AN ADDRESS TO CHRISTIANS.

[Tho this Address has been already published in the Pan oplist, it has been particularly requested that it might be printed with Miss Woodbury's other writings.]

How great, my fellow Christians, are your obligations to your adorable Redeemer. How strong and endearing are the ties which bind your souls to him, and urge you to ardent zeal in his glorious cause. His grace has rescued your souls from exposure to endless flames, and will conduct them safely to the hill of Zion, there to mingle in all the sacred felicities and unfading glories of the saints in light. When the thunders of the divine law filled your hearts with anguish, and there appeared but a step between you and all the miseries of the bottomless abyss, then the hand of mercy from on high conducted you to the foot of the cross, where, leaving your burdens and reposing your souls, you commenced with cheerful step your journey to a better country. Happy indeed was the hour of your espousals to Christ. Liberated from the bondage of Satan, and standing secure on the immoveable Rock, your souls triumphed in the contemplation of pardoning mercy, and your lips sung hosannas to your great Deliverer. You were then made acquainted with feelings and principles never to be extinguished, to which you were before utter strangers. Warmed with the ardors of holy gratitude, did you not ask, with the devout Psalmist, What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? This question you have doubtless frequently repeated. Say, my friends, have you not a supreme regard to the glory of God, a predominating desire to honor your Redeemer, and extend the victories of his grace?

You are engaged in a cause precious to angels. For its advancement all holy beings unite their voluntary and cheerful exertions, and unholy beings promote it, tho they mean not so, neither do their hearts think so. It is a cause for which your Redeemer bled; and he has pledged his word that it shall prevail. Every event, however minute or apparently inauspicious, will be ultimately subservient to its prosperity; and vain are the combined efforts of men and devils to exterminate it from the earth. Amidst all the commotious and calamities, which lay kingdoms and ery

pires waste, covering our globe with carnage, devastation and wo, rejoice, Christians, that this case is safe. Exult in those predictions of its universal triumph, which we derive from holy men of old, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. How sublime the prospect of the mil lennial glory! How divinely transporting to penetrate the cheerless night which now wraps the earth, and discover the bright effulgence of that morning, which shall ere long burst upon the world from on high; a morning without slouds, enlightened by the beams of the Son of righteousness, and vocal with songs of salvation from millions of redeemed sinners. When a few more years of gloom have run their rounds, this period shall arrive with all ts amazing realities. Then shall this, dying world rise to immortal life; and, filled with ardent devotion and admiring joy, shall unite in one immense concert of rapturous praise. Then shall the peace, which descends from the regions of purity and love, scatter its enduring blessings in every land, and indissolubly unite all nations in the bonds of Christian affeétion. The hearts of men shall beat in happy, unison, influ enced by the benevolent spirit of the Gospel, while their lips, touched like Isaiah's with hallowed fire, dwell on Immanuel's name with holy transport. If angels and departed saints rejoice over one repenting sinner, what must be their emotions when nations are born in a day; when unnumbered millions of our apostate race reflect the image of Jesus, and are forming for eternal improvement in the exeellencies and glories of the heavenly state? What celestial ardor will swell their bosoms, and how divinely will they attune their harps to louder notes of praise? And shall we, my friends, in view of these glorious displas of almighty grace, be indifferent? Have our hearts felt the glow of pious affection, and shall they not now burn with a livelier flame? Shall we not exclaim, Even so, come, Lord Jesus; come quickly? If this period, so full of glory to God and happiness to man, is nigh, even at the door; and if it is to be intro duced by the instrumentality of Christians, how alluring, how powerful the inducements to new, combined, and vigorous exertions, in the cause of Christ? Is it possible for a friend of Jesus to slumber in criminal supineness at this momentous crisis?

My friends, the time is short. With every passing mo ment, with every heaving breath, you curtail the transient term of life, and draw nearer to the grave, where there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom. Your days are flying away with great rapidity, and with them all your opportunities of communicating and receiving good; but

the manner in which you spend them will appear from the archives of eternity, and will have a vast influence on your future condition. Eternity! let the word deeply affect your hearts, and extend its salutary power to every action. The consequences of this state of probation will reach through scenes of "futurity forever future," through ages on ages in endless succession. Qur weeks, our months, our years are rapidly measuring their flight. The last particle of our allotted time will soon arrive, and leave our mortal frames in the embraces of death, while our souls will survey with awful interest, the regions beyond the grave. And when, in the unclouded light of eternity, we shall view divine truths, O how infinitely important will they appear! What shall we then think of earth, of souls, of heaven, of hell, of the work of redemption, of the means of grace, and of engagedness in the service of God?

Did we live under just apprehensions of eternity, we should do with our might, whatsoever our hands find to do, performing every duty with a promptitude, fidelity, and zeal, with which we have now little conception. Feeling that we are acting with reference to the bar of Jehovah, how earnestly should we seek that honor which cometh from God only. What holy circumspection should mark ou. habitual conduct. With what noble indifference should we look upon the censure and applause of mortals, and upon all the fleeting things of this world. Shail not these considerations be engraven on your minds, and urge us to a diligent improvement of our time, our talents, and all our active powers, in preparation for the last great day?.

I repeat it, Christians, the time is short. Your moments are too invaluably precious to be trifled away in unworthy pursuits, or negligence; for they will certainly be few, and on them rests consequences lasting as the existence of your souls. Your Savior speaks to your souis: Work while the day lasts, for the night cometh wherein no man can work. O, let it be realized, that what you do for him must be done quickly. Should you neglect present opportunities of glorifying him, you may never be indulged with more on earth; for death may be at hand to convey you hence. Your days, with all their toils and sorrows, are transient, and will soon give place to the rest of Canaan, your everlasting home. Be not weary in well-doing, nor suffer your minds to faint because of crosses and trials; for they belong to this state of probation, and are especially the portion of pilgrims and strangers here. What; tho with David you ascend mount Olivet, weeping as you measure your weary steps, yet short

ly your feet will stand on the verge of heaven, and walk the streets of the New Jerusalem.

My friends, are you heavily oppressed with numerous and complicated afflictions? Do you groan under a weight of sin? Turn your eyes, then, from this valley of wo to those regions of glory to which you are hastening, vere millions of holy spirits forever encircle the throne of God, and mingle their ceaseless hallelujahs; where the character of the Deity presents its transcendent charms without a veil, filling the bosoms of saints and of angels with considerations too mighty for utterance; where pleasures immeasutable and eternal flow without ceasing from the exhaustless river of life, far surpassing the comprehension of finite creatures, and such as the language of heaven alone can adequately describe. O the infinite value of that blood, which was shed by the compassionate Savior, to purchase this amazing bliss for worms of the dust! O the boundless mercy, which can raise ruined sinners from the gulf of everlasting perdition, to share in the exalted employments and felicities of angels. Say, Christians, is not your Redeemer altogether lovely, worthy of your perfect confidence, your unreserved obedience? Do you not rejoice in prospect of the hour, when, far from tempestuous winds and storms of this unfavorable clime, you shall find that rest, which remains for the people of God? And when, from the heights of the celestial Zion, you shall take a retrospect of your wanderings in this waste howling wilderness, win you regret your labors and sufferings in the cause of your Lord? If tears could be found in heaven, you would ingenuously weep to think how mu time you had wasted, how many oppor tunities of doing good you had neglected, how many duties you had entirely omitted, how many others had been very coldly performed, and in how many various ways you might have advanced the honor of your Divine Master, which alas, you failed of entering upon. Were these considerations familiar to your minds, unquestionably you would exhibit lives more honorable to God, more ornamental to your profession, and conducive to the best interests of immortal man; while you would, of consequence, be abundantly more acquainted with those sublime comforts of your holy religion, which are usually enjoyed by such as cultivate the power of godliness, and render uniform obedience to the requirements of the gospel.

But, after all these motives to ardent engagedness in the best of causes; motives which ought constantly to retain a 00mmanding influence over your hearts, do you, my friends, wish for more? If so, more I present you. Direet your eyes

to Calvary, and survey that cross on which are suspended your hopes of heaven. Whom see you there, loaded with ridicule and insults of rebels, oppressed with anguish and agony unutterably severe, and meekly sinking into the arms of death? Ah! Christians, it is your Lord. To these sufferings he voluntarily submitted, that he might procure pardon, peace and salvation for guilty men, who were ob noxious to the tremendous curses of a broken law; and exposed to all the interminable horrors of endless death. Through his meritorious passion, mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have embraced each other, the gate of heaven is unbarred; and the tree of immortal life extends its fruit to a destitute famishing world. Ye humble votaries of the cross of Christ; ye fol lovers of the man of sorrows, when you contemplate this melting scene, do not your hearts yield to a heavenly influ ence, and burn with a saered flame? And do you not resolutely determine, that by divine aid, you will shake off inac tivity, and be co-workers with God, in accomplishing his purposes of love and grace! Come, then, and consecrate yourselves anew to the service of your Beloved, and henceforth let every day bear to heaven a favorable report of your efforts to extend the conquests of Immanuel, and promote the spiritual welfare of beings destined to live forever. Thus you will constrain sinners to recognize the excellence of Christianity, and prevent their taunting cry, hut do ye more than others? Thus you will manifest your cordial attachment to the Savior, bring glory to your God, be blessings to the church and the world, and increase your imperishable felicity in the kingdom of heaven, where departed saints rest from their labors and their works do follow them.

Christians, evince to the world that you are followers of Christ. Manifest by your sublime and heavenly deportment, that, not satisfied with terrestrial good, you have fixed your hopes and affections on a brighter world, where neither sin nor sorrow cau ever intrude. Are you not expectants of glory? Then be nobly indifferent to the charms of this perishable earth, and live as becomes those, whe have caught the spirit, and anticipated the joys of heaven. Bought with the blood of your Redeemer, let a view of his honor guide your conduct, and impart sacred energy to all that you do. Call forth your latent powers to exertion for the promotion of his glorious cause, and, by a constant readiness to every good word and work, let your light shine with a divine splendor before others, alluring them to go and do likewise. An extensive field for usefulness