me." He was sent, and even he not by his own church: he entered the field; but no sooner had he introduced his sickle, than the Lord of the harvest called him away, to impress the church from which he went with a sense of its unfaithfulness and neglect. The child of David died, to make him feel his sin; and the church has been deprived of this honoured son, to teach it how guilty it has been.

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Another cause of this visitation may have been, the spirit of worldly exultation that is apt to arise, on the departure of a Missionary to the heathen. The church from which he goes is proud of it. He may be the humblest man, but others exult in his self denial. What a contrast between the feelings entertained toward a merchant and a Missionary, on their departure to a distant land. The merchant goes to prosecute his worldly interests; it is understood that his prospects are good; the world count him a fortunate man, and many would rejoice to have the privilege of embarking with him, while none imagine that he submits to any hardship. But let the departure of a Missionary be announced, and all society is moved. The man is gazetted, and lauded, and flattered, until he is in danger of thinking himself an object of adoration. What selfdenial! is the cry all around. Oh! how hateful must such conduct be in the estimation of Jesus Christ. Shall merchandize have attractions so far beyond the salvation of souls? Will a man of the world submit to any thing, for the purpose of amassing wealth, while society must ring again with acclamations, if a minister of Christ proposes to set out as a Missionary in quest of the souls of men. What did an Apostle think of traversing the most inhospitable climes? Shame on the heartless churches of the day. May a better spirit soon animate them. We do not, indeed, pronounce how far the spirit we condemn may have prevailed upon the departure of our brother; but we know it is common, and, so far as it existed, may it be alleged as one reason for the righteous judgment of God, in his removal.

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Nor should we omit to notice, that it may have been caused by the want of prayer for him. It deserves to be remarked, how much the Apostle reckoned on the prayers of the churchies for him. See 2 Cor. I. 811, where he traces to this instrumentality his prosperous journies and preserved health, and spared life. But how little is this felt among us. True, when a Missionary is about to part, we assemble and pray with him, and dismiss him in the name of the Lord. Perhaps we remember him while he traverses the dangerous deep,

o the place of his destination; and, if we hear of his safe arrival, we may thank the Lord. But soon we forget him, and leave him to prosecute his heavy work, uncared for by us. We take not upon us to say how far it may have been thus, in the present instance; but we know what is common. It is an interesting speculation, whether, if prayer had been made for our brother, as was done for Peter by the church, he would have died. Our prayers, we allow, cannot alter the purposes of God; but God has joined the means and the end together, and none can say our friend would have died, whether unceasing had been offered for him or not. So far as that was reprayer strained, let all who are conscious of being guilty, consider what was their own part in his death, while, by the neglect of prayer, they provoked the judgment of the Almighty.

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At all events, since death itself is a judgment, this death, so peculiar in its circumstances, and important in its effects, must be allowed to be a judgment from the hand of the Lord, whether or not we have succeeded in assigning the reasons of it.

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III. The death of our friend may be viewed as a trial of faith to the church. Such an event is very discouraging. As soon as it is heard our hands hang down, we are tempted to say, the cause is hopeless, and to give it up in despair. There is a temptation to subscribers to think their money is lost, and to the managers of the cause to say, we have spent our labour for nought; and it is even possible there may be some found in the world, who hear of such an event with a secret feeling of satisfaction. Did we not tell you, they say, that such enterprises were useless; what a fool to undertake such a perilous adventure; will these religious people never be wise?

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In all this there is a severe trial of faith; and it is well it should be so. It is good for an individual to have his faith tried. We do not know what is in us, until we are tried. Trouble is easily borne at a distance; but it is when it is brought home it brings our principles to the test. Ah! how will the mourning widow of our departed friend now learn whether she has faith in that blessed promise, "I will be a husband to the widow, and a father to the fatherless." It is equally good for the church to have its faith tried. While all things go on prosperously, the members may greatly mistake their character and attainments. In a prosperous church, money may be subscribed, and labours endured, and works undertaken, and the impetus that is really derived from a secret spirit of vain-glory may be supposed to originate in the purest zeal. But let a

reverse come upon that church, let difficulties and perplexities arise, and then say, is there the same appearance of zeal, is its interest prosecuted under discouragement and trial? Then, and thus, may many a professor learn the strength of his faith. Look at the disciples, while Christ was with them, and then under the cloud of his agony and death. Nor is it without important benefits to the world, to witness believers under a trial of their faith. Whether it be an individual or a church, the trial is instructive to the world. A bereaved widow, for example, is sustained under her deep distress she maintains a hallowed composure of spirit, and meekly bows to the will of God; then here is the exhibition of a principle that must recommend religion to the world. Or, a church is seen to cling to its profession, through countless difficulties ;--what a proof is here of a sound and genuine principle within. The Jews building the fallen wall of Jerusalem, under privations and difficulties, was a lesson to all the surrounding nations upon the reality of the religion which they professed. And it is with great propriety that the life of Paul is usually classed among the evidences of Christianity; for in no way can his life of indefatigable perseverance and toil be consistently or reasonably accounted for, without allowing the truth of the principles which he maintained.

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And it deserves to be noticed, how it has pleased God, at all times, to conduct his dispensations upon this principle, causing the faith of his servants to be severely tried, and then crowning them with great success. Thus in the instance of Abraham, how he tried his faith by demanding the sacrifice of Isaac; and his faith being proved by the trial, he immediately subjoined the most abundant promises, saying, "in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." See Gen. xxii. 118. It was the same with David, when he sought the establishment of religion, by having the ark set up in its place. To this there were many obstructions; his faith was greatly tried; he could say, in reference to all he endured on that account, "Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions ;"' but he did not endure in vain, the faith that sustained and animated him was, at length; suecessful, and he saw his heart's desire. Ps. cxxxii. 1-8. On the same principle, God is pleased to exercise the young/convert, commonly, with many trials, before he is established in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, as if he exercised his faith in order to confirm and establish it. And is it not in the very same way that the cause of Missions has been conducted? Look

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at Carey, in India for years almost sinking under his loneliness; but, after years of trial of faith, the honoured founder of the institution at Serampore, and the translator of the Scriptures into nearly forty languages, or dialects, in the East. Look at the Burmese Mission. What afflictions did the Judsons suffer; but their faith failed not, and the horrors of war have, at length, been overruled to the establishment of the Mission. And who does not know the history of the South Sea Islands, where, for twelve long years, the Missionaries were hunted from place to place, and denied the comfort of a single convert; but where, now, a nation has been born in a day, and Christianity is the prevailing religion?

In the case of Jamaica, we fondly hope the dispensation is the same, and that the death of our friend is only a trial of faith, to be succeeded by greater prosperity. There, indeed, the Mission has been unusually prosperous. In no heathen field have the converts been so numerous as among the negroes of the West. A This may, in part, be attributed to the state of the people, who, being separated from their fathers, have no superstition that must be overcome; and herein the Holy Spirit suits himself to the condition of the people. But we, also, fondly indulge the hope, that there God is preparing a Missionary band for the evangelization of Africa. And, Oh! how would Satan be taken in his craftiness, if, in the end, it appeared that God has overruled the horrors of the slave-trade, for making ready a people, who would return to the land of their fathers with the gospel of peace, and be the deliverers of their countrymen from a more oppressive yoke than they ever wore themselves. May this be the blessed consummation! And may the lamented death of our endeared brother, at last be found to have been only a trial of faith, for quickening the zeal and stimulating the labours of the church-the precursor of a day of unexampled success in the Missionary field.

IV. In the death of our friend, we are taught a lesson of dependance. This is one of the most difficult lessons for man to learn; and this much is implied in the very manner in which the command to distrust every thing but God, is given. How imperative," cease from man;" and how solemn, the man that trusteth in man.'

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And how affectingly has this lesson been taught in all ages. God is continually putting forth his hand to tear away the object on which men are placing their hope, instead of himself. We spoke of Thomson and M'Crie, and now of Leslie ; observe the particular juncture at which each of them was taken.

It was at the very time, when, to human eye, they were most required. Thomson, when the swelling tide of enmity against his beloved national church was rising to its height, and when no man could resist the sweeping deluge like himself. At the very moment when the eyes of the church were upon him as: its ablest champion, he was laid low by the hand of death, and the warning voice echoed through the land," cease ye from man." M Crie was summoned at the momentous crisis in the history of his country when popery had come into favour, and was deluding the great and small together. No hand was equal to his to tear away the mask in which it has concealed its deformity. He was the best historian of his age, and, therefore, the best judge of popery. We are fallen on times, when men will not believe that popery is popery-the Beast is permitted to deceive the nations-and he who could best have exposed it, at the moment when he was needed, was called away. "Cease ye from man." And our own Leslie, was not he removed at a similar juncture? The cry for Missionaries from Jamaica is great. A new era has dawned upon the West. Now is the time to form the public mind, and, consequently, all societies are trying to pour in their tribute of Missionary labour. At such an hour, one of her best labourers is cut down. "Cease ye from man." And yet has not this ever been the way of God's administration? The father is surrounded by a numerous and helpless family; God sends the messenger of death, and calls him home; we say, they can never be provided: for now, and yet we soon find they are provided for as well, or better, than before. The Pastor is bound up in the hearts of his people, and exercising a most extensive and happy influence; but God sees fit to issue the summons, and tear him from their embrace. Let us remember how it is written," I will not give my glory to another, neither my praise to graven images."

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It is when the spirit of dependance is produced and cherished, that success attends our labours. "He that goeth forth, and reapeth, bearing precious seed, shall, doubtless, come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. When we water our labours with our tears, under a deep sense of our insufficiency, we shall prosper. Vain-glory and pride are hate ful to God. This is his promise-" though I be the lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, yet will I dwell with the man that is of an humble and contrite heart, to revive the heart of the contrite, and the spirit of the humble ones." To produce this spirit is the design of his dispensations, particularly of one such as that which we are contemplating in the death of his servant.