among the agitated communities of Germany, and the trembling thrones of Europe, a second time, the hidden treasures of revealed truth, the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue.

Soon Switzerland produced a Zwingle, and France a Calvin; and near the close of the century Holland was blest with the labors of Arminius and Episcopious. These were all great lights in the moral and evangelic heavens; and, like the luminaries of day and night, they poured out their effulgence to dissipate the gloom of the evening shadows, and beautify and fertilize the Redeemer's heritage. They were emphatically ministers for the times in which they lived. Again, the churches of Europe relapsed into formalism and impiety, and the demon of Infidelity walked over the earth arm in arm with the "Man of Sin," until the Angel of the Covenant poured out a vial of awakening mercy upon a company of young men who were cloistered within the walls of an English University, and set before them an open door through which they passed into a new dispensation of religious experience;-and thus in the last century the Wesleys, the Hills, Hervey and Whitefield, with many others, were converted, and went forth to speak in the ear of infidelity and sin, warning and reproving the vicious, arousing and alarming the lukewarm, and them that were "at ease in Zion," until the British Islands felt the regenerating power of a soul-saving and spiritual religion. England has been saved; but let no one forget that her salvation has been through the pious endeavors of the evangelists of the last century, whom God raised up to re-kindle the fires which had expired on the altars of the National Church.

Nor did the blessed Redeemer forget this Western world, amid the conflicts and darkness of the last hundred years. There were intellectual "giants in those days," who were converted to the truth, and who consecrated their mighty energies to the interests of experimental religion. Davies in the South, the Tennants in the Middle States, (then Colonies,) and Edwards in New England, were "burning and shining lights," whose radiance has not been lost in the "valley and shadow of death." Coke, and Asbury, and Whitefield, "stars of the first magnitude" in the Old World, were hailed as suns of unrivalled splendor in the New. These, and a host of others we cannot mention, have been the instruments, under God, of sending throb after throb of divine power through the land, until the great pulsating heart of the nation has felt the renewing energy of evangelical doctrine and influence.

SUCCESSFUL MINISTERS.

"THE old ministers," said Mr. Williams of Wern, "were not. much better preachers than we are, and in many respects they were inferior to us; but there was an unction about their ministry, and success attendant upon it, that can now be but seldom seen. And what is the cause of the difference? They prayed more than we do. If we would prevail and 'have power with men,' we must first prevail and 'have power with God.' It was on his knees that Jacob became a prince; and if we would become princes, we must be oftener and more importunate upon our knees." He was very fond of relating the following anecdote respecting the late Rev. J. Griffith of Caernavron: "Mr. Griffith was to preach one night in a farm house, and he desired permission to retire to a private room before the service began. He remained there a considerable time after the congregation had assembled. As there was no sign of the preacher making his appearance, the good man of the house sent the servant to request him to come, as the people had been for some time waiting. On approaching the door, she heard what she supposed to be a conversation carried on between two persons in rather a subdued tone of voice. She stood listening at the door, and heard one say to the other, 'I will not go unless thou come with me.' The girl returned to her master, and said, 'There is some one with Mr. Griffith, and he tells him that he will not come unless the other accompany him. I did not hear the other make any reply, so I conclude he will not come from there to night.' 'Yes, yes, he will,' said the master; and I'll warrant the other will come with him, if matters are as you represent them. We shall begin the service by singing and reading till the two come.' At length Mr. Griffith came, and the 'other' with him, and they had an extraordinary meeting that night. It proved the commencement of a powerful revival in the neighborhood, and many were converted to God. 'Nothing, brethren,' Mr. Williams would say, by the way of applying the anecdote, 'is necessary to render our ministry as efficient and successful as that of our fathers, but that we should be brought to the same spirit and frame of mind.""

BY REV. JAMES RAWSON, A. M., M. D.,

PASTOR OF THE M. E. CHURCH, KEESVILLE, NEW YORK.

THE HARMONY OF NATURE AND REVELATION.

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee. Job xii. 8.

To creatures gifted with perception, memory, and foresight, it is natural, when contemplating the earth, their birth place, to enquire how did it originate, how long will it continue, and what will be its end.

Conscious that we have souls, and familiar with those external signs by which their existence is made apparent, we intuitively refer similar external signs in others, to the existence of a similar internal cause. Hence, through the medium of outward symbols, and through that medium only, embodied spirits recognize each other, and with each other hold communion.

It is the same with the uncreated Spirit. There is no immediate recognition of God, or communion with him by the external senses. "No man hath seen God at any time, or can see him." Whatever is known of him by the external senses, is known through the medium of those manifestations of himself which he has been pleased to make either in his works or his word. These manifestations, whether inscribed on scrolls of parchment by the pen of his prophets, or on the pages of earth's mighty and mysterious volume by his own finger, are at once divine and authentic

If the former are more easy to be understood, the latter are less liable to be corrupted. And the two, constituting the whole counsel of God, when rightly understood, and applied each to its appropriate objects, and confined each within its appropriate limits, are always in harmony, and, if at any time apparent discrepancies exist between them, they are apparent merely.

If God, who created the world, inspired the record of its creation, the one cannot contradict the other, but the two must be in harmony. Both are true; and, because they are so, the more both are studied, and the better both are understood, the greater the light they will reciprocally shed, and the confirmation they will afford to each other. Truth can have, therefore, nothing to fear from the study of the works any more than of the God of Truth, and, therefore, in the language of the text, we are told to "speak to the earth," and we are assured that our invocation shall be responded to by the communication of truthful and important instruction"and it shall teach thee."

We cannot, within the limits of one discourse, enter into the manifold topics which these words of the patriarch of Uz suggest. They may invite us, in a general sense, to investigate all the varieties of the animal creation; to trace their delicate mechanism, and to acknowledge that there is a God, and a God of providential watchfulness and goodness. It may call upon us to take a minute leaf of the forest, and, with the microscopic eye of close research, to analyse its tints and construction on the one hand, or gaze on the rich and varied scenery of some vast and extended landscape on the other.

"Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee. " Plunge into the deep mines which human industry and enterprise have excavated; examine their minerals and their chrystals; follow geology into the mountain and the ocean-cave; gaze upon the fossil remains of the formations of distant ages, and hear them eloquently declaring design, order and regularity, and testifying to the infinite wisdom and exuberant goodness of the great Creator! Take the whole range of inductive science, only yet half developed, every day discovering new wonders, unfolding new combinations, multiplying the resources of truth and the evidences of reality with infinite progression, and bringing all its varied facts and all its grand principles into one unbroken and undeviating line of solemn testimony to him who "spread the heavens like a curtain," and canopied

the world with stars; him, who hath his way in the whirlwind and the storm, and about whom are clouds and darkness!

Turning aside, however, from each of these inviting themes of Christian contemplation, we propose to place the books of Revelation and of Nature side by side; and, after perusing the inspired narrative of the one, interrogate the other concerning the testimony which it bears in reference to its origin, continuance, and end. Now, be the origin of the earth what it may, that man has not always inhabited it-nay, that his residence on it is of comparatively short duration, is admitted. If, therefore, any authentic records exist of the state of things at or near the time of man's creation, though sanctioned by mere human authority, it would appear that whatever was found in those records in relation to what occurred in those by-gone days, ought to be regarded with the profoundest deference. To say the least, with such records we are furnished in the Holy Scriptures—and, if as books of human composition they deserve to be respectfully regarded, how much more so, as revelations from God.

In an inquiry concerning the origin, duration, and end of the world we inhabit, it seems fitting, then, that the books both of Revelation and of Nature should be consulted and compared; and the more so, since it may be presumed, that, if proceeding from the same God, as is claimed to be the case, they will reciprocally shed light upon each other.

As preliminary, however, to such comparison, we may be permitted to remark, that the history of the creation is very briefthat it is embodied in a primitive language, at an early age, and during the infancy of letters-that whatever is said in relation to the details and order of creation is said incidentally-and that the evident design of the inspired narrative is to reveal Jehovah as the Creator and Governor of heaven and earth, and to teach man to love, honor, and obey him as such.

With these remarks, we are now prepared to ask-What says the Bible concerning the origin, duration, and end of the world; and what teaching does the world present concerning its own origin, duration, and end?

I. WE ENQUIRE AS TO THE ORIGIN OF THE world.

1. The Bible says this world had a beginning that it was created-and that God created it.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”