The scatter'd of a cloudy day,

And Zion's broken walls restore! And, through the travail and the toil Of true obedience, minister Beauty for ashes, and the oil

Of joy for mourning, unto her! So shall her holy bounds increase With walls of praise and gates of peace : So shall the Vine, which martyr tears And blood sustain'd in other years,

With fresher life be clothed

upon; And to the world in beauty show Like the rose-plant of Jericho,

And glorious as Lebanon!

The Reciprocal Influence of Missions.

BY THE REV. ERSKINE MASON, D. D.

We live in an interesting, because eventful age. Occurrences are continually taking place which arrest attention, as well on account of their suddenness as their importance, seeming to indicate the approach of the world to some great crisis in its history. In this respect, the present is more distinctly marked than the past, and the future will be more marked than the present, as the lines of God's providence converge more rapidly to the point in which they are all ultimately to terminate. Every new phase in the aspect of human things, imposes some new obliga. tion, and wisdom is deriving instruction continually from the signs of the times. We learn generally what duty is, from the oracles of God; we must learn what are appropriate duties, at any given time, from the particular developments of Providence by which that time is marked.

In view of the characteristics of the present eventful age, the Christian world has been awakened to a sense of the obligation which these characteristics

impose; and believing that the great point in which all the lines of divine Providence are to terminatethe issue upon which all events are directly or indirectly bearing, is the final triumph of the Gospel, the perfect establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom in the world, the claims of benevolent effort assume a peculiar importance, and plans of usefulness are projected and prosecuted with zeal, taking advantage of events, and having direct reference to the spread of the Gospel.

It can hardly be supposed of a Christian observer of the signs of the times, that he should be indifferent to any right form of Christian effort; and yet it may be possible that, in some instances, there may be hesitation as to the most effective methods of usefulness, and even a paramount importance may be given to agencies which are but secondary in their nature. It is not believed that any one of the separate parts in the great enterprise of the church of God, which are urging their claims upon the Christian world, can be dispensed with. They combine to form a consistent whole, and a relaxation of effort · in any one department tends to destroy the symmetry of the general arrangement, and diminish its effectiveness; and yet there may be one form of Christian enterprise which, if not intrinsically more important than the others, is so, because of its relations to all the rest-it may constitute the spring of the whole machinery, without which it could never move.

If there is one point upon which the Christian eye should be intently fixed, it is undoubtedly the field of foreign effort. The bearings and relations of the foreign missionary work are such as to give it a commanding position, and to claim for it our highest interest. It is a very superficial view of the whole subject of Christian effort, which gives to the home field a paramount importance. Plausible, indeed, is it to say that we have all around us, in our own land, a large unevangelized population, which claims, as part and parcel of ourselves-as linked to us by strong social sympathies, and being immediately under our eye and within our reach—our first regards. The importance, nay, indispensable necessity on every account, of the firm establishment of the kingdom of God among ourselves is not called in question; but then it may be asked, if an exclusive attention to this one end alone is not calculated to prevent rather than to secure its attainment?

There is, I imagine, a very mistaken notion prevalent, and a very mistaken policy growing out of it, as though there was an undue attention given to the foreign work, leading to a neglect of that which especially belongs to us, and which they who are at home imperatively demand; and efforts to carry the Gospel to the heathen are prejudiced in view of the numerous and pressing claims of home.

In such reasoning, however, and the position which it goes to establish, there seems to be an entire over

sight of this one thought. The peculiar characteristic of the church of God, the secret of its efficiency, and the element of its success in any department whatever, is found in its aggressiveness. Progress, advancement to a given point, is the great law of every thing. Generally speaking, that which is already attained is rendered secure in possession only by renewed attainments of the same kind. The hu'man frame, until it has reached its maturity, must grow, in order to secure a healthy action of its powers; if its general progress is arrested, there is no full development of any of its parts, but a stinted action which results in dwarfishness. The mind retains its already acquired stores of information, only by means of constant accessions to its fund of knowledge, and by regular and unwearied application, preserves the strength and vigor of its powers. He who ceases to learn, ceases to remember; and he who ceases to act, soon is reduced to mental imbecility.

So in human enterprises, whether of a private or national character, the means of strength and perpetuity are means of progress likewise. The man who at any point in his history gives himself up to indolence, generally loses what by former energy he had acquired; and a people, marked by inactivity and supineness, very rapidly sinks upon the scale of nations.

Analogy, then, may throw some light upon the