with hearts embued with the love of Christ, growing with their strength, and rising to maturity in their riper years,-may we not expect the glorious fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy: "The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel ?" The fulness of the millennium light hastens apace; its bright harbingers are bursting forth on the right and on the left; Zion is complaining of the place being too strait for her; she is bursting asunder the bands of superstition, and untying the knots of bigotry and locality; the midnight darkness is chased before her; and the dense atmosphere thrown over the popish dominions is clearing away. Satan is falling like lightning to the ground, and the son of man is appearing, in the bright clouds of his gospelmessengers, spreading afar his power and glory; the seed of the woman is indeed bruising the head of the serpent, and bringing his kingdom to an end; but he is rallying all his servants to make a last, a desperate struggle: his mouth on earth is fulminating from the Vatican fears of a speedy downfall; he trembles at babes being enlightened in the knowledge of the truth, and strives to crush in its bud the flourishing of the tree of knowledge, lest its spreading branches should fill the earth, and he,

with his followers, be consumed in the brightness

of its glory.

Infidels and deists are raising their weak and inefficient voice against the still small voice of the gospel, against him who shall slay the wicked by the sword of his mouth. All their opposition, combined with the thunder of the Vatican, will only serve to fan the flame of love among the disciples of Christ, and make them who rank under his banner more zealous in his cause; they only wake the disciples from their slumber to cry unto their Lord. When he ariseth to shake terribly the earth!When he comes to tread the wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God!-When his anger is kindled but a little, "O! blessed are they who stay upon him," for he will tread them in his anger, and trample them in his fury;-it is not man they have to contend with, it is not the potsherds of the earth they attempt to break : No, they are rushing headlong on the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler; they are fighting against the personal word of God,against him who on the cross triumphed over the devil and his angels, over principalities and powers; who burst asunder the bands of death, and rose victorious over the grave; who ascended triumphant to glory, and who shall return to judge the quick and the dead. Those who have devoted themselves to this divine work, I hail as brethren, their labour shall not be vain in the Lord; they

have put their hands to a work that shall brighten as ages roll; future ages will rise up and call them blessed; their names will be had in everlasting remembrance; as their hearts have pronounced it good, let them do it with all their might, for there is neither work nor device in the grave to which all are hastening. The benefit a teacher derives to himself far surpasseth all his labour bestowed; the thorough knowledge he acquires of the scriptures from his constant search after instruction for the children; the value of that knowledge to an immortal soul how great! The Christian's experience in all ages hath proved it more valuable than gold; the Bereans searched the scriptures daily to prove the doctrines of the apostles by the divine oracles. The psalmist of old valued the law of his God more than his necessary food. And Jesus hath said, "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me."

A teacher likewise acquires a fluency in prayer; the value of that Jesus' example bears evidence, for he spent whole nights in prayer; and Christians under the severest trials have proved the strengthening nature of prayer: they have found it the aliment of their souls, the soother of their adversity, and the union of Deity to them. When the cloud of night settles on the soul, when the world turns its back on the Christian, and when the gates of death are open before him, it is then he feels

the peculiar benefit of prayer, and the reality of a life of faith; then, indeed, the sweet influences of divine grace descend on his soul; for by the prayer of faith the soul forgets its earthly prison, and soars aloft to its Father and God.

Another great benefit to a teacher is the reducing of his knowledge to pratice. Words give life to ideas; these words spoken live in the memories of the hearers, and they re-act on the memory of the speaker, impressing it deeper on his mind, and forming in him a habit of thinking and bringing his thoughts to action. One idea brought to action is worth a thousand floating in the brain, and the good it may perform who can tell? The children, by listening to the speaker's voice, are insensibly forming a character from his instruction on Christian principles, and their imparting it to their children, future generations will reap the benefit.

The greatest benefit both teachers and hearers will reap, is the bringing Christian love into action. So valuable is this part of Christian duty, that St Paul considered all other labours,-all other sacrifices of no value without charity,—this is the great spring of all Christian action; for its sake prophets endured sufferings of the greatest magnitude. Christ himself bore evidence of the value of his love on Calvary's cross; and the apostles bore ample testimony to its constraining effects. The bringing this love into action must be the highest principle

of a Christian; and the more it is done, the higher must the Christian character rise. Personal religion is what alone will stand in the hour of trial; we must personally live for ourselves, personally die for ourselves, and personally stand at God's tribunal. What professions of religion we may have made in life, at that hour avails not, however famed in the religious world we may have been, at that hour avails not, unless we have practised the precepts of the gospel, and by faith taken hold on Jesus as the atonement for iniquity, and the only ground of our hope before God: "As we sow so shall we reap; if we sow to the flesh, we shall reap corruption, but if we sow to the spirit, we shall reap life everlasting."

The encouragement this work gives to young men to devote their talents to it is great, for its reward is immortal. True, to a sensual eye it has no attraction; its fascinations are not the world's honour, its wealth or pleasure; on the contrary, the teacher may have to endure the world's contempt, and perhaps it may prove injurious to his worldly interest; but to the eye enlightened by the gospel its attractions are fascinating, and its philanthropic aim enchanting to the feeling mind. Let youth consider the benefits they have derived from education, and will they withhold it from them whose lot is not so blest? Does the feeling of humanity rise in their bosom, and will they not allow it to swell to the