principles, and from the court to the cottage there was no light in the dwelling. But God's set time arrived, the time to favour Zion, when His word, which breaketh the stony rock in pieces, came upon England, and it was said to her, as she lay in her gross darkness, Arise, shine!

From 1729 to 1732, small societies of praying young men were formed at Oxford-the two Wesleys and Hervey among them. These gradually increased, and preaching commenced. Whitfield followed; then came Venn, Romaine, Berridge, Doddridge, and Fletcher-some with much truth, some with little; more here, and less there; chaff with the wheat, and dross with the gold; but the Lord, scattering the one and refining the other, owned His word for the glory of His own name, and to make His mighty power to be known. These gracious men owed much, spiritually and morally, to the fostering love of Lady Huntingdon, who was raised up at that period as a mother in Israel, a woman who has never been exceeded in usefulness by her sex. It would be well if the desire of George III. was that of every bishop of the present day, when he said, "I wish there was a Lady Huntingdon in each diocese of my kingdom."

Such were the principal causes by which the Lord of the harvest gathered His wheat into the garner; and thus, by the raising up of under shepherds, did the Great Shepherd "revive His work in the midst of the days" of the last century.

It was by prayer-by the spirit of prayer dropped into the soul by the God of prayer, that the Revival

In

in America first commenced. 1857, that country was visited by commercial disasters, and in this wise it began:-In the upper Lecture-room of the old north Dutch church in New York, a solitary man was kneeling upon the floor engaged in earnest, importunate prayer. He was a man who lived very much in the lives of others-lived almost wholly for them-but he longed to become more useful, and to reach perishing sinners around he needed a thousand lives. The constant prayer of this man of God was, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and the more he prayed the greater became his confidence that prayer would be answered. Then an hour for prayer was set apart, from twelve at noon until one, that men of business, who were in the habit of availing themselves of that hour for rest and refreshment, might attend. At first, only one solitary step was heard at the door,-then two-then three, until Jeremiah Calvin Lamphier writes, "We had a good meeting; the Lord was with us to bless us." Places of prayer multiplied-numbers increased sectarianism fell before union, and the little one became a thousand! It spread through the mountains of Pennsylvania; the Spirit of God arrested sailors at sea; men in railway cars became converted; and thus it went on, until of America it was said, "What hath God wrought!"

In Ireland and Wales the work has been so recent it need not be dwelt upon. It was the day of God's power there, and not until the day of His appearing will it be known how extensively great that work was.

But the effects of these two periods of Revival were marvellously similar, showing that the same Spirit worked in both. That Satan took advantage of each occasion there can be no doubt, or that fanaticism and exaggeration found an entrance by the side of truth and soberness. But is there a day (so far as we know), "when the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan comes not also among them ?" (Job i. 6.)

The many remarkable instances of sudden conversion, connected with mental and bodily anguish, emanating, it is trusted and believed, with the large majority, from the manifested operations of the Spirit of God, and resulting in a settled peace within the soul, are too recent to be forgotten, and their hold upon our memory can only cease when that memory itself fails. But a few extracts from the journal of Whitfield are now given, to show in what a striking manner the effects of both Revivals correspond with each other:-"Words cannot express the glorious displays of Divine grace which we saw, and heard, and felt. All the congregation were so moved, that very few, if any, could refrain from crying out Some were wrought upon in a more instantaneous way than others; some in a more silent, others in a more violent manner Several

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little boys and girls, who were fond of sitting round me on the pulpit while I preached, and handing to me people's notes, though they were often pelted with eggs, dirt, &c., never once gave way; but on the contrary, every time I was struck,

turned up their little weeping eyes, and seemed to wish they could receive the blows for me. ...A very great concern appeared among the people of Cambustang, with some circumstances very unusual among us; to wit, severe bodily agonies, outcryings, and faintings in the congregation Three of the little boys who were converted when I was last here, came to me and wept, and begged me to pray for and with them. A minister tells me that scarce one is fallen back who was awakened, either among old or young. Persons from

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all parts flocked to see, and many from many parts went home convinced and converted unto God. A brae, or hill, near the manse at Cambustang, seemed to be formed by Providence for containing a large congregation. People sat unwearied till two in the morning to hear sermons, disregarding the weather. You could scarce walk a yard but you must tread upon some, either rejoicing in God for mercies received, or crying out for more. Thousands and thousands have I seen, before it was possible to catch it by sympathy, melted down under the word and power of God. At the celebration of the holy communion their joy was so great, that at the desire of many, both ministers and people, in imitation of Hezekiah's passover, they had, a month or two after, a second; which was a general rendezvous of the people of God. The communion-table was in the field; three tents at proper distances, all surrounded by a multitude of hearers, above twenty ministers (among whom was good old Mr.

anything," Sir William used to say, "until he has taught it in some way or other-it may be orally, it may be by writing a book." It is a grand truth, and points a fine moral. Knowledge is knowledge, say the philosophers; it is precious for its own sake, it is an end to itself. But nature says the opposite. Knowledge is not knowledge until we use it; it is not ours until we have brought it under the command of the great social faculty, speech; we exist for society, and knowledge is

null until we give it expression, and in so doing make it over to the social instinct.

Your course, then, my dear Reginald, is clear. Read slowly, ponder deeply, revise carefully, write much, and talk as copiously as circumstances may allow, keeping constantly before you the language of the Apostle, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God."

Your sincere friend,

R. D. S.

"THE word of God liveth and abideth for ever;" and the church of God must be formed according to the principles, and ruled by the laws, which that word reveals. Try the church of Rome by this standard, and she is found not only miserably wanting, but dreadfully anti-scriptural and heathenish.

The Church.-Rome teaches that the church of Christ has a visible unity under the Pope as a visible head, and that it is one earthly corporation. The Bible teaches that there are many churches, and speaks of the "churches of Judea," "the churches of Achaia," "the seven churches of Asia," "the church of Ephesus," ""the church that is in their house," i.e., the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Rom. xvi. 3—5); "the churches of the Gentiles,"