a remarkable extent has the Almighty delighted to pour honour upon a constitution

of his own creation, and his grace, in every age, where Parents are worth the name, will, I am persuaded, be found to run in such a channel. Yes; upon households as such, primitive Christianity beamed with peculiar benignity; but was there not a cause? Yes, had we stronger faith, it might, and without doubt, the day is coming when it will do so again!

The interesting, the delightful accounts, however, of whole households being converted in a single day or hour, which are left upon record in Scripture, to excite our desire after similar results, are to be accounted for only on the supposition of an extensive and powerful awakening of the public mind; and they stand there in peculiar harmony, or "fine keeping," with the authentic, because inspired, narrative of hundreds, nay, thousands, being converted under a single address. The same result, however, let it be remembered, as to families in succeeding ages, has been found to hold good, proportionally to the extent or the intensity of the awakening. Of such results, even in our own day, America, at least, is able to furnish striking instances, proof of which I have now before me, in the periodical accounts from that country.

After such a detail as this, imperfect though it be, there can remain no doubt of the prophecy of Malachi having been literally accomplished. But, with the Sacred narrative in our hand, it would be strange. were we to confine it to even instances like these; or suppose that single Families, here and there, though converted at once to Christianity, were all that the Prophet expressed, or the Spirit of God by him intended. No; the apostolic address took the widest range, and it met with correspondent effects, but still

the same principle they always kept in view. Thus, to the three thousand Jews in the city of Jerusalem, converted in one day, on the same spot, under a single address, and relieved at the same instant by one and the same reply; when they cried out in an agony of distraction, “ Men and brethren, what shall we do?" we hear the conscience and the parental heart at once addressed by Peter," Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for the promise (of the Holy Spirit, v. 17 and 33.) is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." The promise to which Peter here refers was, of course, that which he had just quoted; where the manner in which " they and their Children" had been referred to by Joel, was peculiarly striking. Their sons-their daughters-their old men-1 -their young men their servants and handmaidens, many of whom were even in a state of vassalage, were all to partake of the Spirit; and, as a proof, not only were to believe and be saved, but individuals of every class mentioned were to prophesy or work miracles! So this Spirit had descended first on the Parents of John the Baptist, and the Messiah, and afterwards upon them; on the Parents of most of the apostles, if not all, as well as on them; and so now on the Parents, the Sons, the Daughters, the servants, in the city of Jerusalem; and ultimately, through them, on the Gentiles. This order should never be overlooked; and more especially on account of the interesting terms with which Peter concludes his address:"Even as many as the Lord our God shall call." From these words it would seem that the entire

fulfilment of that prophecy is not to be confined by time or space. Excepting, of course, the miraculous gifts, the proof at that period, of the Holy Spirit being received; as a minister of Christ, I am to use such language at this day, because all that was intended by Infinite Wisdom is not yet fulfilled; no, nor ever will be, until God hath done with calling.

In conformity with these ideas, in the still more glorious effusion of the Spirit for which the Church is waiting, so far as the Jews are concerned, the terms employed are, to say the least, of the same character with those to which reference has been so often made. When the Spirit of grace and supplication is once poured out upon them, Husband and Wife, Parents and Children, looking to the cross at last, like as a Father on the dying frame of his first-born, or his only Child, all shall be drowned in grief. "The land shall mourn, every family apart-all the families that remain ; every family apart, and their wives apart." In proportion as penitence is deep and pungent, it seeks retirement; but here it has gone to such extent as to sever for a time the strongest, tenderest, and most confidential bond of nature. "Every family apart, and their Wives apart!"

If the reader will now turn to the twelfth chapter of Zechariah, he will see what is immediately to follow this great mourning. The fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, to the eyes of these Parents is now opened indeed. Satisfied now that there is no other Messiah than Jesus of Nazareth, they become most jealous for the honour of his name and worship: the ancient and prevalent plague of the Church-idolatry, is extinct; the very names of Jupiter and Baal, of the Pope and Mahomet, are repeated or remembered

no more; and even antichristian abominations have passed away (v. 2.) Satisfied, too, that the Volume of Inspiration is completed, as we now have it; that no more messages from Heaven are to be expected, nor any more necessary; nay, that the smallest addition is profanity of the highest order: "it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his Father and his Mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies to us in the name of the Lord: and his Father and Mother that begat him shall thrust him through, when he prophesieth." This deep penitence, then, ending, as it will do, in a piety and in a holy jealousy for God; such as perhaps the Christian Church has never yet witnessed; when the guardians of this distinguished piety and penitence are introduced to us, we see these are spoken of as Parents, alluding, it is true, to the power of the Parent then existing under the Mosaic

economy.

Thus when the Spirit of God would describe to us the depth of penitence and the height of Christian zeal, or denote the prompt and vigorous measures, even the glory of the latter day, it seems as if more energetic terms could not be found, than those which are drawn from the Domestic Constitution, and its powerful natural attachments.*

* What a striking contrast is there between these two effusions of the Spirit, so far as the Jews are concerned, between the prophecy of Joel and that of Zechariah? In the former case, Parents and Children, Sons and Daughters, and Servants, were endowed, and prophesied; but now Revelation is complete, and so complete, that the Parents, as guardians, are thus represented. Is not this one proof, at least, that miraculous and prophetic gifts are not to be revived or employed in the last grand triumph of Christianity? No; the Bible, as it is, is so full and so perfect, that, as far