man lies under awful responsibility and has it in his power, though not apart from Divine grace, to accept or to reject the grace of God-to come to God and have life, or to depart from and remain | away from God, and perish. 4. It will further justify the belief that faith, saving faith, is nothing more nor less, or other than simple belief, an intellectual act-just such an one as we every day put forth, and as to the exercise of which we need no instruction -no miraculous agency-nothing more than having the truth about Christ lucidly and fully exhibited, and that we consider it honestly in its relation to ourselves, thus allowing it to exercise its native influence. Faith is the natural consequence of truth known. J. J.

TIME LOSERS.

THE New Year on which we have just entered reminds us of the past; and busy, meddling memory tells of hours lost, and precious time wasted. It also tells of other losses. Many who at its commencement were in circumstances of temporal comfort, are now in comparative poverty and distress, occasioned by the loss of health, or by some nuforeseen event. Others lost precious opportunities of salvation, and lo, their day of grace has closed, and having lost health and time, are now mourning the loss of the soul. Their friends have laid their bodies in the cold, dark grave, over which the wintry wind howls mournfully, and from which neither the voice of affection, nor the sweet breeze of spring shall be able to call them forth. Multitudes Jose time as if it were of no value. Years, as they swiftly glide on, make little or no impression upon their minds. Grey hairs may silver their heads, but they perceive it not. Afflic tions are making inroads on their bodily frame, yet is the fact almost unheeded. Friend after friend departs; grave after grave opens; the voices of beloved friends, which like sweet music fell upon their ears, is heard no more; and yet, strange infatuation, they look upon this world as their home, and continue to lose precious time-and if

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for a moment they are aroused from their slumber to serious reflection, by some relative or personal affliction, it is that they may relapse more profoundly into the deep sleep of spiritual death. O let the fact impress your hearts, ye losers of time, that the pale horse and his rider are on the road, and that you will ere long fall a prey to all-conquering death. Cast your eyes around the sanctuaries in which you are accustomed to worship, and see the chasms made in your congregations. Some who began the year with you, possessing, to all human appearance, more of the plenitude of life than yourselves, were not permitted to celebrate with you the close of the year, they have been compelled to yield to the irresistible attack of the King of Terrors, who spares neither sex nor age. Then, shall we go on to waste precious time, throw away with criminal indifference its invaluable hours-ruin our souls-and fling all heaven away? That is lost time when the sinner hearkens not to the warning voice, Escape for thy life,' but allows lost hours to multiply till the last squandered hour is spent, and its thrilling cry is heard, Lost, for ever lost. Eternity is here.'

That is lost time in which the follower of Christ does nothing to glorify his Master-and that is lost time, involving a lost eternity too, wherein the soul that has not yet found peace through the blood of the cross, does nothing towards seeking and finding it. O what strange infatuation is this: surely 'tis enough to make angels weep. Limited, at the utmost stretch of his mortal existence, to a few fleeting years, to work out his own salvation, one might expect that he would number his moments as a miser numbers his golden coins when compelled to deal them out, will fling away hours and years, as though he too had an eternity in possession, with no object but to gratify his own capricious will. Surely, 'lost time' will be found written in flaming characters on the gates of hell.

That is lost time, when unnecessary hours are given to sleep. That is lost time, when hours are spent at the toilet, to deck out these frail bodies

will show the character of the book. We have the ransomed returning home; progressive meetness for heaven; the burdened gently led by Christ; the clouds of the Christian the chariot of God,' &c.

WORDS OF PEACE AND WELCOME. By Horatius Bonar, D.D. Nisbet and Co.-Meditations on various texts in Dr Bonar's happiest manner. MARY MARKLAND: the Cottager's Daughter. A narrative founded on facts. London: Nisbet and Cr.-A religious tale suited for young girls in Sabbath-schools.

The New Testament Rule of Christian Liberality by Weekly Offerings.

Loudon Nisbet and Co.

Those who have any doubt about the scripturalness of the Weekly Offering, should read this tract. It may be had for fourpence. BABY BAPTISM. Loudon: W. Arthorpe, 22, Bishop'sgate-street, without. A pamphlet containing a correspondence between Mr. Dunn, and a minister at Stepney, on the legality of baby-baptism.

LETTER FROM THE REV. D. M. GRAHAM.

[The following letter, extracted from the Free will Baptist Newspaper, will be read with great interest -ED.]

New York, Nov. 8th, 1860.

MR. EDITOR:- Yesterday morning I reached home by the steamship Edinburgh, Captain Kenedy. She sailed from Liverpool on the 24th of October, at 4 p.m., making the voyage something under fourteen days. 1: was my intention to come home by the Adriatic or Persia, but I could get no berth in either, though I applied nearly a fortnight before the time I expected to sail. The Adriatic sailed the 25th and the Persia a day later; yet we found, upon our arrival, they were both a day or two before us in New York. The Vigo, however, which sailed a week before us, arrived soon after we anchored off Castle Garden. I have not heard the cause of her loss of a week's time, though as we passed her the day before we reached New York, our captain told us she had probably encountered severe storms, and touched at Halifax on account of insufficiency of coal. I pity those who were a week longer in crossing than we were. For a screw steamer at this time of the year, our passage is, however, considered more than ordinarily favourable.

The first part of our voyage was not very pleasant, however, even to those accustomed to the sea. The head

winds were strong, and they gave us the dismal prospect of their acquaintance for seventeen days. It brought forcibly to our minds that truthful remark of Johnson, or some other observing author, that going to sea is like going to prison, with the advantage of a chance of being drowned. The the Mersey, we noticed that the passen moment our ship weighed anchor in gers began their monotonous pace back and forward on the deck, all unconscious of their imitation of imprisoned lions and tigers.

The General Baptists of Great Britian are so completely like the Freewill Baptists of our country, that they have no church at Liverpool. I had expected, of course, to see no friends in that city, but to take my departure like a stranger from a strange land, like the hundreds who annually leave the General Baptist congregations to go from that port to the various lauds under heaven. To my great joy I fared much better, for my most excellent friend W., of Nottingham, came with his son to Liverpool to spend with me my last night in England. Never did I feel more gratified, and never did I feel more unworthy of such attentions, Perhaps we fell asleep as early

as two o'clock in the morning, after several hours had passed away almost imperceptibly. Still, the next morning early we went down nearly a mile (from Laurence's Hotel), to the wonderful docks of Liverpool, to take a look at the Edinburgh, and to have a peep at my state-room; but that ship was anchored out in the stream, and nearly a mile away from our nearest approach. We returned to Laurence's and consoled ourselves with coffee, ham and other creature comforts, not taking anything, however, stronger than those named. Then we hastened to the railway station, and the basty farewells left me alone and lonely. It was not many minutes till I found my self in the saloon of the Edinburgh, writing my farewell notes to about a dozen friends in different parts of England.

On Thursday (the 25th), as we passed over the channel, I had hoped to write several notes to send ashore at Queenstown in the evening. It was in vain I tried my hand at it; not that the motion of the ship was enough to prevent me, but the sea sickness rendered it very difficult to do anything but lie in the berth. I managed to get through only two or three brief letters, and then sunk into a condition in which two bowls of gruel served me for a whole week. Let me bere mention to my friends, the phonographers, that I am grateful to them for invent ing a character to denote a laughter pause, but while writing that day I regretted that they had invented no mark by which I could indicate to the eye of my friends what stomach exercises I was so intensely engaged at in the long pauses between the slow sentences of my letters.

It seems to me to be worth while to look at the bright side of things in this world in all cases where you can find one. Of late years I generally succeed, but for four or five weeks be fore setting out on this voyage, it seemed to me, for some unaccountable reason, that I should never see my native land. Packing one's trunk for the last time; taking his last ride on the railway; writing his last letters; taking his last view of land; and going into his berth, which is soon to be bis

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coffin; are rather solemn things to him who knows they are the last acts of life. In effect, it seems to me I have been through the experience. The second day out I gave orders to the steward to take my remains to New York, if I died on the passage, and if the steamer reached her destination. He kindly promised, saying that in the two previous trips they had been able to do so with those who died without putting the bodies into spirits; from the coolness of the weather it was sufficient if they were placed in the small boats on the upper deck. It was a serious fact that in those two voyages three persons had died on our ship, but, the steward added consolingly, not of sea-sickness. He assured me, over and over, that no one ever dies of seasickness.

The first Sabbath I was able to attend public worship in the saloon. During that service were about my only comfortable moments till the second Saturday of our voyage. Up to that day, with the above exception, I suffered much, not unfrequently throwing up blood from the violence of retching. We had for the service that Sabbath the reading of prayers and an excellent sermon by Dr. Deems, of North Carolina. It is no matter how much we differed and discussed on political subjects and the peculiar institution,' I must in justice say that the sermon on the subject of Man's Need of a Divine Support was peculiarly able and well timed, and I take the more pains to say so because I heard two or three of the Dr.'s political friends, who drew their inspiration very much, I judge, from intoxicating drinks, pronounce the sermon altogether insipid. No doubt it was, to their taste, for when wine is in, wit is out. But I often wonder how it is that drinking, lond talking, senseless, fault-finding travellers, receive more attention from the officers of ships, and, must I add, many of those who wish to pass for ladies, than persons who manage, even on shipboard, to go to bed without disturbing their neighbours with their drunken revelry. We have seen this evil in greater degree than on the Edinburgh, but even there it was to a