LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH. 
 
 Received October, 18^4. 
 .z^ccessions No,bj J L^ Clcvss No. 
 
Illork0 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REV. JOHN HARRIS, D.D., 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE GREAT COMMISSION: 
 
 OB, THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH CONSTITUTED AND CHARGED TO 
 CONVEY THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD. 
 
 With an Introductory Essay, by William R, Williams, D.D. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE GREAT TEACHER : 
 
 OR, CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR LORD's MINISTRY. 
 
 Introductory Essay, by Heman Humphrey, D.D., 
 President of Amherst College. 
 
 III. 
 
 MAMMON: 
 
 OR, COVETOUSNESS THE SIN OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
 A Prize Essay. 
 
 IV. 
 UNION: 
 
 OR, THE DIVIDED CHURCH MADE ONE. 
 
 V. 
 ZEBULON: 
 
 OR, THE CONDITION AND CLAIMS OF SEAMEN. 
 
 A Prize Essay. Edited by Rev. W. M Rogers and D. M. Lord. 
 
 VI. 
 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN : 
 
 Paper, gilt edges. 
 
 VIL 
 THE GOLDEN CENSER : 
 
 or, a VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF PRAYER. 
 
 Paper, gilt edges. 
 
SERMONS AND ESSAYS 
 
MISCELLANIES; 
 
 CONSISTING PRINCIPALLY OF 
 
 SEEMONS AND ESSAYS 
 
 REV. JOHN HARRIS, D.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF "mammon," " UNION," " THE GREAT TEACHER," 
 
 "the great commission," &C., «&C. 
 
 WITH 
 
 INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, 
 BY JOSEPIL-MU*jCHER, D. D. 
 
 -^:£^mA.^: 
 
 OF THB 
 
 BOSTON: 
 GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN, 
 
 59 WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 1844. 
 
vO A 7-2. 3 3 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, 
 
 By GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 >7/^i. 
 
 WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 C. A. MIRICK, PRINTER. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMONS. 
 
 Page 
 London : On behalf of the Christian Instruction Society. . . 17 
 Christian Patriotism : Before the Home Missionary Society. . 48 
 
 Importance of an Educated Ministry;: Preparatory to the 
 
 opening of the Lancashire College 75 
 
 The Conversion of the Jews : Before the British Society 
 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews . . 103 
 
 Prayer for Christ : On behalf of the Wesleyan Missionary 
 
 Society 129 
 
 Epistle to the Church in Smyrna : Anniversary at Clay- 
 land's Chapel 151 
 
 The House of Prayer : Re-opening of Trevor Chapel . . 171 
 
 Christian Excellence : Delivered at Holywell Mount 
 
 Chapel . 193 
 
 ESSAYS, &c. 
 
 The Bible . . 219 
 
 Divine Condescension 225 
 
 Divine Condescension, Human Exaltation .... 230 
 
 A Seasonable Recollection 236 
 
 The True Kindred op Christ 241 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Intercessory Prayer . . .247 
 
 Christianity no Persecutor 254 
 
 The Coming Spring 261 
 
 The Leap . . . . .267 
 
 Egotism 271 
 
 Character of John Foster as a Writer 277 
 
 Memoir of Mrs. Harris 284 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 When an author has been successful in gaining the 
 attention of the public, that public have not only evinced 
 an anxiety to derive instruction from whatever his pen has 
 furnished, but to ascertain what may be known of his 
 personal history, habits, and character. On this account 
 it may be desirable that a few facts should be stated in 
 connexion with a writer who has met with high accep- 
 tance from the Christian community of the United States, 
 before whom a new volume of his works is now placed ; — 
 a volume, in its collected form, as yet unknown in Great 
 Britain. The writer of this sketch having long enjoyed 
 an intimate friendship with Dr. Harris, and been connect- 
 ed with him in matters both personally and relatively im- 
 portant, professes an acquaintance with his subject, and 
 rejoices that he has a task in the performance of which he 
 is exposed to but little danger of exaggerated statements. 
 He trusts, that the time is very far distant, when the most 
 important duty of the biographer, — that of detailing the 
 private intercourse of the Christian and the author, and to 
 present his character as a preacher and tutor — shall need 
 to be performed. 
 
 A village, called Ugborough, near Modbury, in the 
 county of Devon, gave birth to John Harris, in the year 
 1804. To wealth or worldly honour his parents had no 
 claim. They were, however, esteemed for their correct 
 moral, and Christian deportment. The father of our 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 friend now resides in the metropolis of Great Britain to 
 enjoy the filial gratitude of his honoured son, and to re- 
 joice, as a father and a Christian, in his success and his 
 popularity. 
 
 While he was young, John Harris removed with his 
 parents to Bristol, and was admitted to the Sunday school 
 connected with the Tabernacle in that city. At this peri- 
 od of his life, I have reason to know that his ready obedi- 
 ence, amiable manners, and cheerful sociability, secured 
 for him the high esteem of all who knew him. Nor were 
 indications wanted, even then, of that brilliant genius, 
 and that determined labour in the acquirement of learning, 
 for which he has since become eminently distinguished. 
 His love of reading was far beyond the power of his 
 means to supply, and his society was most highly valued 
 by those who best knew him. I have heard Mr. Harris 
 relate, in his own playful and interesting manner, an ac- 
 count of a visit once paid to the Sunday school by the dis- 
 tinguished Joseph Lancaster, known in both hemispheres 
 as an eminent instructor of the young, who, with a happy 
 instinct, singled him out as the first lad of the school. It 
 happened at that time that a Mr. Bird, a popular lecturer 
 on astronomy, who, we believe, still resides in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Windsor, was then lecturing on his favourite 
 science at Bristol ; and Lancaster, by a note still in exist- 
 ence, introduced his little friend to the lecturer, as one 
 who would greatly profit by an attendance on his instruc- 
 tions. The lectures to which he thus listened, opened to 
 his mind worlds, and systems, and facts, which astonished 
 and delighted him, and contributed in no small degree to 
 expand his understanding, and increase his thirst after 
 knowledge. 
 
 Having given evidence of the power of religion on his 
 heart, and become connected with the Christian church in 
 whose Sunday school he had been taught the doctrines of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Saviour, he entered the College at Hoxton, to prepare 
 for the duties of the Christian ministry, in the year 1823, 
 when scarcely nineteen. Here his character became more 
 fully developed, and those who were most fully qualified 
 to form a judgment, predicted that he would attain to no 
 small eminence among his compeers. 
 
 Having completed his preparatory studies at this 
 *' school of the prophets," in 1827, Mr. Harris became 
 the pastor of a small church of Independents, or Congre- 
 gationalists, at Epsom in Surry. Here, surrounded by 
 an affectionate and increasing congregation, he cultivated 
 his personal religion, and acquired large stores of general 
 and scriptural learning. His mind, equally capacious and 
 clear, is remarkable for its readiness in apprehending truth 
 in all its aspects and connexions ; while blessed with a 
 retentive memory, he never seems for a moment to forget 
 what he has once known. 
 
 Beyond a very limited circle around Epsom, Mr. Harris 
 was scarcely known for eight or nine years after his ordi- 
 nation ; but all this time the Great Head of the church 
 was preparing him for his present extensive and success- 
 ful labours. In this secluded situation he wrote the man- 
 uscript of his " Great Teacher, '^^ which, after several 
 disappointments, he was enabled to present to the world. 
 The writer of this sketch will always remember, with de- 
 vout gratitude to God, that he was selected as the agent 
 to introduce the author to an acquaintance with the public 
 through the press. This work was silently, but certainly, 
 making a deep impression on the public mind, when an 
 event occurred which at once raised him to the pinnacle of 
 fame. 
 
 About the time of the publication of ^' The Great 
 Teacher,^'' Dr. Conquest, a Christian physician in Lon- 
 don, offered a prize of one hundred guineas for the best 
 
XU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 essay against the Sin of Covetousness, constituting the 
 Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith and the Hon. and Rev. Baptist 
 Noel the adjudicators. Mr. Harris, after carefully sur- 
 veying the subject, determined to become a competitor ; 
 and though nearly one hundred and fifty persons were can- 
 didates with him, to the delight, but not to the surprise, of 
 his most intimate friends, he carried away the prize. Of 
 this work, nearly forty thousand copies have been sold in 
 Great Britain, and about the same number in the United 
 States. Its influence on the Christian world is already 
 known to have been great, in increasing the funds of be- 
 nevolent institutions ; but I apprehend that its most emi- 
 nent usefulness has yet to appear ; for I have been per- 
 sonally assured by a professional gentleman of undoubted 
 veracity, that he can testify to its mighty influence on the 
 authors of wills, involving property to an amount which, 
 if stated, would scarce be credited. 
 
 Shortly after the publication of ''Mammon,^'' the com- 
 mittee of the British and Foreign Sailors' Society in Lon- 
 don offered a prize for the best essay on the claims of sea- 
 men to the regard of the Christian world ; when Mr. Harris 
 again became the successful competitor, and published his 
 work under the title of '' Britannia,^'' having first received 
 from his late majesty, William lY., a beautiful letter, 
 authorizing the dedication of the volume to his majesty. 
 This admirable work has also been republished in the 
 United States, under the altered title of '^ Zehulon.''^ 
 
 But we cannot now dilate, as we would, on his ^^ Chris- 
 tian Citizen,'''^ his " Witnessing Church,^'' his '' Union, ^"^ 
 or the productions of his pen composing this volume ; all 
 these have combined with his previous labours to place 
 him in the very first rank of theological authors. Nor 
 has his eminence been at all lessened by the decision 
 of Drs. Welsh, Wardlaw, and Bunting, and the Rev. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XUl 
 
 Messrs. Crisp and Melvill, that he was entitled to the 
 prize of two hundred guineas for his essay on Christian 
 Missions, published under the title of " The Great Com- 
 mission,''^ 
 
 The theological chair at Cheshunt College having be- 
 come vacant by the decease of the Rev. W. Broadfoot, 
 the trustees of that institution, in 1837, presented to Mr. 
 Harris a most cordial and unanimous request to occupy it. 
 He acceeded to their wishes, and entered on his duties in 
 the early part of 1838. Over this institution may he long 
 continue to preside with the ability and success which 
 have hitherto distinguished his career. In June of that 
 year he became united in marriage with Miss Wrangham, 
 of Epsom, a connexion of the venerable archdeacon of 
 that name. This lady, every way worthy of the high 
 station she filled, and who was beloved by all to whom she 
 was known, has since, with her venerated uncle, passed 
 to another state of existence ; and it will become the duty 
 and privilege of the reader, before he lays aside this vol- 
 ume, to peruse a short but deeply affecting sketch of her 
 removal and character, from the pen of her bereaved hus- 
 band. In September of the same year the College of 
 Amherst, in the United States, (the president of which, 
 the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, had republished his '' Great 
 Teacher,'^ with an able introduction,) conferred on Mr. 
 Harris the degree of D.D. 
 
 As a preacher, no man in England is more popular than 
 Dr. Harris. With a beautifully sweet and distinct voice, 
 he unites a most attractive manner, and a style of delivery 
 which commands general admiration, while the thoroughly 
 evangelical character of his discourses makes them equal- 
 ly acceptable to believers in Jesus of every class. This 
 is indeed evident from the fact that Christians of every 
 denomination invite his services, and flock by thousands to 
 the chapels where he preaches. The missionary societies 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 connected with the Independents, the Wesleyans, and the 
 Baptists, have all sought and been favoured with his aid 
 on their anniversaries. 
 
 We have already intimated that Dr. Harris's works 
 have be(wi republished in the United States, where they 
 have attracted unprecedented interest. 
 
 It will be seen that in drawing up this account I have 
 said but little in the way of eulogy. I would wish to 
 allow facts to speak for themselves ; Dr. Harris needs no 
 flattery ; nor even that friendship should convey its im- 
 pressions to others through the medium of language. 
 Many of the productions of his mind are before the pub- 
 lic, let them proclaim his intellectual character ; the ardent 
 piety, and the disinterested generosity of his heart are 
 best known to those who have been most intimately asso- 
 ciated with him. 
 
 In introducing to the reader the volume now in his 
 hands, it does not appear to me necessary to write more 
 than a very few sentences. Each separate production ■ 
 will tell its own tale ; in three or four instances I have 
 intruded a short explanatory note on the attention of those 
 who may be induced to examine the volume. 
 
 The Sermons have all of them been separately publish- 
 ed, in London. The four first under the author's own 
 revision, and the four last were carefully taken down, by 
 eminent short-hand writers, as he read from his manu- 
 scripts in the pulpit. I have his own testimony that they 
 are admirably correct. 
 
 As to the Essays, the far larger number of them were 
 expressly written by Dr. Harris for insertion in a periodi- 
 cal which I conducted in London, and they were all print- 
 ed from his own MSS. They were published anony- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 mously, but excited universal admiration among the 
 readers of the work referred to. One paper, included in 
 this department was written for an American Annual a 
 few years since, and three other short papers were taken 
 from a periodical long since extinct, Dr. H. having dis- 
 tinctly acknowledged their authorship in communications 
 to myself. 
 
 I have now only to express my hope for the favourable 
 reception of this volume among American Christians, and 
 to present my most fervent prayer that it may advance the 
 glory of God. This, I am sure will gratify alike the 
 author of the volume, and its Editor. 
 
 New York, May, 1844. 
 

 TYJl 
 
 LONDON: 
 A SERMON 
 
 IN BEHALF OF THE CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION SOCIETY,* 
 
 DELIVERED AT CLAREMONT CHAPEL, 
 
 PENTONVILLE. 
 
 Is there no balm in Gllead ? is there no physician there ? why then 
 is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered. Jer- 
 emiah viii. 22. 
 
 Painful indeed is the situation of the patriot who is 
 condemned to watch the expiring struggles of his 
 country — to see, one by one, the symptoms of its po- 
 litical life disappear, till at length it lies prostrate in 
 corruption, an easy prey to its weakest foe. But here 
 is more than a patriot called to mourn over the ap- 
 proaching desolation of his land, and to witness the 
 frustration of all his endeavours to save it ; here is a 
 distinguised saint constrained to recognise, in all the 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary to detain the attention of the reader from the 
 perusal of the following Sermon, for a moment, to describe the charac- 
 ter of the society before whom it was delivered. It has existed for about 
 twenty years, consists almost entirely of Congregational and Baptist 
 Christians, and is designed to disseminate Christian knowledge among 
 the poor, by the regular circulation of tracts on the loan system, the 
 establishment of prayer meetings, the visitation of the sick, the encour- 
 agement of Sabbath schools, the distribution of the scriptures, and the 
 preaching of the gospel ; its agency is partly of a clerical and partly of 
 a lay character ; some of these agents devote their whole time to this 
 service, and receive a moderate remuneration, but the far larger number 
 of them find their present reward in their labors, apd hope for a future 
 recompense in the approbation of the adorable Redeemer. Abundant 
 and increasing success has hitherto been vouchsafed to the disinterested, 
 unceasing, and prayerful efforts of the Institution.— Ed. 
 2 
 
18 LONDON : 
 
 signs of impending calamity, the signs and proofs of 
 his country's guilt. He could not forget that Judea 
 had for ages been the ark of religion, where the 
 knowledge of God had been preserved when lost by 
 all the world besides. He thought of its temple, 
 where prophets had uttered the burden of the Lord — 
 where the bleeding sacrifice had daily testified of hu- 
 man guilt and Divine forgiveness — where successive 
 generations had communed with God from off the 
 mercy-seat, and multitudes had found the gate of 
 heaven. But these recollections, pleasing in them- 
 selves, were embittered by the remembrance of the 
 guilt which they recalled, ages of accumulated guilt; 
 for, which of their prophets had they not persecuted, 
 and where was the idol-god which they had not at- 
 tempted to set up ? 
 
 And here is not only the patriot lamenting the dan- 
 gers of his country, and the saint bewailing its guilt ; 
 here is also the prophet called to gaze on the scene of 
 its coming destruction as if it were actually present. 
 He sees the Chaldean foe approach, hears the tramp 
 of their myriads, beholds Jerusalem beleagured, bleed- 
 ing, lost — her temple in ruins, her dwellings of holi- 
 ness all laid waste, while the piercing shriek of her 
 expiring lament, mingling with the thunder of Almighty 
 wrath, proclaims that her doom is sealed, and that the 
 hand that smites her is from heaven. 
 
 But that which completed the anguish of the proph- 
 et was, that his nation should thus perish with all the 
 means of recovery at hand. True, it was morally 
 diseased, fearfully so ; but so it had been from the be- 
 ginning, had been so in common with the whole world 
 out of which it was taken. Indeed, the scriptural 
 view of its peculiar economy is that of a temporary 
 remedy applied to a portion of diseased humanity, till 
 the grand Gospel specific should come for the whole. 
 Judea was the moral hospital of the earth ; its inhabi- 
 tants were God's patients ; its ritual was his divine 
 prescriptions. As many as scripturally availed them- 
 selves of it, acknowledged its efficacy, and found a 
 
A SERMON. 19 
 
 cure. Even the diseased of other lands, who sincerely- 
 sought admission, were received, and welcomed, and 
 had reason to rejoice in the healing process. True, 
 the spiritual malady of the people had now assumed 
 the most aggravated from — tlio patient was apparently- 
 approaching dissolution ; but well the prophet knew 
 that the Jewish institute retained all its remedial vir- 
 tues unimpaired ; that, if rightly employed, it could 
 still ameliorate even their condition ; that, confidently 
 as they reliod on their far-famed balm of Gilead as a 
 specific for certain bodily ailments, still more cOnfi- 
 deiitly might they rely on the heavenly efficacy of this 
 moral balm to restore them to political soundness and 
 religious health ; and knowing this, yet seeing them 
 perish within reach of the remedy, he uttered the excla- 
 mation, in w^hich all his soul came forth, " Is there no 
 balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ? why 
 then is not the health of the daughter of my people 
 recovered P'" 
 
 This is the patriotism of true religion. How differ- 
 ent from that plausible modification of selfishness 
 which often assumes the name ! While that occupies 
 itself chiefly in forging fetters for other lands, this is 
 principally intent on promoting the moral vigour and 
 freedom of its own. That sees no cause for alarm ex- 
 cept in a threatened invasion, a civil war, or some 
 temporal form of national distress ; in the absence of 
 all these, this distinctly sees in the permitted existence 
 and the silent increase of moral evils, the gathering of 
 a foe more to be dreaded than any army which earth 
 could muster. As long as the laws of the land are 
 generally obeyed, that congratulates itself on the 
 soundness of the nation's health : but if, notwithstand- 
 ing this plausible sign, political expediency be allow- 
 ed to carry it over truth and right — if the two ex- 
 tremes of society, the. highest and the lowest, unite in 
 the desecration of the Sabbath and the disregard of reli- 
 gion — if the great bulk of the people are left unin- 
 structed in the laws of the Divine government, this 
 beholds in such a state of things the certain symptoms 
 
20 LONDON : 
 
 of a deep-seated disease, corroding the vitals of the 
 political body, and threatening its dissolution. That 
 relies for security and prosperity chiefly on its martial 
 forces and its resources of wealth ; but iliis^ remem- 
 bering how many a nation has perished while in the 
 full possession of such expedients, regards a nation's 
 morality as its greatest wealth, and a standing army of 
 social and religious virtues as its strongest bulwark. 
 And hence, in seeking the recovery of a nation's 
 health, while the one confines its attention exclusively 
 to temporal expedients, and expects every thing from 
 them, the other still sees a refuge left in God after.all 
 these have failed, and instead of abandoning itself to 
 despair, takes up the language of the tenderest expos- 
 tulation, and exclaims, " Is there no balm in Gilead ? 
 is there no physician there ? why then is not the 
 health of the daughter of my people recovered?" 
 
 In reference to the nation primarily addressed, this 
 language implies the following things : That there is 
 a sense in which it was to be viewed as one collective 
 being, and hence it is spoken of as a person, a single 
 individual ; that this moral agent was labouring under 
 an alarming moral disease ; that for this disease there 
 existed an adequate remedy ; that for the neglect of 
 this remedy no justifiable reason could be assigned, so 
 that the conduct of the nation was inexcusable, and 
 involved the highest guilt ; but that it was yet the duty 
 of such as saAV and felt these truths to seek the recovery 
 of that patient to the last, pointing her to the remedy, 
 and remonstrating with her on the guilt of her contin- 
 ued neglect. 
 
 But while the passage implies all this, its point and 
 pathos consist chiefly in its rem.onstrative tone on the 
 utter inexcusableness of the party addressed for per- 
 sisting in the neglect of God's remedy. As if the 
 prophet had said. That you require a remedy of some 
 description is obvious ; you know that the foe is gather- 
 ing on your borders ; the very fact of your seeking the 
 alliance of Egypt proclaims your sense of weakness 
 and danger, while the numerous vices which have be- 
 
A SERMON. 21 
 
 come national, and which are the cause of the impend- 
 ing evil, proclaim " that the whole head is sick, and 
 and whole heart faint." But, deplorable as our condi- 
 tion is, it is not hopeless. Is there any truth in our sa- 
 cred books ? Read them, and you will find that never 
 have we been reduced to a state of exigency like the 
 present, but by disobedience to God — never relied for 
 deliverance on an arm of flesh, but we have been dis- 
 appointed — never repented and returned to God, but 
 we have been pardoned and have prospered. Is there 
 any meaning in that temple ? It is the residence of the 
 Great Physician. Any blessing denoted by that sacri- 
 fice ? It represents the very medium of our forgive- 
 ness, the balm which shall give life to the world. 
 Why, then, while you admit that our state is per- 
 ilous — why, when the great and only remedy is before 
 you — when so many among you are divinely appointed 
 to recommend and enforce it, and when you know that 
 to neglect your office is to let the nation perish, to in- 
 volve the name of God in dishonour before the heathen, 
 to incur his dreadful displeasure, to destroy immortal 
 souls — why, in the name of that God whose prophet 
 I am, " why is not the health of the daughter of my 
 people recovered ?" 
 
 Brethren, this remonstrance did not lose its applica- 
 bility with the occasion on which it was at first uttered. 
 It continued to reverberate age after age in the ears of 
 the Jewish people, till it reached its deepest pathos in 
 the weeping lamentation of Jesus over Jerusalem ; 
 and till the impassioned desire of Paul to be made an 
 anathema for their salvation, proclaimed that the sun 
 of their dispensation had set in a long dark night. In 
 the Christian Church it has gone on gathering emphasis 
 and strength with the growing and guilty apathy of each 
 successive age, till in our own times it has acquired 
 a startling power, which has awakened numbers to a 
 sense of their sinful neglect of the multitudes perish- 
 ing around them, and which, by the Spirt of God still 
 accompanying it, shall soon arouse the entire Church. 
 It is addressed, indeed, to the people generally ; but to 
 
22 LONDON : 
 
 those whose office it is, instrumentally, to instruct and 
 save them especially. Such is the duty of every Chris- 
 tian, and of every Christian Church. Let them pro- 
 ceed to their respective posts ; and, if there their mes- 
 sage of salvation meets with neglect, they may re- 
 monstrate with the people in the spirit of the text. 
 But till they themselves are thus alive to their duty, 
 the prophet may be regarded as remonstrating with 
 them. Oh, with what startling effect might he bring 
 down the expostulation upon us — upon the Christians 
 of this country — the Churches of this city ! ''' You 
 admit," as if he should say, " that your lot is cast in 
 the midst of multitudes perishing in their guilt — in 
 your prayers to God you acknowledge it — in your 
 conversations with each other you deplore it. You 
 admit that for this disease in its most virulent form 
 there is an infallible cure — that you yourselves are 
 monuments of its efficacy. You admit that you hold 
 this remedy from the great Physician expressly to 
 administer it to the dying around you — and you admit 
 that while such administration could not fail to be at- 
 tended with the most salutary effects, the withhold- 
 ment of it must as certainly be followed by the most 
 fatal consequences — and believing all this, meeting 
 together as you do from time to time avowedly on the 
 ground of this belief — why, in the name of the Great 
 Healer of immortal souls, why is not the health of the 
 daughter of your people recovered ?" 
 
 •I. Now to such a remonstrance what reply could 
 be given ? For, first, on your own admission, it could 
 not be pleaded that the moral disease which pervades 
 the hundreds of thousands around you is not very ap- 
 parent^ or, though apparent, not very alarming^ in its 
 nature and consequences. You have read of the 
 dreadful pestilence which in 1665 swept off more than 
 a hundred thousand of the inhabitants of this city. 
 You have read of the appalling aspect of those dwell- 
 ings which contained infected inmates — of the large 
 red cross painted on their doors, together with the 
 words, " Lord, have mercy upon us !" — there to con- 
 
A SERMON. 23 
 
 tinue till the lawful opening of such houses. You re- 
 member that examiners, searchers, surgeons, and bury- 
 ers, were appointed in every district — that a cart went 
 its rounds every night and morning to receive the dead 
 — that the driver, sounding his knell at the door of each 
 infected dwelling, exclaimed, " Bring forth your dead" 
 — that the dead, brought forth and cast into the cart, 
 were then conveyed to pits of immense size and depth, 
 where all lay shroudless and mingled together. You 
 remember, that though at first the shrieks of women 
 and children resounding from the abodes of the dying 
 and the dead were so frequent as to appal the stoutest 
 heart ; yet, that, subsequently, when death had become 
 familiar to their eyes, and despair had hardened their 
 hearts, they felt little concern for the loss of friends, 
 and often left them to perish alone — that though at the 
 beginning of the pestilence the churches whre crowd- 
 ed with alarmed suppliants, latterly, they were com- 
 paratively deserted — that multitudes, resorting to tav- 
 erns and places of infamy, endeavoured to conquer 
 their terrors by debauchery and drunkenness ; while 
 their riotous outcries and songs mingled fearfully with 
 the sounds of lamentation and woe. The whole na- 
 tion wept for the miseries of her metropolis. 
 
 Brethren, this is still " the city of the plague." As 
 then, you will find its examiners and searchers, its 
 surgeons and buryers, in its courts of law, its mag- 
 istracy, and its army of police. As then, you will find 
 its pits and receptacles for the dead, in your crowded 
 jails and places of punishment. As then, you will find 
 that while many of its churches and chapels are but 
 thinly attended, resorts of an opposite character are 
 thronged. In the pestilential air of your prisons, 
 where the virtue which was only tainted almost inva- 
 riably expires — in the impure atmosphere of your 
 larger theatres, whose attendant licentiousness is so 
 well known, and whose direct^ stipulated profits from 
 that licentiousness are so considerable, that one of them 
 lately desisting from the infamous traffic, was praised 
 as all but a martyr to morality — in the ruinous effects 
 
24 LONDON : 
 
 of yonr penny theatres, those " infant schools" of 
 vice, where so many thousand children learn to lisp in 
 blasphemy and to mimic licentiousness — in the de- 
 monising influence of your " Hells," where the beings 
 who enter in the semblance of men return with the 
 impress of fiends — in the drunken delirium of your 
 gin palaces, so rapidly multiplied of late to receive 
 the swarming throngs of the diseased — in all these you 
 find, as then, convincing proofs not only that a plague 
 is among you, but that it has spread so widely and 
 continued so long, that thousands have reached that 
 fearful stage in which their only concern is to vanquish 
 their terrors, and forget themselves. 
 
 But, oh, were the city to put on at this moment an 
 aspect answering to its moral condition — were the 
 plague of sin to disclose itself by signs as fatal as 
 those of that physical plague, the most dismal scenes 
 of that day would be gladness itself compared with 
 the spectacle of woe which would forthwith appear ! 
 Would not some present expire before they left this 
 house of prayer ? When we went forth by and by, 
 could we expect to hear any other sounds than those 
 of lamentation and woe ? Would it not be a night 
 more to be remembered than that in which the first- 
 born of Egypt were slain ? and, when the morrow 
 dawned, where could we find a street, many of whose 
 doors did not bear the red cross of death ? Where 
 could we direct our steps without hearing the appal- 
 ling cry, " Bring forth your dead ?" — without finding 
 whole ranges of buildings, now the abodes of the living, 
 suddenly changed into the sepulchres of the dead ? — 
 and the numerous vehicles, now crowding your great 
 thoroughfares, all put in requisition as the vehicles 
 of mourning and death ? Oh, how many more than 
 a hundred thousand would be swept away ; and what 
 must be the lamentation equal to so vast a spectacle 
 of woe ? 
 
 Brethren, this calamity, in its suhstance^ is not im- 
 aginary, is not distant. The plague is here — is upon 
 us ! This is its metropolis — and here it reigns — reigns 
 
A SERMON. 25 
 
 unto death ! Those fearful visitations which men call 
 plagues, and all those other diseases which sweep off 
 generation after generation, are only the servants of 
 that greater plague of which we speak — they merely 
 do its bidding on the body, but this strikes down and 
 destroys the immortal soul. It walketh in darkness, 
 and wasteth at noonday. Within a time, comparative- 
 ly short, a thousand have fallen at your side, and ten 
 thousand at your right-hand — fallen where it is fearful 
 to follow them even in thought ! And other thousands 
 have the plague-spot on them — must they fall too ? Is 
 there nothing by which the plague may be stayed ? 
 Why then is their spiritual health not recovered ? 
 
 II. Secondly, it cannot be alleged, in excuse, that 
 there are any insuperable obstacles connected with the 
 remedy. What obstacles can be imagined } a want of 
 freeness ? it is offered without money and without 
 price. A want of suitableness ? it is the minutely 
 adapted provision of infinite wisdom — it leaves no 
 part of our nature unhealed ; following the moral dis- 
 ease through every vein it has envenomed, it produces 
 a new creature in Christ Jesus. A want of universal- 
 ity ? it comes addressed to " every creature" — to 
 " Whosoever will" — to the entire race. A want of 
 efficacy ? it is the power of God — " the power of 
 God unto salvation." 
 
 The prophet did not doubt even the heahng suffi- 
 ciency of the Mosaic dispensation. He took it for 
 granted, that as long as that heavenly balm continued, 
 the nation had only scripturally to employ it, in order 
 to rejoice in its sanative power. What shall we say 
 then to the superior efficacy of the Gospel dispensa- 
 tion ? It retains all that was permanent in doctrine 
 and morality under the former economy — it has taken 
 up and appropriated to itself every thing belonging 
 to that departed church, which was essentially good — 
 and has given it additional value by bringing it into the 
 presence of the Cross. For its earthly temple, the 
 Gospel has given us the true tabernacle which the 
 Lord pitched, and not man — for its mere animal sacri- 
 
26 LONDON : 
 
 fices, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
 the world — and for its dying priesthood, an Advocate 
 who ever liveth to make intercession for us. It was 
 the conviction of this immeasurable superiority which 
 inspired the Apostle from the very moment he became 
 acquainted with it, with his lofty confidence in its suc- 
 cess. Even before its excellence had been extensive- 
 ly put to the proof — from the very beginning — so satis- 
 fied was he of its all-restoring efficacy, that nothing 
 would evidently have delighted him more than the 
 possibility of collecting the world together, and of try- 
 ing it on all the race at (^nce ; but that being impossi- 
 ble, he appeared impatent to discover the spot where 
 the disease of sin was most active and virulent, in 
 order that there he might make triumphant proof of 
 the Gospel remedy. And where was that spot likely 
 to be found, but in a city, and that city the metropolis 
 of the world ? " Well," said he, " as much as in me 
 is, I am ready tO preach the Gospel to you that are at 
 Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of 
 Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth." " What means," as if he had 
 said, " its glorious gift of Christ } but that it has 
 power to melt all hearts — compassion to embrace all 
 mankind } What means the Cross, but that its blood 
 cleanseth from all sin ? What means its accompany- 
 ing Spirit, but that it shall convince the world of sin } 
 What mean its promises of success, but that every 
 land shall resound with its triumphs, and every shore 
 be adorned with the living monuments of its saving 
 power ? And what means my own conversion — I, 
 who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and 
 injurious — who was " the chief of sinners" — what, but 
 that in me Jesus Christ would show forth all long-suf- 
 fering — would demonstrate to the world that he is able 
 to save unto the uttermost, and will perpetuate the tri- 
 umphs of his grace, till the world shall be saved ?" 
 
 But, if such was the confidence of the apostle in the 
 efficacy of the Gospel, what should be ours, now that 
 it comes down to us sealed and attested by the expe- 
 
A SERMON, S7 
 
 rience of ages and generations ? Restricted as it has 
 been in its operations by the selfishness of its profess- 
 ed friends — corrupted as it has been by the ignorant 
 and the worldly — maligned and resisted as it has 
 been by its enemies, who has yet ever received it 
 without finding salvation ? or where has it ever been 
 carried without leaving behind it a blessing ? What 
 tears has it wiped away — what bleeding hearts has it 
 staunched and healed — what injuries and evils has it 
 arrested and prevented — what hopes has it kindled — 
 what joy diffused ! Viewed on the large and compre- 
 hensive scale of ages, what happy families has it cre- 
 ated — what examples of excellence has it given to so- 
 ciety — what equity to law — what activity and ampli- 
 tude to benevolence — what blessings has it showered 
 on earth — what a multitude has it glorified in heaven ! 
 And is it possible that this remedy for the world's 
 maladies is still in existence ? It is at this moment in 
 our possession. And is its original efficacy unimpair- 
 ed ? Assemble the thousands around you and try. 
 Oh, were it possible for you not merely to collect 
 them^ but to collect and concentrate the moral diseases 
 of the whole in the person of one man, could you 
 doubt the issue when you reflect that the balm is the 
 precious distilment of the heart of infinite love ? 
 And is it possible that, with this balm intrusted to our 
 administration, there are souls around us to whom we 
 have never spoken of its virtues, and on whom we 
 have never pressed its acceptance ? Brethren, had 
 there lived a man in this metropolis during the reign 
 of that dreadful plague of which we have spoken, 
 who knew of some simple remedy, but who yet could 
 listen to the continued wailings of the neighbourhood 
 around him, and see his fellow-citizens swept off by 
 thousands into the grave, without showing any con- 
 cern to impart it, should we not have spoken of him 
 to-night as a monster ? and would he not have gone 
 down to the latest posterity as a reproach to the spe- 
 cies? And yet if sin be that plague in a form as 
 \nuch more dreadful as the immortal spirit is more 
 
28 LONDON : 
 
 precious, and capable of a destruction more terrible, 
 than the body — and if the Gospel be that simple, sove- 
 reign remedy ; and if we, holding it in our posses- 
 sion, can yet admit that the pestilence is raging around 
 us without doing our utmost to arrest it, can our guilt 
 be less than his ? must it not be proportionally great- 
 er ? Then who shall attempt to compute its amount ? 
 Or what inquiry can be more appropriate and urgent 
 than this, " Why is not the health of the daughter of 
 your people recovered ?" 
 
 III. It cannot be replied in palliation, thirdly, that 
 we are under no obligation to attempt this recovery. 
 The construction of the text implies that the duty is even 
 prior to any command and independent of it, being 
 founded in the very nature of things. The inquiry, 
 " Is there not balm in Gilead, and a physician there ?" 
 implies, that if there be, .our bare knowledge of the 
 fact, without waiting for any express authority, carries 
 with it an obligation to make it known, the neglect of 
 which involves us in tremendous guilt. 
 
 This obligation arises partly out of our community 
 of nature and interests — a relationship by which the 
 entire race, instead of consisting of a multitude of 
 detached and isolated individuals, is formed into a 
 family so closely united by reciprocal ties, that the 
 well-being of each is connected with the good of all. 
 And hence, partly, our obligation to preach the Gospel 
 to every creature ; for to every creature are we re- 
 lated. 
 
 But besides this obligation arising out of the com- 
 mon rights and mutual claims of humanity, God is 
 pleased, in his moral government of the world, to deal 
 with the several nations, cities, and civil societies into 
 which it is distributed as so many distinct moral ' 
 agents ; and hence, each one sustains relations and 
 responsibilities to the members of its own body, addi- 
 tional to those which it holds in common with all the 
 rest, and peculiar to itself. The subjects of the same 
 government, for instance, or the inhabitants of the 
 same city are viewed, not merely as united in time* 
 
A SERMON. 29 
 
 and place, but as forming one collective being. This, 
 indeed, is suggested — we do not say intentionally im- 
 plied — by the personification in the text, in which a 
 whole people is spoken of as one person — for, though 
 the language is figurative, the idea is founded in reali- 
 ty. The Almighty appears to deal with such a collec- 
 tive agent, as we may suppose he would deal with an 
 accountable being who should have no existence here- 
 after — Divine retribution is dispensed to it in this life. 
 As the efiects of sins committed at one period of life 
 are often felt at a subsequent period, so the depraved 
 condition of a civil society in one age of its existence 
 — for its whole duration is but one continued life — is 
 visited with the evil consequences in a later genera- 
 tion. And as it is impossible that one member of the 
 human body should suffer without all the mem- 
 bers suffering with it, so is it that one part of a cor- 
 porate society should be morally diseased without all 
 the other parts sharing in the attendant evils. By a 
 regard, therefore, to your own welfare — to the welfare 
 of those who are the dearest to you — parts of your- 
 selves — to the welfare of your children's children to 
 the latest posterity — the obligation is laid on you to 
 minister to the infected and infectious society in which 
 you are living, the appointed means of purification 
 and health. .As you could not hear that a contagious 
 disease had sprung up in your neighbourhood without 
 feeling that all your family were endangered, look on 
 the moral contagion around you as involving the entire 
 community of which you are a member in special 
 danger, and exposing you at least to temporal suffering. 
 To complete the obligation, however, the will of 
 Christ has made it authoritative and divine. Do you 
 ask where and how he has expressed that will ? Not 
 merely by commands to be found in almost every 
 page of his Gospel, and which require us to love our 
 neighbour as ourselves. Not merely by the authority 
 of his own example in weeping over the metropolis 
 of his own land, and labouring with untiring benevo- 
 lence for its recovery. But also by the diffusive na- 
 
30 LONDON : 
 
 ture of the Divine remedy itself, by which it no sooner 
 takes effect on an individual, than he feels himself 
 impelled to proclaim its virtues to others, and to en- 
 force its acceptance. And still more, if possible, by 
 the Divine constitution of the Christian Church. Hav- 
 ing composed it of such as have themselves made 
 proof of the healing remedy, and furnished them 
 with the means of complete recovery and eternal life, 
 he requires them to act as a body organised and ap- 
 pointed for the recovery of others. Every church in 
 this city is the Divine dispensary of the neighbourhood 
 in which it stands — the Gilead of the district. It is 
 planted there, not merely for the convenience and ad- 
 vantage of its own members, but, also, that all the 
 inhabitants around may be brought under cure. In 
 prosecution of this high object, it is not to wait for ap- 
 plications from without. In imitation of Christ, it is 
 to seek that it may save that which was lost. In imi- 
 tation of his Apostles, its members are to go from 
 house to house, making manifest the savour of Christ 
 — diffusing the fragrant odour of the healing balm — in 
 every place. All the means of spiritual recovery are 
 in their possession, and from the first moment of their 
 existence as a Church, they are required to employ 
 them. All the population of that district are placed 
 under their special ministrations ; and jls long as a 
 single soul remains in ignorance of Christ, they are 
 to ply those ministrations to the utmost, or to find 
 themselves subjected to the charge implied in the 
 startling interrogation, " Why is not the health of that 
 soul recovered ?" 
 
 IV. It cannot be pleaded in mitigation of this 
 charge, that, although convinced of our obligation to 
 promote the spiritual health of our community, we 
 are distracted hy the conflicting claims of various 
 remedies. The text implies that there is but one 
 remedy, and that there cannot be another — that the 
 obligation to employ any remedy, and to employ this, 
 is identical. 
 
 We are aware, indeed, that, in the present day, re- 
 
A SERMON. 31 
 
 ligion has numerous competitors for the honour of im- 
 proving mankind ; that civilization and law, political 
 economy, and secular instruction, forgetting their total 
 failure as a remedy for human misery during the thou- 
 sands of years in which they had the world to them- 
 selves ; forgetting, that however useful they may be 
 in their several subordinate departments, their utility 
 can never extend beyond those limits, but by their be- 
 coming the handmaids of that Divine religion whose 
 sphere is the universe and eternity ; and forgetting 
 that the moral progression of society of late, is owing, 
 not to their influence, but to the operation of that re- 
 ligion ; forgetting these things, they flatter themselves, 
 that could they but be left to work alone, they should 
 need no higher aid in order to renovate society, and 
 make the world happy. But if the malady of sin has 
 fallen upon the moral and immortal part of our nature, 
 they possess not one quality of a remedy. If to leave 
 the heart untouched, is to leave the man unhealed, 
 they can have no pretension whatever to be regarded 
 as a balm. At best they can but heal the hurt of the 
 daughter of a people slightly, saying. Peace, peace, 
 when there is no peace. At best they are but pallia- 
 tives ; but, like most other mere palliatives, they sub- 
 sequently aggravate the disorder they pretended to 
 cure. 
 
 Science, for instance, taken by itself, has no tendency 
 whatever to moral improvement. Such improvement 
 can only result through the medium of conscience ; by 
 the agency of something which shall appeal to our 
 hopes and fears ; by a moral influence. But what 
 connexion is there between the mechanical science 
 and morality } How can a vicious heart be cured by 
 lectures on geology .? If no one expects to learn 
 astronomy by studying botany — if no one expects to 
 learn it even by studying religion — why should any 
 one expect to learn religion, or to be able to dispense 
 with religion, by studying science ? The instruction 
 of a community in worldly science can, at best, but 
 multiply its mental and social resources^ and thus cor- 
 
32 LONDON : 
 
 rect its taste for some of the grosser forms of sensual- 
 ity. But ask ancient Greece and Rome, and modern 
 France, the direction in which it tends, unguided by 
 revelation, and you will find that it leads through athe- 
 ism to destruction. However simple the early char- 
 acter of a people may be while struggling to establish 
 their political existence, survey the whole compass of 
 history, and say, in what instance has a progress in 
 arts, and science, and commerce, and attendant wealth, 
 unaccompanied by religion, failed to increase the 
 luxury and licentiousness, the arrogance and selfish- 
 ness of a people, and thus to seal their doom ? Inves- 
 tigate the claims of civilization, and you will find that 
 it is but just beginning to ascertain them itself. The 
 most distinguished writer on civilization of the present 
 day* commences with the inquiry, which lies at the 
 very basis of the subject before us, "Is society formed 
 for the individual, or the individual for society ?" and 
 pronounces that one of the greatest philosopherst has 
 thus resolved the question : " Human societies are 
 born, and live, and die upon the earth ; there they 
 accomplish their destinies. But they contain not the 
 whole man. After his engagement to society, there 
 still remains in him the more noble part of his nature. 
 We have each a separate and distinct existence, are 
 endowed with immortality, and have a destiny higher 
 than that of states." Yes, civilization and government 
 must disclaim the power of reaching the soul. All 
 they can accomplish, at best, is to restrain the eruption 
 of its disease when it endangers the social health, and 
 to develope other counteracting qualities likely to main- 
 tain that restraint. This is their hest. History, alas, 
 finds it abundantly easier to furnish illustrations of 
 their ivorst — to show us that human government, apart 
 from the influence of religion, aye, and in defiance of 
 that influence too, can itself cater for the most morbid 
 appetites of a people, up to the very point of social 
 danger — that it can itself legalise immorality, and sell 
 
 * Guizot, t De Royer Collard. 
 
A SERMON. 33 
 
 the Sabbath, and open a thousand Hippodromes, pro- 
 vided the people will be content with destroying them- 
 selves, without destroying it — that it can persist in bar- 
 tering away the morals, the rationality, the very bodily 
 health of hundreds of thousands of its subjects, pro- 
 vided the sale of the liquid fire that inflicts these evils 
 continues to swell the revenue. 
 
 Well, then, may we appropriate the language of 
 the context, and inquire, " Is not the Lord in Zion ? is 
 not her King in her ? Why have they provoked me to 
 anger with strange vanities ?" To think of making 
 any expedient of human device a substitute for the 
 Gospel, is the highest provocation which man can offer, 
 or God receive. Did you cousult only the temporal 
 welfare of the community in which you dwell, the 
 speediest and most effectual method of promoting even 
 that^ would be to give them the Gospel. It moralizes 
 every society which it entei-s. Even when it does 
 not convert a people, it arrests the progress of vice, 
 denounces oppression, awakens compassion for the 
 wretched, asserts the supremacy of law, elevates the 
 public standard, and thus lays a foundation for civil 
 improvement and social happiness. But you profess 
 to design their spiritual welfare — and for this the 
 Gospel is the only means. Here there can be no 
 competition, no rival, no question. Compared with 
 its wisdom, every other system is foolishness, for 
 it is the wisdom of God. Compared with its 
 power to sway the heart, all other strength is weak- 
 ness, for it is the power of God. Its light alone can 
 'pierce the darkness of the soul. Its influence alone 
 can break the chains of sin, and turn the heart, the 
 house, the city, once devoted to Satan, into a habitation, 
 for God through the Spirit. But the Gospel can do 
 this. It taught chastity at Corinth — humility at Athens 
 — humanity and holiness at Rome — and converted 
 even the jail at Philippi into a Christian church. And 
 what it has done it can still repefeit. Its Author is the 
 appointed Healer of a diseased and a dying world : only 
 let its saving health be diffused, and, like a heavenly 
 3 
 
34 LONDON : 
 
 current of vital air, it will sweep over the spiritual 
 sickness of your city, imparting life, and health, and 
 universal happiness. 
 
 V. Fifthly, It cannot be pleaded, that, though con- 
 vinced that the Gospel is the only remedy for the af- 
 flicted community in which we dwell, loe are at pres- 
 ent engrossed hy more important claims at a distance. 
 It is to the honour of Christians — or, rather, of the 
 God whose quickening influence has graciously aroused 
 them from slumber — that no object of Christian philan- 
 thropy is at present deemed too vast to be attempted, 
 no enterprise too distant to be approached. With an 
 enlargement of design worthy of their Christian 
 name, they are free to avow that their field of action 
 is the world, and that their object • is to reclaim that 
 world to Christ. Nor would we utter a syllable the 
 tendency of which should be to contract that sphere 
 of labour by a single line, nor call ofl* their attention 
 from any part of it for a single moment, except for the 
 purpose of so engaging it during that moment as to 
 send them back to it again, with increased fitness and 
 greater devotedness than ever. No : every Christian 
 present stands related to the whole race. The cross 
 vibrates to the sounds of human misery in every part 
 of the earth, and his heart is to thrill in sympathy with 
 it. As a representative of Christ, he is to regard 
 himself as the centre of all that misery, and his heart 
 is to beat with the godlike desire of relieving the 
 whole. But in yielding to that impulse, he is to re- 
 member that there is an order in which his benevolent 
 eflbrts are to be made — an order of nature^ by which 
 those who are the most nearly related to us have the 
 first and strongest claims on us — an order of provi- 
 dence^ by which we are enabled to administer the 
 means of salvation to those who are placed near us at 
 less expense, and in greater variety and abundance, 
 than we can to those who are more remote from us 
 — and that this order of nature and providence is also 
 the order of Scripture^ since the apostles themselves, 
 " beginning at Jerusalem," were to work from that 
 
A SERBION. 35 
 
 centre outwards to the ends of the earth. The rela- 
 tive duties of the Christian, then, may be said to lie 
 around him in concentric circles ; and as the first circle 
 immediately around him includes those most nearly 
 related to him, nothing will excuse him for neglecting 
 that inner circle for an outer, however much larger 
 that outer circle may be. If the order of nature, and 
 providence, and scripture, should also be the order of 
 the final judgment, the first subject of inquiry after 
 his own personal state, will relate to his efibrts for the 
 salvation of those immediately around him. The 
 solemn inquiry, " How came your wife or child, your 
 servant or friend, your neighbour or fellow-citizen, to 
 perish unwarned and uncared for by you ?" cannot be 
 metby a plea that he was occupied in achieving a distant 
 good. He must not neglect the Christian welfare of 
 his own household, then, and of his immediate con- 
 nexions, no, not for the sublime occupation of evan- 
 gelising a continent. And as with the individual Chris-' 
 tian, so with a particular church. The district which 
 lies immediately around it is to engage its attention 
 first ; the manner in which it discharged its obligations 
 to that district will, we may suppose, in the day of 
 final account, come under judicial investigation first ; 
 nor would the plea that it was engrossed in achieving 
 some enterprise of mercy at a distance, however vast 
 and magnificent, palliate its guilty neglect of those 
 prior obligations. 
 
 But that which we wish here to impress is, that not 
 only need not the class of home duties be neglected 
 for those at a distance, but that they are to be dis- 
 charged with the view of ultimately augmenting our 
 resources for that distance, and as the most scriptural, 
 efiectual, and speedy method of benefiting the world 
 at large. So far from thinking that more would have 
 been done for home had less been done for abroad, 
 we firmly believe that the reverse would have been 
 the fact. So far from supposing that if any portion of 
 Christian activity were withdrawn from foreign ob- 
 jects, it would proportionally increase our activity at 
 
86 LONDON : 
 
 home, we should earnestly deprecate it as the first 
 step towards arresting the entire machinery of home 
 benevolence. So far from thinking that too much is 
 done for distant objects, we urge the claims of home 
 partly that we may be able to do more. Yes, the duty 
 of a Christian church is, in this case, coincident with 
 its most enlarged desires. For, by filling the sphere 
 immediately around them first with Christian influence, 
 its members are multiplying their agencies for occu- 
 pying the next circle, and for thus gradually extending 
 there sphere, and diffusing their influence, over the 
 whole circumference. 
 
 Brethren, all our Christian societies are related — and 
 he who should advocate one at the expense of another 
 is, in truth, inflicting an injury on them all. While 
 we urge the claims of the metropolis, then, we feel 
 that we are seeking the good of the country at large ; 
 and, by promoting tliat^ we confess we have an eye 
 to the benefit of the world. While London is allowed 
 by Providence to retain the prominent station which 
 it does in the civil and political arrangements of the 
 world, never can the Christian philanthropist contem- 
 plate its moral condition but with deep anxiety. Owing 
 to its political connexions at home, its commercial 
 relations abroad, and the vast extent of that empire, 
 domestic and colonial, of which it is the capital, it 
 commands a range of influence which no other city 
 — not ancient Rome itself — has ever possessed. For 
 evil or for good, it is always operating, not only to the 
 utmost bounds of the civilized world, but beyond, 
 through barbarous climes, to the very ends of the 
 earth. If its prevailing character be that of ungodli- 
 ness, to all the multitudes, myriads, millions of im- 
 mortal beings within that vast circumference, it is an 
 ever-streaming centre of moral contamination and 
 eternal death. And is it for this that London is in- 
 trusted with the mighty talent of universal influence } 
 Shall a city which might be the Gilead of the nations, 
 dispensing the balm of life through all its thousand 
 channels of communication, propagate instead a more 
 
A SERMON. 31 
 
 virulent form of that disease which it was meant to 
 heal ? Why then is not the health of the daughter 
 of its people recovered ? Why, when its recovery 
 would instrumentally be the health of the world. 
 
 VI. Again. It cannot be replied, that, though con- 
 vinced of the surpassing claims of the metropolis, and 
 disposed to yield to them, there are no Christians ivith 
 lohom to co-operate — no society with which to act. 
 Here is a society — the Christian Instruction Society, 
 for which we plead — and which is only one of a fami- 
 ly of kindred institutions, all devoted to the great ob- 
 jects before us — inviting, entreating your instant and 
 ardent co-operation. 
 
 The class of persons to which this part of our ap- 
 peal is applicable consists of those who, though en- 
 rolled among the followers of Christ, are not enrolled 
 among the prayerful and active benefactors of the 
 multitudes in their vicinity, perishing in guilt. And 
 is it possible that any such should still be found in con- 
 nexion with any London church which is associated 
 with this Society ? My friends, are you aware of the 
 guilt of doing nothing ? of the curse denounced 
 against such as come not out to the help of the Lord 
 - — of the fact that the final curse is to be prefaced with 
 the declaration. Inasmuch as ye did it not — and that, 
 if that doom be yours, it will be aggravated in pro- 
 portion to the facilities which such a society has afford- 
 ed you for doing good ? Can you be aware of the fa- 
 cilities for usefulness which it does afford ? — that it 
 has an important post of duty for every one disposed 
 to engage in its service — or that, if obstacles absolute- 
 ly prevent you from taking an active part in its pro- 
 ceedings, you can yet, by devoting a portion of your 
 substance to its support, make all its agents your rep- 
 resentatives — and may thus be at once a preacher in 
 the tent, a missionary at the prayer-meeting, and a 
 visiter at the house — and that by your earnest inter- 
 cession in private, you can draw down the influence 
 of the Holy Spirit upon the whole ? Are you really 
 aware of the extent of its operations, and the work it 
 
38 LONDON : 
 
 is doing ? that in the nine districts into which its wide 
 field of labour is distributed, it numbers eighty-seven 
 associations ; employs nearly 2,000 visiters ; supports 
 fifteen missionary agents ; maintains 124 prayer-meet- 
 ings ; and visits upwards of 50,000 families, consist- 
 ing of about 250,000 individuals ? that these agencies 
 have, in other proportions, been at work for several 
 years ? that, during that period, 'whether occupied in 
 an organised and regular visitation of the poor, in the 
 circulation of religious publications, in imparting, the 
 knowledge of Christ by cottage lectures, by street and 
 field preaching, or in defending the Christian faith, 
 and enforcing its duties by publicly advertised dis- 
 coui-ses from the pulpit — its one aim has been to diffuse 
 the saving health of the Gospel among the ignorant 
 and the guilty ? Are you, I ask, really aware of this ? 
 and, if so, is it possible that you feel no desire to be- 
 come a vital and organic part of this great agency of 
 Christian benevolence ? Are you aware of the good 
 which, by the Divine blessing, it has been the means 
 of doing even during the last year ? of the 3800 cases 
 of distress it relieved — the nearly 3000 children it ob- 
 tained for day and Sunday schools — to say nothing of 
 the tracts and Bibles it distributed, and the 12,500 
 meetings which it held for the worship of God ? and, 
 more than all, of the conversions which it reports, and 
 of which one of its associations states, " We have 
 thirty candidates for communion, who have all been 
 brought to serious reflection through the instrumen- 
 tality of our visiters and missionary ?" and can you 
 hear of all this good resulting without coveting to 
 share it by your own co-operation, and aspiring to aug- 
 ment it by your own endeavours ? Are you aware 
 that we are speaking of a work in which there is no 
 neutrality ? that if you belong to a Christian Church 
 which is associated with this society, but are not co- 
 operating with that church, you are in truth co-operat- 
 ing with the world against it — that if you are not 
 warming the working members of that church by 
 your zeal, you are chilling them by your apathy — that 
 
A SERMON. 3^ 
 
 there is no alternative between your being a useful 
 wheel in this Christian machinery, or a drag on its 
 movements ? Are you aware that the tendency of 
 your indifference is to defeat the very ultimate pur- 
 pose of a Christian Church ? to convert it into a mo- 
 nopoly of the balm of life, instead of making it the 
 Dispensary of that blessing ? to draw down on it the 
 curses of the world as a monster of selfishness, in- 
 stead of securing for it the thanks of mankind as the 
 laborious instrument of their salvation ? And can 
 you think of going to the tribunal above, to render an 
 account of your stewardship, without feelings of 
 alarm ? If even the most devoted and self-sacrificing 
 servant of God cannot contemplate that event without 
 acknowledging his unprofitableness and imploring for- 
 giveness, how deep the consciousness of guilt with 
 which you should be inspired ! Pray, at least, that 
 you may not be summoned there at a time when any 
 of your active fellow-members may be there to con- 
 front you — that you may not meet together in contrast 
 at the bar of God. Pray, at least, that you may not 
 ascend thither at a moment when any of the multitude 
 you are neglecting shall appear there also, lest the 
 solemn question, " Why was not their spiritual health 
 recovered ?" should attract all eyes to you, as the 
 shameful and guilty cause. 
 
 VII. But there is a second class to be addressed — 
 those for whose benefit this Society exists — and of 
 these I would contemplate especially that important 
 though sceptical portion for whose information and 
 conviction courses of Lectures on the Evidences of 
 Christianity have from time to time been delivered by 
 the ministers of this Society. I should not have singled 
 out such from the rest on this occasion, were it not for 
 certain well written but anonymous letters which I have 
 received, professing to come from members of this 
 class, and bearing internal evidence of such an origin 
 — professing besides to represent the opinions of the 
 great majority of this class concerning this society — 
 
40 LONDON : 
 
 and leaving me to infer that some, if not many such, 
 would be present this evening. 
 
 The friends of this Society will sufficiently under- 
 stand the substance of these communications, when I 
 remind them that one of the chief characteristics of 
 the persons in question, is to regard the Christian min- 
 istry merely as a lucrative profession, and consequently 
 to view every effort we make to propagate the Gospel, 
 as arising from interested motives. While, therefore, 
 they allow that certain parts of your proceedings are 
 free from this suspicion to all appearance, they specify 
 other parts which to their apprehensions justify their 
 old conclusions, throw them back on their sceptical 
 prejudices, and considerably diminish the amount -of 
 your usefulness. And, brethren, however unfounded 
 and unjust such suspicions may be, the great lesson 
 we have to learn from it — a lesson whose importance is 
 daily and increasingly illustrated is this — that the great 
 defence of the Gospel is the holy and unearthly benev- 
 olence of those who profess it — that when we have 
 delivered a thousand lectures, and exhausted the last 
 argument in its vindication, the most eloquent lecture, 
 and the most convincing argument, yet remain to be 
 added in our visible and disinterested devotedness to 
 the welfare of those we address — and that the nearer 
 we approach to that state of evident disinterestedness, 
 the more unanswerable and complete will be our de- 
 fence of the Gospel, and the more successful will our 
 God render us in its diffiision. 
 
 But as to the persons in question : you, my friends, 
 profess to be tired of the dreary wretchedness of 
 scepticism — you are not disinclined, you say, to admit 
 the truth and excellence of the Gospel, but the apparent 
 selfishness of its professed advocates disheartens and 
 deters you from cordially embracing it ; that is to say, 
 you allow that you are the subjects of a moral disease, 
 and that the Gospel, for aught you know, is the only 
 remedy ; but though that remedy is brought to you 
 without money and without price, and though the per- 
 
A SERMON. 41 
 
 sons who bring it assure that it is heahng them, yet 
 because you fancy that you discover in them faint in- 
 dications that they are not yet perfectly restored, you 
 cannot bring yourselves to accept the balm, but will 
 rather continue to court destruction. Is this wise ? — 
 is it the part of rational beings ? — will it sound satisfac- 
 tory even in your own ears, think you, when God 
 shall eventually ask the question, as assuredly he will, 
 " Why was not your immortal health recovered ?" 
 
 Now, that which we entreat you to do is — what 
 we know you will then wish you had done — to examine 
 the claims of the Gospel on their own independent 
 ground. Concerned as we are for our own character, 
 we trust that we are immeasurably more concerned 
 for the character of the Christian faith ; convinced as 
 we are that we shall have to answer for our worldli- 
 ness, whether it tends to confirm your scepticism or 
 not, we are equally convinced that that worldliness, 
 were it tenfold more than it is, would not exempt you 
 from the guilt of willingly and wilfully rejecting the 
 Gospel ; that the Gospel is supported by evidence so 
 distinct from the conduct of its professors, that none 
 but a mind strongly predisposed to unbelief could ever 
 be tempted to confound them together. We point you 
 to Christ : his disinterestedness you must admit ; by 
 report, you know it ; you know the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for our sakes 
 he became poor, that we through his poverty might 
 be made rich. We lead you to his cross ; you surely 
 will allow that pure benevolence alone can account for 
 that. " Though he was in the form of God, and 
 thought it not robbery to be equal with God, he made 
 himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form 
 of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men : 
 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled him- 
 self, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
 of the cross." Look on that blood — it streams from 
 the very heart of love. Well, that is our balm of 
 Gilead, and He the physician there. " By his stripes 
 we are healed." Cross of Jesus ! what hearts of stone 
 
42 LONDON : 
 
 hast thou melted, what wounded spirits hast thou made 
 whole, what selfishness hast thou dissolved and turned 
 into compassion ! Oh, if there be love in the universe, 
 it is here — here, bleeding the balm of life for perishing 
 souls. Now, it is hers* we would conduct you, my 
 friends ; and that which we ask you further to believe 
 is, that this Society has sprung from the benevolence 
 of the Cross, and that so far are we actuated by its 
 benevolence, that if we only succeed in leading and 
 leaving you there in the attitude of penitence and faith, 
 we shall count our object gained, and our toil rewarded. 
 If you ask for the proof of this, we think we might justly 
 remind you that all its ministrations are to you gratui- 
 tous ; that if it employs a few stipendiary agents, that 
 is only a further illustration of its benevolence, for 
 its own members support them ; while its almost two 
 thousand visiters seek only the reward to be found 
 in their labours. 
 
 But the time may come, when you may receive 
 from its ministers and members more convincing 
 proofs of disinterestedness still. Send for them in the 
 season of your final sickness, or, rather, without send- 
 ing for them, they will be there in the chamber of 
 death — there when all prospect of reaping worldly 
 advantage from you will have vanished — there to wipe 
 the dew of death from your brow — there to minister 
 relief, if you need it, to your temporal wants — there 
 to calm your anxiety for the bereaved widow and the 
 fatherless children, by assuring you of their protection 
 — there to walk with you, as far as they may, through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, and to point you 
 at every step to the Lamb of God, the Saviour of 
 the world. 
 
 But wait not, we entreat you, for that final proof of 
 our concern. Trifle not thus with the salvation of 
 your soul. Could we convince you, that all the com- 
 passion we profess for you is real — and could we, 
 then, augment it a thousand fold — it would all be as 
 nothing, compared with the benevolence of Him to 
 whom we point you for salvation. Is there nothing 
 
A SERMON. 43 
 
 in his character to attract — nothing in his cross to affect 
 you — no blessing in his Gospel which you desire ? 
 Why, then, is not the health of your soul recovered ? 
 Why, when it is offered you freely, as the air you 
 breathe — kindly, as the melting tones of mercy — pa- 
 tiently, as the long-suffering of God — urgently, as the 
 greatness of your danger, standing, as you are, on the 
 verge of the gulf — why, when a number of your 
 fellow-men unite expressly to urge it on your accep- 
 tance — when they assure you of its healing efficacy on 
 themselves — when the proofs of that efficacy are all 
 around you — and, when numbers, surmounting all 
 these obstacles of which you complain, believe in 
 Christ and are saved, " Turn ye, turn ye, from your 
 evil ways, for why will ye die ?" 
 
 VIII. But, finally, to return to that class to whom 
 our remarks have been chiefly directed — to the pro- 
 fessed friends of the Christian instruction of this me- 
 tropolis — you ivill not plead that the Christian Churches^ 
 to which you belong, have yet done their utmost for the 
 religious recovery of its inhabitants. Pleas and ex- 
 cuses of this kind generally spring from those who 
 do the least, and who would be better satisfied still 
 with doing nothing at all. They who are the most 
 conspicuous for Christian activity, are commonly the 
 most impatient and self-abased that so little should be 
 done, while so much remains undone. Every church 
 has its few active and its many indolent members, or, 
 at least, those who are kept from indolence, chiefly to 
 avoid the shame and the remonstrances to which it 
 would lead ; and well do the few know, that if the 
 many were as active as themselves, their collective 
 usefulness might be greatly increased. And well 
 does the most active church in this metropolis know, 
 that it has within itself the means of covering a much 
 larger space than it has ever yet occupied with the 
 works of faith and the labours of love. And well 
 does this Society know, that if all the Christian talents 
 in this city, which are at present unemployed, and all 
 the resources still unexplored, were but brought out 
 
44 LONDON: 
 
 from the napkin in which they are shrouded, and from 
 under the bushel where they are hid, and were placed 
 at its disposal, soon might London be penetrated and per- 
 vaded in all its streets, and alleys, and obscurest recesses, 
 with the light of the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ. 
 We mean not to say, that, in the highest sense of the 
 t^rm, it would be universally evangelised. To say this, 
 would be to lose sight, both of the depravity which 
 the Gospel would have to encounter in those to whom 
 you took it, and of its dependence for success on the 
 accompanying influences of the Holy Spirit. But we 
 do mean to say, and would aim to impress it on every 
 Christian present, that nothing but the consecration of 
 all their available resources is necessary, in order that, 
 by the Divine blessing, the Christians of this city may 
 speedily see its entire population in possession of the 
 knowledge of the Gospel remedy. We do mean to 
 say, that the Christians of a place are held responsible 
 for putting all the inhabitants of that -place in posses- 
 sion of the Gospel — that wherever they have devoted 
 themselves to the object, they have succeeded — that 
 to suppose in such a case they could have failed, is to 
 make the responsibility which had rested on them, 
 return and rest on him who had imposed it. We do 
 affirm, then, that the consummation at which we aim, 
 depends, not on the amount of your resources, but on 
 the entireness with which you consecrate that amount, 
 whether great or small, to the service ; that were you, 
 on the one hand, to devote a thousand fold more to it, 
 you would not to be warranted to expect success, if 
 still you kept back a portion unemployed — but that if, 
 on the other, your funds, and agents, and resources, 
 were to be ever so much reduced from what they now 
 are, still, if they were all you could furnish, you would 
 be warranted in expecting complete success — that if 
 the multitude to be fed be five thousand, besides wo- 
 men and children, and the means of meeting their 
 hunger consist only of five loaves and two small 
 fishes, still, if the whole of that scanty provision be 
 cheerfully placed in the hand of Christ, in that hand 
 
A SERMON. 45 
 
 it will be so greatly multiplied, that they shall all eat 
 and be filled. 
 
 But if this representation be correct, the fact that a 
 large proportion of the metropolis is still unpossessed 
 of even the knowledge of the Gospel remedy, demon- 
 strates that its Christian Churches have not yet devoted 
 themselves to the work. And then comes back, with 
 augmented force, the solemn question, " Why it 
 should be so?" If the disease to be remedied were 
 physical, every available agency would soon be put 
 into motion to subdue it. Why, then, when the part 
 afflicted is the undying spirit — why, when the remedy 
 provided is the very blood of Christ — when you are 
 intrusted with the means of imparting it, and intrusted 
 with them expressly that you may impart it — why, 
 when the neglect of imparting it will be followed by 
 the misery of the souls around you without measure 
 and without end — and when the result of imparting it 
 would bring glory to your Saviour, and immortal hap- 
 piness to the souls which would be saved — why are 
 you not devotedly administering the remedy } The 
 more zealous and active members of this Society are 
 entitled to ask you, why, when the diseased are dying 
 around you, and you see that we are in the way of 
 checking the ravages of the evil, and are only waiting 
 for your co-operation in order to succeed — why will 
 you refuse that assistance, and thus, in reality, depress 
 our ardour, and impede our activity } At least, give 
 us to-night more liberally of your pecuniary substance, 
 and we will do what we can, by God's help, to supply 
 your lack of service. The members of other reli- 
 gious Societies, the Christians of other places, are en- 
 titled to ask, why, when the moral recovery of London 
 would strengthen the hands of every other agency for 
 doing good, and operate beneficially to the ends of the 
 earth — why will you allow large masses of its popula- 
 tion to remain unvisited and unhealed, a source of 
 wide-spread contamination and moral death ? And 
 are not the believers of other times — the weeping 
 prophet — " the men who sighed and cried for all the 
 
46 LONDON : 
 
 abominations" of Jerusalem — the agonised apostle — 
 are they not entitled to ask, why scenes of guilt simi- 
 lar to those which convulsed their hearts with grief, 
 should leave you comparatively unmoved ? Rather, 
 is not he, the Lord of them all — he, who, when he 
 drew near to Jerusalem, and beheld the city, wept 
 over it — is not he supremely entitled to ask, and may 
 he not be regarded as now inquiring, " Why, with my 
 name upon your lips, with my example before your 
 eyes, my cross in your hands, and my command to 
 carry it to every house, to every creature, sounding in 
 your ears — why are thousands around you perishing 
 in ignorance of my salvation ?" 
 
 And why is it thus ? and how long shall it remain ? 
 Till you not merely listen to an occasional appeal on 
 the subject, but take the moral statistics of this mighty 
 city into your stated and devout consideration — till 
 you vividly picture its spiritual condition to the eye of 
 your mind, or go forth, and look into it, and gaze upon 
 it, with your bodily eyes. Would the Almighty affect 
 his prophet with the spiritual death of the Jewish na- 
 tion ? he called him to look on a valley full of dry 
 bones. Was the spirit of Paul at Athens stirred within 
 him ? it was when he saw the city wholly given to 
 idolatry. Did Jesus weep over Jerusalem ? it was 
 when he drew near, and helield the city. And if you 
 would be duly impressed with the spiritual destitution 
 of your Jerusalem — look at it — dwell on it — and soon 
 will your eye affect your heart. Have you been moved 
 of late by graphic accounts of heathen wretchedness ? 
 and have you felt that, did no physical and political 
 obstacles intervene, you could go through the heathen 
 world proclaiming the Gospel of Christ? The world 
 of London guilt stretches immediately around you, 
 with no such obstacles to prevent your instant and en- 
 tire consecration to the work of applying the Gospel 
 remedy. No Atlantic nor Pacific rolls between you 
 and the objects of our present solicitude — they are in 
 your streets, and at your doors. No Chinese exclusive- 
 ness is here — London " is open" to all you can do for 
 
A SERMON. 47 
 
 it — open in all its streets, and in every dwelling. No 
 savage tribe here threatens you with immolation to its 
 idol gods. Your only danger here lies in neglect — the 
 danger of incurring Divine displeasure, and the up- 
 braidings of the souls you neglect. Every considera- 
 tion then urges you to activity ; and the word of him 
 that cannot lie promises to crown that activity with 
 success. Only let your Christian endeavours corres- 
 pond with your resources, and your prayers call down 
 the Spirit of God upon the whole — and, "I will re- 
 store health unto thee, and I will heal thy wounds, saith 
 the Lord." Your very " walls shall be salvation, and 
 your gates praise." And the name of the city from 
 that day shall be, (Jehovah Shamma,) The Lord is 
 there." 
 
CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM; 
 A SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY,* 
 AT THE POULTRY CHAPEL, LONDON, 
 
 MAY 16, 1842. 
 
 i say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also hearing me 
 witness in the Holy Ghost, that 1 have great heaviness and con- 
 tinual sorrow in my heart, for I could rvish that myself were 
 accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to 
 the fesh. 
 
 Brethren, my hearfs desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that 
 they might be saved. Rom. ix. 1 — 3. x. 1. 
 
 When the apostle gave expression to these sentiments, 
 he had long and painfully learned how difficult it is to 
 differ in opinion from those among whom we live, or to 
 aim at their improvement, without incurring their aver- 
 sion — it may be their active and unceasing hatred. If 
 we, of the present day, have not learnt this lesson, it 
 cannot be for want of illustration and even experience. 
 But the evils of this nature to which we may be expos- 
 ed, are mere inconveniences compared with those 
 which the apostle had to endure. Picture his posi- 
 
 * The Home Missionary Society, composed of Congregational Dissen- 
 ters, was formed in London, in 1819 ; its great object is the evangelization 
 of the unenlightened towns and villages of Great Britain, in the accom- 
 plishment of which it has been eminently successful. It is a voluntary 
 institution, and Christian liberality has contributed to its funds about 
 £140,000, or nearly 700,000 dollars. The general results of the Society*! 
 labours may be thus presented : — 
 
A SERMON. 49 
 
 lion. With all his knowledge of the black and boiling 
 rage with which the Jews regarded the triumphs of the 
 cross — for he himself had been exceedingly mad 
 against it — he had not merely to meet them incident- 
 ally in society as a Christian man — but to go and 
 address himself to them as a Christian apostle. Well 
 as he knew their bigoted nationality., he had yet to 
 address them as the apostle of Christ to the. Gentiles. 
 Deeply as he could sympathize with their pharisaic 
 pride as the children of the Theocracy, he had to an- 
 nounce the mortifying truth, that their obedience to 
 the law, confidently as they relied on it — and their 
 peculiar privileges, much as they gloried in them, 
 would avail them nothing as means of salvation — 
 
 1. It has introduced the Gospel into some hundreds of parishes, where 
 it was previously unknown. 
 
 2. It has been instrumental in the conversion of thousands of individ- 
 uals — hundreds of whom have died in the faith of Christ. 
 
 3. It has collected bodies of Christian converts together in many 
 places where there had been none before. Churches of professed believ- 
 ers have thus been formed, who are now actively engaged in works of 
 Christian benevolence, in teaching the young, in circulating the Scrip- 
 tures and religious tracts — and in every possible way trying to increase 
 human happiness, by spreading around them the influence of pure and 
 undefiled religion. 
 
 4. The Society has been instrumental in obtaining the erection of 
 many places of religious worship, and though it claims no property in 
 nny such buildings, it takes care that they shall be secured for the use of 
 the people, in connection with the preaching of evangelical doctrines, 
 and no others. 
 
 5. It has collected many thousands of persons, the greater portion of 
 whom had formerly never attended the public worship of God. These 
 hearers are to be found scattered over more than thirty counties of Eng- 
 land, and in the midst of a population of more than half a million of hu_ 
 man beings, to whom the preaching of the Missionaries is accessible. 
 
 6. The Society has been the means of collecting thousands of chil- 
 dren in Sunday-schools ; many of those so instructed in the earlier 
 years of its existence, are now members of Christian churches, village 
 preachers, and the most efficient teachers of the present generation of 
 the young, in the Sunday-schools of the Society. School-rooms have 
 been erected, week-day schools have also been formed, Sunday-school 
 libraries established, and a desire for knowledge has been spread among 
 the parents and the children, on the various stations. Ed. 
 
 4 
 
50 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM I 
 
 absolutely nothing. And well as he knew that their 
 pride and prejudices had gone on increasing in propor- 
 tion as their glory had departed — ^till now they had 
 reached a state of the most morbid sensitiveness res- 
 pecting their national importance and religious securi- 
 ty — he had to discharge the painful duty of announc- 
 ing, not merely, like an ancient prophet, that their 
 economy was in danger — that it would be repealed at 
 some future time, but that, by a judicial act of God, 
 they were now to look on themselves as already and 
 actually cast off, and the Gentiles called in their stead. 
 This was truly the burden of the Lord — all the 
 burdens of the Lord collected into one. To have had 
 to deliver it, would have been gratifying to a harsh and 
 malignant spirit — especially if smarting from the in- 
 sults he had received from his countrymen. As he 
 poured out vial after vial with slow and steady hand, 
 he would have called his fiendish deliberation, fidelity 
 to God ; and have mistaken his own feast of malev- 
 olence, for zeal for the Lord of hosts. To a timid 
 spirit, anxious only not to offend, the burden would 
 have been intolerable. He would have clothed his 
 message in soft and silken terms — and have mistaken 
 his shrinking delicacy for Christian conciliation. But, 
 mark, how admirably the apostle reconciles unsparing 
 fidelity to the Gospel, with ardent affection for his 
 countrymen. In professing for them that affection, he 
 knew that he was about to avow what they would 
 deem utterly incredible. But, said he, " I say the truth 
 in Christ ; I lie not ; my conscience also bearing me 
 witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness 
 and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish 
 that myself were accursed from Christ, for my breth- 
 ren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." The phrase 
 "•J could loisli it^'''' implies the presence of a condi- 
 tion which he knew to be impossible ; and that there- 
 fore he ought not, did not, wish it ; that the wish would 
 not have been availing, allowable, or proper. " But 
 such," said he, " is my love to my countrymen, that 
 were it proper and possible^ I would devote myself to 
 
A SERMON. 51 
 
 the destruction which threatens them, could they by- 
 such means escape." 
 
 Having thus avowed his deep concern for their 
 welfare, he boldly advances to his painful duty. He 
 shows, first, that God may consistently reject the Jews, 
 and extend salvation to the Gentiles ; second, that he 
 had declared by his ancient prophets that such was his 
 purpose ; and third, that he had now actually carried 
 his purpose into effect. And having thus far discharged 
 the burden of the Lord, he again takes up the lan- 
 guage of passionate protestation for their welfare — 
 language in which he appears to breathe forth his 
 inmost soul — " Brethren, my hearth's desire and prayer 
 to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." May 
 God baptize us with the same spirit of holy solicitude 
 for the salvation of all around us — while we endeavour 
 to show — That enlightened patriotism is a Christian 
 virtue — That the highest order of patriotism is that 
 which leads us to seek the salvation of our country- 
 men — That the highest order of instrumentality we can 
 employ for this purpose, includes willing self-denial 
 and earnest prayer — And that, besides the great general 
 motives which should induce us to seek their salvation 
 in common with that of all other men, some, of the 
 special reasons which moved the apostle should equally 
 operate upon us. 
 
 I. First, we have to show that enlightened patriot- 
 ism is a Christian virtue. Some of you may not be 
 unaware, that among the unfounded objections which 
 infidelity, at one time, raised against the Gospel, one 
 was — that it does not inculcate patriotism — the love of 
 our country. Yes, such was its rage for objections 
 against Christianity — against a system which incul- 
 cates whatsoever things are honest, lovely, and of good 
 report — and such the dearth of objections, that it actu- 
 ally uttered the groundless complaint that the gospel is 
 silent on the subject of patriotism. Now, had the ob- 
 jector been required to define what he meant by the 
 term, he would have found himself answering his own 
 objection. Would he refer, for example, to the patriot- 
 
52 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 ism of the Jews ? that, as we have seen, was bigotry 
 — bigotry which consigned the whole human race, 
 themselves excepted, to destruction. We hope it is 
 no disgrace to the Gospel,, that it does not inculcate 
 bigotry. Would he refer to the patriotism of Greece ? 
 that was pride — pride which looked down on the peo- 
 ple of every other land as on a horde of barbarians. 
 Or to the patriotism of Rome ? that was martial am,' 
 hition — ambition which regarded all the world besides 
 as made to be conquered and enslaved. We hope it 
 is not deemed a disparagement to the Gospel, that it 
 does not inculcate pride, nor military aggression. Or 
 would he refer to the patriotism of modern nations > 
 that has been marked by selfishness, unrelenting self- 
 ishness towards all who lived beyond certain territorial 
 limits. " Is there any thing more ridiculous," asks 
 the sagacious Pascal, " than that a man has a right to 
 kill me because he lives across the water, and that his 
 prince has a quarrel with mine, though I have none 
 with him ?" We hope it is no imputation on the Gos- 
 pel, that it does not inculcate such a spirit. No, it 
 says nothing that has the remotest tendency to build in 
 a nation with a Chinese wall of selfishness. It con- 
 fers not on one state a right to forge fetters for another. 
 It kindles no brand to ignite those popular passions and 
 national antipathies which are themselves liable to 
 spontaneous combustion. It proposes to sanctify and 
 subordinate patriotism to the nobler purposes of phi- 
 lanthropy — the love of country to the love of man. 
 Assuming the principle that every true interest is uni- 
 versal, it refuses to entertain any project as final ^ less 
 than the amelioration of the species. In prosecuting 
 its march, therefore, it consults the map of the world. 
 And already its harmonizing efl?ects are widely felt. 
 As the sun of righteousness ascends in the firmament, 
 and our moral horizon enlarges, those whom we had 
 seen only by the torch-light of prejudice, disfigured as 
 phantoms whom it was thought merit to hate, are dis- 
 covered to be men whom it is a pleasure to love. Nor 
 is the healing process to terminate, till all kindreds, 
 
A SERMON. 53 
 
 people, and tongues, are drawn into the close relation- 
 ship of a family compact, preparatory to the final 
 assembly of the church in heaven. 
 
 .But every country sustains a twofold relation — an 
 external, and an internal. In its external aspect, or 
 relation to other lands, we have seen that the Gospel 
 would convert every people it visits into agents of 
 good to " every creature." And while thus aiming at 
 universal benevolence, it does not overleap any of the 
 inner and smaller circles of civil life. Beginning with 
 the individual, it requires him to do unto others as he 
 would they should do unto him. Entering the domes- 
 tic circle, it hallows the marriage union, inculcates fil- 
 ial obedience, enjoins on servants honesty and fidelity, 
 and considerate kindness on masters. Passing through 
 the various classes of society, it requires them to be 
 diligent in business ; given to hospitality ; ready to for- 
 give ; to give to him that needeth ; and, as they have 
 opportunity, to do good unto all. It gives the magis- 
 trate a sword with which he is to be a terror to evil 
 doers, and a praise to them that do well ; enjoins the 
 subject to render unto all their due ; and, entering the 
 house of prayer, it authoritatively exhorts " that sup- 
 plications, prayers^ intercessions, and giving of thanks, 
 be made for all men : for kings, and for all that are in 
 authority ; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable 
 life in all godliness and honesty." Indeed, the Gospel 
 prescribes every general rule, and tends to form every 
 principle of virtue — on which the welfare of a people 
 can depend ; and it would be easy to show that no 
 evil could possibly befal a state, either in its internal 
 or external relations, which does not arise from the 
 neglect of these virtues, or the violation of these laws. 
 
 But on this subject, the Gospel is as rich in example 
 as in precept. In the conduct of our blessed Lord, 
 we behold a holy patriotism personified — the love of 
 country emdodied. " I am not sent," said he, " but 
 to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ;" intimating 
 how gladly he would have become the Shepherd of 
 Israel- Where did patriotism ever exhibit a nobler 
 
54 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 burst of sorrow than when, on Mount Olivet, he be- 
 held the city, and wept over it, and said, " O Jerusa- 
 lem ! Jerusalem 1 how often would I have gathered 
 thee, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
 but ye would not !" Whose patriotism ever endured 
 what his did — -toils, reproaches, unceasing persecution, 
 ignominious death — yet saved his latest breath to say, 
 " Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." 
 He had but few offices to bestow — but they were the 
 highest out" of heaven — and these he bestowed on. 
 twelve of his countrymen according to the flesh. He 
 had but one gift to impart — but oh, it comprehends 
 every other — the gift of eternal life ; and this he di- 
 rected to be offered to his country first — " beginning 
 at Jerusalem." 
 
 Christianity unfriendly to patriotism ! Let the lan- 
 guage of Paul confute the slander. Though his coun- 
 trymen were his bitterest foes — though he had receiv- 
 ed at their hands '^ stripes and imprisonments, and 
 deaths oft," yet with a yearning for their welfare, 
 which nothing could appease, he exclaimed, "I could 
 wish myself, were it available or right, made an anath- 
 ema for their sakes." And his conduct strictly accord- 
 ed with his professions. Follow him from city to city, 
 and you will find that his first resort is to the syna- 
 gogue. His first object of solicitude in every place is 
 the salvation of his brethren according to the flesh. 
 The language of his life was, '^ My heart's desire and 
 prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved." 
 And, still, the Christians of a country are its best pa- 
 triots. If a foul blot is to be wiped from a nation's 
 brow, like that of slavery — their hand is the first to 
 remove it. If they unite to send forth their agents 
 into distant lands — it is to civilize the aborigines of 
 their colonies, and to lift their foreign dependencies in 
 the scale of morality. If they impart instruction to 
 the rising race at home — it is that kind of knowledge 
 calculated to render its recipients the most useful mem- 
 bers of the community. If they assemble together — 
 they meet not in scenes of dissipation, to corrupt the 
 
A SERMON. 55 
 
 morals of society — but, as we now meet, to elevate its 
 character, and to promote its highest welfare. In short, 
 if there be any efficacy in prayer — any value in the 
 blessing of God — then is the Christian the true bene- 
 factor of his land ; for on him it devolves to offer that 
 prayer, and to draw down that blessing. 
 
 II. This brings us. to our second particular — that the 
 highest order of patriotism is that which leads us to seek 
 the salvation of our countrymen. We are far from 
 saying that every thing short of this is worthless. We 
 have studiously employed language to imply the con- 
 trary. When it is remembered that the great majority 
 of a people aim at nothing higher than their own personal 
 and present comfort ; that they are content to leave the 
 world as they found it — as ignorant, as helpless, and as 
 miserable — and even worse than they found it, provided 
 they may be left to their animal enjoyments — -when 
 this is remembered, it must be allowed that the man who 
 rises above this selfishness ; who steps out from the 
 herd of mankind, and endeavours to do them good — 
 however low and limited his object may be — that man 
 deserves well of his fellows. He who aims only to 
 alleviate the toils of human labour, and to multiply the 
 passing comforts of human life, does well. He who 
 laboriously studies the structure of the human frame, 
 and who does it in order to expel its diseases and pro- 
 long its life — is acting wisely and well. He who lays 
 himself out in any way for the good of society — who 
 endeavours to simplify its laws, to enlarge its commerce, 
 to multiply and regulate its charities, and to protect its 
 liberties — who hears the groans of the oppressed, only 
 that he may endeavour to allay them, and the chains 
 of the captive, only that he may labour to break them — 
 his aim is higher still. Let him have the gratitude of 
 his country while he lives ; and, when he dies, let his 
 memory be monumentally preserved. But high and 
 honourable as these objects are, compared with the aim 
 of him who seeks the salvation of those around him, 
 they sink into low insignificance. For what after all 
 is their end ? to alleviate the symptoms of a disease. 
 
56 CHRISTIAN patriotism: 
 
 the seat of which they are unable to reach. But he, 
 without disregarding the symptoms, aims at the extinc- 
 tion of the entire disease, and at the implantation of a 
 new, an immortal life. 
 
 Now, we are prepared to show that nothing but Chris- 
 tianity has ever done this for a people — can ever eifect 
 it. We are aware, indeed, that, in the present day, 
 religion has many competitors for the honour of improv- 
 ing mankind ; that civilization and law, political econo- 
 my and secular instruction, forgetting their total failure 
 as a remedy for man, during the thousands of years in 
 which they had the world to themselves, have generally 
 come to believe that could they now but be left to work 
 alone, they should need no higher aid to renovate society, 
 and to make the world happy. But sift their preten- 
 sions. Call for witnesses. Ask science what it has 
 done for a people when unguided by revelation, and you 
 will find that it has invariably led through scepticism and 
 sensuality to destruction — that however simple the 
 character of a people may be, while struggling to 
 establish their political existence, in no instance what- 
 ever has a progress in arts, and science, and attendant 
 wealth, unaccompanied by religion, failed to increase 
 the luxury and licentiousness, the arrogance and selfish- 
 ness of a people, and thus to seal their doom. Examine 
 the influence of mere philosophy upon a nation ; and 
 one of its ablest historians informs us that, in Greece, 
 its diflusion was attended with a certain refinement of 
 manners, and the deterioration of all moral and religious 
 habits. Investigate the merit of mere civilization ; and 
 its ablest living expounder tells us that as societies are 
 born, and live, and die, upon the earth, they contain not 
 the whole man — cannot touch the nobler part of his 
 nature — that he has a higher destiny than that of states ; 
 so that if the soul be diseased, civilization can only 
 restrain the eruption when it endangers the social 
 health. Investigate the claims of law ; its acknowl- 
 edged function is, not to remedy the evils of human 
 depravity, but just to keep them within certain limits. 
 The perpetual enactment of new laws, is a tacit con- 
 
A SERMON. 57 
 
 fession of the insufficiency of nearly all the legislation 
 of the past. By some of pur judges was it more em- 
 phatically than ever reiterated during their recent cir- 
 cuits, that, for the prevention of crime, law must be 
 entirely beholden to the influence of a sound religious 
 education. Examine the effect of political government^ 
 in building up the moral character of a nation ; alas, 
 there is not one which does not legalize some vices, 
 and which is not content to swell its revenues by traffic- 
 ing in others. Who has not heard of Plato's ideal re- 
 public ; of Harrington's Oceana ; of Bacon's New 
 Atlantis ; and of More's Utopia — all Utopian schemes 
 of government — and all of them, down to the debas- 
 ing and impracticable scheme of the modern socialist — 
 all of them implying that the form of government es- 
 sential to the moral welfare of society is yet to arise. 
 And the reason of the inefficiency of all these human 
 instruments is obvious. Man has a physical, intellectual, 
 and moral constitution ; and they all of them invite 
 defeat, by thwarting and running counter to some of 
 the laws of that constitution. Besides which, and 
 principally, that constitution itself has been deranged 
 and subverted by sin ; and none of these instruments 
 have the power of harmonizing and restoring it. 
 
 If there be, then, a system calculated to remedy the 
 evil, that must be the highest order of patriotism which 
 employs it. Now such a system is the Gospel. And 
 a moment's consideration will disclose the reasons of 
 its efficiency. We just now remarked that, in forming 
 a good society, the Gospel begins with the individual 
 man. We have now to remark that, in forming the 
 man, it begins with his heart. There the plague-spot 
 first appeared — there the disease of sin is seated, and 
 there the Spirit of God applies the remedy. It passes 
 through the understanding, indeed, in a path of. light; 
 but its message is to the heart. It speaks to the imag- 
 ination ; but to the conscience it thunders. It carries 
 the judgment along with it ; but the heart is the place 
 where it works. It discloses to man the astounding 
 fact, that the reason of all his guilt and misery is, that 
 
58 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 he has lost God out of his heart — that a host of evils 
 have rushed in and taken possession — and that never 
 till these are disowned and hated, and God is v^elcomed 
 back again, can he hope to be truly virtuous, or safe, or 
 happy. Is he aroused to a sense of his alarming condi- 
 tion ? does he utter a loud cry for mercy ? The Gospel 
 points to the sacrifice of Christ, and proclaims, " atone- 
 ment is made ; for the sake of that sacrifice, God is 
 prepared to blot out all your guilt." Does he com- 
 plain of depraved affections, and unsatisfied desires ^ it 
 offers him a new heart ; puts him under the influence 
 of the great renewing Spirit ; tells him that his renova- 
 tion has commenced already ; and presents his affec- 
 tions with objects which purify and ennoble just in pro- 
 portion as he loves and values them. Does he 
 dread lest the world should return and tyrannize over 
 him again ? The Gospel throws open to his view 
 another world — brings life and immortality to light — 
 brings them as from an unknown distance, and places 
 them before him — brings heaven with all its glories 
 into his horizon — surrounds him with the solemn pomp 
 and spiritual inhabitants of the unseen world — so sur- 
 rounds him, that they look down upon him, press 
 in upon him, that, do what he will, he feels that he is 
 moving under the powers of the world to come. And 
 in this way, having enlisted the moral nature of the 
 man on the side of holiness, it works like leaven, from 
 the centre outwards, till the whole man be leavened. 
 Armed with the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Gos- 
 pel goes down to the depths of his nature, making him 
 a new creature in Christ Jesus — wise in a science 
 which the wisdom of this world never knew — the 
 subject of a government destined to absorb every 
 other, and " which is righteousness, and peace, and 
 joy, in the Holy Ghost." 
 
 And, beyond this, the Gospel having thus rescued 
 his moral nature, places it in harmonious relation, not 
 only with every part of his own nature, but places 
 him — the whole man — in harmonious relation with 
 every object, and every law, physical, social, and moral, 
 
A SERMON. 59 
 
 which God has appointed or approves. The Gos- 
 pel of the grace of God, which hath appeared to him, 
 " teacheth him, that denying ungodliness and worldly- 
 lusts, he is to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in 
 the present world." And he now obeys, " not only 
 for wrath, but for conscience sake." Besides which, 
 a sphere of Christian usefulness to others, opens 
 around him. Desires which he never knew, and mo- 
 tives which he never felt before, constrain him "to 
 live, not unto himself, but to -him that died for him, 
 and rose again." Henceforth, he is a blessing to the 
 community of which he is a member. And his 
 heart's desire, and prayer to God is, that all around 
 him may be saved. 
 
 Now Christianity, in thus beginning with the heart 
 of man, and in restoring him to God first, differs es- 
 sentially from all those human instruments of improve- 
 ment on which the world relies, and which we just 
 now named. It proceeds on the principle that as all 
 the ills of life originated in man's guilty separation 
 from God, so the first step towards the removal of 
 these is to restore his happy relationship to God. It 
 by no means rejects these human instruments — civili- 
 zation, laws, government, philosophy — it accepts them 
 all, employs them all. Where they are not, the Gos- 
 pel introduces them ; where they are, it directs and 
 devolopes them. But as they are utterly inefficacious 
 for man's moral disease, the Gospel holds them in en- 
 tire subordination to the great remedy. And, in this 
 respect, the Gospel is simply consistent — and is the 
 only system which is consistent. Boast of philoso- 
 phy ! — the Gospel is the only true philosophy, for it 
 does not expect to gain its ends without the employ- 
 ment of adequate means. Talk of fanaticism ! — 
 Christianity is the only remedial system which is not 
 chargeable with that ; for it is the only system which 
 does not expect to make the fruit good, without first 
 making the tree good. It does not calculate on the 
 peaceableness of the man, who is still at war with 
 himself; nor on the civil obedience of him, whose 
 
60 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 breast is a scene of anarchy ; nor on the agency of 
 him as a friend of real freedom, who is still led cap- 
 tive by Satan at his will. It leaves it to the wise men 
 of this world, to attempt to gather grapes from thorns, 
 or figs from thistles. 
 
 Christianity, then, becomes profitable for the life 
 that now is, by aiming supremely at the life which is 
 to come. It attains the lower good, while accomplish- 
 ing the higher. It makes a man provident for time, 
 by making him provident for eternity. It renders him 
 obedient to the law of the land, by making him first a 
 law unto himself. It induces him to relax his grasp 
 on the pelf of this, world, by placing within his reach 
 the durable riches of another. What numbers have 
 admired the peaceful and hallowed scene pourtrayed in 
 the Cotter's Saturday Night. And many a Christian 
 patriot may have sighed and wished that such were the 
 domestic economy of every family. And many a 
 righteous legislator, at his wit's end for new expedi- 
 ents of government, may have reflected how easy and 
 grateful a task it would be to govern a nation compos- 
 ed of such families. And so it would be. For what 
 need of the laws to enforce the observance of the 
 Sabbath, where the heart of the people was longing 
 through the week for the return of the day of rest ? 
 How much would the question of making provision 
 for the poor be simplified, where poverty was indus- 
 trious, and sought no more aid than was absolutely 
 necessary ; and where benevolence extended that aid 
 with a wise and a willing hand ! How little need of 
 capacious prisons, where every home was a school of 
 moral discipline ; or of an armed police, where every 
 district was guarded by a standing army of Christian 
 virtues ! Oh, that men were wise, that they under- 
 stood this ! " For this" — we might say to them, as 
 Moses did to Israel — " this is your wisdom and under- 
 standing in the sight of the nations, which shall hear 
 all these statutes, and say. Surely this great nation is a 
 wise and understanding people !" 
 
 And is it so, that Christianity would thus renovate 
 
A SERMON. 61 
 
 the social life of a people, while aiming at their spir- 
 itual and eternal good ? How evident is it, then, that 
 that is the highest order of patriotism which seeks their 
 salvation ! Brethren, let others aim only at their infe- 
 rior good, aim you at the highest, " and all these infe- 
 rior things shall be added to them." Let others think 
 only of leading them into the paths of science, fame, 
 and power ; do you aspire to lead them into the path of 
 life — the path which knows no end till it has conduct- 
 ed them to a throne in the kingdom of God. And re- 
 member, that in thus blessing them spiritually, you are 
 blessing them temporally also. And in benefiting 
 them individually, you are benefiting the nation gen- 
 erally — you are thinning the ranks of ignorance, 
 worthlessness, and vice ; and you are multiplying the 
 elements of national order and greatness. Let others 
 fancy that they have attained an important end for a dis- 
 trict in securing a transient visit from the great and 
 the mighty — let it be ours to go through the land pro- 
 claiming, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
 his paths straight. Eepent ye, for the kingdom of 
 heaven, and the king of heaven himself, are at hand." 
 Oh, how much does a nation think of its foreign alli- 
 ances — what sacrifices will it not make to preserve 
 them — and what applause will it not shower on the 
 statesman who succeeds honourably in drawing closer 
 the bonds which unite it to neighbouring states. But 
 is not he the real statesman who unites his country to 
 heaven — who cultivates for it an alliance with the King 
 of kings — who draws closer the golden links which bind 
 it to his throne ? Let this be our aim — to see our 
 land in league with heaven — converted into a province 
 of the Divine empire — made a kingdom of our God 
 and of his Christ — inhabited by men who have become 
 reconciled to God, and have sworn allegiance to the 
 Prince of the kings of the earth. Brethren, let our 
 heart's desire and prayer to God for them be, that they 
 may be saved ; and, then, when every other object 
 shall have failed, and every political institution have 
 ceased to exist, we shall discover that our end is gain- 
 
62 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 ed ; that, in saving their souls, we have secured a 
 good, imperishable and eternal. 
 
 III. And this brings us to the third proposition — sug- 
 gested by the language of the apostle — that the high- 
 est order of instrumentality we can employ for this 
 end includes willing self-denial and earnest prayeY. 
 We think there is reason to conclude — however hum- 
 bling the view may be — that if a people could be found 
 destitute of every form of religion, Christianity, owing 
 to its purity and spirituality, would be, if they were 
 left to themselves, the very last' form which they 
 would think of embracing. And, further, that if, by 
 some cause operating upon them from without, the 
 Gospel were to be introduced among them, and were 
 even to awaken among them a desire for general im- 
 provement — we believe that, if left to themselves, 
 they would try every thing — philosophy, education, 
 changes of law, new forms of government, every hu- 
 man means of improvement — and having found them 
 all fruitless, would begin to try them all over again, 
 before they would have recourse to the transforming 
 power of the Gospel. And further still, that having 
 been led, by some external cause, to adopt the form of 
 Christianity, we believe that they would value it as an 
 instrument of civilization, of legislation, of morality, 
 value it for any thing rather than as an instrument of 
 salvation : that even if they came to regard it in this 
 light, they would try to bring it to bear upon the peo- 
 ple in the mass, by passing laws and enforcing gene- 
 ral observances, rather than by addressing it to the 
 individual man ; and that even if they came to this, 
 they would address themselves to every part of his 
 nature — to his body, by putting it into the posture of 
 devotion — to his judgment, filling it with truths to be 
 merely understood — to his memory, storing it with 
 truths to be repeated whether understood or not — and 
 would be quite satisfied if, in these respects, they suc- 
 ceeded, without thinking that, if the soul be unsaved, 
 the man is lost. And does not this humbling view 
 suggest that the man who is himself spiritually saved, 
 
A SERMON. 63 
 
 is the only one who is likely to employ the Gospel ap- 
 propriately for the salvation of others ? Yes, but it 
 also suggests the further idea, that even he, though he 
 knows that salvation involves a personal change — a 
 change of heart — and though he desire to see the 
 change pass upon all around him — will employ every 
 other allowable means for gaining the end, rather than 
 those of willing self-denial and earnest prayer. And 
 the reason is clear — because the employment of these 
 argues a high degree of spirituality of mind, and the 
 bulk of professing Christians are content with a low 
 state of piety ; a piety which would rather contribute 
 money than pray ; rather employ others, than act 
 itself; rather combine self-indulgence and very slen- 
 der religious success, than self-denial and the greatest 
 amount of good they can think of. 
 
 And yet this instrumentality, though the last and 
 least to which we resort, is, we repeat, the highest we 
 can employ. It is in effect, the all of Christian instru- 
 mentality combined, sublimated, and employed to the 
 utmost. Self-denial ! It is simply Christian consis- 
 tency. It is the Christian who has been bought with a 
 price, not embezzling his Lord's property. It is the 
 living sacrifice at the altar, presenting himself and all 
 that he possesses to God. It is the faithful servant 
 with his loins girt, and saying to his Master, " What 
 wilt thou have me to do ?" It is the sinner saved, 
 looking at the cross, till his eyes fill with tears of 
 gratitude, and his zeal kindles to a flame, and he feels 
 that, whether he is commanded or not, he cannot live 
 unto himself, and grieves that the consecration of his 
 all should so inadequately express his sense of obliga- 
 tion. Earnest supplication ! It is faith passing by all 
 secondary means, and making its way straight to God 
 — putting aside every human hand, and going at once 
 to God — entering the presence of the Eternal, and 
 making its appeal to his throne. By self-denial, the 
 believer is devoting all his own resources to the cause 
 of Christ ; while, by prayer, he is confessing the im- 
 potence of the whole, taking hold of the strength of 
 
64 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 God, identifying himself with Almighty power. Self- 
 denial and earnest prayer combined, form an order of 
 instrumentality to which the church is comparatively a 
 stranger — the power of which it has not tried on any 
 extensive scale — and yet it is the only order of instru- 
 mentality to which God has promised unlimited suc- 
 cess, and on which he can consistently confer it. 
 
 Brethren, may not this be the one great lesson which 
 the Head of the church is about practically to impress 
 on his people ? . It is well for us that he does not delay 
 his blessing until our instrumentality is as perfect as it 
 might be — that from the moment we begin to seek the 
 salvation of men, he begins to honour the attempt — 
 and that in proportion as we grow in devotedness, he 
 graciously augments our usefulness. 
 
 But the time arrives when, proceeding even at this 
 rate, our opportunities of usefulness exceed our means . 
 of improving them — when our success begins to be 
 burdensome. So much more in earnest for human 
 salvation is God than we are, that his blessing on our 
 most defective instrumentality so enlarges our field of 
 operation, that the time at length arrives when we find • 
 ourselves shut up to earnest prayer and willing self- 
 denial. That time, we think, is approaching in the 
 history of most of our great religious societies — has 
 actually come in the history of this society. His bless- 
 ing on what you have done, renders it necessary that 
 you should do more. His blessing on your past instru- 
 mentality, shuts you up to the necessity of more entire 
 devotedness and of more earnest prayer. 
 
 IV. Then let us attend to some of the reasons 
 which should induce this devotedness ; and we shall 
 find, fourthly, that, besides the great general motives 
 for seeking the salvation of our countrymen in com- 
 mon with that of others, some of the special reasons 
 which moved the Apostle, should equally operate 
 upon us. 
 
 1. Now let me ask, in earnestly desiring the con- 
 version of his countrymen, was he not yielding to the 
 natural promptings of sanctified humanity ! Our ob- 
 
A SERMON. 65 
 
 ligation to preach the Gospel to every creature is 
 founded partly on our family relation to eveiy crea- 
 ture ; for God hath made " of one blood all the na- 
 tions on the face of the earth." The closer our rela- 
 tionship, then, to any part of the human family, the 
 more specific and urgent our obligation to seek their 
 salvation. So far from violating or disregarding any 
 of our natural ties, the Gospel draws them closer, 
 makes them sacred, employs them for the highest pur- 
 poses, renders it impossible for us to look on our 
 friends and relations as perishing, without yearning to 
 save them. My friends, the inhabitants of your own 
 country are more nearly related to you than those of 
 any other ; only yield to the impulse of humanity, 
 and to their salvation you will devote yourselves su- 
 premely. 
 
 2. And, in thus acting, your highest relative inter- 
 ests would be found to coincide with your duty. The 
 Apostle had ties more tender even than those of coun- 
 try ; and he knew that the welfare of those whom he 
 most ardently loved was closely bound up with the 
 spiritual condition of his nation generally ; and would 
 not that induce him to desire its conversion ? Breth- 
 ren, it accords with the government of God to deal 
 with a nation collectively — to bless it or to punish it 
 collectively in this world. The depraved condition of 
 a people in one age of its existence, is visited with its 
 evil consequences in a subsequent age. The spiritual 
 state of Britain in the present age, is preparing spirit- 
 ual consequences for the next age. As you now sow, 
 those who come after you will reap. For it is not 
 possible for one part of a people, any more than of 
 the human body, to suffer, without all the parts suffer- 
 ing with it. By a regard, therefore, to the welfare of 
 those who are the dearest to you — parts of yourselves 
 — to the welfare of your children's children to the 
 latest posterity, the obligation is laid on you to minis- 
 ter devotedly to the spiritual interests of your country. 
 As you could not hear that a fatal contagion was in- 
 vading the land, and sweeping off the population, 
 5 
 
66 CHRISTIAN patriotism: 
 
 without feeling that your own family were endanger- 
 ed, look on the moral contagion which rages around 
 you, as involving the entire community, and, there- 
 fore, those whom you feel for most, in special danger, 
 
 3. We have spoken of the holy patriotism of Christ 
 — of the tears which he shed over Jerusalem — and of 
 his command, that " repentance and remission of sins 
 should be preached in his name, among all nations, 
 beginning at Jerusalem.'^'' Yes, no sooner did he find 
 himself in a capacity to bless, than he began with bless- 
 ing the inhabitants of Jerusalem. While their eyes 
 were yet gleaming with the fire of triumphant revenge, 
 he commissioned his servants to hasten and open the 
 charter of redemption within sight of Calvary. And 
 could the apostle know this without corresponding 
 effect? The example of his Lord alone would have 
 sufficed ; his solemn command left him no alternative. 
 His heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel was, 
 that they might be saved. 
 
 Brethren, I assume not for Britain the same specific 
 relations to Christ which Israel sustained. But if there 
 be value left in signs — if any meaning in providential 
 events — then Britain has long been the Judea of the 
 West. That we are not favoured for our own sakes 
 alone, but also for other and ulterior designs, we must 
 be blind not to perceive. But equally blind must we 
 be, not to perceive that we are distinguished by God 
 in a surpassing degree. Blessings, compared with 
 which the sacred contents of the ark were insignificant, 
 have long been collected, and almost deposited, with us. 
 Privileges, of which the temple, the whole theocracy, 
 were only emblems, have long been dispensed to us in 
 rich profusion. " He hath not dealt so with any people." 
 And can we know that he hath thus " set his love on 
 us," without falling in with his gracious views, and 
 sympathizing with a Society whose object it is to pro- 
 mote them ^ My friends, do you admire the devoted- 
 ness — the heroic self-devotion of the apostle, in affirm- 
 ing that he could wish himself accursed from Christ 
 for the sake of his people ? " Ye know the grace of 
 
A SERMON. 67 
 
 our Lord Jesus Christ," — he actually hecame a curse for 
 us — he endured and exhausted every penal curse for 
 man — took our place in the universe — opened his bosom 
 — and welcomed to his heart the stroke which man 
 had deserved. And now, we repeat, the Gospel of 
 his salvation has long been given to Britain — not ex- 
 clusively indeed, hut pre-eminently^ in our possession — 
 with all the rich blessings which come in its train. Oh, 
 if there be any meaning in providential arrangements, 
 never can our prayers and efforts for Britain's salvation 
 exceed the concern which he has manifested — is still 
 manifesting — for its entire recovery to God. 
 
 4. And this reminds us of another motive. When 
 the apostle had protested his readiness to suffer for his 
 brethren, why think you did ho finish the sentence by 
 adding, " who are Israelites ; to whom pertaineth the 
 adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the 
 giving of the law, and the service of God, and the pro- 
 mises ?" Partly, doubtless, to show his profound re- 
 gard for their peculiar privileges. But partly, also, to 
 account for his anxiety for their salvation, by intimat- 
 ing, that in proportion to the value of these external 
 privileges, was their responsibility and danger if they 
 failed of the grace of God. 
 
 Look, brethren, at your fellow-countrymen in the 
 same light. Think of their superior facilities and ex- 
 ternal means of salvation — their Sabbath and other 
 schools for religious instruction — their places for the 
 worship of God — the Bible completed, translated, and 
 placed before them — the glorious Gospel of the blessed 
 God statedly proclaimed by twice ten thousand tongues 
 — privileges which might well awaken the idea that they 
 are adopted in the stead of God's ancient people. 
 But if such their advantages, who shall estimate their 
 responsibility ? If a heathen incurs responsibility by 
 coming within even the distant sound of the Gospel — 
 if the presence of a single missionary in a heathen 
 district introduces a new element of responsibility into 
 that district, where is the arithmetic which shall describe 
 the vast responsibility of our countrymen ? But then, 
 
68 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 if such their advantages and responsibility, what is 
 their moral condition ? I will not refer you for a reply 
 to the statistics of national crime — to crowded jails and 
 penal colonies. I will not refer you to the dense pop- 
 ulation of our cities — where thousands live on the 
 vices of others, and thousands more are training up as 
 their successors. I will just refer you to that part of 
 the population which is to be found in the field which 
 this Society especially occupies — -our rural districts. 
 Would you see ignorance in its most besotted state ? — 
 you must repair to some of our remote villages. Would 
 you see intemperance carried to beastly stupidity ? 
 and brutality wantoning in the infliction of animal suf- 
 fering ? and the moral and reasoning powers all but 
 extinguished ? — still you must repair to some of our 
 rural districts. Would you see man's nature in its 
 most unimpressable and unimprovable state — in a 
 word, would you see heathenism in its essence — in 
 every thing but its accidental forms ? — then must you 
 visit our retired districts. We are accustomed to 
 speak of ancient Bethsaida and Chorazin as standards 
 of human guilt. But, considering our pre-eminent ad- 
 vantages, and the prevailing neglect of them, every 
 county in Britain has its Chorazin and Bethsaida — 
 equally calling for a " woe unto thee !" We speak 
 of Jerusalem as containing, at the death of Christ, a 
 fearful concentration of guilt ; — from our land it would 
 not be difficult to collect together elements of depravity 
 equal to those which Jerusalem contained, when the 
 sight of it drew from the eyes of Jesus bitter tears. 
 We are apt to think of the Jews as, at that time, ex- 
 posed to a fearful doom, and therefore, as objects for 
 peculiar compassion. But, when Paul was ready to 
 lay down his life for them, say what element was there 
 in the danger which they had incurred, to which the 
 unconverted of our countrymen are not equally ex- 
 posed .? No, brethren, the great difference is, that he 
 looked at their danger — thought of it at night — recall- 
 ed it in the morning — carried the subject with him 
 through the day — followed them in thought to the bar 
 
A SERMON. 69 
 
 of God — heard their fearful doom — saw them perish- 
 ing — saw them perish — and, as he saw them sink, felt 
 that he could have plunged after them, might he but 
 pluck the firebrands from the flames ! Yes, he felt 
 this for his countrymen. Oh, for more of his self- 
 sacrificing spirit in the behalf of ours ! 
 
 5. Associated with this motive is another, which 
 adds, if possible, to its force. When the apostle 
 breathes out his heart's desire for Israel's salvation, 
 hear the reason which he assigns — " For I bear them 
 record that they have a zeal of God, but not according 
 to knowledge ; for they, being ignorant of God's 
 righteousness, and going about to establish their own 
 righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the 
 righteousness of' God." Now, this accurately de- 
 scribes the condition of numbers in our own coun- 
 try. Could you take a moral survey of the people, 
 you would find, that besides the actively irreligious, of 
 whom we have just spoken, there are a considerable 
 number, especially of our rural population, who are 
 ignorantly reposing for eternity on a ceremonial right- 
 eousness of their own — persons who look on anything 
 more than the form of religion, as madness ; on any 
 thing less, as heathenism — a class, to whom salvation 
 by the sacraments is a doctrine more familiar than sal- 
 vation by the cross — and by whom Popery itself, if 
 ■disguised by another name, would be cordially accept- 
 ed and zealously defended. But in that class, I be- 
 lieve, many might be found who are what they are, ig- 
 norantly — who are far from satisfied with their state — 
 who, at some period of life, have heard of another and 
 a better way — and who ever and anon, like many an 
 inquiring heathen, grow restless, and look around them 
 for a guide to that better way — but look in vain. 
 
 Brethren, were we assured that but ten such per- 
 sons existed in some remote heathen region, we should 
 be justified in incurring unlimited expense and labour 
 in endeavouring to reach their case. My conviction 
 is, that there is not a portion of Britain, in the obscurer 
 parts of which, especially, persons of this class are 
 
70 CHKISTIAN patriotism: 
 
 not to be found in numbers, which, if summed up, 
 would amount to thousands — yes, thousands, whose 
 case can be reached only by an agency which will 
 take the Gospel to their doors — into their very houses. 
 And can we recollect that persons of this class are not 
 in China, not in India, not at the ends of the earth, 
 but close to us — our countrymen, without arousing 
 ourselves to do more for their recovery to God ? Go 
 into any county you please, and draw around you an 
 imaginary circle of ten or twenty miles in diameter — 
 and, my conviction is, that, without any danger of 
 error, you might say to yourself — " Within this imagi- 
 nary circle, of which I am now the centre, there are 
 souls ignorant of God's righteousness — souls perishing 
 literally through lack of knowledge^die^iiuXQ of the 
 only knowledge which can lead to their salvation." 
 And can you realise this picture to your own mind — 
 can you think of those souls quitting that circle to ap- 
 pear at the bar of God, (I will not suppose that you 
 are summoned there, at the same moment, to meet 
 them — but even setting aside that solemn thought,) can 
 you think of them as quitting that circle for the invisi- 
 ble world — leaving . your very presence — departing 
 from under your eyes — in an agony of apprehension 
 about the insufficiency of their own righteousness, and 
 yet ignorant of a better — casting back on you, from 
 the shores of that untried world, upbraiding looks, be- 
 cause you cared not for their souls — can you think of 
 this without resolving " My heart's desire, and prayer 
 to God, and earnest endeavour, shall be, that they may 
 be saved ?" 
 
 6. And, finally, we might urge this for home^ on 
 the ground of the advantage which would accrue from 
 it to all our foreign missions. When the apostle 
 yearned for Israel's salvation, did he not often picture 
 them to his mind, think you, occupied, like himself, as 
 zealous missionaries of the cross ? " For," said he, 
 " if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the 
 world, what shall the receiving of them be but life 
 from the dead ?" And may we not ask, in a similar 
 
A SERMON, 71 
 
 Strain — If Britain, though evangelized only in a very- 
 partial degree, is yet the centre of Christian activity to 
 the v^orld — what would it have been had that evangel- 
 ization been general ? What need of our missionary 
 operations in some of the islands of the southern sea, 
 had our naval population been missionaries of good, 
 instead of evil ? What need of much of our mis- 
 sionary apparatus in India — what need of our colonial 
 missions — had our people gone forth, like the pilgrim- 
 fathers of other days, to erect their altar, and worship 
 God, wherever their lot should be cast ? As it is, our 
 foreign missions are now indispensable, if it be only 
 to counteract the evil which our countrymen have 
 everywhere diffused. What need of our Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Societies to be in danger of having to sound a 
 retreat through want of resources, were our own 
 country evangelized ? Were our churches at home 
 doubled, our resources would be doubled for foreign 
 labour. 
 
 Think not, then, that the interests of religion at 
 home and abroad are opposed to each other; that 
 whatever is done to promote the one, is so much lost 
 to the other. Think not that more would have been 
 done for home, had less been done for abroad — the 
 reverse would have been the fact. Imagine not that 
 if a portion of our activity were now withdrawn from 
 foreign objects, it would be so much added to our ac- 
 tivity at home ; most certainly would such a step tend 
 to arrest the entire machinery of home benevolence. 
 So far from thinking that too much is done for distant 
 objects, we urge the claims of home, partly, that we 
 may be able to do more. Yes, our duty to home, in 
 this respect, coincides with our most enlarged desires 
 for other lands. For, by occupying the sphere which 
 is immediately around us, we are multiplying our agen- 
 cies for occupying a circle beyond, and for thus ex- 
 tending our sphere wider and wider, till the whole field 
 of usefulness be brought under cultivation. 
 
 Brethren, so related are our duties, that he who 
 
72 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM : 
 
 neglects the least will find no excuse by pleading that 
 he was attending to the greatest ; and so connected are 
 all our Christian societies, that he who promotes one 
 at the expense of another, inflicts injury on them all. 
 The example of our blessed Lord, in looking down 
 from the cross, and tenderly providing for a mother's 
 comfort, when he was in the very crisis of the world's 
 redemption, shows that all the true interests of hu- 
 manity are indivisible ; and that all duty is sacred and 
 one. You cannot, therefore, serve your Home Mis- 
 sions, without indirectly serving your Foreign Missions. 
 You cannot benefit your country spiritually, without 
 instrumentally benefiting the world. Such are the 
 political and commercial relations of Britain, and so 
 vast the extent of its empire, that, for evil or for good, 
 it is always operating, not only to the utmost bounds of 
 the civilized world, but beyond, through barbarous 
 climes, to the very ends of the earth. Come, then, 
 my friends, for the sake of the worlds attend to the 
 spiritual claims of home. We ask you not to with- 
 draw your sympathies from foreign objects. But your 
 fellow-countryman is lying at your door — perishing at 
 your threshold — and all we ask is, that, in going out 
 to relieve some distant object, you will not step over 
 him, and leave him there till you return. Patriotism, 
 philanthropy, Christianity — all unite in urging you to 
 minister at once to his wants — if it be only for the sake 
 of enabling him to join you in your more distant enter- 
 prize. Now the supporters of the Home Missionary 
 Society are acting in harmony with this view. It has 
 147 agents — occupying 153 principal stations, and 490 
 OM^-stations — and who preach in about 650 towns, vil- 
 lages, and hamlets, in thirty four counties. Connected 
 with these stations, are 188 Sunday-schools, containing 
 12,000 children, taught by 1475 gratuitous teachers. 
 And, during the past year, 4000 copies of the Holy 
 Scriptures have been distributed by the agents, and 
 many thousands of religious tracts circulated. Would 
 to God that these agencies could be doubled — if only 
 
A SERMON. 73 
 
 for the sake of our foreign activity — for, sooner or 
 later, they could not fail to multiply our resources for 
 occupying the field of the world. 
 
 But, independently of that effect, let me, once for 
 all, recall your attention to the fact, that enlightened 
 patriotism is a Christian virtue — that the highest order 
 of patriotism is that which leads us to seek the salva- 
 tion of our people — that the higher order of instrumen- 
 tality we can employ for that end, includes self-denial 
 and fervent prayer — and that the same reasons which 
 induced the apostle to employ this agency for his people, 
 exist to induce us to employ the same for our people. 
 My friends, here is a test of your Christian benevolence. 
 If you are indifferent to the claims of home, you are 
 convicting yourself of insincerity in all you are doing 
 for distant objects ; for, if any man love not his brother, 
 whom he hath seen, how can he sincerely compassion- 
 ate those whom he hath not seen ? Now, here is your 
 brother. Surely the suppliant who is now at your feet 
 does not lose his claim on your pity, by being your 
 brother I Surely his spiritual nakedness, poverty, 
 and wants, are not the less affecting, because you see 
 them. He lies wounded and bleeding in your path — 
 surely you will not pass by on the other side, to pour 
 your oil and wine into wounds which you never saw. 
 " Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician 
 there ? why then is not the health of the daughter of 
 my people recovered ? " The daughter of our people 
 is diseased, and requires healing, not less than did the 
 daughter of Judah. When, at length, her malady 
 proved incurable, and she was vanquished by the iron 
 hand of Rome — you know how the victor represented, 
 on his commemorative medals, the virgin daughter of 
 Sion — sittings in the dust^ drooping and disconsolate^ 
 at the foot of her own palm-tree. You know how 
 Africa was, but lately, pictured ;. and the touching ap- 
 peal which the sight continued to make, till the nation 
 arose, and smote off his chains — one of her salle sons 
 kneeling^ manacled^ and, with imploring eye, exclaim- 
 ing, "Am I not a man, and a brother?" And does 
 
74 CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM I A SERMON. 
 
 Britain admit of no similar appeal to the eye ? They 
 represent her, indeed, seated in power, armed with a 
 trident, and attended by her lion ; and for her political 
 condition, these symbols may do. But, for her spirit- 
 ual state, for an emblem of the religious condition of 
 millions of her population, these signs of power should 
 be all removed, and she should be seen lying, prostrate, 
 on the steps of a Christian temple, perishing through 
 lack of knowledge. To meet the spiritual wants of 
 this large and perishing class, the Society for which I 
 now plead exists. Is it your heart's desire and prayer 
 to God for them, that they may be saved ? then, help 
 this Society to extend its saving operations. — Amen. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY: 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED IN GEOSVENOR STREET CHAPEL, MANCHESTER, 
 
 PREPARATORY TO THE OPENING OF THE 
 
 LANCASHIRE INDEPENDENT COLLEGE,* 
 
 APRIL 25, 1843. 
 
 Friends and Supporters of the New Independent 
 College, you have reached an important point in a, 
 most important undertaking. Had each of you been 
 occupied in building a house for himself — a house in 
 which it was likely that you and generations of your 
 posterity would live and die — you could not contem- 
 plate taking possession on the morrow without musing 
 thoughtfully on the probable consequences of the 
 change. Had you been engaged in erecting a house 
 for God, you could not have had its public dedication 
 in prospect for the morrow, without feeling that solemn 
 interests were involved in the event — interests arising 
 out of all the past, and associated with all the future. 
 But there is a sense in which the opening of a College 
 for " men of God" designed for the Christian Ministry, 
 is more important still ; for if the Church is instru- 
 mentally to move the world, and the ministry is instru- 
 mentally to move the church, an Institution in which 
 that ministry, or a portion of that ministry, is to be 
 trained for service, must be regarded as imparting the 
 primary impulse to the whole. Such an institution 
 you have long contemplated ; and, to-morrow, " having 
 
 * The Dissenting community of Great Britain have always been the 
 advocates of a learned ministry, and have furnished their full proportion 
 of eminent biblical scholars. The Lancashire College, however, in ita 
 
76 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY : 
 
 obtained help of God," you hope to receive the answer 
 to many an earnest prayer, and to reap the first-fruits 
 of many an hour of unknown anxiety and toil, in 
 opening the noble erection in which such an institu- 
 tion is to exist. Numbers who have watched your 
 movements with sympathetic interest are now men- 
 tally offering you their cordial congratulations, and are 
 ardently breathing the desire, " God be merciful to 
 them, and bless them, and cause his face -to shine upon 
 them." 
 
 In anticipation of to-morrow's engagements we have 
 now assembled. And as a topic appropriate to the 
 occasion — a topic of your own selection — you are to 
 be addressed on "the importance of an educated 
 Ministry." Not, indeed, that you can be supposed to 
 entertain any misgivings respecting its importance. 
 On the contrary, by the erection of your college, you 
 have reared a monumental evidence of your deep 
 sense of its vital importance ; and your object will be 
 gained by the present discourse, I presume, only in 
 proportion as it serves to expound the grounds of your 
 own convictions, and to enforce them on the attention 
 of other minds. In pursuance of this design, I pro- 
 pose to explain the proposition that the Christian min- 
 istry, should be educated ; to state some of the grounds 
 of the importance of such education ; and then to point 
 out some of the obligations resulting from it. 
 
 I. First, we have to explain what we mean when 
 
 buildings, and its prospects stands unrivalled in England. The institu- 
 tion itself has long existed at Blackburn, but the large increase of Con- 
 gregational Dissenters in the district, and other circumstances rendered 
 its removal to the populous town of Manchester eminently desirable. 
 The building, which is of the gothic order of about the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, contains an entrance, tower, corridor, library, lecture rooms, din- 
 ing room, residences for the professors, and fifty two comfortable dor- 
 mitories for the students. The cost of the whole, with seven acres oC 
 land by which it is surrounded, was about j£25,000 or nearly 125,000 
 dollars. The president is the learned and excellent Dr. Vaughan, assist- 
 ed by the Rev. Dr. Davison, as professor of Biblical Criticism, the Rev. 
 F. W. Newman, M. A., professor of the learned Languages, the Rev. 
 H. Rogers, M. A., professor of English Literature, and others. — Ed. 
 
A DISCOURSE. 77 
 
 we speak of an educated ministry : and, while doing 
 this, we shall, if I mistake not, be incidentally fur- 
 nishing a sufficient reply to the principal objections of 
 those who not only deny its importance, but even dep- 
 recate it as an evil. For, you can hardly need to be 
 informed, that in all ages of the church such persons 
 have existed. As early as the second century of the. 
 Christian era, a party arose, who, confounding the use 
 of learning with its abuse, denied its compatibility 
 with the spirit of piety. In the third century the con- 
 troversy raged with considerable violence ; and al- 
 though, owing to the efforts of the Alexandrian school, 
 especially of Clement and Origen,* the cause of letters 
 and philosophy gradually triumphed, its opponents 
 have not wanted for reinforcements in any subsequent 
 age. Fortunately, as most of their prejudices origi- 
 nate in ignorance, however well-meaning, they furnish 
 unintentionally the most apposite proof of the value of 
 that knowledge which they condemn ; since an expla- 
 nation of the subject seems all that is necessary to 
 silence their complaints. 
 
 1. In offering such an explanation, we may remark, 
 first, that, in advocating the education of the ministry, 
 we presuppose the existence of genuine piety in all who 
 receive it. For, we cannot forget that, while the pri- 
 vate Christian is to be an example to the world, the 
 Christian minister is to be " an ensample to the flock" 
 — a model of models. His central station and official 
 
 * The allegorizing exegesis of these fathers, especially of Origen, was 
 not owing to their learning. The writings of the Alexandrian Jews had, 
 ages before, exhibited similar principles of interpretation. Prior to this, 
 again, and partially accounting for it, was the prevalence of the Pla- 
 tonic philosophy in Egypt. But the origin of the allegorizing tendency 
 is to be looked for in a source deeper still, and one which is quite irres- 
 pective of learning — in the subtlety, activity, and love of the mystical, 
 which have ever characterised the oriental mind. Indeed, If a sound 
 education has any attraction for the allegorical mode of interpretation, 
 it is the attraction of repulsion. And hence it will be found that, among 
 ourselves, the metaphorical fancies of a Gill and a Keach are most accep- 
 table to the uneducated. 
 
78 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY : 
 
 character invest him with influences which render his 
 every movement an object of interest to superior 
 beings, for it deeply implicates the everlasting welfare 
 of all around .him. How important that the whole of 
 that influence should be eminently holy ; and how can 
 that be, but by issuing from a character eminently 
 .pious ? On this account, we call for evidences of the 
 personal piety of every one seeking admission to our 
 collegiate institutions ; we take the opinion of his pastor, 
 and of others likely to form a correct judgment of his 
 character, and we subject the whole to the test of a 
 patient and anxious examination. 
 
 If, then, it be objected, that some parties have made 
 learning a substitute for piety in the ministry, and that 
 others have appeared to expect that piety would follow 
 as the effect of learning, we need not retort, in the 
 language of Jerome, that there are those who err as 
 egregiously on the other side in " mistaking ignorance 
 for sanctity ;" we content ourselves with simply re- 
 marking that we have no sympathy with the classes 
 described. But, perhaps, it will be alleged that though 
 we may and do require piety in the Christian student, 
 we endanger his humility and his sense of personal 
 insufficiency. We reply, first, in the spirit of Dr. 
 Johnson's answer to a similar objection, that education 
 can minister to vanity only as long as it is regarded as 
 a distinction ; let education be universal, and the dis- 
 tinction arising from it will cease. Or, secondly, we 
 might remind the objector that, if the possible abuse 
 of a thing is to lead to its disuse, we shall be adopt- 
 ing a principle which has originated the most fatal 
 errors. For example, the conjugal state has its dan- 
 gers ; on his own principle, therefore, he cannot com- 
 plain of that church which requires the celibacy of its 
 clergy. Every sense of the body may prove an inlet 
 to evil ; shall it therefore be mutilated ? or shall piety 
 retire from social life to the monastery, the hermitage, 
 or the desert ? One of these alternatives, common 
 consistency requires him to adopt. Or, thirdly, we 
 might reply, that whatever the dangers of knowledge 
 
A DISCOURSE. 79 
 
 may be, we have yet to learn the peculiar virtues of 
 ignorance. We never found it to be a certain security 
 against pride. We have known it to be more vain of 
 some scrap of information on which it had acciden- 
 tally stumbled, than we ever knew learning to be of 
 all its stores. And, when raised to a station of in- 
 fluence, we have ever found the uneducated man to be 
 in much greater danger of pride, than the educated. 
 And, then, we may add, in proof of the perfect com- 
 patibility of learning and piety, that the most distin- 
 guished member of the Jewish Church, though "learned 
 in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," was the meekest 
 of men ; and that the most distinguished member of 
 the Christian Church, though " brought up at the feet 
 of Gamaliel," was the chief of the apostles, and a 
 pattern of humility. 
 
 2. Again ; that education of the rising ministry 
 whose importance we advocate, has mental develop^ 
 ment and discipline for its object^ as well as the attain- 
 ment of actual knowledge. These objects are distinct. 
 Indeed, it is possible so to communicate knowledge as 
 to enfeeble and pervert the mind which receives it. 
 In other words, it is possible to be learned without 
 being educated. Instances of this truth are to be found 
 in the " endless genealogies," the " strifes about 
 words," and the " vain janglings," against which the 
 Apostle cautions Timothy — in the scholastic sophistry 
 of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries — and, if I do 
 not greatly err, in the writings of the Tractarians and 
 Traditionists of the present day. And to these 
 instances may be added, strange as it may seem, the 
 preaching of many of those who object to an educated 
 ministry ; and whose discourses abound in verbal quib- 
 bles, laborious trifling, ingenious mistakes, and attempts 
 at second-hand learning in a small way. All these 
 may be regarded as exemplifying what may be called 
 the learning of the uneducated — the learning which 
 narrows the mind instead of enlarging it ; which leaves 
 it ignorant of great principles, and unable to find them. 
 
 Now if this be the evil of which the objector to an 
 
80 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY I 
 
 educated ministry complains, he should be informed 
 that he has mis-named it ; and that the education we 
 contemplate would prove its powerful and certain 
 corrective. Our object is, — not to furnish the student 
 in divinity with the high scholastic attainments ; this 
 the brevity of his term of study forbids ; — not to store 
 his memory with facts and general information ; mere 
 scraps and driblets of miscellaneous knowledge are all 
 that the most diligent collector of facts could take 
 away with him ; — but to furnish him with that mental 
 training which is necessary to the intelligent and useful 
 discharge of the gospel ministry. Knowledge, indeed, 
 he will be acquiring during the entire process— knowl- 
 edge of the most useful kind ; — but that which is 
 more important still, is, that he will obtain the power 
 of using it, and of augmenting it indefinitely. His 
 capital in actual knowledge may be comparatively 
 small ; but give him the right mental habits, and " his 
 pound will soon gain ten pounds" in addition. Show 
 him the importance of great principles, and give him the 
 power of dealing with them ; and you have done more 
 for him than as if you had deposited an encyclopsedia 
 of knowledge in his memory. For he who knows the 
 principle of a truth, has in effect mastered all the facts 
 and phenomena belonging to it. He who knows the 
 principle of a truth, like the angel in the midst of the 
 sun, stands in its centre and sees to its circumference. 
 3. Further : that education of the ministry which 
 we advocate is meant to correspond with the state of 
 education generally. If there are some classes of the 
 community, for example, still comparatively unac- 
 quainted with even the rudiments of knowledge, we 
 would not insist that their ministers should receive the 
 highest educational advantages. And as such classes 
 do exist, we rejoice in the existence of some theologi- 
 cal institutions in which men of God are qualified, by 
 a comparatively elementary course of training, for the 
 spheres they are likely to occupy. But for the very 
 same reason that we would observe this correspondence 
 in their case, we would insist on a similar proportion 
 
A DISCOURSE. 81 
 
 between the education of the ministry, and that of the 
 public generally. 
 
 All education is comparative. So true is this, that 
 the light possessed by one age is regarded as twilight, 
 as darkness, by a subsequent age. Now the objector 
 to an educated ministry should know, that if his chosen 
 teacher can barely read and write, even that would 
 have been formerly regarded as a very rare and learn- 
 ed accomplishment. We are, therefore, justified in 
 saying to him. You surely do not deem the power of 
 reading, and writing, and speaking with propriety, a 
 superfluous attainment. You would not think of going 
 in search of a man who knew nothing of this attain- 
 ment, and of adopting him as your teacher on account 
 of his superior ignorance. But, if you would not, 
 you should remember that there was a time when the 
 simple qualification of reading, writing, and speaking 
 correctly, was considered to be open to all the objec- 
 tions which you now bring against the education of 
 the ministry ; for that was the education of the time. 
 And as you now smile at the idea that any one 
 could have ever objected to the simple education 
 of that time, so, rely on it, the time will come when 
 your objections to the education of the present day 
 will be viewed in the same light. You should be 
 reminded also, that if you do not object to the power 
 of reading, writing, and accurate speaking, as a min- 
 isterial qualification, you are admitting the whole of 
 the principle for which we contend. You are allow- 
 ing that instruction to some extent is necessary. You 
 are conceding that there ought to be some correspond- 
 ence between the state of education generally, and 
 the instruction of the ministry. The only question at 
 issue between us is, not one of principle, but of de- 
 gree — namely, the extent to which education is to be 
 afforded. And this, we repeat, should depend partly 
 on the state of knowledge in the general community. 
 
 4. The ministerial education which we advocate is 
 that which yields to Scriptural theology) the chief 
 place ; and which treats every other branch of study 
 6 
 
82 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY I 
 
 as auxiliary to it. Now the most uneducated minis- 
 ter of the present day has unconsciously adopted the 
 same principle ; for he is largely indebted to the learn- 
 ed labours of his predecessors. However slender his 
 mental resources may be, he obtains them only by 
 availing himself of the toils of others. If he can but 
 just read his Bible, and some favourite religious author, 
 he is indolently enjoying the results of prodigious la- 
 bour and abundant learning. Let him think what has 
 been necessary in order to put that translation of the 
 Bible into his hands — what watching, and weariness, 
 and travail — what studying of languages, recension of 
 copies, and collation of manuscripts — what division of 
 labour, and years of persevering application ! Surely 
 it is not for one who is thus living on the learning and 
 labour of others, to decry education ; for the drone to 
 depreciate the process by which the truth, sweeter 
 than honey or the honey -comb, has been hived and 
 made ready for his use ! 
 
 If, however, he still urges that the Bible intimates 
 that a knowledge of Scripture alone is sufficient to 
 furnish the man of God for his office ; we cheerfully 
 admit the same. But then comes the question, what 
 is to be the amount of that Scriptural knowledge ; — 
 shall it be the minimum or the maximum ? We are 
 anxious to put all the honour on the Bible we can — to 
 extract from it, if possible, all that it contains — to 
 make the most of it as God's instrument for the sal- 
 vation of the world. " Our great divines," says Cole- 
 ridge, " were not ashamed of the learned discipline 
 to which they had submitted their minds under Aris- 
 totle and Tully, but brought the purified products as 
 sacrificial gifts to Christ ; they baptized the logic and 
 manly rhetoric of ancient Greece ; they made incur- 
 sions into every province of learning, and returned 
 laden with the choicest plunder ; the scheme of the 
 philosopher, the narrative of the historian, the vision 
 of the poet, were all rendered subservient to the one 
 predominant object of their researches ; the gold of 
 idolatrous shrines was transmuted into a purer ore by 
 
A DISCOURSE. 83 
 
 their spiritual alchymy." And the education we ad- 
 vocate for the man of God is such, and such only, as 
 shall be made subservient to his office as an expositor 
 of the Bible ; subservient, either by strengthening and 
 preparing his mind as the instrument to be employed 
 on it ; or by furnishing him with the means of de- 
 veloping, illustrating, and communicating its truths. 
 
 5. Another explanatory remark we would offer is, 
 that the education we advocate is meant to be held in 
 entire suhordination to the agency of the Holy Spirit. 
 We believe that his agency is present in the intelligent 
 and faithful ministry of the Gospel ; — and that it is 
 essential to the success of that ministry ; and therefore 
 would we have the education of the man of God of a 
 tendency to harmonize his mind with that divine agen- 
 cy, and to subordinate to it, not his knowledge merely, 
 but all the powers of his renewed nature. So that if 
 an opponent to an educated ministry object, that Paul 
 renounced all dependence on learning and eloquence ; 
 we reply, that we would do so likewise. Like him, 
 we would have both, and, like him, would use both, 
 but, like him, would depend on neither. We would 
 not depend even on alms-giving, nor on prayer itself; 
 and yet we would cultivate both as a duty and a privi- 
 lege. If he allege, however, and perhaps this is his 
 great objection — if he allege that because the efficien- 
 cy of the ministry depends ultimately on the influence 
 of the Spirit, therefore education for the ministry is 
 unnecessary ; we reply, that his objection rests on an 
 entirely false assumption. It strangely supposes that 
 because God can do a thing in a certain manner, there- 
 fore, he will so accomplish it. Entirely losing sight 
 of those wise arrangements in nature, providence, and 
 grace, by which means and ends are linked together, 
 it makes the power of God the only rule of his conduct. 
 Most cheerfully do we admit that, before the great 
 constitution of nature and grace was actually set up, it 
 rested entirely with the sovereign will of God whether 
 human instrumentality should be employed or not in 
 anything. But ihe question with which we have now 
 to do, is not what might have been, but what is — not 
 
84 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY. 
 
 one of possihility but of fact. From the moment of 
 man's creation it became evident that the constitution 
 which the Infinite Mind had seen fit actually to adopt, 
 was one which required man's instrumentality. The 
 constitution of grace adopted the laws of nature, and 
 employs them. And man's wisdom consists in plac- 
 ing himself in harmony with these laTVs ; for God has 
 been pleased to bring himself under the gracious obli- 
 gation of a promise to connect his blessing with obe- 
 dience to these laws. 
 
 Now your error, we might say to the objector, your 
 error consists in supposing that because there was a 
 period when God could, hypothetically speaking, have 
 adopted a constitution of things which should have 
 dispensed with human instrumentality, therefore you 
 are at liberty to act as if he had really adopted such a 
 plan ; and in supposing that because he still retains all 
 his original power, and may choose occasionally to 
 employ it out of the ordinary and appointed way, 
 therefore you are at liberty to take his sovereign ex- 
 ceptions as your only rule of calculation and conduct. 
 How inconsiderate, not to say daring, your conduct ! 
 He could teach his servants the knowledge of the alpha- 
 bet ; but you would not have had your minister wait, 
 until that knowledge was supernaturally imparted to him. 
 He can make the naked rock, or the sea-shore sand, 
 spontaneously yield corn ; but, we presume, you look 
 for it rather in the adjoining field, nor do you expect to 
 find it even there without cultivation. He can make the 
 knowledge of a single evangelical truth the means of 
 salvation ; he has even often done it ; but you would 
 not on that account limit your knowledge of the Bible 
 to a single text. You do not make what He can do, 
 the rule of what he will do, in any other department 
 of the Divine conduct — why do you look for it here ? 
 Besides, do you not see that if this rule is to be adopted, 
 it bears equally against an uneducated ministry ; that 
 if — ^to use the language of South — " if God hath no 
 need of our learning, he can have still less of your 
 ignorance ;" that, absolutely considered, he has no need 
 even of your existence. 
 
A DISCOURSE. 85 
 
 And surely you will not adopt this rule of conduct 
 under the notion of honouring God. You surely do 
 not expect that he will distinguish you in the last day 
 as having pre-eminently proved your concern for the 
 progress of his gospel, by having been pre-eminently 
 unconcerned about the qualifications of the instruments 
 you employed. Rely on it, true humility on this sub- . 
 ject consists, not in neglecting the attainment of knowl- 
 edge, but in estimating it at its proper worth ; in feeling, 
 like Newton, after sounding and navigating the ocean 
 ■of science, as if one were only a child, sporting on 
 its margin, and collecting its shells. And the Spirit pf 
 God is honoured, not by our coming into his presence 
 -empty-handed, but by imitating the Apostle Paul, and, 
 after laying out all our resources in his service, feeling 
 that our sufficiency is of God. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind, then, that the ministerial 
 education we advocate presupposes personal piety ; has 
 mental development and discipline for its special ob- 
 ject ; is meant to correspond with the state of educa- 
 tion generally ; yields to Scriptural theology the chief 
 place ; and places itself in entire subordination to the 
 agency of the Holy Spirit. Now I am not aware of 
 any plausible objection to the education of the ministry, 
 which one or other of these €xplanatory remarks does 
 not legitimately answer ; and, with the subject thus 
 explained, we are prepared to proceed, secondly, to 
 • assign some of the grounds of our conviction of its 
 importance. 
 
 II. 1. And, first, let me remark that the desirable- 
 ness of ministerial education is predetermined by the 
 natural activity of the human mind^ and by the tendency 
 of the Gospel to excite that activity. A variety of 
 circumstances may concur to repress the active tenden- 
 cies of the mind ; but let the Gospel obtain admission 
 into it, and, from that moment, the most torpid speci- 
 men of humanity is quickened into a new mental as 
 well as moral life. Even the mind which was pre- 
 viously alive and vigorous, becomes concious of a new 
 impulse to activity, and of a new sphere in which to 
 
86 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINIS! icx . 
 
 spend it. In finding a God, he finds the centre of all 
 things ; and henceforth the tendency of his mind is 
 ever to harmonize the discordant, to arrange the dis- 
 placed, and to assign to every thing its right position in 
 the great circle which surrounds the Deity. In finding 
 " the truth," he finds an infallible standard by which 
 every thing is to be tested ; henceforth he would fain 
 try every pretension, weigh every claim, by its relation 
 to this standard, and estimate every thing accordingly. 
 And as the volume of nature is written in illuminated 
 characters and pictured forms, purposely to awaken 
 early curiosity, and to excite the inquiry, " what 
 meaneth this .^" so the volume of inspiration is con- 
 structed expressly to stimulate the activity of the re- 
 newed mind. Yes, the Bible is distinguished from 
 every other book professedly divine — from the Shasters 
 of the Brahmin, and the Koran of Mahomet — by its 
 earnest commendations of knowledge, and by its power 
 of exciting a thirst for it. It at once creates light, and 
 courts it. Not only does it extol knowledge as a glory, 
 but commands us to seek for it as a most sacred duty. 
 But if Christianity thus awakens the mental and moral ac- 
 tivity of man, and if the education we advocate consists 
 in sustaining that activity and directing it aright, the 
 desirableness of such education is no longer a doubtful 
 question. It is an adjudged case ; a settled question ; 
 settled, by no arbitration of ours, but by the predeter- 
 minate counsel of Him who gave to our mental con- 
 stitution its activity, and to the Bible the power of arous- 
 ing that activity. Unless, therefore, you do violence 
 to the mind, and repress its activity, education to some 
 extent becomes a religious necessity. And if educa- 
 tion be thus desirable for every inquiring Christian 
 mind, how much more important must it be for the man 
 of God, who, in his public ministry, is, in effect, to aid 
 in directing the religious education of others. 
 
 2. The importance of the education we advocate 
 arises, secondly, from the nature and contents of the 
 Bible ^ and from the relation which the Christian 
 minister sustains to it. Revealed theology comes to us 
 
A DISCOURSE. 87 • 
 
 in a volume consisting of a number of ancient books in 
 the Hebrew and Greek languages. Is it any thing more 
 than an act of ordinary propriety for its professed ex- 
 pounder to endeavour to make himself acquainted with 
 all that it contains ? then, must he be able to read it in 
 the original tongues, and to avail himself of the ever- 
 increasing treasures of sacred philology. The allusive 
 and pictorial style of the sacred Scriptures renders in- 
 dispensable a knowledge of geography and chronology, 
 of oriental customs, institutions, and imagery. Nor can 
 the professed expounder of the v^ord of God be safely 
 or consistently left in ignorance of the history of 
 Biblical interpretation; showing, as it -does, that the 
 doctrinal theology of the church has always stood in 
 close relationship to its hermeneutics. 
 
 The Bible insists on the doctrine of human depravity 
 and ruin. The history of the ancient world is one un- 
 broken record of facts illustrative of this doctrine. An 
 acquaintance with that history gives a depth to the 
 meaning of the Apostle in that sketch of the monster-man 
 in his first chapter to the Romans, which no one igno- 
 rant of the ancient world can ever perceive ; shows 
 that man, so far from ameliorating his moral condition, 
 exhibited an invariable tendency to become worse and 
 worse ; that the highest point of the world's civilization 
 was the lowest point of its morality ; that so far from 
 reason or philosophy leading men to God, the religion 
 which it constructed and decorated for them uniformly 
 proved their greatest curse ; that Christianity came into 
 the midst of the world's systems, with all the freshness 
 and originality of a divine conception direct from 
 Heaven ; that the character of Christ took the world 
 by surprise, as the pure and perfect incarnation of in- 
 finite excellence ; that his advent was almost as neces- 
 sary to save the world from temporal, as from eternal 
 ruin. And shall all this remain unknown to the man 
 of God ? Give him an opportunity of acquiring the 
 learned languages ; and you furnish him with a key 
 to the knowledge of the whole. 
 
 The study of language, indeed, has a value of its 
 
88 IMPORTANCE OF 'AN EDUCATED MINISTRY: 
 
 own. When pursued into its philosophy, it is both a 
 mental discipline, an invigorating logical exercise, and 
 is the study of mind itself. And on this independent 
 ground alone, even were it devoid of all other advan- 
 tage, we should be justified in urging the cultivation of 
 the study. But when it is remembered that the knowl- 
 edge of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, be- 
 sides giving the student access to the original Scrip- 
 tures, opens to him the temples of ancient philosophy 
 and worship, enabling him to see for himself the ne- 
 cessity, the evidence, and the influence of Divine Rev- 
 elation ; places before him the writings of the Greek 
 and Latin fathers — that armoury of the Traditionists — 
 with the power of extracting the useful, and of reject- 
 ing the vile ; that it enables him to consult the valua- 
 ble, the invaluable theological treatises to be found in 
 the Latin works of foreign divines who have flourish- 
 ed since the Reformation ; and that these are only 
 some of its advantages — who does not feel the great 
 importance of linguistic studies for the future ex- 
 pounder of the word of God ? 
 
 The Bible abounds with prophecies relative to the 
 monarchies of the ancient world, and to the church of 
 God. These prophecies were recorded, of course, 
 that, when they came to pass, we might believe. 
 Many of them have come to pass ; and the question 
 arises, shall their fulfilment be known ? Shall this 
 part of the temple of Truth be shut up and useless ; 
 or shall it be opened, admired, and worshipped in ? 
 Here is an important branch of evidence for the truth 
 of Divine Revelation ; shall it lie waste and useless ? 
 shall God have spoken in vain ? or shall his voice be 
 heard ? But if the man of God is to hear it, he must 
 know something of ancient and modern history, that^ 
 by comparing the prophecy with the event, he may 
 perceive its completion. 
 
 The church of God also has a history of its own. 
 That part of its history recorded in the Bible is written 
 for our instruction. But the record of its history did 
 not end with what is there written : it has been con- 
 
A DISCOURSE. 89 
 
 tinually carried on in laws and monuments, medals 
 and inscriptions, memorials and documents of all kinds ; 
 and is replete with interest and instruction down to the 
 present moment. Shall the whote exist in vain ? 
 Shall the past heresies and errors of the church afford 
 no warning ? shall its sins and apostacies excite no 
 penitence ? its divine preservation in the flames of per- 
 secution, no gratitude ? its gradual corruption, no illus- 
 tration of the New Testament prophecies concerning 
 " the man of sin ?" Shall its reformation excite no 
 sense of obligation ? nor the divine interpositions for 
 its deliverances, its purification, and enlargement, no 
 trust and zeal for the future ? But all this — if it is to 
 be turned to a profitable account — supposes a knowl- 
 edge of ecclesiastical history. 
 
 To say that natural science may be made highly . 
 subservient to Christian theology, is only to say, in 
 other words, that the God of nature is also the God of 
 grace. Nature, with all her myriad voices, is ever 
 lecturing on the existence, the providence, and the 
 agency of God. All that has ever been written on the 
 subject, from the writings of Aristotle to the Bridge- 
 water Treatises, is only a comment on the sublime 
 address of the Deity himself in the concluding portion 
 of the book of Job. We believe, indeed, that all 
 nature and providence are in strict analogy to religion 
 — that all the works and ways of God are his own ex- 
 position of his word. What an important use has 
 Butler made of this idea in his well-known Analogy ! 
 And we believe that hereafter it will be seen, that. the 
 universe was only a vast temple with the cross standing 
 in the centre, and that to that centre every object and 
 event was related and subordinated ; that it never 
 moved, but all things fell into its train ; never stood, 
 but they all bowed down before it ; never spoke, but 
 they all echoed its voice ; and that the sight when 
 beheld in the light of eternity, will fill all heaven with 
 adoration. But we would have the preacher of the 
 cross to see something of it now ; and hence we would 
 have him to be so far acquainted with the constitution 
 
90 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY : 
 
 and course of nature as to feel the eminence on which 
 he stands, and to be able, as he looks down from that 
 eminence, to point out, with holy triumph, how all 
 things are doing homage to the Gospel now. 
 
 3. The importance of the education we advocate 
 appears, thirdly, from the official relation which the 
 minister sustains to the mind of his flock ^ as the ex- 
 pounder of the Bihle^ and the enforcer of its truths. 
 We have just seen the importance of his possessing a 
 certain kind and amount of knowledge ; now we have 
 to regard his qualifications for imparting that knowl- 
 edge to others. In his relation to the Bible, on the one 
 side, he may be perfect ; but in vain will be all his 
 Biblical acquisitions, unless, in harmony with his rela- 
 tion to the minds of his people, on the other side, he 
 has the power of clearly and efficiently communicating 
 his knowledge. 
 
 For example : as the Christian minister has to ad- 
 dress a mixed audience repeatedly every week, it is 
 obviously important that he should be acquainted with 
 the rules and the capabilities of the language in which 
 he addresses them. To deny this, would be to affirm, 
 in effect, that the most unintelligible jargon which folly 
 ever uttered, was as well adapted for religious useful- 
 ness, as the reasoning of an Edwards, or the eloquence 
 of a Whiteiield. 
 
 Again ; considering how desultory and vagrant the 
 early mental habits of many of our students must have 
 been ; and how indispensable a power of patient, con- 
 secutive, and concentrated thinking is, not only to the 
 pursuit of knowledge, but to the arrangement and em- 
 ployment of it when attained, we cannot but regard 
 that study as beyond all price which at once corrects 
 that parent evil, and confers this master power. Such 
 a tendency we believe the pure mathematics preemi- 
 nently to possess. " In these," says Lord Bacon, " I 
 can report no deficience, except it be that men do not 
 sufficiently understand their excellent use, in that they 
 do remedy and cure many defects in the wit and fac- 
 ulties intellectual. For, if the wit be too dull, they 
 
A DISCOURS:^. 91 
 
 sharpen it ; if too wandering, they ^x it ; if too inhe- 
 rent in the sense, they abstract it." And why are 
 such studies so favourable to intellectual vigour? 
 Simply because, by descending to the foundations of 
 truth, they require the whole mind in perfect abstrac- 
 tion to descend along with it ; by tracing the relations 
 of truth, they exercise the faculty of comparison, and 
 the power of reasoning ; by exacting definitions, they 
 teach precision ; by dealing with principles, they make 
 us feel that truth — all truth — is a most substantial and 
 solemn thing — a thing to die for ; and by pointing to 
 its grand results, they lead to careful calculation of 
 consequences, and to far-sighted and comprehensive 
 views. 
 
 But besides this mental discipline, and this acquaint- 
 ance with the powers of the language which he em- 
 ploys, ought not the future minister to know something 
 of the intellectual and moral constitution of the minds 
 on which he is to operate ? There are but two sub- 
 stances in the universe — matter, and spirit. If he had 
 to work in matter, he would be expected to know 
 something of its properties. Is spirit so much more 
 simple in its manifestations, and so much more yield- 
 ing to the touch, that ignorance can deal with it as ad- 
 vantageously as knowledge ? Vast and varied as are 
 the phenomena of the material universe, the mind is 
 made to respond to every part and property — made to 
 respond to the phenomena of other worlds, and nobler 
 systems ; and the word of God, like a piece of heav- 
 enly music, is set for, and adapted to, the whole of 
 man's complex nature ; shall the hand which is weekly 
 to essay the mighty instrument know nothing of its 
 stops and keys ? If he is not to confound emotion 
 with principle, and impulse with habit ; if he is not to 
 mistake the natural instincts for virtues, nor the disin- 
 terested affections for selfish passions ; if human 
 responsibility and divine sovereignty are not to oppose 
 and neutralize each other ; if the pathology of the 
 deceitful heart is to be skilfully treated, and a partial 
 alleviation of threatening symptoms is not to be mis- 
 
92 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY I 
 
 taken for a perfect cure, then must the man of God 
 obtain an insight into the mental and moral philosophy 
 of human nature. 
 
 Nor must he be left ignorant of the right methods of 
 placing himself in felt contact with other minds. Who 
 has not often admired the versatility of the Apostle 
 Paul in this respect ! As the Christian philosopher of 
 Mars' Hill, you would hardly have recognized him for 
 the same man as the ardent preacher of the Thessalo- 
 nian synagogue, where he had been showing, from the 
 Scriptures, that Jesus is the Christ: and how differ- 
 ent again from the strain of the philosopher and the 
 preacher, is the method of the same man, when as the 
 dignified apologist and champion of the Christian faith, 
 he makes a Felix tremble, and an Agrippa " almost a 
 Christian." And is there nothing in this example 
 worthy of imitation ? Ought not the Christian advo- 
 cate of the present day to understand the principles of 
 argumentation — or Logic as an art — for the purpose of 
 informing and convincing the judgment ; of persua- 
 sion — or Rhetoric — for the purpose of moving the 
 passions ; of the evidence of testimony — to induce the 
 right degree . of respect for authority, and no more.? 
 For example ; owing to the influence of vicious 
 causes, some men are led to question the claims of 
 the Bible. God has graciously supplied a variety of 
 evidence — prophetic and miraculous, moral and histori- 
 cal — expressly adapted for the conviction of such 
 men. But this very evidence may be so exhibited, and 
 often has been, as to excite their ridicule and coAfirm 
 their unbelief. Is it not important that those who pro- 
 fess to exhibit and enforce it, should themselves see 
 its connection, feel its convincing reasonableness, and 
 be acquainted with the most useful modes of its appli- 
 cation ? Hence, we claim for the man of God, who 
 is placed, among other things, for " the defence of the 
 Gospel," an acquaintance with the philosophy of evi- 
 dence. 
 
 4. But the Christian minister is not related to his 
 particular church merely : — the importance of the 
 
A DISCOURSE. ^ , 93 
 
 education we advocate will appear if you consider, 
 fourthly, his relation to the age in which he lives. 
 The office of the ministry will be generally found to 
 include three classes — men behind their day ; men he- 
 fore their day ; and men of their day. Those behind 
 their day are always preaching to a former age ; are 
 conscious of alarm at every onward movement ; and 
 feel as little sympathy with their times as their times 
 feel with them. Those who are before their day are 
 generally but few in number ; nor is it perhaps desirable 
 that they should be numerous ; though the office they 
 fill is something like that of the ancient prophet — 
 pointing to the future, and preparing the Church for 
 its arrival. Standing on a loftier eminence than their 
 contemporaries, their eye sweeps an ampler horizon ; 
 and, though the distant speck, no larger than a man's 
 hand, enables them to speak of subjects which sound 
 strange to the multitude, their voice never ceases to 
 echo in the Church, correcting its views, animating its 
 activity, and enlarging its expectations. 
 
 The men of their day are those who, marking its pe- 
 culiarities, and falling in with its movements, accelerate 
 its progress towards a better state of things. A consid- 
 erable number of such the Church contains at present. 
 They know, for instance, that it is their duty to assist 
 in enlightening and directing public opinion ; and, 
 marking the mighty influence of the press for this 
 end, they contribute what they can to the moral 
 and religious literature of the day. Would that 
 the number of such were greater ; and that your 
 College may help to increase them ! Is the education 
 of the masses becoming " the question of questions ?" 
 Aware how little the science is understood, and how 
 powerful an engine it may be made for evil or for good, 
 they are sensitively alive to the mode of its applica- 
 tion ; but this, of course, pre-supposes, to a certain 
 extent, their own education. Are they placed for the 
 defence of the Gospel ? then, they need to know that 
 Popery, on the one hand, is no longer, in its outward 
 policy and tactics, the Popery of the sixteenth century ; 
 
94 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY : 
 
 and that infidelity, on the other, is no longer the infi- 
 dehty of the century after ; but a practical infidelity, 
 with utilitarian science for its God, and the deifi^cation 
 of man for its end ; and they need skilfully to select 
 and employ their weapons accordingly. Are they to 
 shew themselves the philanthropists of the day ? then, 
 if many around them are seeking, from sincere but 
 mistaken motives, to benefit the world by human 
 expedients alone, they, so far from contenting 
 themselves with merely decrying such expedi- 
 ents, must seek to surpass them by the strenuous 
 application of God's remedy. If other sections of the 
 church than that to which they belong are abroad in 
 the field of conflict, they are to mark their movements, 
 not to envy, but to emulate their activity, and to share 
 in their success. If the world of Paganism is crying 
 for instruction and spiritual help, they should know 
 something of the places to be occupied, and of the 
 facilities for taking possession. And as the demand on 
 the resources of the Church goes on increasing, they 
 should be prepared to bring forth the strong reasons of 
 the Gospel for entire self-consecration. And in thus 
 saying that a ministry to be efiective must be adapted 
 to its age, and that this supposes education, what are 
 we saying after all, but that God is conducting the 
 affairs of his kingdom on a plan — that in every age 
 that plan advances — that his ministers are to mark that 
 advance and to fall in with it ; and that in proportion 
 as they adjust their movements to his — link themselves 
 on to his plans, and keep pace with his progress, 
 they move with the force of omnipotence, simply by 
 moving in a line, and in harmony with it. 
 
 5. The importance of the education we advocate 
 will appear if you consider, next, that a firm and 
 enlightened confidence in the sufficiency of the Gospel^ 
 and in its ultimate and universal triumph^ is an essen- 
 tial element of an effective ministry. Our last par- 
 ticular contemplated the minister in his relation to 
 the present ; here, we regard him rather as related to 
 the future. A conflict is before him — a conflict of 
 
A DISCOURSE. 95 
 
 opinion, not only with foes without the pale of the 
 visible church, but with foes within. Shall he advance 
 to it timidly, or full of heart and hope ? Leave him 
 in doubt respecting the sufficiency of the Gospel as a 
 remedy for the world's misery, and you impart feeble- 
 ness to his ministry, and indifference to the diffusion 
 of the truth ; you dispose him to seek for aid from 
 that very world it is appointed instrumentally to save ; 
 you fill his mind with alarm at every new test to 
 which the discoveries of science may subject the Gos- 
 pel ; and thus you invite some modern Celsus to repeat 
 one of the oldest charges alleged against it, that it 
 fears the light of science ; and you encourage the 
 attacks of a world which it was intended to lead in 
 glorious triumph. But let him see the homage which 
 the truth has invariably received from science ; let 
 him see how the comparative study of languages, 
 which was at one time deemed inimical to the Mosaic 
 history of the dispersion, is now tending to corrobo- 
 rate that history, and causing men, in this respect, 
 " with one mind and one mouth to glorify God ;" how 
 the further the physiology of man has been examined, 
 the more evident has become the common parentage 
 of the human race ; how monumental history, once 
 summoned from the cavern temples and tombs of India 
 and Egypt to contradict the Mosaic chronology, has 
 shamed its advocates, and confessed itself of compara- 
 tively modern date ; how, when the famed zodiacs 
 were brought from Egypt, and Astronomy itself was 
 supposed to be enlisted against the Bible, they turned 
 out to be mere monuments of astrological folly, and 
 the very " stars in their courses fought against" the 
 infidel attempt; and how, when Geology was invoked 
 to the conflict with the cosmogony of Moses, " the 
 earth literally disclosed her dead" — the fossil remains 
 of successive creations — proclaiming the fact that 
 miracles, so far from being impossible, have ever 
 belonged to the course and constitution of nature, 
 viewed on a comprehensive scale ; — let the student of 
 Revelation know these facts, and, like the servant of 
 
96 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY : 
 
 the prophet, his eyes will be opened to behold that the 
 object of his solicitude is surrounded as with horses 
 and chariots of fire. Let him know that the believers 
 in Divine Revelation have never had to engage in its 
 defence, but they have returned from the conflict laden 
 with fresh spoil ; that many, once known as its bitter 
 foes, abandoning the arms wherein they trusted, have 
 swelled the ranks of its enlightened friends ; that, 
 however threatening the aspect of a discovery on its 
 first appearance, sooner or later it has uniformly given 
 in its adhesion to the claims of Christianity, and has 
 inscribed its name on the mountain monument of her 
 evidences ; that Archaeology bringing its medals and 
 inscriptions in profusion, and Literature its rolls, and 
 documents, and stores of critical science, have poured 
 them like gold, and frankincense, and myrrh, at her 
 feet : — and he will see that everything has " turned 
 out rather for the furtherance of the Gospel." 
 
 Would you augment his confidence in it still fur- 
 ther ! Shew him how perfectly it is adapted to the 
 nature of man, and to the progress of society — how 
 full it is of principles ; how thickly sown with the 
 seeds of things ; how suggestive and fertile of good ; 
 so that no truly benevolent society or eflbrt is known 
 to us, however original and novel it at first appeared, 
 the principle of which the Bible had not anticipated, 
 and been always enforcing. And, convinced of this, 
 will he not cherish the assurance that many an un- 
 thought of agency for good lies slumbering yet in its 
 hallowed page ^ — -that many a verse, familiar in ap- 
 pearance as the humble pebble which encloses a pre- 
 cious gem, conceals the type and principle of future 
 agencies destined to scatter their blessings over the 
 earth ? — and that every such agency is, in the hand of 
 God, as certain of fulfilling its course, and answering 
 its end, as if it came visibly accredited with the seal 
 of omnipotence ; that we ourselves are not borne 
 through the regions of space by virtue of our union 
 with the globe we inhabit more certainly, than such 
 instrumentality is destined to succeed by virtue of its 
 
A DISCOURSE. 97 
 
 union with that Divine plan which is ever in progress — 
 ever moving steadily and majestically towards the 
 high throne of God, and bearing the world along with 
 it. An enlightened confidence in the Divine adapta- 
 tion and sufficiency of the Gospel will render the man 
 of God independent of every other aid — thoroughly 
 furnished for every emergency and every duty ; while 
 the firm persuasion of its ultimate triumph will impart 
 an ardour to his activity, and a moral dignity to his on- 
 ward step, eminently conducive, through God^ to the 
 efficiency of his labours. 
 
 6. With our views of the importance of an educated 
 ministry thus sustained, are w^e not warranted to expect, 
 sixthly, that its importance will he home out hy a re- 
 ference to history^ ancient and modern^ sacred and 
 ecclesiastical 1 And, here, need I remind you that 
 Moses, " God's first pen," as Lord Bacon calls him, and 
 the instrumental founder of the Jewish economy, was 
 rich in all the lore of Egypt ; and that from the time 
 of Samuel, with only one exception, so far as we 
 know, — that of Amos — the prophets and great public 
 teachers of the people were taken by God from " the 
 schools of the prophets," where they had been taught 
 the learning of the country, and of the day ? Descend- 
 ing to the opening of the Christian economy, need I 
 remind you that the Apostles, after enjoying for three 
 years the instructions of the Great Teacher himself, 
 were then made learned by a miracle ? — that he who 
 was last called — the most useful of them all, and who 
 filled the Roman empire with the sound of salvation — 
 was the scholar and philosopher Paul ? — and that he, 
 in condemning, as he did, a false philosophy, was in 
 effect pronouncing a commendation of the true ? Need 
 I refer to the high estimate in which education was 
 held by the ancient fathers of the Church, by remind- 
 ing you of the fact that they deprecated the edict of 
 the emperor Julian — forbidding Christians to lecture in 
 the public schools of science and literature — as more 
 destructive to the Christian faith than all the sanguinary 
 persecutions inflicted by his predecessors } And why 
 7 
 
98 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY I 
 
 did that philosopher of persecution adopt such a mea- 
 sure — but because he well knew the wounds which 
 learning, in the hands of the Christian apologists, had 
 inflicted on Paganism ; and that, as Waddington re- 
 marks, it was comparatively useless to oppress the 
 Christians by bodily coercion, or even by civil degrada- 
 tion, unless he could at the same time degrade their 
 minds by ignorance. 
 
 The time, alas, arrived, when they began to choose 
 that ignorance for themselves. At the close of the 
 sixth century, Gregory the Great rejected from the 
 service of religion that learning of which he himself 
 was destitute. How appropriate that the man who 
 first authoritatively extinguished the light of secular 
 knowledge should have been the first potentate in the 
 new kingdom of popish darkness ; for he it was who, 
 finding the various elements of that great system of 
 imposture ready to his hand, organized them into that 
 gigantic structure of evil which for so many ages stood 
 erect with its foot on the neck of the civilized world. 
 How suggestive the fact that he who said, in effect, 
 " let there be mental darkness," and he who said, " let 
 the man of sin arise and triumph," should have been 
 one and the same individual ! 
 
 Let it not be supposed, indeed, that we attach any 
 spiritual value to mere knowledge. We are even free 
 to admit that Germany, the nation perhaps the most 
 profoundly learned, has long been the most prolific of 
 infidelity. But much even of that scepticism is only 
 the natural reaction of that mental darkness and depres- 
 sion in which ignorance so long detained the nations. 
 Yes, ignorance has had her millenium ; a long and 
 dreary period, during which not merely learning be- 
 came extinct, but almost the curiosity and desire to 
 learn ; the Bible became a book comparatively lost and 
 unknown ; and the feeble glimmering of knowledge 
 which remained in the hands of a few was employed, 
 not to enlighten the people, but to delude ; and proved 
 sufficient to hold the enfeebled mind of Christendom 
 thine most servile subjugation. 
 
A DISCOURSE. 99 
 
 With what signal effect the weapon of sanctified 
 l-earning may be wielded, let the history of the Reforma- 
 tion from that fearful condition of the Church attest. 
 Would you know the opinion of the Reformers them- 
 selves on the subject ? " If we lose the learned lan- 
 guages by our neglect," said Luther, " we shall lose 
 the Gospel." " An unlearned theology," said Melanc- 
 thon, " is an Iliad of evils ;" — a sentiment often reiterat- 
 ed by Calvin also. Need I remind you that our Puritan 
 and Nonconformist forefathers^the champions of truth 
 and liberty in their day — and whose standard theology 
 continues to nourish the piety of the Church, were 
 learned divines ? Need I add further that among the 
 most useful men of modern days, have been a Dodd- 
 ridge and a Watts, a Wesley and a Whitefield, of 
 England ; and, of America, an Edwards, a Bellamy, 
 and a Dwight ; and that, besides being educated them- 
 selves, they advocatf^d the Collegiate preparation of 
 others for the ministry — ^some of them actually presiding 
 in such institutions ? 
 
 Far be it from us to deny that God has greatly bless- 
 ed the preaching of some uneducated ministers. " We 
 therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice," He did not 
 bless them, however, on account of their ignorance, 
 but in spite of it. It was not their ignorance which he 
 blessed, but certain other qualities which they possess- 
 ed in common with the educated man of God — quali- 
 ities which a wise education would have aided to de- 
 velope and direct — zeal, and devotedness to the glory 
 of God. On the other hand, could we take you to lis- 
 ten to some of this class, you would feel at once that 
 their preaching — in which distinctions are frequently 
 made without differences, assertions are mistaken for 
 arguments, and illustrations of truth substituted for 
 doctrines — is of a character to limit their usefulness 
 to a single class of hearers, and to disparage them in 
 the eyes even of some of that class. And how many 
 a minister of this description, could you address him 
 on the subject, would feelingly deplore his own want 
 of early education, and set forth the disadvantages 
 
 iSsfiviisif^ 
 
100 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY : 
 
 under which he consequently labours. And thus you 
 might easily obtain, from your own observation, an 
 illustration of the same truth which history in all ages 
 so abundantly confirms, that there exists a relation be- 
 tween religion and an educated ministry, and that, 
 where the latter is wanting, the former invariably 
 tends to superstition, fanaticism, or extinction. 
 
 And now, what, after all, is the summary of the 
 various arguments in support of an educated ministry, 
 but simply this — that ignorance is imperfection ; and 
 that, in the case of the man of God, we are anxious 
 to lessen that imperfection as much as possible ? 
 What is it but saying, that, as sin is the parent of all 
 voluntary ignorance, and as the gospel is the great 
 remedy for sin, we believe it was meant, directly or 
 indirectly, to remedy such ignorance as well as every 
 other evil ; and that we are anxious that the man of 
 God should be an instance of its remedial influence in 
 this, as well as in every other respect ? What is it 
 but saying, that, if he speak for God, he should speak 
 according to the rules of language ; that, if he at- 
 tempt to reason for God, he should not do it irrational- 
 ly, but according to the rules of reasoning ; that, if he 
 profess to be an interpreter of the Bible, he should 
 spare no pains necessary to render himself a correct 
 expositor — " an able minister of the New Testament." 
 In a word, what is it but saying that the man of God 
 should be made as acceptable an oflfering to the Head 
 of the Church, and as efficient an agent for the diffii- 
 sion of the Gospel, as his own. endeavours and the en- 
 deavours of the Church, combined with the prayers of 
 both for the impartation of the Holy Spirit, can possi- 
 bly render him ? 
 
 III. Such being some of the grounds of the im- 
 portance of an educated ministry, I might enlarge, 
 thirdly, on the consequent obligations. The nature of 
 the occasion, however, which has now assembled us, 
 reminds me that you are already alive to those obliga- 
 tions, and allows me to restrict myself to the bare enu- 
 meration of particulars. 
 
A DISCOURSE. 101 
 
 I will only remind you, therefore, that as your 
 sense of the importance of an educated ministry com- 
 mitted you to the erection of a College, so now the 
 erection of that College commits you to a series of 
 corresponding duties. By selecting the more capable 
 and intelligent, as well as pious, among the youthful 
 members of your churches, to enjoy its advantages ; 
 by fairly estimating its pecuniary wants and con- 
 tributing liberally to its support ; by allowing its stu- 
 dents the full enjoyment of its entire course, instead of 
 hastily terminating their studies, and hurrying them 
 into the ministry unprepared ; and by giving the pref- 
 erence, when called to choose a pastor, not to one of 
 ignorant, but of intelligent piety ; by these means 
 you cannot fail, under God, to secure an intelligent 
 ministry. And by placing these means in your power, 
 the Head of the Church is leaving you to say whether 
 he shall be served by an illiterate, or by an educated 
 ministry. 
 
 Brethren, you have entered on a great work. Bear 
 with me while I exhort you to view it chiefly in the 
 highest light. View it, if you please, as an honour 
 and a service to the Denomination of Christians to 
 which you belong ; and, as such, it richly deserves 
 their practical thanks. But regard it chiefly as be- 
 longing to that great system of agencies by which God 
 is subduing all things to himself. Contemplate it 
 chiefly in that only relation in which it can be invest- 
 ed with enduring importance ; as included in that in- 
 finite plan, which subordinates all our movements to 
 its own designs, and which, while it demands the 
 strenuous activity of every agent in the universe, yet 
 absolutely stands in need of none ; and thus regarded, 
 you will feel ennobled while rendering it the humblest 
 service. Think of it, if you please, as a movement 
 called for by the circumstances of the time — as a 
 work for the day ; but fail not in your holiest moments 
 to regard it as touching the past eternity and the fu- 
 ture ; as associated with that " ministry of reconcilia- 
 tion" which was determined on before the foundation 
 
102 IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED MINISTRY. 
 
 of the world, and with that " perfecting of the saints" 
 — that " edifying of the body of Christ" — which is to 
 be the theme of grateful admiration in the eternity to 
 come. Think of it as a means which God will em- 
 ploy for preparing himself agents in days to come — 
 days when nobler services shall be rendered to his 
 cause than we have ever attempted, and when loftier 
 motives shall inspire their performance. Thus regard- 
 ing it, you will feel that you are living for the future 
 as well as for the present ; that you are setting in mo- 
 tion trains of ever augmenting influence, which, deriv- 
 ing their efficacy from heaven, shall hasten the com- 
 pletion of the kingdom of God. Cherish the convic- 
 tion, if you please, that your new Institution will com- 
 bine with other and similar means to raise the educa- 
 tional character of the Christian ministry, and thus to 
 increase its usefulness ; and that, on this account, it 
 will deserve the suffrages and enjoy the confidence of 
 thousands. But, hasten at once to place it under the 
 guidance, and at the disposal, of Him, " for whom are 
 all things, and by whom all things consist ;" and you 
 will have secured for it a patronage which will bring 
 good for it even out of evil, and which will make it 
 subservient to the highest end. Place it, by earnest 
 prayer, in the light of his countenance ; and its high- 
 est prosperity is secured ; and on you he will confer 
 the honour of presenting to the coming generation of 
 Christians, a class of ministers whose only motto will 
 be, " For us to live is Christ." 
 
 This he is expecting at your hands. Link it as a 
 humble instrumentality to the cross of Christ ; and, 
 then, what though no patron saint gives it a name, and 
 no royal munificence endows it, " the Highest himself 
 shall establish" it ; and what though no lofty preten- 
 sions to Apostolic succession be made for its sons, the 
 Spirit himself shall descend to anoint them to their of- 
 fice, and to ratify and bless the work of your hands. 
 In humble dependence and grateful faith dedicate the 
 service to your Lord ; and to you he will, in efiect, 
 repeat his ancient promise, " from this day will I 
 bless you." 
 
THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS : 
 A SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE BRITISH SOCIETY* FOR THE 
 
 PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE JEWS, 
 
 AT THE SCOTCH CHURCH, REGENT SQUARE, 
 
 LONDON, APRIL, 1843. 
 
 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God ! how unsearchable are his judgments^ and his ways past 
 finding out ! Romans xi. 33. 
 
 Probably many of you have listened to every Lecture 
 of the series which the Discourse of this evening is 
 to bring to a close. You first beheld the Israelites 
 invested by the hand of God with peculiar distinctions ; 
 for " to them pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, 
 and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the 
 service of God, and the promises ; theirs are the fathers, 
 and of them as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who 
 is over all, God blessed forever." Having glanced at 
 their high prerogatives in the past, your eye was then 
 pointed to their great destination in the future. " For 
 God hath not cast away his people whom he did fore- 
 know." The eye of prophecy is fixed on them still. For 
 them, some of the choicest promises of the Bible are 
 reserved. And a theatre awaits them, in which their 
 every movement shall excite the devout admiration of 
 the Church, and engross the attention of the world. 
 
 * The single object of the " British Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel among the Jews," is the spiritual good of the ancient people of 
 God. For this it seeks to engage the prayers, the influence, and the 
 
104 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Having had your minds prepared — as I suppose was 
 the intention of those who drew up the plan of the 
 series — by the comprehensive views which these in- 
 troductory discourses would suggest ; your attention 
 was then called to that succession of topics which serves, 
 as so many links, to connect the ancient prerogatives 
 of the Jew with his final destination. You listened to 
 a description of his national characteristics. You saw 
 his people dispersed, his nation exploded, and scattered 
 in fragments over the face of the earth. You surveyed 
 their present condition ; and you saw some looking 
 with longing eyes to Judea ; others, sensualized and 
 engrossed by the world ; others,, lapsing into Infidelity — 
 all, united in their detestation of Christianity ; and, as 
 you gazed on this spectacle of spiritual death, you were 
 ready to inquire in despondency, " Can these dry bones 
 live? " The subject of their conversion then engaged 
 your attention ; and you saw, in a light which removed 
 all apprehension — the light of inspiration, — that their 
 recovery is possible, probable, certain. 
 
 Next, you were reminded, or were to have been re- 
 minded, that, in order to realize this grand consumma- 
 tion many and formidable obstacles have to be sur- 
 mounted — obstacles arising from adverse influences act- 
 active co-operation of all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. 
 During the year or two of the Society's existence, approved Agents have 
 been employed in visiting the Jews, conversing with inquirers, and dis- 
 tributing Tracts, and portions of the Holy Scriptures, in the Hebrew and 
 other languages. The Committee have also published in Hebrew a selec- 
 tion of passages from the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews in the same language. 
 
 During the Spring of 1843, a course of Lectures, with a view of excit- 
 ing an increased interest in the operations of the Society, were delivered 
 in the National Scotch Church, Regent-square, by the Rev. Messrs- 
 James Hamilton, A. M , F. A. Cox, D.D., L.L. D., T. Archer, ^.. M., 
 J. Bennett, D.D., E. Henderson, D.D., J. C. Burns, A. M., H. F. Burder, 
 D.D., J. Morrison, D.D., J. S. Stamp, and J. Harrris, D.D. These lec- 
 tures, delivered by Ministers of six evangelical denominations, were 
 afterwards published by the Committee of the Society, and the closing 
 one of the series is now submitted to the American Christian commu- 
 nity. Ed. 
 
A SERMON. 105 
 
 ing on the Jews from without, as well as from their 
 own hereditary prejudices. The perception of these 
 led you doubtfully to inquire, " Who is sufficient for 
 these things ?" But on listening, next, to the encour- 
 agements which Christians have to make the attempt, 
 you saw that their sufficiency is of God. With such 
 incentives and encouragements, you saw next, how 
 stringent and solemn are the obligations of Christians to 
 seek their conversion ! Impressed these with obligations, 
 you were prepared to consider, next, the means for 
 acting in harmony with them. And, then, as a further 
 incentive to employ these means, you were conducted 
 to a point whence you could survey the benefits which 
 will accrue to the Church from the conversion of the 
 Jews ; and where you could luxuriate, by anticipation, 
 in the blessedness of the latter days. 
 
 An important advantage arising from such a com- 
 prehensive and connected view of a great subject is 
 the number of side views, so to speak, which it pre- 
 sents to a reflective mind in the course of its progress 
 from point to point — awakening interesting trains of 
 thought, independently of those which may be under 
 consideration at the moment — affording it glimpses of 
 the wide and unsuspected relations of truth, and antici- 
 pations of their distant application and practical results. 
 In this respect all that you have already heard on the 
 present interesting series, may be regarded as having 
 tended to prepare you for the point which we have 
 now reached. While listening to the successive lec- 
 tures, you have been standing, in effect, with Balaam 
 on the mountains of Moab ; and, while looking down 
 on the thousands of Israel, was not your eye insensi- 
 bly attracted to the guiding pillar of cloud and of fire ? 
 You have stood with Ezekiel on the banks of the 
 Chebar ; and have been rapt in the far-reaching visions 
 of Isaiah and of Daniel ; — have you not one while 
 admired the wisdom, goodness, and power, which 
 have at all times been brought to bear on the history 
 of this remarkable people ; — at another, the vast ex- 
 tent of the Divine plans with which they are bound up, 
 
106 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 — and, at another, the mysterious destiny which yet 
 awaits them ? Now, all those passing views of the Di- 
 vine conduct, which you may have caught, tending to 
 excite astonishment and awe, adoration and joy, the 
 subject of this evening is calculated so to combine and 
 exhibit, as to engage your steady and prolonged atten- 
 tion. That subject, appropriately selected for this con- 
 cluding lecture, is, the glory which will redound to 
 God from the conversion of the Jews. In that event, 
 there will be a summing up of all their long and event- 
 ful history ; and so vast is the revenue of praise which 
 that conclusion will bring to God, that Christ would 
 fain have his Church, in every age, to foretaste the 
 joy, and to antedate the song. Inspiration has even 
 prepared the strain. And to a part of that language, 
 caught by the Apostle Paul from the kindred soul of 
 Isaiah, I would now direct your attention ; with an 
 earnest prayer, that our hearts may be in harmony 
 with the sentiment which it breathes : " OA the depth 
 of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God ! how unsearchable are his judgments^ and his 
 ways past finding out ! " Rom. xi. 33. 
 
 I. Now, among the various considerations which 
 will prompt this exclamation, on the conversion of the 
 Jews, and which should influence us in the anticipa- 
 tion of that event, one is the fact that their national 
 preservation through so long a tract of time will fur- 
 nish a wonderful illustration of the Divine power. 
 Their history in this respect is unparalleled. They 
 can look back along a line of ancestry, compared with 
 which that of the Norman peer, and the Saxon noble, 
 are but of yesterday. Nations which did not begin to 
 exist till long after the Jew had acquired a history, 
 have long ago run their course and perished ; but he 
 is unchanged. The Roman, the Athenian, the Baby- 
 lonian, is now only a name — the shadow of a name ; 
 yet when the most ancient of these powers was laying 
 the foundation of its existence, the Jew could already 
 trace back a genealogy of centuries. As the modern 
 traveller surveys the remains of the arch of Titus at 
 
A SERMON. 107 
 
 Rome, he feels himself bewildered in endeavouring to 
 realize the distant date of its erection — and yet it 
 commemorates only the last of a long series of Jewish 
 dispersions. You read of the fragments of antiquity 
 dug up from the ruins of Babylon, and your mind is 
 carried still further back than by the Roman arch ; but 
 the Jew possibly formed that Babylonian brick, and 
 imprinted on it those arrow-headed characters. The 
 pyramids of Egypt take your imagination still further 
 back ; the Jew not improbably helped to build the old- 
 est of them. Enter the most ancient of the royal 
 tombs at Thebes, and mark the national physiognomies 
 painted on the walls — you recognise that of the Jew 
 unaltered to the present day. Time itself was young, 
 when the Lord said unto Abraham, " I will surely 
 make of thee a great nation." 
 
 Nor will any of the ordinary means of national 
 preservation account for their continuance. They 
 have not, like the Chinese, been stationary, and built in 
 from the rest of the human family. From about the 
 year 740 before Christ, till the final destruction of Je- 
 rusalem by Titus, they suffered as many dispersions, 
 partial or entire, as there were centuries. Their wan- 
 derings in the wilderness, relieved by temporary en- 
 campments, may be regarded as an emblem of all 
 their subsequent history. Foreign help and alliances 
 will not explain it. For, besides the fiercest commo- 
 tions within, they have sustained, unaided, a quick 
 succession of the most sunguinary invasions from 
 without. They have known the degradation of slavery, 
 the chains of captivity, and persecution in all its forms. 
 Arms, climate, genius, politics, equally fail to explain 
 it. For they have been crumbled, and scattered over 
 the face of the earth ; and yet they exist. They have 
 used every dialect, and lived in every latitude of civil- 
 ized man. They have cried by reason of their task- 
 masters on the banks of the Nile ; by the waters of 
 Babylon they have sat down and wept ; the Jordan, 
 the Tiber, the Thames, the Mississippi, have alike 
 quenched their thirst. Paganism has made itself 
 
108 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 drunk with their blood. Popery has kindled and re- 
 joiced over the fires which consumed them ; and Ma- 
 hometanism has chased and smitten them with untir- 
 ing hate ; and yet they exist. Old empires which op- 
 pressed them have fallen ; but the Jew has lived on 
 amidst their ruins. Young nations have started into 
 being, and he has been present to mingle with their 
 elements ; — mingling, but never uniting ; a river 
 flowing through the ocean, but never losing its distinct 
 character and existence. For " from the top of the 
 rocks I see him ; and from the hills I behold him ; lo, 
 the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckon- 
 ed among the nations." 
 
 And, as if to complete the wonder of their continu- 
 ed existence, the probability is, according to the most 
 recent and exact statistics, that their number at this 
 moment is very nearly the same as it was on their 
 leaving Egypt under Moses — somewhere about three 
 millions and a half. 
 
 Now, the only way in which their preservation can 
 be accounted for is by accepting the scriptural solu- 
 tion of the fact, and ascribing it to the miraculous ex- 
 ercise of the Divine Power. This, indeed, is very 
 generally admitted already. The visions of the poet 
 are haunted by the fact, as by a voice from the invisi- 
 ble world. The philosophic historian confesses that he 
 has no place for it in all his generalizations ; and re- 
 fers it to the mysteries of Providence. The enlight- 
 ened Christian recognises in it the presence and agen- 
 cy of Him who hath said, " I am God, I change not : 
 therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." The 
 Jew himself is, of course, willing to ascribe it to the 
 hand of God, for it ministers to his self-importance. 
 But when, in the best, the highest respect, he " shall 
 be turned unto the Lord," in how different a sense 
 will he trace the preservation of his people to the Di- 
 vine Being ! A time of conversion is a period of re- 
 flection and review. How many a man converted 
 late in life — converted towards the close of a long and 
 hazardous career — awakes as from a dream to spend 
 
A SERMON. 109 
 
 the rest of his days in grateful astonishment at the 
 power which " preserved him in Christ Jesus" till he 
 was called. He clearly sees that his past history ex- 
 hibits one continued series of Divine interpositions for 
 his safety ; and as his fellow-Christians listen to his tale 
 of the divine goodness, " they glorify God in him." 
 But here will be a whole people converted in the even- 
 ing of time. And when it shall be remembered that 
 they were called in the morning of time ; that they 
 were then the subjects of Divine impressions ; that 
 God himself could say concerning them, " T remem- 
 ber thee, the kindness of thy espousals, and the love 
 of thy youth, when thou wentest after me in the wil- 
 derness ;" that their promising appearances vanished 
 like the early dew ; that, with few intermissions, they 
 had ever since been running the gauntlet of the na- 
 tions ; buffeted by a blind and bloodthirsty world ; per- 
 secuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroy- 
 ed ; with what new emphasis and enlarged meaning 
 will they have to sing, " If it had not been the Lord 
 who was on our side, — now may Israel say ; — if it had 
 not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose 
 up against us ; then had they swallowed us up quick. 
 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Bless- 
 ed be the Lord who hath not given us a prey to their 
 teeth. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made 
 heaven and earth !" And so manifestly will their 
 continued existence as a nation be then traceable to 
 the hand of God, that the entire Church, as with one 
 voice, shall ascribe the glory to him- alone. 
 
 II. But will it not further redound to the glory of 
 God when it shall be seen that the preservation of the 
 Jews has not been effected by mere power — by the 
 capricious exercise of blind force, or arbitrary might, — 
 but that, from first to last, that poiver ivas under the 
 guidance of wisdom, or was exercised according to a 
 plan ? A new light is dawning on the mind of men 
 respecting the existence and the nature of this plan. 
 History is beginning to be written in a new manner. 
 Formerly the historian was only required to collect and 
 
110 THE CONVEESION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 to record facts. But at length it has occurred to him 
 that all the facts of history are, in a variety of ways 
 connected ; that could the principles of this connexion 
 be traced and developed, it would be found that all 
 history forms one organic whole ; and, hence, to trace 
 and to expound these principles has now come to be 
 considered the highest office of the historian — the 
 very philosophy of history — a philosophy dignified by 
 the name of " The New Science." 
 
 It should be remembered however by every lover of 
 the Bible that its histories were never written in any 
 other way. Some of the modern writers of history 
 indeed are free to acknowledge, and even to lay stress 
 on the fact as very remarkable, that the man who 
 made one of the first sustained and consistent attempts 
 to exhibit the facts of universal history in ideal unity 
 should have been an ecclesiastic — Bossuet ; that phi- 
 losophy should have been indebted to theology for this 
 prolific suggestion. But Biblical history, I repeat, 
 was never written in any other way. It both states 
 the facts, and the principles which unite them. True, 
 after sketching, by a few masterly strokes, the history 
 of the race from the creation to the dispersion at Ba- 
 bel, it does not follow each branch of the human fam- 
 ily, but confines its history to one — that of the Jews. 
 But in the history of that one, you have, in effect, a 
 type of the whole. And more ; in the history of that 
 one, you frequently catch glimpses of the others — 
 glimpses of them at the most eventful moments of 
 their existence. You see them, for example, as on 
 the plains of Dura — the world in an act of idolatrous 
 worship ; — or you hear the tramp of their armies going 
 forth to depopulate whole regions ; or you hear the 
 crush of towers and thrones smitten by an invisible 
 hand. And more still ; the Bible is prophetic as well 
 as historic ; affords us visions of the future as well as 
 records of the past. Here the idea of the unity and 
 universality of Providence in the history of man is 
 fully brought out. Before Herodotus, called the Fa- 
 ther of History, had begun to amass his confused ma- 
 
A SERMON. Ill 
 
 terials, Isaiah had sung the glory of the latter day ; 
 and Daniel had foretold the kingdoms which would 
 arise, and the order of their succession, to the end of 
 time. 
 
 Again, then, I repeat the Bible never spoke of the 
 course of human events but as conducted on a great 
 plan. — And with this peculiarity^ that from the time 
 of the promise to Abraham, " that in his seed all the 
 nations of the earth should be blessed," the entire 
 plan was regulated in relation to his posterity. Nay, 
 ages earlier than that, the plan began to evolve. 
 " Ask thy father," said Moses, " and he will show 
 thee ; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the 
 Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, 
 when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the 
 bounds of the people according to the number of the 
 children of Israel." Yes, before Moses, before Pisgah 
 itself, from which Moses looked down on the prom- 
 ised land, existed. His eye had looked down from the 
 height of his sanctuary, and had beheld prospectively 
 that Sinai whence his law should be given — that Zion 
 which should be crowned with his temple — and that 
 Calvary which should receive the mystery of the Cross. 
 The great principle on which the habitable part of the 
 globe was moulded and mapped out, was a principle 
 of relation to his chosen people. And, as the great 
 drama of Providence unfolded, act after act, the civil- 
 ized portion of the world invariably found itself involved 
 with that people. Think of those noble Psalms, the 78th, 
 105th, and 106th, in which you have the recapitulations 
 of their early history ; do you not hear Jehovah, as he 
 leads them through the nations, saying, " Touch not 
 mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm ?" Are 
 they invaded and oppressed ? — " Who delivered up 
 Jacob to be a spoil, and Israel to the plunderers ? — Was 
 it not Jehovah ?" saith the prophet ; " He against whom 
 they had sinned." Does the Assyrian monarch afflict 
 Israel ? — " The Assyrian, saith God, is the rod in my 
 hand." Does the Persian deliver Israel ? — " I called 
 thee distinctly by thy name," saith God to Cyrus ; " I 
 
112 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS. 
 
 made honourable mention of thee, though thou knewest 
 me not." Did nations change hands in consequence 
 of the Persian movement ? " I," saith God to his 
 people, " I have given Egypt for . thy ransom ; Cush 
 and Seba for thee." The transfer was Persia's reward 
 for Israel's liberation. Have the ancient persecutors 
 of Israel perished ? Their destruction was foretold ; 
 and this was the reason assigned for it : " Jehovah 
 hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompense in 
 vindication of* Zion." " Search out," saith the proph- 
 et, " search out from the book of Jehovah, and read : 
 not one of these shall fail." And when, at length, 
 " the time shall have come, yea, the set time to favour 
 Zion" — for even that is foretold ; when in the light of 
 a Divine teaching they shall search out of the book of 
 Jehovah, and read ; when they shall see that in all 
 their wanderings from God, he has never allowed them 
 to pass beyond the lines of a plan which his own finger 
 had traced out ; that, as often as they essayed to do so, 
 they invariably encountered some form of evil arrest- 
 ing their progress, which He had foretold ; that, in that 
 comprehensive plan, every useful agent had his post 
 assigned, every event its hour foreknown, everything 
 was calculated and foreseen ; and, yet, that the whole 
 series was so forelaid that the moral freedom of no ac- 
 countable being should be violated ; what ground will 
 there be for repeating the ancient appeal of Joshua, 
 and saying, " Ye know in all your hearts and in all 
 your souls, that not one thing has failed of all that 
 the Lord your God spake concerning you : all have 
 come to pass, and not one thing hath failed." " O the 
 depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge 
 of God." 
 
 III. Will it not further redound to the glory of God 
 when it shall appear tliat the entire plan of his conduct 
 towards Israel has directly tended to promote their 
 highest welfare hy illustrating the great principles of 
 his moral government 7 Many of these principles are 
 indicated in the context. Here is the principle of medi' 
 ation — of making the conduct or the relationship of 
 
A SERMON. 118 
 
 one the reason for blessing others. Early in the history 
 of the Church had the Jews been famiharized with this 
 principle ; for it lies at the basis of human salvation. 
 Again and again, by type, and promise, and declara- 
 tion, had they been reminded of it. But as often had 
 they forgotten it, and self-righteously assumed that they 
 were favoured for their own sakes alone ; or else had 
 persuaded themselves that the Almighty no longer acted 
 on the principle. But, no, saith the apostle, "God hath 
 not cast away his people." They are still beloved : 
 but they are beloved, as they ever have been, for the 
 fathers' sakes." Now their conversion will, at length, 
 establish this fact. It will show them that they have 
 never been absolutely renounced ; that in all their 
 wanderings and toils they have still been remembered 
 by God as the seed of Abraham his friend. It will 
 expound the great fact why Abraham himself was 
 beloved. They will then see that there never was, 
 never can be, but " one Mediator between God and 
 man, the Man Christ Jesus ;" the day of whose com- 
 ing Abraham saw, and was glad. 
 
 Justice is another principle of the Divine conduct. 
 " Behold," saith the apostle, " the goodness and severi- 
 ty of God : on them who fell, severity." And looking 
 back on the long track of their history, they will be- 
 hold it covered from the first with the memorials of the 
 Divine displeasure against sin. They will see that in- 
 stead of making his love a reason for allowing them to 
 sin with impunity, He has ever been saying, in effect, 
 *' You only have I known of all the families of the 
 earth ; therefore I will punish you for all your iniqui- 
 ties ;" and that every stroke of his fatherly chastise- 
 ment was intended to bring them in penitence to his 
 feet. 
 
 Has it always been a peculiar feature of the Divine 
 conduct to bring good out of evil ? In the history 
 and conversion of the Jews this Divine prerogative 
 will be seen displayed on the most magnificent 
 scale. It will be seen that He has made the mutual 
 jealousy of the Jew and Gentile an occasion of good 
 8 
 
114 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS I 
 
 to each ; thus converting, by a Divine alchemy, the 
 poison of human hostility into a cup of blessing — a 
 sacramental cup of everlasting friendship. It will be 
 seen that he has taken occasion from the unbelief and 
 temporary rejection of the one, to visit the other with 
 the means of salvation. The apostacy of the human 
 race was the occasion of Israel's election at the first. 
 And when, after repeated apostasies, Israel was aban- 
 doned, that became the occasion of salvation to the 
 Gentiles, — '' The casting away of them was the recon- 
 ciling of the world," saith the apostle ; the " fall of 
 them was the enriching of the Gentiles." The history 
 of Israel, indeed, will afford many other illustrations 
 of the same great principle. Their slavery in Egypt 
 was a time of merciful visitation for that country* 
 Their seventy years' rejection and captivity in Babylon 
 were calculated to enlighten and to bless the people of 
 that empire. Their departure from Egypt and Baby- 
 lon was a loss to those nations, and the gain of Judea. 
 But these, and all the similar instances which had oc- 
 curred, were summed up and generalized, so to speak, 
 by that great " casting off" referred to by the apostle ; 
 — an event so great as to form the line which divides 
 the history of the world into two parts. And then, 
 again, at the time of their conversion, they will see 
 with amazement that the very act which completed 
 their guilt, and which became the means of salvation 
 to the Gentiles — namely, the rejection and crucifixion 
 of Christ — has become the means of their own salva- 
 tion ; that in gratifying their own enormous malice, 
 they were unconsciously doing whatsoever the Divine 
 " hand and counsel determined before to be done ;" 
 that in preparing an ignominious cross, they were 
 blindly erecting the very throne on which the rejected 
 Jesus should reign, " a prince and a Saviour, to give 
 repentance unto Israel and the remission of sins." 
 
 Is it another grand characteristic of the Divine pro- 
 cedure, so to time and to distribute his judgments and 
 mercies, as to make us feel our entire dependence on 
 Mm? My own deep conviction is, that this is not 
 
A SERMON. 115 
 
 merely a principle ; but that it is the great all-encom- 
 passing and all-interpreting principle of the Divine 
 conduct — and that on its ultimate triumph depend alike 
 the happiness of the creature, and the glory of God. 
 Would you know, for example, why it was that Israel, 
 when brought out of Egypt, was not led straight to 
 Canaan ? Listen to the inspired reply : " Thou shall 
 remember all the way which the Lord thy God led 
 thee these forty years in' the wilderness, to humble 
 thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine 
 heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, 
 or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to 
 hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest 
 not, neither did thy fathers know ; that he might make 
 thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but 
 by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
 the Lord doth man live :" — in other words, it was part 
 of a great system of moral discipline, designed experi- 
 mentally to convince them of their entire dependence 
 upon God. Would you know why it was that the 
 coming of Christ was so long delayed ; and why it 
 was that the Jews were cast off — that their conversion 
 did not take place at the commencement of the Chris- 
 tian dispensation, instead of being for so many centu- 
 ries delayed ? Doubtless other reasons repose in the 
 bosom of infinite Wisdom ; but hear the reason which, 
 in the context, is assigned, " God hath concluded them 
 all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." 
 In other words, he waited for the Gentiles, till they 
 had completed the great experiment which proved, 
 that the world by its wisdom would never arrive at the 
 knowledge of God. And he is now waiting for the 
 Jews, till it shall be evident — evident to themselves — 
 that all ground for self-dependence has utterly perished. 
 Were he to cut short that great experiment which man 
 is bent on making — of trying to do without the grace 
 of God — man would not be prepared to appreciate the 
 Divine interposition. It would seem as if man must 
 be allowed to try his last resource, exhaust his last ex- 
 pedient, before he will submit to be saved by sovereign 
 
116 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS I 
 
 mercy. God therefore waits ; waits till man has found 
 that his every unaided effort has plunged him deeper 
 in misery and guilt ; waits till sin has bound its victim 
 hand and foot, and has dragged him to the edge of the 
 pit. Thus he waited for the Gentiles, and thus he is 
 now delaying for the Jews ; that, having convicted 
 them all of unbelief and utter helplessness, he might 
 have mercy upon all in a manner most honourable and 
 glorious to his sovereign grace. 
 
 Who by searching can find out God ! How long- 
 suffering the patience which can thus bear with a 
 course of human provocation ever raging and ever in- 
 creasing ! How vast the reach and compass of that 
 plan which counts ages as moments, and takes in the 
 end from the beginning ! How stable that purpose 
 which, before the foundation of the world, fixed its eye 
 on an object which is still future — from which nothing 
 has been able to divert it — on which it is still fixed — 
 and to which everything else is subordinated ! " For 
 the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 
 How worthy of infinite perfection is that process by 
 which evil is not merely thwarted, but made produc- 
 tive of good ; by which, in all ages, grapes are gather- 
 ed from the thorns of human nature, and figs from 
 thistles ; by which the wrath of man — not his faith 
 merely, not his obedience, not his humility — but the 
 very wrath of man, his worst passions armed and rag- 
 ing, are made to praise God ; made to yield notes 
 which reach the skies only to blend with the song of 
 the seraphim. And how utterly unfathomable are the 
 reasons on which the great scheme is constructed ! 
 One of these, indeed, the apostle assigns — that the 
 whole is designed to humble man, and to redound to ' 
 the glory of the grace of God. But even this does not 
 enable us to fathom the deeps of the Divine counsels. 
 We want the strength and the skill necessary to use 
 the immeasurable line. Here even an apostle fails. 
 For after having sounded his way for awhile among 
 the mere shallows of this ocean, he no sooner launches 
 out into the deep, and there reverently essays to fathom 
 
A SERMON. 117 
 
 it, than, suddenly seized with an overwhelming awe, 
 he gives up the attempt, exclaiming, " O the depth of 
 the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
 how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
 finding out !" 
 
 IV. But what if this great system of discipline, 
 after displaying for ages the principles of the Divine 
 government, and directly tending to lead the Jews to 
 repentance, should leave them as it found them — worse 
 than it found them ? Would not their conversion^ after 
 all, to the faith of Christ, redound, to a degree in- 
 conceivable, to the glory of God ? This is our fourth 
 particular. 
 
 And, here, you will see the relation of our preced- 
 ing remarks to the point we have now reached. The 
 strength of a mechanical power is estimated by the 
 degree of resistance which it overcomes. And the 
 honour which will accrue to the grace of God in the 
 conversion of the Jews, is to be estimated, partly, by 
 the amount and the duration of their previous resistance 
 to that grace. 
 
 1. Now, viewed in this light, you will see that their 
 conversion will reflect transcendent honour on the power 
 of the grace which effects it. For you are to remark 
 that we are not now speaking of the conversion of a 
 people who, like the South Sea Islander, had never 
 before enjoyed the light of Revelation ; but of a people 
 who, in this sense, have never been in darkness ; to 
 whose ears the voice of God was a familiar sound ; on 
 whose eyes the fires of Sinai and the light of " the day 
 star from on high" had alike shone ; but in vain. And 
 yet they are at length to tremble at that voice, and to 
 rejoice in that light. Nor are we speaking of a people 
 who, like most of the converts from among ourselves, 
 are, prior to their change, merely indifferent to Chris- 
 tianity, and who are taking it for granted that they are 
 already converted ; but of a people who have ever been 
 actively hostile to all spiritual religion ; a people to 
 whom the martyred Stephen could say, " Ye stiffnecked 
 and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist 
 
118 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS : 
 
 the Holy Ghost : as your fathers did, so do ye. Which 
 of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ?" a 
 people whose fathers blasphemed the Holy Ghost, and 
 thus incurred the fearful guilt of the unpardonable sin ; 
 a people therefore who will be found inheriting all those 
 evil dispositions which had never ceased to resist the 
 Spirit of God ; and yet they are, at length, to cry out 
 for this grieved and resisted Spirit, and to yield them- 
 selves up to his power. Nor are we speaking of this 
 people as nominally converted merely — simply prose- 
 lyted to the faith — as many of the European nations 
 were ; but as renewed in the spirit of their minds — 
 changed in their very heart of hearts. The conversion 
 of the three thousand on the day of Pentecost was the 
 great miracle of the Christian economy. The sudden 
 transformation of three thousand souls was a new thing 
 in the earth. For a multitude just fresh from Calvary 
 to receive as their Saviour the being they had there 
 nailed in deadly hatred to a cross, proclaimed a change 
 of their entire nature which God alone could effect. 
 But here a still greater change is to be seen ; the con- 
 version of a people who, besides the hatred of their 
 forefathers to our blessed Lord, are naturally filled with 
 distrust and hatred of all his professed followers by 
 whom, for ages, they have been persecuted. Compar- 
 ed with this, no change the world has yet witnessed 
 deserves to be named. Conceive, if you can, of the 
 revolution which your nature must undergo before you 
 could adopt Hindooism ; — adopt it not merely by bow- 
 ing in its temples, and conforming to its ritual, but by 
 actually believing in its idol gods. You feel that, be- 
 fore you could do this, you must be entirely re-made. 
 Nor does the Jew feel less deeply that to be transform- 
 ed into an humble, spiritual, devoted Christian, he must 
 become a new creature. To exchange the form of 
 godliness for the power, proclaims the presence of a 
 Divine agent ; but to worship in the name of the very 
 Being on whom the heart had hitherto vented its bitter- 
 est execrations ; to regard the cross which he had 
 hitherto viewed as the signal of ignominy and guilt, as 
 
A SERMON. 119 
 
 the object of all his affections, the motive of all his 
 actions, the illuminated centre of all his hopes — this 
 implies a change so great that it might almost excuse 
 unbelief (if anything could excuse it) for saying, " If 
 the Lord would open windows in heaven might this 
 thing be." But unbelief itself is silenced by the dec- 
 laration that opened they shall be. For thus saith the 
 Lord, " I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my 
 blessing upon thine offspring." 
 
 2. Associated with this display of omnipotent energy 
 in the conversion of the Jews, there will be the exercise 
 of unlimited grace in their forgiveness. We seek not 
 to exaggerate the guilt of the Jews. We believe that 
 the guilt of many an individual Jew is equalled by the 
 guilt of many calling themselves Christians. But when 
 it is remembered that there is a sense in which guilt is 
 transmitted from age to age — that the Jews of the pres- 
 ent day are the desceiidents of those concerning whom 
 God declared, " Though Moses and Samuel stood before 
 me, yet would not my mind be towards this people ;" 
 and concerning whom the Saviour solemnly affirmed, . 
 *' Verily I say unto you, that upon you shall come all 
 the righteous blood shed upon the earth ; from the blood 
 of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias whom 
 ye slew between the temple and the altar:" — when it 
 is remembered that the Jews of that future day will be 
 the descendents and approvers of those who shouted 
 concerning the Son of God, '' Away with him ; crucify 
 him. His blood be upon us and upon our children ;" 
 and that, by their persevering unbelief, generation after 
 generation have been virtually crucifying the Son of 
 God afresh, and putting him to an open shame — when 
 this is remembered, how amazing appears that exercise 
 of mercy which is to cancel so mountainous an accumu- 
 lation of guilt! 
 
 Who has not been melted by that Divine compas- 
 sion which moved the heart of Jesus when he wept 
 over the guilty city thirsting for his blood ; and which 
 led him to save his latest breath to pray for his mur- 
 derers, " Father, forgive them ; for they know not 
 
120 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS : 
 
 what they do ?" And how amazing the grace which 
 led him as soon as he arose, and while their eyes were 
 yet gleaming with the fire of triumphant revenge, to 
 charge his apostles to hasten and open the charier of 
 redemption first within sight of Calvary ! Surely, 
 we might have said, surely if it is ever proclaimed to 
 them, it will not be until it has been first offered to all 
 the Gentile world. But who can calculate the course 
 of his grace ? for, behold, he sends his Gospel to Je- 
 rusalem first ! Who can calculate the course of his 
 grace ? for, behold, when his Gospel shall have made 
 the circuit of the world, he will offer it, in all its orig- 
 inal plenitude of grace, to the Jews again ! He will 
 more than offer it : he will constrain them to accept it. 
 As if his blood had only just been shed, he will con- 
 vince them that the lapse of time has left its efficacy 
 unimpaired — " that his blood still cleanseth from all 
 sin." As if he had only just begun to reign, and 
 reigned for them alone ; he will shower his gifts upon 
 them, " granting repentance unto Israel, and the re- 
 mission of all their sins." And, oh ! when the en- 
 lightening Spirit shall have laid open the whole truth 
 to their contemplation — when they shall recognise in 
 him whom their fathers crucified the promised Mes- 
 siah — when they shall look upon him whom they have 
 pierced ; what meltings, what deep relentings of heart 
 shall ensue ! " They shall mourn, as one mourneth 
 for an only son, and be in bitterness as one that is in 
 bitterness for his first-born." When they shall see 
 that they owe their forgiveness to that blood which they 
 invoked in guilty imprecations on their own heads ; 
 when gathering by faith around his cross they shall 
 remember that they esteemed him " stricken, smitten 
 of God, and afliicted ;" but shall then see, and shall 
 say, " He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised 
 for our iniquities, the "chastisement of our peace was 
 upon him, and with his stripes we are healed ;" — what 
 all-subduing views will they obtain of the prevalence 
 of his intercession, of the unchangeableness and riches 
 of his grace ! 
 
A SERMON. 121 
 
 3. We are to believe, too, that this change will take 
 place at such a period in the history of the Jeivs^ as 
 shall still further redound to the glory of God. There 
 is a fulness of time for it. And as the coming of 
 Christ in the flesh took place at a crisis when the state 
 of the world demonstrated the necessity of his advent, 
 and displayed its grace, so doubtless will be his coming 
 in the conversion of the Jews. Probably they will 
 have reached the last stage of guilty unbelief ; or they 
 will be sorely pressed by evils from without ; or, aban- 
 doning all expectation of ever beholding their Messiah, 
 they will have said, " There is no hope," and will have 
 given themselves up to despair ; or all these forms of 
 evil will have combined in one. This we know, that 
 the design of the whole Gospel constitution is that no 
 flesh should glory in his presence ; that the inscription 
 on the topstone of the fabric will be, " To the praise 
 of the glory of his grace." And we may rest assured 
 that this important part of the Divine dispensations 
 will harmonize with the whole ; that even the time 
 selected for it will say more emphatically than words, 
 " Not for your sakes do I this, O house of Israel, but 
 for my holy name's sake. I, even I, am he that blotteth 
 out thy transgressions for mine own sake" — from 
 self-derived and sovereign grace — " and will no more 
 remember thy sins." 
 
 4. In harmony with the spiritual and Divine charac- 
 ter of this event, will be the means or manner of its 
 accomplishment. " For it is written, I will destroy the 
 wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the un- 
 derstanding of the prudent." Not indeed that all 
 means will be dispensed with. This would be a de- 
 parture from the usual course of the Divine Procedure. 
 But those employed shall be of so humble a character, 
 and the success attending them shall so far exceed all 
 human calculation, as to furnish the most glorious ex- 
 position of the words, " Not by might, nor by power, 
 but by my Spirit, saiih the Lord." Ask you the rea- 
 son for this ? " That men may see, and know, and 
 consider, and understand together, that the hand of 
 
122 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS : 
 
 the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel 
 hath created it." 
 
 5. And then another element of the glory which 
 will redound to God from this spiritual revolution 
 will be found in the number of the converted, A 
 few here and there will doubtless be renewed, from 
 time to time, prior to that period. And even then the 
 change may not be universal. But still it will be so 
 general as to satisfy the large prediction that " all Is- 
 rael shall be saved." " Fear not, saith God, for I am 
 with thee : I will bring thy seed from the east, and 
 gather them from the west. I will say to the north, 
 Give up ; and to the south, keep not back ; bring my 
 sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the 
 earth ; every one that is called by my name, whom I 
 have created for my glory." And they shall come 
 from the east and from the west, from the north and 
 from the south, to swear allegiance to the cross of 
 Christ. And, oh ! if when the " apostles and breth- 
 ren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also 
 received the Word of God, they glorified God, saying, 
 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repent- 
 ance unto life ;" what joy will seize the Gentile 
 Church when it shall be announced, " Then hath God 
 also to the Jews granted repentance unto life," and 
 they have at length embraced the mighty grant ! And 
 if there is joy in heaven among the angels of God 
 over one sinner that repenteth, who can conceive the 
 rapture which shall thrill the ranks of the seraphim 
 when it shall be there proclaimed, " All Israel is 
 saved !" 
 
 V. And this reminds us of the further accession of 
 glory to God from the conversion of the Jews, result- 
 ing from the effects of the event upon others. For 
 what an unsurpassable proof will it furnish of the Di- 
 vinity of the whole scheme of revelation ! As the out- 
 pouring of the Spirit upon the Jews on the day of Pen- 
 tecost was reserved by God for the Crowning proof 
 of the new economy ; so the greater effusion of the 
 same Spirit, upon the same people, is reserved to com- 
 
A SERMON. 123 
 
 plete the proof of its claims, as it draws towards a 
 close. Sufficient and superabundant as the evidences 
 of its Divinity already are, God is still holding in store 
 a concluding proof which shall eclipse the lustre of all 
 that have gone before. For the conversion of the 
 Jews will exhibit a scene in which every event will be 
 seen to be the providential issue of a train of circum- 
 stances laid ages before — every movement, the fulfil- 
 ment of an ancient prophecy — every occurrence in- 
 vested with a supernatural aspect ; a scene which shall 
 silence the sceptic, and carry the judgment of the in- 
 quiring, even though it fail to win their hearts. 
 
 What an unsurpassable proof will that event display 
 of the all-sufficiency of the grace of God ! At the 
 opening of the Christian economy, the conversion of 
 Saul of Tarsus seems to have been designed — indeed, 
 he himself declares, " For this cause I obtained mercy, 
 that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long- 
 suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter 
 believe on him to life everlasting." In a similar man- 
 ner God appears to be reserving the richest display of 
 his saving grace till towards the last. For in the con- 
 version of the Jews he will be seen concentrating his 
 Divine regards on a people who had come to concen- 
 trate in themselves the worst elements of rebellion 
 against him ; doing this at the very time when they 
 had reached the last stage of hopeless depravity — sus- 
 pending over them a cloud charged with showers of 
 blessing, at the moment when they might have looked 
 for a cloud showing the very blackness of darkness, 
 and stored with all the materials of wrath ; and, amaz- 
 ing wonder ! making the death of Christ — the very act 
 which seemed to complete their guilt and to seal their 
 doom — the reason of their forgiveness, the pledge of 
 their complete salvation. 
 
 What an impulse too will he given to the piety of 
 every part of the Christian Church ! " For if the fall 
 of the Jews be the riches of the world, and the dimin- 
 ishing of them the riches of the Gentiles ; how much 
 more their fulness." The newly converted Jews will 
 
124 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS I 
 
 probably exhibit a measure of self-denying zeal for 
 the glory of God, which the Church had come to con- 
 sider absolutely impracticable. For " he that is feeble 
 among them at that day shall be as David ; and the 
 house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the 
 Lord before them." Fired with the emulation of their 
 example, the entire Church shall be seen girding up 
 the loins of its mind, and kindling its lamp at the altar 
 of their piety. New meaning shall be seen in every 
 statement* of the Word of God ; new value attached to 
 every thing that can advance his glory ; new energy 
 be felt in the powers of the world to come. Churches 
 before comparatively dead shall be aroused to newness 
 of life ; the great experiment shall be made of ascer- 
 taining how much prayer can effect for the conversion 
 of the world ; and while the church is, with one voice, 
 crying, " Come from the four winds, O breath, and 
 breathe upon these slain that they may live," the great 
 valley of spiritual death shall exhibit the symptoms of 
 returning life. " For if the casting away of the Jews 
 be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiv- 
 ing of them be but life from the dead ?" 
 
 How eminently will this reanimation and increase of 
 the Church tend to the union of all its parts. That 
 most ancient of all schisms, between Jew and Gentile, 
 shall then be healed. " For in Christ Jesus there is 
 neither Jew nor Greek !" the Jew shall have become a 
 Christian ; and the Christian an Israelite indeed. Ev- 
 ery minor distinction in the Church shall cease ; or 
 shall remain only to show the strength of the love 
 which unites all its parts into one. And thus it will be 
 seen that an important step has been gained towards 
 the attainment of the purpose " which God hath pur- 
 posed in himself, that in the dispensation of the ful- 
 ness of times, he might gather together in one all 
 things in Christ." 
 
 And will not — must not all this inconceivably aug* 
 ment the joy of the Church 7 Every ancient interpo- 
 sition of God on behalf of his peculiar people called 
 forth the loftiest flights of sacred poetry. But all these 
 
A SERMON. 185 
 
 are deemed inadequate to the celebration of their final 
 recovery. The powers of language are to be taxed as 
 they had never been before. A new song is to be 
 raised more worthy of the greatness of the occasion. 
 " Sing to Jehovah a new song ; his praise from the end 
 of the earth." The very site of the ancient city is 
 urged to join in the sacred strain : " Break forth into 
 joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem : for 
 the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed 
 Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm 
 in the eyes of all the nations ; and all the ends of the 
 earth shall see the salvation of our God." Even inan- 
 imate nature is summoned to share in the joy, and to 
 assist in the praise : " Sing, O ye heavens ! for the 
 Lord hath done it ; shout, ye lower parts of the earth ; 
 break forth into singing, ye mountains ; O forest ! and 
 every tree therein : for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, 
 and glorified himself in Israel." And amidst this gen- 
 eral concert, in which every object shall find a voice 
 and take a part, will the redeemed people themselves 
 be silent ? A part of their song is already prepared : 
 " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be 
 joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the 
 garments of salvation ; he hath covered me with the 
 robe of righteousness." Indeed, that nothing may be 
 wanting to heighten our conceptions of the sacredness 
 and sublimity of that joy, God himself is represented 
 as anticipating it with delight, and as calling on the 
 universe to share in his Divine exultation ; " For, be- 
 hold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and the 
 former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 
 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I 
 create : for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and 
 her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, 
 and joy in my people." In that joy of the Re- 
 deemer there will be a depth and a peculiarity which 
 no creature will be able to share. When he shall see 
 of the travail of his soul in their conversion, in how pe- 
 culiar a sense will he be satisfied ! When he who 
 once wept over them bitter tears, shall behold them 
 
126 THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS : 
 
 prostrate in penitence at his feet ; — when he whom 
 they affixed to the accursed tree, shall hehold them 
 embracing that cross and exulting, " God forbid that 
 we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ," he will be conscious of a satisfaction which 
 shall fill even his capacity for enjoyment. 
 
 Brethren, the glory of the Lord is yet to be reveal- 
 ed. Would you reflect a portion of its radiance ? 
 " We beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye 
 present your bodies a living sacrifice." No mere out- 
 ward homage — no ecclesiastical relations, will suffice. 
 Confidence in these was the secret of Israel's fall. 
 And " if God spared not the natural branches, take 
 heed lest he also spare not thee." Would you pro- 
 mote the glory of God in their recovery ? Seek the 
 conversion of all around you. Aim at the recovery 
 of the world. For know, that the progress of the mis- 
 sionary cause hastens the time of Israel's conversion ; 
 for " blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the 
 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel 
 shall be saved." Would you accelerate the arrival of 
 that blessed day ? Then " pray for the peace of Jeru- 
 salem." Resolve, " for Zion's sake will I not hold 
 my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, 
 until the rigteousness thereof go forth as brightness, 
 and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." 
 You could not employ means more appropriate to the 
 Divine greatness than to cry daily, " O that the salva- 
 tion of God were come out of Zion !" The Churches 
 of Christ generally could not unite for a more worthy 
 object than to send up the earnest invocation, " O arm 
 of the Lord, awake, awake !" for thine ancient peo- 
 ple. The prayer would be music in the ear of God ; 
 and would bring a blessing on those who offered it. 
 
 Finally, would you sympathize" with and appreciate 
 the glory which shall redound to God from Israel's 
 conversion ? Cultivate the humble and adoring spirit 
 of the apostle in relation to it. Your own history ex- 
 hibits an epitome of the Divine conduct towards Israel. 
 The history of the Jews is but an epitome of the Divine 
 
A ^RMON. 127 
 
 conduct towards the human race — conduct which is 
 destined to fill the universe with his praise. For what 
 is the nature of that glory which is to accrue to God 
 from their conversion ? Is it not the glory of a power 
 which has carried them successfully for ages through 
 every annihilating process that could assail them — the 
 glory of a wisdom which saw the end from the begin- 
 ning, arranging and foretelling the entire plan — of a 
 benevolence which resisted every kind of provocation 
 to destroy them, pressed into its service every adverse 
 influence, and illustrated every great principle of moral 
 government in a manner directly tending to their high- 
 est welfare — of a mercy which after following them 
 nearly through all time, and through all lands, takes 
 them, with all their accumulated guilt and depravity, 
 and erects them into a monument of his saving grace — 
 and the glory of making this dispensation the occasion 
 of further joy to the Church, and of the greatest good 
 to the world ? In a word, it will be the glory of Divine 
 all-sufliciency receiving from them at length the hom- 
 age of creature dependence. And so deep w^ill be 
 their conviction of that dependence, and so vast the 
 views of that all-suflniciency which their history shall 
 afford, that language will fail to describe or record 
 them. And what a subject for contemplation to the 
 minds of the blessed ! Once, says the Apostle John, 
 on the opening of the seventh seal, " there was silence 
 in heaven about the space of half-an-hour ;" — that 
 was a pause of breathless suspense prior to a tremen- 
 dous discharge of wrath. But when by this splendid 
 display of mercy, the principalities and powers in 
 heavenly places, shall behold the manifold wisdom of 
 God, surely the silence of wonder will again ensue — a 
 silence during which every face will be veiled, every 
 worshipper prostrate, every heart filled with mental 
 adoration — a silence from which they shall recover only 
 to utter the language of awful delight, " Oh the depths 
 of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
 God." 
 
 Brethren, the tendency of all his dispensations, from 
 
128 THE CONVERSION 'OF THE JEWS. 
 
 first to last, is essentially the same. And never will 
 they know a pause, till this end be gained. Then man 
 will have found his proper place — the only spot in the 
 universe which becomes him — at the feet of God. 
 Then God will have recovered his proper glory — every 
 rival power will be cast out — the eyes of all will wait 
 upon him — he will be seen by the universe as the cen- 
 tre and stay of a dependent world. Then the design 
 of the great constitution of mercy will be completed — 
 the wise man shall no longer glory in his wisdom, nor 
 the rich in his riches, nor the strong in his strength — 
 the only glory left will be the high glory of depend- 
 ence on God — everything will be seen to have redound- 
 ed to the glory of his grace alone. And when all 
 flesh shall thus be seen prostrate before God, what will 
 it be but a prelude to the worship of heaven ; what 
 will remain but that the whole should be transferred to 
 the employment of praise above ! And as the right- 
 eous at length shall go away into everlasting life — as 
 the nations of them that are saved shall " pass through 
 the gates into the city," what more appropriate inscrip- 
 tion for the triumphal arch which shall receive them 
 than this, " Of him, and through him, and to him, are 
 all things ; to him be glory for ever. Amen !" Be this 
 our sentiment in life, in death, and for ever. 
 
PRAYER FOR CHRIST: 
 A SERMON 
 
 ON BEHALF OF THE WESLEYAN BIISSIONARY SOCIETY,* 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE CITY ROAD CHAPEL, 
 
 LONDON, APRIL 30, 1837. 
 
 Prayer also shall be made for him continually. Psalm Ixxii. 15. 
 
 David, having received certain premonitions of his ap- 
 proaching end, had now resigned the throne of Israel 
 to Solomon his son ; the elders and nobles of the land 
 had recognized and had sanctioned the change. Trans- 
 ported with joy at the event, he pours out his soul in 
 prayer for the youthful king and the subject people. 
 But, " behold, a greater than Solomon is here." Wrapt 
 in a divine enthusiasm, the psalmist ascends to a loftier 
 theme, and sings the glory of Messiah, and the mag- 
 nificence of his future reign. 
 
 The text is a prediction, reminding us, in the first 
 place, that the Bible is distinguished from every other 
 hook^ professedly divine^ by the grandeur^ and authori- 
 ty^ and tone of. its promises^ and by the multitude and 
 splendour of its predictions. Human philosophy may 
 be said to have had three creeds, which might not im- 
 properly be distinguished as the creed of the past, of 
 the present, and of the future. The books of Pagan 
 antiquity sung only of the golden age past — of scenes 
 of pastoral simplicity and happiness never to return, 
 
 * It may, perhaps, be desirable to inform the reader that on the last 
 aabbath in every successive April, sermons on behalf of Christian Mi«- 
 sions are delivered in each of the Wesley an Methodist chapels in London 
 9 
 
130 ^PRAYER FOR CHRIST: 
 
 while for the future they could say nothing — their bur- 
 den was despair. Then came the creed of the pres- 
 ent. As early antiquity faded from view, man became 
 prepared for the philosophy of Epicurus, for the Op- 
 timism, which professes to be satisfied with things as 
 they are, and which, instead of aiming at human im- 
 provement, acts on the animal maxim, " Let us eat 
 and drink, for to-morrow we die." But to this has 
 now generally succeeded the creed of the future, a 
 philosophical belief in the perfectibility of the species, 
 a persuasion that man is at length on the high road to 
 perfection. Now it would be easy to show, that each 
 of these views is only a perversion of some funda- 
 mental truth contained in the Bible ; but then it will 
 be found, that in the Bible those truths exist in combi- 
 nation, and that every thing, which is there said of the 
 past or of the present, is said expressly for the sake of 
 the future. Thus the contentment with the present, 
 which is inculcated, is not that kind of satisfaction, 
 which hopes and asks for nothing better, but that which 
 springs from a comprehensive view of the divine plans 
 for the renovation of the world, which admires those 
 plans as the wisest and the best, and which thus pre- 
 pares us to be patient and persevering instruments 
 in the hand of God for their fulfilment. Then again, 
 if the Bible tells of the past, if it sings of a " para- 
 dise lost," it is only to prepare us to hear of a bet- 
 ter " paradise regained." Yes, the Bible is the 
 true and perfect hope ; it builds on the future, and the 
 chorus of all its songs is of a glory yet to come. 
 
 But if (it may be said) human philosophy is begin- 
 ning to calculate on the future, it is at length moving 
 in harmony with the word of God. This, alas ! is 
 
 and its vicinity. These engagements form a portion of the Missionary 
 services, celebrated at that season of the year. Dr. Harris had delivered 
 his sermon called " The Witnessing Church," at Queen Street, on the 
 preceding Friday, and in conformity with the customary arrangement 
 that the preacher at Queen Street, on the Friday, should officiate at the 
 City Road chapel on the follow^ing Lord's day morning, he preached there 
 the sermon now under the eye of the reader.— Ed. 
 
A SERMON. IS^I 
 
 but very partially true. The church and the world 
 are indeed looking in the same direction, but far difTer- 
 ent is the result they aim at. And as to the means, 
 on which they chiefly rely, they essentially disagree. 
 
 For, secondly, the text reminds us, that one of the 
 means ivhich the church is to employ for the attainment 
 of the desired result^ is prayer. Now here we are at 
 issue with a skeptical philosophy at the very outset : 
 for, while that philosophy would object to prayer, as 
 inconsistent with the doctrine of the divine unchange- 
 ableness, we not only employ it — but rely on it ; we 
 even rely on it, in the order of means, as the first ; 
 and according to the text we are to employ it continu- 
 ally, never to allow the instrument to pass out of our 
 hands for a moment. We do not say, that prayer has 
 any inherent efficacy to move God. Like every other 
 means, like the food we eat, it derives its efficacy from 
 the sovereign appointment of God. But we do say, 
 that prayer is a condition, on which it seems good to 
 God to put forth his power. We do say, that we can 
 conceive of certain reasons, which may make it agree- 
 able to perfect wisdom to grant that to prayer, which 
 it may not seem agreeable to grant in the absence of 
 prayer. And beyond this, we would remind the ob- 
 jector, that, clearly as the law of the divine unchange- 
 ableness may be revealed in the Bible, (and it is only 
 from the Bible that he can have learnt it,) the law that 
 prayer prevails with God is revealed, if possible, more 
 clearly and convincingly still ; so that the question 
 will be, will he wisely embrace both those laws, and 
 confidently leave it to God to reconcile them with his 
 own divine consistency — or, if he adopts only one, 
 which will he take, the less obvious law, that which 
 relates to the unfathomable nature of God, or the more 
 plain and simple law, made in love to man, that which 
 includes the sacred duty and the ennobling privilege of 
 prayer ? At all events, while he is engaged in a phi- 
 losophic endeavour to reconcile prayer with his imper- 
 fect views of the divine consistency, he will allow us 
 to be occupied in admiration of that divine condescen- 
 
132 PEAYER FOR CHRIST : 
 
 sion, which has made it both natural for man to pray^ 
 and certain that scriptural prayers shall be crowned 
 with success. 
 
 Yes, we would remind him, that, disordered and 
 ruined as our nature is, there are clear indications still, 
 that man was originally made to pray. Foi* even they,, 
 who have practically renounced religion, who have 
 lived in the entire neglect of all the various modes by 
 which man approaches and addresses his Maker, even 
 they in the moment of danger or suffering, are gener- 
 ally found to call involuntarily on God for help. The 
 voice of nature at such times will speak out^ will not 
 allow itself to be smothered and silenced any longer, 
 will cause itself to be heard. Overpow^ering those 
 prejudices and that irreligion, which had hitherto re- 
 pressed it, it will lift itself up, assert the promises, the 
 power and the goodness of God, and earnestly invoke 
 his favourable interposition. 
 
 And we would remind him also, that the prayer of 
 faith invariably succeeds. If his philosophy be sound, 
 he will surely yield to the power of facts ; and if facts 
 can convince him, the Bible abounds with undeniable 
 examples of success in prayer. " Every one that 
 asketh receiveth," said Christ, as if he had said, 
 prayer has all the certainty and universality of a law — 
 a law, which can never know an exception — " Every 
 one that asketh receiveth." My brethren, in the whole 
 compass of divinely-appointed means, prayer oc- 
 cupies the highest place, and possesses the mightiest 
 efficacy. And why ? It passes by all secondary 
 means, and makes its way straight to God ; it puts 
 aside every human hand and goes at once to the arm 
 of God, enters the presence of the eternal, and makes 
 its appearance at his throne. There it enables the 
 suppliant to take hold of the strength of God, and in a 
 sense identifies him with Almighty power. Nor is 
 the efficacy of prayer confined to the suppliant him- 
 self. It places him in a new relation to all around 
 him. Prayer is an invisible chain, by which he can 
 draw them towards heaven. It invests him with an 
 
A SERMON. laS 
 
 indefinite power over the destiny and happiness of the 
 world at large. 
 
 We repeat, then, that while the world is at length 
 looking in the same direction as the church, far differ- 
 ent are the objects they aim at, and the principal 
 means which they employ ; for while prayer is the 
 last instrument which a skeptical philosophy would 
 employ, we not only employ it but rely on it. And 
 believing what we do of its power with God, we should 
 be inconsistent and guilty, if we did not place it, in 
 the order of means, as first and best. And believing 
 what we do too, of the utter inefficiency of mere hu- 
 man means to renovate the world, and of the power 
 of prayer to secure the omnipotent aid of God, we . 
 cannot help thinking that the time has come when the 
 charge of indulging romantic views concerning the 
 future improvement of men should be removed from 
 the church, where it has been so long and so unjustly 
 laid, and be transferred to the world ; for while the 
 world is indulging a visionary hope of changing the 
 face of society by mere human instrumentality, the 
 church of God, without abating a jot in its laborious 
 practical efforts, invites the Almighty aid of God, as 
 the only and the all-sufficient source of success. 
 
 But not only does the text predict a change, and 
 represent prayer as the means of realizing that change ; 
 it describes that prayer^ thirdly, as partaking of a 
 specific character — prayer for Christ. " Prayer alsa 
 shall be made /or Aim continually." But what are the 
 claims of Christ on the prayers of those, who are seek- 
 ing the happiness of the world ? The propriety of 
 praying for the success of another depends entirely on 
 the nature of his undertaking. Now the nature of the 
 Saviour's undertaking is simply this ; the world was 
 perishing in ignorance — guilt — and pollution ; to re- 
 cover the knowledge of God, which it had lost, a teach- 
 er from heaven was necessary ; to expiate its guilt, an 
 adequate atonement must be made ; to cleanse it from 
 pollution, a fountain must be " opened for sin and for 
 uncleanness ;" to provide either of these requisites the 
 
134 PRAYER FOR CHRIST I 
 
 world was as unable, as it was indisposed, and yet all of 
 them must be provided, or man must everlastingly 
 perish. Filled with compassion for us, though we 
 were his enemies, the Son of God descended from 
 heaven to do every thing for us necessary to our re- 
 covery ; to become our teacher, he assumed our nature, 
 dwelt amongst us, and spake as never man spake ; to 
 expiate our guilt, he died in our stead ; and to cleanse 
 us from the pollution of sin, he provided for us the 
 agency of the Divine Spirit. Having made this ample 
 provision for the salvation of mankind, it now remains 
 that the Gospel be made known and be cordially em- 
 braced. The Almighty Father has promised, that in 
 reward for the mediation of his well -beloved Son, it 
 shall be made known universally, and effectually ap- 
 plied ; " Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen 
 for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for thy possession ;" " he shall see of the travail 
 of his soul, and shall be satished." The Saviour de- 
 sires to enjoy this reward ; he declares, that he will 
 draw all men unto him, that he will save the very 
 ends of the earth. And can you conceive of stronger 
 claims on our prayers than these ? Did we consult 
 only the temporal welfare of man, the speediest and 
 the most effectual method of promoting even .that would 
 be to send them the Gospel. The history of your own 
 mission demonstrates, that nothing lifts them out of a 
 state of barbarism into a state of civilization, so cer- 
 tainly and so completely, as that ; it calls them together 
 — gives them a sabbath — throws a shield over their 
 property — blesses them with liberty — and puts them 
 under the protection of government and law ; and 
 thus it lays the foundation of all civil improvement and 
 social happiness. But if we design to promote their 
 spiritual welfare, the Gospel is the only means. Here 
 there can be no competition, no rivalry, no question. 
 The Gospel is the only remedy for a perishing world. 
 Compared with its wisdom, every other system is fool- 
 ishness ; for it is the wisdom of God. Compared with 
 its power to sway the heart, every other system is 
 
A SERMON. 135 
 
 weakness ; for it is the power of God. Compared with 
 its truth and purity, its majesty and grace, Mahometan- 
 ism is an imposture and a pollution, modern Judaism 
 is a ceremony and a fable, Paganism a falsehood and a 
 debasement, Deism an unsubstantial shadow, and 
 Atheism a darkness and a horror. " Lord, to whom 
 shall we go but unto thee ? Thou hast the words of 
 eternal life." Yes, " this is life eternal, to know thee 
 the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast 
 sent." This alone can ease the conscience burdened 
 with guilt, cleanse the heart defiled with sin, wipe the 
 tear from the eye of the mourner, and sanctify and 
 conduct the soul to the joys of heaven. But the Gos- 
 pel can do this ; for it is the revelation of one, whose 
 arm is Almighty to save, and whose heart has room 
 for the world. 
 
 Such — such, then, are the claims of Christ on the 
 prayers of his people. He is the healer of a diseased 
 and a dying world ; and if we have felt his power to 
 save, he claims our prayers that his " saving health 
 may be known among all nations," that the heal- 
 ing influence of the Gospel, like a healthy current 
 of vital air, may sweep over the spiritual sickness of 
 the world, imparting life, and health, and universal 
 happiness. He is the champion of our race, who has 
 espoused our cause against sin, and death and hell. 
 And shall not this be our ardent prayer — " Gird thy 
 sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory 
 and thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride prosperously 
 because of truth, and meekness and righteousness ; 
 and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things ?" 
 
 And here, in the fourth place, let us mark and admire 
 the wisdom and grace of the arrangement^ which makes 
 it our duty to seek the salvation of the world in this 
 specific manner^ hy prayers for the prosperity of the 
 reign of Christ. There is wisdom in the arrange- 
 ment, which makes missionary success to depend on 
 prayer in general. It brings us to the one spot, and 
 keeps us in our only proper place in the universe, at 
 the feet of God ; it tends to annihilate self, amounts to 
 
136 PRAYER FOR CHRIST : 
 
 a confession of our utter dependence, renders appro- 
 priate homage to his grace, and thus keeps us in active 
 and constant communication with the fountain of all 
 grace. But by calling us to his footstool, to pray 
 specifically for the reign of Christ, he is giving us an 
 opportunity of avowing afresh our admiration of the 
 scheme of redemption by Christ. To offer up such a 
 prayer is to say in effect, that we ourselves have made 
 proof of the cross of Christ, that we believe there is 
 no hope for the world but through that cross, and that 
 so satisfied are we of its healing efficacy, that, were 
 all the world to feel its power, all the world would be 
 saved, and heaven begin on earth. Now to say this is 
 at once to gratify the love of the Christian and the very 
 heart of God. 
 
 By this arrangement, too, the suppliant is afforded 
 the strongest assurance of success in prayer. God is 
 not unfrequently pleased to be found, even of them 
 that sought him not ; when, therefore, we do seek 
 him, we may calculate on his hearing us, with the ut- 
 most certainty. But when we apply to him on the 
 behalf of the reign of Christ, the certainty of being heard 
 is, if possible, increased. The cause of Christ lies infi- 
 nitely nearer to his heart, than it does — than it can do 
 to ours. It is the cause, which his own compassion 
 prompted, and his own wisdom devised. It is the 
 cause, with which he has bound up his own glory, on 
 which he has lavished the resources of heaven, and to 
 the success of which he has pledged every perfection 
 of his nature. So that in praying on the behalf of 
 Christ, the believer is taking his stand on the immu- 
 table covenant of God ; he prays with the force of an 
 Almighty decree ; he puts his hand to the propulsion 
 of a cause, which is destined to move forward with the 
 force of Omnipotence. 
 
 And by this arrangement, too, every believer, the 
 poorest and the obscurest, is afforded an opportunity of 
 indulging supreme love to Christ, by aiding the ad- 
 vancement of his kingdom. " To them that believe, 
 he is precious," so precious, that in their holiest and 
 
A SERMON. 137 
 
 happiest moments, they feel as if every mode of ex- 
 pression, which they at present possess, were inade- 
 quate ; as if they must wait for the perfection of heav- 
 en, and the duration of eternity, hefore they begin to 
 praise. But few and slender as are the most ample 
 resources, we may now possess, for shewing our sense 
 of obligation to Christ, the great proportion of believers 
 have to deplore, how truly small the gift they can lay 
 on his altar, how little the time which they can give to 
 his service, how circumscribed the influence which 
 their obscurity of station permits them to exert for his 
 glory. Christian, the throne of grace is open, open to 
 you, open to all. Wise and gracious arrangement ! 
 Here, you may say, nere I can gratify my love to 
 Christ, and give a loose to all the ardour of my soul ; 
 poor I may be in the world's account, but here I can 
 pour out at his feet the wealth of my affections ; busy 
 I may be in the service of man, but here I can repair 
 in thought and desire to serve him continually ; and 
 let my influence with man be as limited as it may, here 
 I can come and have " power with God." While 
 others are engaged in pleading for Christ with men, 
 here I can plead for Christ with God ; here I can vie 
 with an apostle ; while a Paul is planting, and an 
 ApoUos is watering, here I can aid them both by 
 bringing down the increase. Yes, here all may assist, 
 the youngest and the eldest, the poorest and most ob- 
 scure. To serve the church by munificent gifts and 
 splendid talents is not within the compass of your 
 power, nor can you, perhaps, benefit the world by 
 going forth to proclaim the Gospel : but the tear of 
 the closet, the sigh of sorrow over the guilt of the 
 world, the secret prayer for the reign of Christ — these 
 are within your scope ; and these are the elements of 
 missionary success. By these you can touch the 
 spring and source of all motion, and on that depends 
 the final realization of our hopes in the conversion of 
 the heathen to the faith of Christ. 
 
 But let us regard the special object of our prayer in 
 the behalf of Christ. What are we to pray for ? 
 
138 PRAYER FOR CHRIST : 
 
 Our prayers cannot be necessary for him, in the same 
 sense, in which they are necessary for ourselves and for 
 each other ; he knows no want, for all things are given 
 into his hand ; he is no more the subject of pain, for he 
 is not only ineffably happy in himself, but also the 
 fountain of happiness to all the inhabitants of the 
 heavenly world ; he is infinitely removed beyond the 
 reach of danger or of death, for, as the King of Zion, 
 he exercises uncontrolled dominion over the universe. 
 Personally considered, therefore, he is quite independ- 
 ent of our prayers ; personally considered, indeed, we 
 are to pray to him, rather than ybr him. The prayer, 
 then, that is to be made for him is, not to be made for 
 him personally, but relatively ; on account of his re- 
 lation to other beings — his relation to us. In this point 
 of view the object of our prayer for Christ will neces- 
 sarily vary with the varying state of his cause. A 
 time of error in doctrine or of laxity in discipline — a 
 state of devotion among his servants or of apathy in 
 his service — a season of adversity or of prosperity — 
 calls for a corresponding strain of supplication. But 
 there is one object, which it is always seasonable to 
 implore, and which should always occupy the chief 
 place in our petitions, the great blessing of the present 
 dispensation — the effusion of the Spirit of Christ. 
 Brethren, this is necessary, and this is all that is neces- 
 sary. Why was it, that the preaching of the apostles 
 was so much more successful, than the preaching of 
 their Lord, though " he spake as never man spake .^" 
 because when he " ascended up on high and received 
 gifts for men," he poured out the Spirit upon their 
 labours, in the full measure of the Christian dispensa- 
 sation. Why is it, that the preaching of the present 
 day, though generally speaking it is " the preaching of 
 the cross," is attended with no greater success ? Is it 
 because there is not a proportionate concern for the 
 influence of the Spirit ; and without that, the preach- 
 ing of the cross itself will be powerless, for he it is, 
 who must " take of the things of Christ, and show 
 them" efficaciously to the soul. And how long shall 
 
A SERMON. 139 
 
 this state of comparative barrenness continue ? " Until 
 the Spirit be poured out from on high ;" then " the 
 wilderness shall be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field 
 be counted for a forest." 
 
 Yes, in the scheme of salvation, every instrument 
 and agent has its appointed place, and its appointed 
 order of success. In that arrangement the Spirit is 
 the prime mover of the whole. Hence the first prayer 
 of Christ, on his ascension to heaven, was for the effu- 
 sion of the Spirit. Till that was poured out from on 
 high, the work of redemption itself, though he had 
 just pronounced it finished^ stood still ; but when it 
 came, everything was put into motion, the world itself 
 vibrated, the gates of hell shook. The first prayer of 
 the church, then should be, for the same object. Why- 
 is it, O let there be great searchings of heart — why is 
 it, that the promised efiusion of the Spirit is withheld ? 
 Why is it, that we are allowed to see only the skirts of 
 his garments, and not permitted to see his face ? Why 
 is it, that we enjoy only a few drops of that mighty 
 influence, of which, at this moment, the heavens are 
 full ? " We have not, because we ask not," or " be^ 
 cause we ask amiss." Individual Christians have not, 
 individual churches have not, the church collectively 
 has not yet duly felt its need of that influence, nor sent 
 up the prayer, which is equal to bring it down. O let 
 that Spirit be sought for, first as a Spirit of prayer. 
 Our prayers would infallibly draw down fresh supplies 
 of his influence, these fresh supplies of his influence 
 would as certainly lead to increased prayer for still 
 larger eflusions of his grace ; and thus by action and 
 reaction, our prayers would continue enlarging and 
 progressing, and insure increased success to the cause 
 of Christ. 
 
 But not only is prayer to be made for the reign of 
 Christ ; the text predicts its continuity or uninter- 
 ruptedness. " Prayer also shall be made for him con- 
 tinuallyy Under the former dispensation, the fire, 
 which burnt upon the golden altar, was never allowed 
 to go out ; and the ardent desire of the pious Israelites 
 
140 PRAYER FOR CHRIST I 
 
 for the coming of Christ glowed continually on the 
 altar of their hearts, and never went out. And it is 
 pleasing to reflect, that in the present day there is a 
 sense, in which it is true literally that " prayer is made 
 for him continually." " Last evening," writes a Mis- 
 sionary from China, " last evening, a small party of 
 the disciples of Jesus held a meeting for prayer in my 
 room, on behalf of the heathen around and for the king- 
 dom of Christ throughout the world ; in this land of 
 the rising sun, we may probably be considered as be- 
 ginning that series of prayer-meetings, which are kept 
 up all round the world on the first Monday in the 
 month — a chain of prayer, beginning at the farthest 
 east, and carried round successively, as the sun advan- 
 ces, to the farthest west in the islands of the Pacific 
 Ocean, and thus continued for twenty-four hours 
 monthly." Now it is interesting to pursue this mode 
 .of calculation, and to suppose that, wherever there are 
 Christians to pray monthly in public for the kingdom of 
 Christ, there are some to pray daily in private for the 
 same object ; and thus we are brought to the delight- 
 ful conclusion that " prayer is made for him continu- 
 ally" — that, as the aged believer like David, breathes 
 out his last prayer for the glory of his reign, another 
 generation is just beginning to lisp, "Thy kingdom 
 come ;" and as the Christians of one province are ris- 
 ing up from their knees before the throne of grace, 
 the Christians of another province are just beginning 
 to take up the language of supplication for Christ ; 
 and thus " a chain of prayer, beginning in the farthest 
 east, is carried round with the sun to the farthest west 
 in the Islands of the Pacific," through all the hours of 
 time. 
 
 And how much more pleasing does this reflection 
 become, when we add to it the thought that of all the 
 prayers which are thus offered for Christ, making one 
 continued strain of supplication, not one ever has been 
 nor can be lost. Is it true, that every sin committed 
 by his enemies is noticed by a God of unspotted holi- 
 ness — that every transgression adds something to the 
 
A SERMON. 141 
 
 treasuries of his wrath — and that, when the cup of 
 vengeance is full, he pours it forth on the heads of the 
 guilty ? As certainly true is it, that every prayer of 
 faith, offered by his people in behalf of his Son, is 
 noticed by a God of infinite love — that every such 
 prayer adds something to the treasuries of his grace — 
 and that, when those treasures have accumulated to a 
 certain amount, he pours them out upon the church 
 and the world. It is as certainly true, that, at the very 
 moment when such a prayer is offered, in that very 
 moment he answers it in his divine intention, though 
 he may wisely delay for a time to answer it really. 
 The suppliant himself may forget his own supplica- 
 tion, or may despair of obtaining an answer ; but he is 
 mindful of it, and, however obscure the suppliant, he 
 prizes it. It is prayer for his Son, and, as such, is 
 music in his ear, of which he loses not a single note. 
 It is prayer for the coming of his kingdom, and, as 
 such, he places it among the perfumed supplications 
 already offered by the saints of past generations. He 
 places it among the last aspirations breathed by David, 
 the son of Jesse, and by every ancient worthy — among 
 the mighty prayers, which ascended from the fires of 
 the early martyrs — among the loud cries of those, 
 whose souls are heard from " under the altar" — 
 among the earnest entreaties of the wide creation, 
 which sighs to be delivered from the bondage of cor- 
 ruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. 
 It is a prayer for the salvation of a world which he 
 loves— and with delight he beheld it flow into a chan- 
 nel, in which a stream of prayer has been for ages 
 flowing and accumulating without a moment's pause, 
 and which shall finally overflow, and pour forth a heal- 
 ing flood of heavenly grace over the whole earth. 
 Ye, then, that love the Lord — " keep not silence ;" and 
 in all your entreaties for the kingdom of Christ, let 
 your loudest supplications ascend for the advent of the 
 Spirit. If you would not " grieve the Holy Spirit of 
 God," if you would do homage to the office which he 
 holds in the plan of the world's salvation, if you would 
 
142 PRAYER FOR CHRIST : 
 
 do honour to the mediation of Christ by which the 
 Spirit is given, pray " continually" for Christ by pray- 
 ing continually for his Spirit. 
 
 Observe, again, ihsii prayer for Christ is to he offer- 
 ed conjointly with other things — " prayer also.'''' In 
 all conquered lands — the subjection of the people was 
 marked by two things ; their money was stamped 
 with the name of the conqueror, and they were oblig- 
 ed to pray for him in their public worship. In allusion 
 to this fact, it is here said of the conquering Saviour, 
 " To him shall be given of the gold of Sheba ; prayer 
 also shall be made for him continually." "• The gold 
 of Sheba," a portion of our worldly substance, is to be 
 devoted to him in connexion wdth our prayers ; for to 
 pray in his behalf without accompanying the act with 
 this proof of our sincerity, would be as profane, as to 
 use all other kind of means, except prayer — would be 
 impious. And who has not at least " a cup of cold 
 water" or " two mites" to contribute to his service in 
 connexion with a prayer for his glory ? 
 
 But we apprehend, that it is far more common for a 
 man to give without praying, than it is for him to 
 pray without contributing. He may give a small pit- 
 tance for the cause of Christ; and the motive which 
 leads him to do so may stop there, without leading to 
 any thing beyond. But the motive, which leads him 
 to become a suppliant for that cause at a throne of 
 grace, will operate to other effects. The love, which 
 led him there, will lead him, while he is there, to en- 
 quire, "Lord, what will thou have me to do?" The 
 zeal for Christ, which led him there, will not there ex- 
 pire ; it will there be fanned, and fed, and rise into a 
 flame, in which his property will be cast, as one of the 
 first and most appropriate offerings. Prayer for Christ 
 is one of the last efforts made for him ; we are dis})os- 
 ed to emulate each other in every thing, rather than in 
 prayer. Hence the importance of urging the duty, 
 since, where this is performed, it evinces a disposition 
 to perform every other. 
 
 Brethren, do you contribute a portion of your prop- 
 
A SERMON. 143 
 
 erty to the Christian cause, but withhold your suppUca- 
 tions from it ? Then the church cannot rely on the 
 continuance of your aid, for it does not spring from 
 principle ; and God himself resents what you do as an 
 affront offered to his Spirit ; he regards every power 
 in the universe as more or less opposed to him, but the 
 power of prayer and the means which prayer has 
 sanctified ; he views it as an attempt to do without 
 him, as a hostile endeavour to contravene the great 
 principle of the Gospel, that " not by might," nor 
 money, " nor by power, but by his Spirit" alone, the 
 maladies of the world shall be healed. On the other 
 hand, does the Christian cause press on your heart ? 
 Does it ? We will defy you to withhold your proper- 
 ty from it. Do you sympathize with Christ in " the 
 travail of his soul ?" O if that sympathy be sincere, 
 it will turn your whole soul into desire, it will convert 
 your' very gifts into prayers. Like the Eastern magi, 
 the act of falling down to adore him, and of pouring 
 out at his feet " gold and frankincense and myrrh," 
 will with you be one and the same act. Do you sin- 
 cerely pray for the outpouring of the Spirit ? In im- 
 ploring that, you are imploring the spirit of Christian 
 liberality for yourselves, and for the whole church ; 
 you are in effect praying that all the powers of nature 
 — all the resources of providence — all the wealth and 
 greatness of the world may be pressed into the ser- 
 vice of Christ. For only let " the Spirit be poured 
 out from on high," and it will enlist into his cause 
 every species of instrumentality, which men possess. 
 " The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto 
 thee ; the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee ; 
 the multitude of camels shall cover thee, the drome- 
 daries of Midian and Ephah ; all they from Sheba 
 shall come, they shall bring gold and increase, and 
 they shall show forth the praises of the Lord." Eve- 
 ry thing will be brought, as an expression of love to 
 Christ ; and to adorn his triumph, nothing will be 
 deemed too costly for the great occasion. All majesty 
 shall bow before him, kings shall wait in his train, the 
 
144 PRAYER FOR CHRIST I 
 
 spoils of earthly grandeur be laid at his feet, and Christ 
 " alone be exalted in the day." 
 
 How many and how powerful the motives then^ which 
 should induce us to pray for the reign of Christ ! A 
 sense of consistency demands it ; we call him our King, 
 and shall we not be concerned for the prosperity of 
 his kingdom ? A principle of benevolence to man re- 
 quires it ; the success of his cause and human hap- 
 piness are one ; his voice is the proclamation of pardon 
 to the condemned, and of liberty to the captive ; his 
 conquests are bloodless, achieved over sin, and error, 
 and the enemies of man ; his trophies are the souls of 
 men, redeemed from the bondage of satan and adorned 
 with the beauties of holiness ; his career is the march 
 of truth, and righteousness and peace ; then who would 
 not pray for his success ? A principle of gratitude 
 requires it ; he has prayed for us " with strong crying 
 and tears," or we should not at this moment be in a 
 condition to pray for ourselves ; he gave himself for us^ 
 and in heaven he intercedes for us still. Yes, this is the 
 order, the manifest arrangement of infinite wisdom, 
 that he should intercede for the church, while the 
 church intercedes for the world. In the gracious 
 fulfilment of his office, he prays continually for us ; 
 the censer never quits his hand, the incense perpetually 
 rises, his priestly robes are never laid aside. And 
 shall we intermit our prayers for him ? let a sense of 
 our obligation induce us to pray for him. A regard 
 for our own welfare demands it ; we cannot pray for 
 him without drawing down a blessing for ourselves, 
 without enlarging our hearts, standing as in the coun- 
 sels of God, becoming god-like. And thus every 
 prayer, which ascends from his people on his behalf, 
 like the vapour which the earth sends up into the clouds, 
 returns again in showers of blessing into their own 
 bosom. 
 
 " Besides, prayer for the reign of Christ is in har- 
 mony with the prevailing spirit of the Gospel constitu- 
 tion. According to that spirit, every thing is made 
 dependent on prayer, and may be effected by it. What 
 
A SERMON. 145 
 
 is the sacrifice of Christ himself, but prayer in its most 
 constant, intense, and prevailing form — the prayer of 
 blood ? Hence it is said, " He is able to save unto the 
 uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he 
 ever liveth to make intercession for them." He has 
 turned the whole merit of his sacrifice into prayer. 
 Intercession, in his hands, is a chain fastened to the 
 throne of God, the stay and the support of a sinking 
 world. Yes, even Christ has to pray, and by prayer 
 succeeds. If he would have " the heathen" to be his 
 " for an inheritance," he is directed to ask to that effect ; 
 and, accordingly, he does ask : " For Zion's sake," 
 saith he, " I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's 
 sake I will not rest until the righteousness . thereof go 
 forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp 
 that burneth." And shall he pray for this object alone ? 
 He summons the church to join ; " Ye that make men- 
 tion of the Lord," saith he, " keep not silence, and 
 give him no rest." He places them by his side at the 
 altar, puts into their hand a censer filled with incense 
 like his own, and thus seeks to multiply the voice and 
 the power of his own intercession. 
 
 But why should it be necessary to enforce motives 
 such as these ? The honour which he has put on us, 
 in permitting us to pray for him, might well overwhelm 
 us with amazement. He needs not the supplications of 
 any of his creatures, for he is the object of the Father's 
 unbounded complacency, who hath given all things 
 into his hand ; or, if he chose to employ them, he 
 might have engaged the intercession of his holy an- 
 gels — they have never cast off his authority, as we 
 have done — they have ever counted it their highest 
 honour to engage in his service. How astonishing, then, 
 that he should ask for our supplications in his behalf, 
 that he should permit us to breathe an entreaty for him, 
 that he should place us, whose every breath was pollu- 
 tion, whose every act was an act of rebellion against 
 him, whom he had to create anew before we would 
 take any interest in his service — that he should actually 
 place W5 around the golden altar as priests and interces- 
 10 
 
146 PRAYER FOR CHRIST : 
 
 sors for him, that he should (as it were,) change rela- 
 tions with us, placing us in the office of intercessors 
 for him, though the acceptance of our prayers and the 
 salvation of our souls depend entirely on his interces- 
 sion for us ! Well may " prayer be made continually 
 for him ;" and well may the Christian cherish a desire, 
 that every moment of his life should be consecrated 
 to an employment so ennobling and so divine. 
 
 Brethren, in making a brief application of this sub- 
 ject^ how painful is it to think, that fidelity requires us 
 to ask, not merely whether you have ever prayed for 
 the cause of Christ, but to go so far back as to ask 
 whether you have ever prayed for yourselves. For if 
 you have not, it is too much to suppose, that you have 
 prayed even for Christ ; if you have not prayed to him 
 on your own account, it is not to be expected that you 
 have prayed for him on any account. Let me, then, 
 repeat the enquiry, not as a matter of course, but as a 
 matter of infinite moment, whether you have ever yet 
 prayed for yourselves. Have you acquired a habit of 
 resorting daily to the footstool of mercy, in the name 
 of Christ ? If you have not, let me remind you, that 
 so far from promoting his cause, you are throwing 
 yourselves as obstacles in the way of its progress. Let 
 me remind you, that, if your conduct were universally 
 imitated, this world would cease to have intercourse 
 with heaven, the footstool of mercy would be quite 
 deserted, the angel having the golden censer would 
 forsake the altar, no more to offer incense ther.e — the 
 destruction of the world would commence. Let me 
 remind you, that the cause of Christ, of which you are 
 now so regardless, is destined to triumph, and the choice 
 is now given you, whether you will share the honour 
 of promoting it, or be dragged as a captive at its wheels. 
 Believe it, my fellow-sinner, that he is now awaiting 
 your application for mercy ; he now sends to you this 
 message — that he is waiting for you, that he looks to see 
 you to-day at his footstool. O haste to take refuge at 
 his feet. Pray that he would triumph over your irre- 
 ligion. Beseech him to make you willing in this " day 
 of his power." 
 
A SERMON. 147 
 
 But if you do pray for the reign of Christ, cultivate 
 the habit. Pray for an increase of your own personal 
 piety ; and remember that, in so doing, you are in 
 effect praying for him, for you are asking to augment 
 his glory by the acceptance of your homage, to multi- 
 ply his subjects by adding you to their number, to ad- 
 vance his cause by taking you into his service, and con- 
 descending to employ your instrumentality. Pray for 
 the prosperity of the Christian church. But has not a 
 spirit of supplication of late years distinguished the 
 churches of Christ ? Only very partially, whereas the 
 prayer wanted is universal ; only very feebly, whereas 
 the prayer wanted is " the effectual fervent prayer," 
 which " availeth much ;" only by fits, whereas the 
 prayer needed is the continual, unbroken, persevering 
 cry of importunity ; only the prayer of party, (effects 
 prove it,) whereas the prayer wanted is the prayer of 
 all " with one accord." Pray, then, for the prosperity 
 of the Christian church. 
 
 Do you ask, what should be the special object of 
 supplication ? O it wants more spirituality, more dis- 
 tinctness from the world ; it wants a higher apprecia- 
 tion of its office, as the instrument of Christ for saving 
 the world ; it wants more of the spirit of liberality, 
 union, zeal. But there is one want, which compre- 
 hends the whole — the impartation of the Spirit. Let 
 that be secured, and in obtaining that we should obtain 
 the supply of every other want ; we should find, that 
 we had come into the possession of the same mind, 
 which was also in Christ — a benevolence, which would 
 yearn over the whole human race — a brotherly love, 
 which would combine whh the entire body of Chris- 
 tians, for the conversion of the world — a zeal, which 
 would be constantly devising fresh methods of useful- 
 ness, practising self-denial and laying itself out in the 
 service of Christ — and a perseverance, which would 
 never rest, till the whole family of man should be sit- 
 ting together at the banquet of salvation. 
 
 But if all this is to be obtained by prayer, shall we not 
 seek it, and seek it at once ^ Why should this church, 
 
148 PRAYER FOR CHRIST : 
 
 this congregation delay ? Why should we not now, 
 every soul, send up an earnest and united cry for the 
 Spirit of God ? And if we did so, who will dare to 
 say that the blessing would not forthwith descend ? 
 And who will venture to calculate the extent and conse- 
 quence of that blessing ? Brethren, do we really be- 
 lieve in the efficacy of prayer ? Do we ? then let us 
 prove it. Let us take, for instance, that forlorn hope 
 of the Missionary war, China, as the scene of a new 
 Christian enterprize ; let every step taken be conse- 
 crated by prayer ; let the heralds be sent to summon 
 it in the name of Christ ; let Moses retire to the hill to 
 pray, and (if necessary,) let Joshua and Hur accompany 
 and assist him — in other words, let chosen men be ap- 
 pointed to pray, let others follow them in unbroken suc- 
 cession, and others meet to pray for the chosen interces- 
 sors ; and let them entreat God continually for that 
 specific object. Let this be done ; and could you 
 doubt of success ? would you hesitate, supposing you 
 were qualified — would you hesitate to be yourself one 
 of the heralds ? Then you are not a believer. 
 
 Christian brethren, prayer is not only desirable, ob- 
 ligatory, necessary ; it is, in a sense becoming inevita- 
 ble. We read of the church of old being " shut up 
 unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed" 
 — the faith of Christ. The church at present is "shut 
 up unto" prayer — prayer for the Spirit. It must sub- 
 mit to disgrace in heathen lands, or call down help 
 from heaven. It is so completely ensnared by success, 
 that it must sound a retreat, or betake itself to God in 
 unusual prayer ? Happy necessity, which shall drive 
 it to this resource ! Blessed exigence, which shall 
 bring the whole church on its kness before God. " The 
 time to favour her, yea, the set time," will then have 
 *' come." " God, even our own God will bless us." 
 Gazing from his throne upon his church suppliant at 
 his feet, he will say, " Behold she prayeth ; let the 
 windows of heaven be opened, and let the blessing be 
 poured out." 
 
 By our sense of consistency, then, by our pity for 
 
A SEIiMON. 149 
 
 nations perishing in ignorance and guilt, by our grati- 
 tude to Christ, by our own spiritual welfare and by the 
 dignity of our ofRce, let us seek the effusion of the 
 Spirit on the Christian church. And while before God 
 in prayer, let us remember, that, in interceding for the 
 church we are interceding for the world ; for it is only 
 through the instrumentality of his people, that he pur- 
 poses to save the world. Christians ! realize in 
 thought the responsibility of your office. Think ! you 
 go to God as the earthly representatives of mankind, 
 as intercessors for the world. You pass to the throne 
 of grace, through multitudes — myriads of human be- 
 ings. Do you not hear them, as you go, imploring a 
 place in your supplications ? Do you not see all Africa 
 assembled in your path, urging you to go to God for 
 them, to describe their want, to ask for them the bles- 
 sings of the reign of Christ ? And before you have 
 done pleading for Africa, China comes with its untold 
 myriads, entreating you to intercede for them. And 
 while you are pleading for China, India comes with its 
 tale of lamentation and woe, and entreats you to speak 
 for it ; and can you refrain ? And when you grow 
 fkint, they all combine their entreaties together, that 
 you cry to God for them louder still, that you call in 
 help — more intercessors and more, till all the church 
 be prostrate in prayer. And when you move to quit 
 the throne of grace, they all entreat you not to leave 
 them unrepresented before God. " O if there be a 
 God," they say, " and if prayer can reach him, do not 
 leave us thus, or we perish ; our only hope is in the God 
 you worship, the Saviour you proclaim ; pray that his 
 saving health may be extended to us." Let Christians 
 realize their office thus, and remember that, in asking 
 for the salvation of the world, they are asking the con- 
 summation of the glory of Christ, and then pray till 
 the world is given into their hands. Meantime the 
 whole creation prays ; " the whole creation groaneth 
 and travaileth in pain together until now ;" it contains 
 within itself principles and powers repressed by the 
 curse of sin, but panting and straining to regain their 
 
150 PRAYER FOR CHRIST: A SERMON. 
 
 freedom, and to fulfil their destiny ; and its prayer 
 shall be heard. 
 
 But O there is an infinite power slumbering in the 
 arm of God, waiting to be awoke by the prayers of 
 the church for the renovation of the world. And the 
 time shall come, when the efficacy of prayer shall be 
 tried on a scale before unknown, when the voice of 
 the church shall incessantly cry, '^ Awake, awake, O 
 arm of the Lord." And the time shall come, when 
 that prayer shall be heard and those supplications be 
 answered. " Behold," saith he, "I make all things. 
 new." At this moment, that new creation stands com- 
 plete in his prescient view. There are its fields of liv- 
 ing green, its trees of life and all its crystal streams ; 
 there are " the nations of them that are saved, rejoic- 
 ing before him." His church prayed for him contin- 
 ually ; and now and for ever " daily shall he be prais- 
 ed." " His name shall endure for ever ; his name 
 shall be continued as long as the sun ; and men shall 
 be blessed in him ; all nations shall call him blessed. 
 And blessed be his glorious name for ever. And let 
 the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and 
 amen." 
 
EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 A SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED AT CLAYLAND's CHAPEL, CLAPHAM ROADS, 
 
 ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF 
 
 THE CHAPEL, LONDON, JUNE 29, 1837. 
 
 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things 
 saith the first and the last, rvhich was dead and is alive, I know 
 thy works, and tribulation and poverty, {hut thou art rich,) and 1 
 know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are 
 not, but are the synagogue of satan. Fear none of those things^ 
 which thou shalt suffer ; behold, the devil shall cast some of you 
 into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation 
 ten days ; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
 crorvn of life. He that hath an ear, let him hearrvhat the Spirit 
 saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of 
 the second death. Revelations ii. 8 — 11. 
 
 This, as the superscription informs us, is one of the 
 seven epistles addressed by the Supreme Head of the 
 church, through the medium of his servant John, to 
 the churches in Asia. The structure of this epistle, 
 like that of all the rest, is beautifully compact ; and 
 the distribution of its parts natural and comprehensive. 
 After opening with an inscription, which points out the 
 particular church for which it is intended, and the divine 
 authority from whom it is sent, it is found to contain a 
 commendation of whatever in that church was praise- 
 worthy, a rebuke of whatever was reprehensible, and 
 a variety of counsels calculated to arouse the slumber- 
 ing, to encourage perseverance and to animate hope, 
 and concluding with a call to universal attention and 
 obedience, and a promise to the triumphant Christian 
 of distinguished honour in the world above. 
 
152 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 
 But a similarity of structure is not the only thing these 
 epistles have in common ; for, while the blessed Saviour, 
 who indites them, shows that his knowledge of each 
 church is specific — while he is even exquisitely dis- 
 criminate and minute in his remarks upon each — they 
 are all characterized and pervaded by the same general 
 principles ; and the call on every one, to " hear what 
 the Spirit saith unto the churches," makes it evident 
 that these general principles were intended for uni- 
 versal application to the churches of Jesus Christ, in 
 all subsequent ages. We have selected the text, with 
 a view of making it the basis of a few remarks on 
 some of these general principles. 
 
 I. And, first, the Saviour would teach us, that Ms 
 churches are objects of his supreme regard. 
 
 More than half a century had now elapsed, since he 
 had " ascended up far above all heaven ;" and during 
 that period, whether he made himself visible to the 
 martyr Stephen, or called to the persecuting Saul of 
 Tarsus, or graciously deigned any other manifesta- 
 tion — he showed, on each occasion, that the interests 
 of his church were always present to his mind. And 
 now that he once more comes forth, to shut up the vision 
 and complete the canon of Scripture, what is his 
 burden still, but the welfare of his church ? Behold 
 him ; he has once more emerged from the depths of 
 his everlasting dwelling place ; and he is " clothed 
 with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the 
 breast with a golden girdle ; his head and his hair are 
 white like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes are as 
 a flame of fire ; his feet are like unto fine brass, as if 
 they burned in a furnace ; and his voice as the sound 
 of many waters ; in his right hand are seven stars, and , 
 out of his mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword, and 
 his countenance is as the sun shining in his strength.'* 
 Listen to him ; he once more breaks the silence of 
 eternity ; -he calls the world — the universe — to an au- 
 dience ; " He that hath an ear, let him hear what 
 the Spirit saith unto the churches." And what do we 
 hear ? The destruction of Jerusalem itself was at 
 
A SERMON. 153 
 
 that moment impending. Do we hear a prediction of 
 its ruin ? All the governments of the world were at that 
 time in a crisis. Do the divine disclosures we receive 
 relate to their destinies ? No ; topics like these, though 
 they are all engrossing to the world, are passed over 
 by Him, as comparatively insignificant. Every sylla- 
 ble he utters relates entirely to the welfare of his 
 church, " which he hath purchased with his own 
 blood." 
 
 The affairs of the world, indeed, are under his 
 superintendence ; but always with an especial view to 
 the prosperity of his church. While he extends his 
 sceptre and dispatches his messengers to every part 
 of the earth, he represents himself as " walking in the 
 midst" of the churches, and holding their " stars in his 
 right hand." The church is his mystical body ; and 
 he is present as its vital Head, living through all its 
 members. It is the theatre of his grace, in which he 
 is making experiments of mercy on human hearts, and 
 effecting transformations so amazing that angels look 
 on with astonishment and joy. It is the sacred school, 
 in which he is training up a number of those who were 
 " heirs of wrath," and preparing them to take part 
 in the business and pleasures of heaven. Every thing 
 in his church is sprinkled with his blood and inscribed 
 with his name. He has formed it " for himself," 
 to " show forth his praise." " His eye and his heart 
 are there continually." And the consideration of its 
 supreme value in his account should induce every in- 
 dividual church, and every individual member, in all 
 things to consult his will, to watch and follow his move- 
 ments, and to rely on his superintendence and all-suffi- 
 ciency. 
 
 II. A second truth implied in the text, is that Christ 
 possesses the most accurate acquaintance with the state 
 of his churches and of all their individual members. 
 
 Each of these epistles is commenced with the declar- 
 ation, "J know thy works;'''' and to prove this, the 
 Saviour lays before each church a sketch of its history 
 and its faith. He knows the number of those, who 
 
154 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 
 are in the habit of attending on the ministry of his 
 Gospel in any given place, and discriminates between 
 those who attend with hearts prepared and desirous 
 to profit, and those who are formal, lukewarm and in- 
 sensible. He distinguishes between those who worship 
 God in the Spirit, and those who only go through the 
 attitudes and signs of devotion. When he sees his 
 professed worshippers at his footstool, " his eyes are 
 as a flame of fire" making inquisition for their hearts, 
 going from bosom to bosom, penetrating through every 
 veil, to learn their sincerity. He follows them from 
 the sanctuary, to see whether their devotion will live 
 till they reach the closet — and into the world, to see if 
 their piety be more than a name. Many of you are 
 known as his professed people, your names are enrolled 
 in his earthly church, and, as such, your conduct is an 
 object of attention to your fellow professors. He also 
 has a book, in which your names are enrolled ; but 
 there are inserted, in addition to your names, all the 
 particulars of your moral history — all the religious 
 privileges you have enjoyed — all which you might 
 have enjoyed, but have lost through neglect — all the 
 impressions you have felt, the resolutions you have 
 made, and the discipline by which you have been ex- 
 ercised. From that volume he could read forth at this 
 moment a minute description of your religious charac- 
 ter, specifying the particular sins in which you have 
 indulged — the secret causes, which have operated to 
 check the growth of your piety — the manner in which 
 you have " restrained prayer before God," with all the 
 particulars of your devotional habits. "Behold," saith 
 he, " I stand at the door and knock ;" and he knows 
 what unholy guests are within, what sins are entertained 
 and regaled in the chambers of your heart, while he 
 is kept standing without and refused admission ; or if 
 you have opened and received him, he construes every 
 thought and movement of your heart into a sign of 
 welcome, or a symptom of estrangement and growing 
 indifference. 
 
 And oh ! were he now to open that " book of remem- 
 
A SERMON. 155 
 
 brance" at the page — which contains your name or 
 mine, what may we suppose would be the disclosures 
 he would make? Would not the very first sentence 
 he would utter — " I know thy icorks^'' — instantly re- 
 mind us of resolutions broken, of privileges abused 
 and of duties neglected ? Would there not flash upon 
 our minds the recollection of many a struggle, in which 
 conscience was vanquished by inclination, the love of 
 ease had overcome a sense of duty, the influence of 
 custom had triumphed over a clear conviction of obliga- 
 tion and right ? Would not the first item he might 
 name, in the catalogue of our doings, be of a nature to 
 cover us with confusion, and to prepare us to hear the 
 account closed with the sentence of our condemna- 
 tion ? 
 
 Brethren, the day is approaching, when the account 
 will be proclaimed in the hearing of the universe ; and 
 the first and the least effect, which the prospect of that 
 day should produce, should be to lead us at once to 
 institute " great searchings of heart." 
 
 III. A third inference, derivable from the text, is 
 that the Saviour despises not the least indications of 
 piety — that he despises not the least indications of 
 piety, but would have those, who are the subjects of 
 such indications, to cherish most encouraging views of 
 his character. 
 
 We infer this from the very fact of his appearance 
 to John in order to deliver the message to his churches. 
 This circumstance alone demonstrated that he had not 
 put off" the Saviour^ that he had not dissolved his rela- 
 tionship to his people, nor divested himself of that 
 tender concern for their welfare ; which he so continu- 
 ally evinced during his sojourn upon earth. We infer 
 it from his making this appearance in human nature. 
 His appearance, indeed, as described by John, exhibit- 
 ed that nature invested with attributes of magnificence 
 and glory ; but still the nature which he wore was our 
 own. He was " like unto the Son of man," and was 
 clothed in his priestly attire, reminding us that " we 
 have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with 
 
156 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 
 the feeling of our infirmities" — that in heaven the 
 golden censer is never out of his hand, the altar of 
 incense never deserted, his priestly attire never laid 
 aside — that he " ever liveth to make intercession'* 
 there. 
 
 We draw this conclusion also from the view, which 
 he gives of his character to the particular church ad- 
 dressed in the text. It is observable, that, as each church 
 had a character peculiar to itself, so he turned towards 
 each that particular aspect of his own character, which 
 was most essential for it to keep in view. The church 
 of Pergamos, for instance, was overrun with destruc- 
 tive errors, and therefore to that church he writes as 
 " He that hath the sharp sword with two edges" — that 
 weapon of celestial temper which is " quick and power- 
 ful" to exterminate error from the soul and heresy 
 from the church. But the church of Smyrna was in a 
 condition to require encouragement, and therefore he 
 turns on it a benignant aspect, reminding them that he 
 is " the first and the last, which was dead and is alive" 
 again. By thus alluding to his death, he sought to 
 awaken in them the recollection of all that he had 
 done to redeem them — of his assuming their nature, 
 expiating their guilt, absorbing and carrying away all 
 their sorrows, and discharging for them all the kind 
 and benignant offices of a brother ; and he chose to 
 bring all this before the eye of their mind, in order to 
 make it impossible for them ever to doubt his love. 
 By reminding them, that, though once dead, he is alive 
 again, he would teach them, that his past days and 
 his present life are both devoted to the same object, the 
 salvation of his people — that, so far from neglecting 
 their interests in consequence of his exaltation, he loves 
 them the more, the more he does for them and the 
 more he becomes capable of blessing them — that he 
 would have them to believe, and to act on the belief, 
 that, whatever the dignity to which he is raised, he 
 values that dignity chiefly as it gives him the power 
 of blessing them — and raising them to a joint partici- 
 pation of his glory. By adverting to his divine title as 
 
A SERMON. 157 
 
 " the first and the last," he would touch the spring of 
 hope in their nature ; for it reminds them, that, as his 
 servants, they may calculate on all his influence in 
 heaven, and on all his omnipotence on earth. It is as 
 if he had said, " Having received a life, which for 
 your redemption I laid down, I have now no other em- 
 ployment but to bring the happiness of my people to 
 full perfection ; all the difficult part of the work is 
 over ; had there been any doubts concerning my love 
 for man, any objections to my power to save, they 
 should have been made prior to my incarnation, and 
 sufferings and death ; the time for making them now 
 is gone by ; then was indeed the travail and pang of 
 infinite love, but it is past ; I am to be scourged no 
 more — to be buffeted no more-^crucified no more — 
 in agonies no more — I die no more — " death has no 
 more dominion over me ;" all that is penal is exhaust- 
 ed ; the cup of suffering is drained ; the ignominy is 
 ended, never, never to be repeated — " it is finished ;" all 
 that was toilsome I have done ; all that was painful I have 
 borne ; nothing now remains, but what is pleasant, 
 god-like, glorious. I am now on my throne, with all 
 things at my disposal, unless you can suppose, there- 
 fore, that I could deny myself, abandon my design, 
 forget the very purpose for which I hung on the cross, 
 sacrifice the intention which has always been nearest 
 my heart, you must believe that I who " was dead and 
 am alive" again, live for those for whom I died. 
 Christians ! your Lord hath no other employment for his 
 infinite power, but in protecting his people — no other 
 employment for his inexhaustible resources of wisdom 
 and grace, but in blessing and making them happy ; 
 and never will he rest, never will he count his work 
 accomplished or his own happiness completed — till he 
 has placed them by his side and crowned them with 
 his glory. 
 
 And that he despises not the least indications of 
 piety is evident from the tone of all these addresses to 
 the churches. For while he has to complain in most 
 of them, " I have a few things against thee," he gra- 
 
158 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 
 ciously condescends to enumerate and point out every 
 particular, in which they have proved themselves faith- 
 ful and sincere. Not more fondly does a parent search, 
 in the features of his infant child, for the least trace of 
 resemblance to himself — not more minutely do men 
 search over whole districts of land, and examine par- 
 ticle by particle, washing the earth, in pursuit of gems 
 or gold, than the Saviour investigates whole churches 
 in quest of the treasures of piety — the features of the 
 renewed mind. And lest there should be but one such 
 partaker of piety in a whole church, he addresses his 
 promise individually to ^' him that overcometh ;" as 
 if he should say, ' Though my church should become 
 so pervaded with worldliness and overrun with error, 
 that only one individual continued faithful and true, 
 he should not escape my notice. I would lead him 
 out from the crowd around him, and honour him in the 
 presence of my Father, and crown him before the eyes 
 of angels. Some of these churches had almost out- 
 lived their piety ; what remained of vital godliness he 
 described as " ready to die." Instead, however, of 
 extinguishing " the smoking flax" and expiring flame, 
 he sought to kindle it afresh, by awakening within 
 them emulation and hope — by showing them, that, 
 although their Christian character was reduced to a 
 mere wreck, there were still materials, out of which 
 might be built up a temple of holiness, " a habitation 
 of God through the Spirit." 
 
 IV. But then, fourthly, in order that we may not 
 abuse this goodness by resting satisfied with slender 
 piety, the Saviour intimates that the life of the Chris- 
 tian is a state of warfare^ and as such^ requiring 
 activity and effort. He here addresses his people as 
 warriors, speaks of the persevering believer as one 
 "that overcometh," and of heaven as a world of 
 conquerors. 
 
 At that time it is true, believers were exposed, not 
 only to foes within, but also to foes without. Many of 
 them could boast, that their persons were covered with 
 the scars of the Christian conflict. They led the van 
 
A SERMON. 159 
 
 of the army of the cross ; they stormed the very 
 strongest holds of idolatry and sin ; they proclaimed 
 the name of their sovereign Lord, " where satan's seat 
 was ;" though earth and hell had confederated and 
 drawn out their forces, and encountered them in their 
 path, they advanced with the standard of the cross, 
 and planted it in the very citadel of satan. Would 
 you know the result of their warfare ? Their progress 
 from place to place was marked — not indeed with 
 blood, or, if so, with no blood but their own — but with 
 the fall of idol temples, the plantation of Christian 
 churches, the trophies of ransomed human souls, and 
 with the song of the Christian warrior, exulting, " Now 
 thanks be to God, who causeth us to triumph in every 
 place." 
 
 Do you admire their heroic devotion — their self- 
 sacrificing piety ? It is meant that you should more 
 than admire it — that you should imbibe and imitate. 
 You may not indeed be called to put it in actual prac- 
 tice, to any thing like the extent they did ; but the 
 spirit of their piety you must have, for the Christian 
 life is a conflict still. The same principle of loyalty 
 and love to Christ you must possess ; and from that 
 same principle must you resolutely pass by, without 
 entering all the avenues of sinful pleasure, and close 
 your eyes on the dazzling, but empty illusions, by 
 which the children of this world are enchanted. You 
 must resist temptation, and rise superior to selfish in- 
 dulgence, and disregard the scoffs and derision, which 
 men may cast against piety ; and you must challenge 
 and put to flight whatever would come between you 
 and the gate of heaven. " If any man love his life 
 more than me," said Christ, " he is not worthy of me." 
 The question whether you do or not may never in this 
 world be put to the test ; but the importance of pos- 
 sessing the principle of supreme attachment to Christ 
 is precisely the same. If you do not possess that at- 
 tachment to him, which would enable you to show, if 
 called to the test, that you love him more than life 
 itself, you are unworthy of him. If you are desti- 
 
160 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 
 tute of this principle, it will not be necessary to put 
 your sincerity to a very severe test. Any little temp- 
 tation or little obstacle will be sufficient to move you 
 away from it ; the world need not frown and threaten 
 you with persecution — her pleasures will allure, her 
 ' snares will entangle and ruin you. But possessed by 
 the love of Christ, feeling your obligations to him, look- 
 ing forward to a crown and a kingdom with him, " none 
 of these things" will " move you ;" life itself will be 
 held in entire submission to his pleasure ; and, like a 
 Christian soldier, you will be animated, through every 
 change and season of life, with the desire that you 
 may fight the good fight of faith, and be crowned with 
 the smiles and approbation of your God and Saviour. 
 
 V. And then, fifthly to secure the persevering 
 fidelity and allegiance of his people, the Saviour prom- 
 ises them a heavenly reward, 
 
 A promise of this kind is here made to most of his 
 churches ; and to each is promised a different reward 
 — by which he would probably remind us, both of his 
 vast and various resources in being able to give to 
 every one a different blessing, and also that he will 
 dispense his gifts discriminate ly, each being appropri- 
 ate for the character who receives it. 
 
 The gift, which he held before the eyes of the 
 church at Smyrna, was " a crown of life." A crown 
 is the summit of human ambition. To obtain this em- 
 blem of royalty, what deeds of daring have men often 
 acheived ! what rivers of blood have they shed ! what 
 enormous guilt have they incurred ! " Now they do 
 it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorrupti- 
 ble." And do the annals of the church record no 
 deeds of heroism, achieved to obtain that living crown ? 
 Who does not instantly think of Paul ? Who does not 
 hear him, in imagination, as he stands tranquilly gaz- 
 ing for a moment on the axe and block, then lifting up 
 his eyes to his crown, exclaiming with delight, " I am 
 ready" — " ready to be offered, and the time of my 
 departure is at hand ?" This is the language of heroic 
 Christian self-devotion. In the ear of the selfish and 
 
A SERMON. 161 
 
 the worldling — it doubtless sounds extravagant and ab- 
 surd ; in the ear of God, and indeed of ev^ry intelli- 
 gent, enlightened being, it is only the language of 
 sobriety and wisdom. It was dictated by no mere 
 momentary impulse of zeal, but was the result of a 
 sober calculation frequently repeated, and of enlight- 
 ened principle gradually matured. There was a time, 
 when, in common with the world, he regarded life as 
 superlatively valuable ; but he now regarded it as 
 comparatively despicable, for he had found an object 
 of unspeakably greater importance. 
 
 Others might copy the example of their fellow men ; 
 but he had long since risen to the high and holy ambi- 
 tion of copying the example of incarnate perfection, 
 "God manifest in the flesh," Others might waste 
 their precious time in ease, and sloth, and worldly in- 
 dulgence ; but he aspired to enter into the counsels of 
 heaven, to become a co-worker together with God, to 
 lay his hand on the vast machinery of providence, and 
 to mingle in the operations of Almighty love, in renew- 
 ing and blessing a world of apostate, but immortal be- 
 ings. Others might think only of enjoying and pro- 
 longing their natural life — a life made up of hours and 
 moments ; but his eye was fixed on a higher and no- 
 bler order of life, his heart was set on an " eternal 
 weight of glory." Others might content themselves 
 with the praise of men, with the good opinion of crea- 
 tures perishing like themselves ; but he aspired to the 
 high distinction of pleasing God — of being received 
 and welcomed into the presence of the Supreme, with 
 the sentence, " Well done good and faithful servant" 
 — and of hearing that sentence echoed and applauded, 
 by all the wise and the blessed in the universe. These 
 were the objects, at which he aimed, and which filled 
 the whole sphere of his vision. Comparatively speak- 
 ing, he saw nothing else. Ease might ofier him indul- 
 gence, wealth might display her bribe, pleasure might 
 exhibit her charms — but these had lost their power to 
 tempt ; to him they had long since become objects of 
 supreme indifference. Persecution might bring out 
 11 
 
162 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA I 
 
 and spread in his path a fearful array of scourges, and 
 chains, and axes — ^all the instruments and apparatus of 
 torture and of death ; but he looked at the cross and 
 saw the incarnate Saviour suspended there, and he 
 " armed himself likewise with the same mind ;" he 
 looked around, and he saw the assembled church of 
 Christ, urging — for the sake of the Gospel, for the 
 sake of Christ, for the sake of perishing humanity — 
 to go forward ; he looked above — ^and he saw a great 
 " cloud of witnesses," bending with intense attention 
 from their blessed seats, and beyond and above them 
 all, he saw the throne of the Lamb, and him that sat 
 on it, and in his hand a glorious crown of life, and he 
 saw that it was extended towards him ; and thus sus- 
 tained — he could point to all the instruments of tor- 
 ture, and exclaim, " None of these things move me," 
 " I am ready, not only to be bound, but to die for the 
 name of the Lord Jesus." Henceforth there is laid 
 up for me (I have seen it,) " a crown of righteous- 
 ness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give 
 me at that day." 
 
 But Paul was only one of a " noble army of mar- 
 tyrs." Actuated by the same lofty principles, and 
 fired by the same anticipations of glory, the weak be- 
 came irresistibly strong, the timid dared to do and to 
 die for Christ. These principles retain their efficacy 
 still ; and you profess to be influenced and ruled by 
 them. Are you bringing forth their appropriate fruit ? 
 Still does the Saviour continue to unveil and exhibit 
 the prize, which he has promised to holy perseverance, 
 bringing out all the crowns — the regalia of heaven — 
 and suspending them from his throne ; and thus sus- 
 pending and exhibiting them, he reminds you that 
 they are placed there to be won. Oh ! reflect that the 
 prize, for which as Christians you are candidates, is a 
 crown — a crown of life. When tempted to relax in 
 your efforts after holiness, it will nerve you afresh to 
 remember that you are on the way to the enjoyment 
 of eternal life — life with God, the life of God himself. 
 All other things at best are mere accessaries to happi- 
 
A SERMON. 163 
 
 ness ; this life, at which you are aiming, is happiness 
 itself. It is more than existence, more than a bare 
 perpetuity of existence ; it is life enriched with the 
 highest possible blessings — life purified, exalted, appli- 
 ed to the loftiest purposes, carried out to its utmost ex- 
 tent of enjoyment — the very " crown of life." And 
 should the contest for such* a prize be feebly carried 
 on ? 
 
 Christians ! you are surrounded by " clouds o 
 witnesses," Angels behold you ; at the moment of 
 your conversion, there was joy among them, " in the 
 presence of God ;" and still they mark every step you 
 take, and tune their harps afresh every time you tri- 
 umph over sin, and open wider the gates of heaven 
 for your reception every time you put forth a success- 
 ful effort after holiness. The church beholds you; 
 and sympathizes with you, prays for you and rejoices 
 in your progress. The wicked behold you ; and innu- 
 merable are the snares, which they lay for your ruin ; 
 but " greater is he that is for you, than all they that 
 are against you." God your Saviour beholds you ; he 
 is a witness of your course, he commands you to ad- 
 vance, stretches forth his hand to assist you, and while 
 he holds up to view in the radiance of his throne " the 
 prize of your high calling," his voice from heaven 
 proclaims — " Be thou faithful unto death," and this 
 shall be thine — " I will give thee a crown of life." 
 
 VI. And then, sixthly, the text suggests certain 
 incidental methods^ by which the individual Christian^ 
 or a particular church is to be excited to achieve this 
 warfare^ and to obtain this crown. 
 
 Indirectly it calls on every member of every church 
 to which it comes, to institute a solemn examination of 
 his spiritual history and state ; " He that hath ears to 
 hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
 churches," — what the Spirit saith to this particular 
 church. " Blow ye the trumpet, sanctify a fast, call a 
 solemn assembly." As if the trumpets of Sinai had 
 convoked you together here, as if you were one of 
 seven churches, to which Christ had this morning dis- 
 
164 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA I 
 
 patched an epistle — suffer the word of exhortation, and 
 lay yourselves open to its searching influence. As if 
 he himself had come down to conduct the solemn pro- 
 cess of investigation, invite him to ascend the seat of 
 judgment, and say, " Search us, O God, and see what 
 evil there is in us, and lead us in the way everlasting." 
 Let silence be proclaimed and every heart be laid 
 bare. 
 
 To " the angel of the church," to him who is here 
 appointed to watch for souls, the eye of flaming fire is 
 directed first ; awful intimation this of ministerial re- 
 sponsibility ! Is he prepared to render an account ? 
 Though his ministry in this place has been exercised 
 but a few short months, materials for a solemn audit 
 have been accumulating every moment. Has the mo- 
 mentous design of his ministry been fulfilled ? Souls 
 are perishing, souls have been perishing during the 
 whole time, and he is here instrumentally to save 
 them ; has he " watched for your souls, as one that 
 must give account." Oh ! amidst the wide wasting 
 ruin of immortal souls, has he by prayers, by entrea- 
 ties, by the Spirit of God, saved one ? " The sword of 
 the Spirit," that sword without a sheath — has been in 
 his hand ; has it been so wielded, that his people have 
 felt its keen, sin-separating, soul-subduing edge ? In 
 coming to the pulpit, he Aas had to pass by the cross ; 
 yes, the cross — that wondrous sight, from which an- 
 gels, since the moment they " desired to look into" it, 
 have never beeni able to withdraw their admiring re- 
 gards ; that wondrous sight, on which the eternal Fa- 
 ther himself is ever gazing with infinite complacency ; 
 has he cried, " Behold the Lamb of God ?" Can he 
 say to his people, " Before your eyes Jesus Christ has 
 evidently been set forth crucified among you .^" 
 
 Let the officers and members of the church appear, 
 and bear the scrutiny. As private Christians, are you 
 looking upon character, holy character, as of the high- 
 est order of excellence, labouring to attain it, and 
 daily renewing the act of your self-dedication to God ? 
 As heads of families, is the daily sacrifice presented 
 
A SERMON. 165 
 
 on the domstic altar, and are you walking before your 
 households in the fear of the Lord ? As members of 
 civil society, is your life exhaling the influence of 
 Christian consistency and excellence ? As members 
 of this Christian church, are you sufficiently alive to 
 the dignity of your high vocation ? Are you tender of 
 each other^s reputation, bearing each other's burdens, 
 praying for each other's welfare, sympathizing, united, 
 as members of the same body ? Do you promptly 
 and cordially meet your minister in his designs of use- 
 fulness ? As Lord of the church, Christ has legislat- 
 ed for your government ; are his laws of discipline 
 faithfully administered ? When this sacred place was 
 opened, we may suppose that God gave it a name ; 
 *' My house shall be called a house of prayer ;" has it 
 answered to that name ? The first prayer, offered by 
 an individual even, engages the notice and approbation 
 of heaven ; " behold," it is said, " he prayeth." May 
 we not suppose that the first prayer, which ascends to 
 heaven from a place dedicated to prayer, attracts pro- 
 portionate regard ? ' Behold,' it is said, ' another hour 
 of prayer' — another point of holy assault opened on 
 the kingdom of heaven, by which "the violent will 
 take it by force," another point of friendly communi- 
 cation, opened between earth and heaven, another 
 edifice, whose hallowed influence shall draw to itself 
 the fertilizing clouds of heavenly grace ! Brethren, 
 have you realized this expectation ? Is the Holy Spirit 
 of God habitually invoked ? When this spot was set 
 apart for the erection of a house of God, may we not 
 suppose that from that moment, in angels' eyes it be- 
 came hallowed — consecrated ground, that they watch- 
 ed its rising walls with holy impatience and delight — 
 that, on the day of its opening, when it first echoed to 
 the sound of redemption, expectation was awakened in 
 all heaven ? Brethren, has that expectation been an- 
 swered ? Has good been done ? Has the neighbour- 
 hood been blessed ? Are children educated and 
 taught, visits of mercy made, the influence of your 
 activity beginning to be felt around, other churches 
 
 fftn 
 
166 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA I 
 
 beginning to " glorify God in you," and " your light 
 so shining before men, that they" are beginning ta 
 "glorify your Father, which is in heaven ?" 
 
 In addition to the ministers and members of the 
 church, let those, who attend here only as hearers, sub- 
 mit to friendly interrogation. You have come as the 
 people come, and sat as the people sit ; what is the 
 result ? Angels attend to witness the effect ; has there 
 been joy among them over one instance of repent- 
 ance ? The Bible is here, the book of God ; do you 
 sufficiently prize it ? In every age this book has been 
 sprinkled with blood ; a precious drop has fallen, even 
 on the text, for it speaks of suffering, imprisonment, 
 and violent death. It has been baptized with hre ; its 
 prevailing subject is, the sufferings and death of Christ 
 for our redemption ; its original propagators and pro- 
 fessors endured " deaths oft," in preserving it ; it has 
 been transmitted to us through ages of persecution and 
 sorrow ; it has been committed to us by a hand, 
 stretched out of the midst of the flames ; it has been 
 sent to us from the dungeon, bequeathed to us from the 
 rack ; it is the precious legacy of a host of martyred 
 saints. Do you, I repeat, sufficiently prize it ? do you 
 believe in it, and press its truths to your hearts ? They 
 all expect this from you ; they will demand it at your 
 hands when you meet them at the bar of God. Hear- 
 ers of the Gospel ! are you aware of your position ? 
 The Gospel is " the power of God unto salvation to 
 every one that believeth." Every time you hear it, 
 you stand as in the focus of all the threatenings, prom- 
 ises, invitations, commands and doctrines of the Bible. 
 They all gather around you, and settle down upon you. 
 Have you not felt them, trembled, wept, believed and 
 obeyed ? The Spirit of God is here — here to enlight- 
 en dark minds, and renew depraved hearts. Every 
 time you have come here, you have come within the 
 verge and scope of his influence — you have been sur- 
 rounded by him, as by an all-encompassing enemy. 
 Have you not heard his " still small voice," felt his 
 quickening touch, invoked his regenerating breath to 
 
A SERMON. 167 
 
 breathe upon you ? Have you ever come with a 
 desire and a prayer to be converted ? What ! are you 
 still unblest and unsaved ? 
 
 Brethren, read over the charges exhibited against 
 the seven Asiatic churches, and the commendations 
 pronounced upon them, and then say, were a solemn 
 inquisition such as this to be held over you^ or to be 
 instituted by you, how many, and which of these 
 charges, or commendations would be applicable to you. 
 Were the Divine Redeemer to dictate an epistle to you, 
 say, would its prevailing tone be more likely to be one of 
 sympathy and approval, or of stern and fearful rebuke. 
 
 The text not only summonses you to an examina- 
 tion of your past history and present state — it indirect- 
 ly charges you to act on a wise and comprehensive plan 
 for the future. In engaging that, if you are " faith- 
 ful unto death, he will give you a crown of life." 
 What is the Saviour but saying, ' Let the sweep and 
 compass of your plans take in eternity, view existence 
 as a whole. Let a grand and comprehensive purpose 
 connect the present moment with a period ten thou- 
 sand ages hence ; aim at the loftiest result, and resolve 
 to wear a crown in heaven.' " I will do," said one in 
 early life — and the resolution was a splendid instance 
 of moral sublimity — " I will do whatever I think to be 
 most for God's glory and my own good on the whole, 
 without any consideration of time, whether now or 
 ever so many myriads of ages hence." " That which 
 is for God's glory and my own good on the whole ! 
 what is this, but simply echoing back the language of 
 Christ in the text ? It is time doing homage to eterni- 
 ty, faith taking the man up to a distance from earth, 
 and bidding him look down and look back upon this 
 world, reduced to its little dimensions and vanished to 
 a point — it is the soul enjoying a foretaste of future 
 freedom — ascending the throne, asserting its sove- 
 reignty, and putting on its promised crown before the 
 time. Go thou, and do likewise. Every thing urges 
 you to do it. Christ is calling you to it ; momentous 
 objects are inviting you. Only ascend that mount of 
 
168 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA : 
 
 vision, which commands the field of the world ; let 
 your survey take in the whole. How vast the multi- 
 tudes before you ! how urgent and how awful their 
 condition ! how brief the hour for benefiting them ! 
 how mighty the interests pending on that short hour I 
 Wherever your eye falls, it encounters some signal to 
 be active — some object in an imploring or command- 
 ing attitude, urging you to come " to the help of the 
 Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." 
 Take such a survey — and we will defy you to be inac- 
 tive, or to be active only for party. You will dissolve 
 into compassion for the world ; you will join hearts 
 with all, who bear the family likeness of Christ ; you 
 will feel, that you are an agent for Christ ; a dignity 
 which gives you angels for your companions — that 
 you stand related to that infinite circumference of 
 which Christ is the central glory — and that, thus living 
 for the universe, you will be preparing for a crown, 
 and for a place on the throne of Christ your Lord. 
 
 Brethren, the messages of Christ to the Asiatic 
 churches required that they should amend at once ; 
 for the delivery of those messages was a crisis in their 
 history. The opening of a house of God, or the an- 
 niversary of such an event is often a crisis in the ex- 
 istence of a church — a message from Christ to its 
 minister and members — the opening of a new page in 
 its history. Let the first line in that page to-day 
 record your holy determination to live for a crown ; 
 and it shall be followed — it shall be countersigned by 
 the promise of God, "From this day will I bless 
 you." 
 
 And as a final inducement, the Saviour indirectly 
 reminds us that, the Spirit is present — the Holy Spirit 
 is present in the church expressly to reprove and assist, 
 and animate its members. By commanding us to 
 " hear what the Spirit saith," though he himself is the 
 speaker, he would intimate that every thing in the 
 church — every voice — even his own — is in a sense 
 subordinated to the Spirit — that even his voice can be 
 heard with salutary effect, only as the Spirit repeats it, 
 
A SERMON. 169 
 
 and conveys it into the soul. And is it true, that a re- 
 gard to the Spirit would have saved those churches 
 from decay and death ? And is it true, that this divine 
 Spirit is in the church still, that we can obtain his un- 
 measured influences, and that his aid, if sought for and 
 obtained, could make this church the largest, purest and 
 most flourishing in the land ? Yes, it could raise even 
 those seven churches from their long mouldering ruins, 
 and carry their prosperity to a pitch, which even in 
 their primitive state they never saw. Oh ! how long 
 shall our state of comparative barrenness continue ? 
 " Until the Spirit be poured out from on high ;" then 
 " the wilderness will be a fruitful field, and the fruitful 
 field be counted for a forest." Yes ; in the scheme of 
 salvation, every instrument and agent has its appropri- 
 ate place, and its appointed order of success. In that 
 arrangement the Spirit is the prime mover of the 
 whole. Hence the first prayer of Christ, on his as- 
 cension to heaven, was for the eflusion of the Spirit ; 
 till that was " poured out from on high," the work of 
 redemption itself, though he had just pronounced it 
 " finished," stood still ; but when it came, every thing 
 was put into motion, the world itself vibrated, the very 
 gates of hell shook. The first prayer of the church, 
 then, should be for the same object. Oh! let that 
 Spirit be sought for first as a Spirit of prayer. Our 
 prayers would infallibly draw down fresh supplies of 
 his influence ; these fresh supplies of his influence 
 would as certainly lead to increased prayer for still 
 larger eflusions of his grace — and thus by action and 
 reaction our prayers would continually enlarge in their 
 progress, and insure increased prosperity to the whole 
 church of Christ. 
 
 Brethren, an appeal is about to be made to your 
 Christian liberality. Does the interest of Christ press 
 on your heart ? We will defy you to withhold your 
 property from it. Do you sympathize with Christ in 
 "the travail of his soul?" Oh! if that sympathy be 
 sincere, it will turn your whole soul into desire, it will 
 convert your very gifts into prayers — they will consti- 
 
170 EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA. 
 
 tute a part of your devotion. Like the eastern Magi, 
 the act of falling down to adore him, and of pouring 
 out at his feet " gold, and frankincense and myrrh" 
 will, with you, be one and the same act. And though 
 your gift may be small compared with your enlarged 
 desires, he, who graciously distinguishes between the 
 will and the means, will say, as he said of the church 
 at Smyrna — will say, as you cast your gift into the 
 treasury, " I know thy poverty, but thou art rich." 
 
 Brethren, in praying for the impartation of the 
 Spirit, you are imploring a spirit of Christian liberality 
 — liberality for yourselves, and for the whole church. 
 You are, in effect, praying that all the powers of na- 
 ture, all the resources of providence, all the wealth 
 and greatness of the world may be pressed into the 
 service of Christ. For only let " the Spirit be poured 
 out from on high," and you enlist into his cause every 
 species of instrumentality, which men can possess. 
 " The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto 
 thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee, 
 the multitude of camels shall cover thee, the drome- 
 daries of Midian and Ephah ; all they from Sheba 
 shall come ; they shall bring," they — the most unlike- 
 ly nien on the face of the earth — " shall bring gold 
 and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of 
 the Lord." Every thing will be brought as an expres- 
 sion of love to Christ, and to adorn his triumph. His 
 ministers will not have to walk the land, as beggars in 
 his cause. Places like this, dedicated to his adoration 
 and worship, will not struggle year after year for ex- 
 istence, with the weight of a millstone of debt around 
 their neck. Nothing — nothing will be deemed too 
 costly for the great occasion. " All majesty shall bow 
 before him — kings shall wait in his train" — the spoils 
 of earthly grandeur be laid at his feet — and Christ 
 " alone be exalted in that day." 
 
THE HOUSE OF PRAYER: 
 A SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED AT TREVOR CHAPEL, BROMPTON, ON THE 
 RE-OPENING OF THE CHAPEL, AFTER ENLARGE- 
 MENT AND REPAIRS, LONDON, AUGUST 27, 1837. 
 
 Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. 
 
 Isaiah Ivi. 7. 
 
 In the ordinary course of preaching, it is, perhaps, 
 desirable to limit attention to particular truths, and their 
 personal, practical application. Occasions sometimes 
 arise, however, or subjects present themselves, which 
 seem to invite the mind to a loftier range and a more 
 comprehensive view of truth — occasions, when, almost 
 unbidden, the past yields up its treasures — and ages 
 with the men who have made them memorable, dispen- 
 sations with the miraculous facts and the sublime dis- 
 closures which distinguished them, the futurity of time 
 with its distant horizon clothed in flames, and eternity 
 with all the plans of God fulfilled, pass in succession 
 before our eyes. The dedication of a house to the 
 worship and service of God — or the re-opening of such 
 a place — may be regarded as one of those occasions ; 
 for it is an event, which springs out of all the past, and 
 which stands related to all the future. The text, too, 
 comes in aid of the occasion, calling up recollections 
 of ancient times and early revelations, and pointing us 
 onward to a day, when, as the grand result of all that 
 God has planned, and Christ has sufl^ered, and the 
 Spirit has efl^ected, the world shall be seen prostrate 
 before God in prayer. This we regard, if not as the 
 
172 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER : 
 
 principal, as an important doctrine of the text : and 
 this, therefore, we propose, first to illustrate, and, 
 secondly, to apply. 
 
 May the Lord of the house be graciously present by 
 his Spirit, to aid our endeavour and to bless his word ! 
 
 In order to the realization of the glorious scene 
 glanced at in the text, in which the world shall finally 
 be seen prostrate before God in prayer, the first and 
 earliest step necessary was the revelation of the divine 
 existence. For " he that cometh to God must believe 
 that he is ;" and " how shall they call upon him, of 
 whom they have not heard ?" This fact takes us 
 back, in thought, to the time when the knowledge of 
 God was lost from the earth — when the Lord, looking 
 down from heaven to see if there were any, that did 
 understand and seek God, beheld the appalling specta- 
 cle of an entire race in apostacy from him, and when, 
 breaking the fearful silence which sin had produced, 
 he called to his wondering creatures, and proclaimed, 
 I AM. This was an era in the moral history of man ; for 
 it was, in effect, giving to a world of Atheists a God. 
 There the great object of prayer stood revealed before 
 them. Had they known him, the world would have 
 flocked at once in adoration to his feet. 
 
 But, secondly, does he take an interest in the affairs 
 of the world 7 for, if not, prayer to him is useless. 
 In answer to the inquiry, Sinai rises to view — Sinai 
 burning with fire, covered with " blackness, and dark- 
 ness, and tempest," and echoing with " the sound of a 
 trumpet and the voice of words." God is there legis- 
 lating for sinful man. Can you question his deep in- 
 terest in human affairs ? Listen to his law, as he pro- 
 claims it, and mark how much of it relates directly to 
 your welfare. Mark how it denounces a curse against 
 all, who shall neglect the duties they owe to you — how 
 tender it is of your life, denouncing the man who shall 
 even be " angry with you without a cause" — how jeal- 
 ously it guards your property, your reputation, every 
 thing dear to you — how it throws its ample shield over 
 you and all you have — constitutes itself a watchful 
 
A SERMON. 173 
 
 guardian of the whole — accumulates into a wall of fire 
 around you — thunders forth, Cursed is every one that 
 attempts to injure him — and requires all the people to 
 say Amen ; requires the universe to give a solemn 
 pledge that it will be tender of your welfare. The 
 essence of the whole law is love ; and that essence it 
 seeks to instil into human hearts, binding them all to- 
 gether in one great community of love. Was it pos- 
 sible, that man, after that, could question the kind in- 
 terest of God in human affairs ? Apart from the Gos- 
 pel, nothing in the universe displays the divine benevo- 
 lence, so much as the giving of the law. . Had it beerl 
 published from Sinai to a holy and obedient race, it 
 would have been received and enshrined with acclama- 
 tions of delight. But it was published for a race in 
 rebellious confederacy against him — a fact which 
 marks his benevolence more strikingly still ; published 
 as a proof of the divine presence among them and of 
 his immediate government over them, and published 
 as a standing protest against human sinfulness, with a 
 view of awakening in the heart a sense of guilt and a 
 loud cry for mercy. Here, then, was God furnishing 
 the world with another great occasion for prayer. 
 Man now not only knew of His existence, but saw 
 that he took a deep interest in human welfare ; but as 
 it was evident that we requited that interest with diso- 
 bedience, nothing could have been more natural and 
 proper, than an earnest importunate, united supplica- 
 tion of the whole race for mercy. 
 
 But thirdly, is the great God accessible 7 That he 
 takes a benevolent interest in human affairs is evident ; 
 if, however, the terrors of Sinai are not laid aside, if 
 that is a specimen of his usual state, who can venture 
 to approach him ? " The Lord," said Solomon — " the 
 Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness :" 
 will he emerge from that cloud, dissipate that gloom 
 and allow man to approach him ? The temple on 
 Zion is an answer to that inquiry. " Let the people 
 build me a sanctuary," said God, "that I may dwell 
 among them." This was another stage — a vast ad- 
 
174 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER I 
 
 vance in the divine condescension. To show his own 
 sense of its importance, he supplied the model, and 
 selected the spot, and superintended the erection of 
 the building. When completed, the Majesty of heav- 
 en came down, and visibly took possession. The very 
 idea that he should do this overwhelmed the mind of 
 Solomon with amazement. " Will God," said he, " in 
 very deed"^is it not merely a figure — will he, in very 
 deed and literally, " dwell with man upon the earth ? 
 behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot con- 
 tain him ; how much less this house which I have 
 built?" will the divine Omnipresence take up his 
 dwelling here ? is not the expectation too great to be 
 realised ? No, said God ; '' this is my rest for ever ; 
 here will I dwell, for I have desired it." What amaz- 
 ing condescension is this ? He might have paid only 
 a transient visit there ; and then we may suppose how 
 greatly would the seasons of his visits have been priz- 
 ed. But how astonishing, that he should speak of it 
 as his rest, his permanent abode ! Did not the world 
 repair to it ? When it was rumoured abroad that the 
 Lord of heaven had a house upon earth, did not the 
 guilty race come to cast themselves at his feet, and 
 sue for mercy ? That was the object of his coming. 
 
 But will he, it might be asked in the next place — 
 will he pardon 7 His house may be filled with thun- 
 derbolts of justice and with ministers of destruction, 
 for man has deserved it ; accessible he may be, but is 
 he propitious ? Approach, and read the inscription 
 over its gates — the " house of prayer." Then there 
 is hope for the penitent, there is pardon for the guilty. 
 Let us enter, and ascertain. On crossing the threshold 
 and looking around, we find that it is distributed into 
 three parts. We find ourselves at first in the court of 
 the temple ; here the principal objects are a great 
 altar of sacrifice, and a laver — in which the sacrifices 
 are washed ; What mean that cleansing water and 
 that bleeding lamb ? They say, as plainly as they 
 can, that, " that without shedding of blood, there is no 
 remission" of sins, and that the victim, whose blood 
 
A SERMON. 175 
 
 is shed, must be washed — must be spotless. We ad- 
 vance, and find ourselves in the second part — the holy- 
 place ; here the principal objects are a golden candle- 
 stick, a table of shewbread, and an altar of incense ; 
 and what mean these objects ? They denote, that the 
 sacrifice in the outer court is accepted — that God is 
 propitiated, that he is waiting to illuminate and anoint 
 his worshipers with the Spirit, to feast their souls on 
 " living bread," to accept their praises as grateful in- 
 cense. But what means that mysterious veil, which 
 conceals the third part of the temple — the holiest of 
 all ? It denotes, that sinful man can fully approach a 
 Holy God only through a divine Mediator, and that that 
 Mediator is not yet come. But we know what is with- 
 in ; there stands the ark of the covenant, and the mer- 
 cy-seat resting upon it, denoting mercy resting on 
 faithfulness — and there are the cherubims overshadow- 
 ing the mercy-seat, intimating the reverence with 
 which even mercy itself should be sought, and the 
 profound mystery which it involves. But what means 
 that mass of dazzling light above ? It is the symbol 
 of the divine presence ; God is there. And why dwells 
 he there ? That men may come and fall down before 
 him, and that he may commune with them from off 
 the mercy-seat. Why dwells he there ? Do you not 
 see through his gracious design ? He makes it his 
 rest, that men may come to him and make it their rest. 
 Numbers, through successive ages, availed themselves 
 of his grace. There penitence often smote on its 
 breast, till its tears were wiped away ; there conscious 
 guilt lost its tormenting sting, and first found peace ; 
 fear lifted up its eye and smiled ; faith looked up in 
 the face of God, and appealed to the heart of God, as 
 it stood with its hand on the head of ihe victim ; there 
 prophets, and kings, and the righteous men of many 
 generations bowed down in prayer, and found accep- 
 tance with God. 
 
 But everything there, gracious as it was, calculated 
 as it was to bring the people in humble prostration be- 
 fore God, existed only in type and promise ; it may be 
 
176 THE HOUSE OF PKAYER : 
 
 asked, therefore, in the next place, have those types 
 been accomplished ? That temple is gone, its splen- 
 dours have vanished, its most sacred things have dis- 
 appeared, the whole economy is abolished, the very 
 nation itself scattered to the winds of heaven ; are 
 those promises fulfilled ? Oh ! what stupendous scenes 
 arise, and present themselves in reply. " The fulness 
 of time" arrives, and behold God sending forth his 
 Son. All heaven is wondering and rejoicing, for in 
 his person divinity and humanity have at length met ; 
 before, they had been only approaching each other — 
 but they have met, coalesced and become one ; he has 
 taken our nature and has made a temple of that ; God 
 is " manifest in the flesh." Calvary appears ; there, 
 as our substitute, he is making an infinite compensa- 
 tion for our demerit, washing out the guilt of the 
 world with his blood, dying, that God may never more 
 be more angry with man — that man may never deny 
 or grieve the love of God. The day of Pentecost 
 arrives ; behold, in its scenes, a proof that our Advo- 
 cate has entered on his office of intercession above, 
 and that his sacrificial plea prevails, for lo ! the Spirit 
 is " poured out from on high," and thousands bow in 
 meek subjection to his power, constituting at once the 
 means and the pledge that his house shall become " a 
 house of prayer for all people." 
 
 Is it, then, still asked, if the ancient promises have 
 been fulfilled ? Let the tears of the sinner, the joy of 
 the saint, the success of the gospel in every subsequent 
 age — bear witness. Behold, in this house of prayer, 
 and in every similar house of prayer — an adequate 
 reply. Do you look around and ask for the altar of 
 sacrifice 7 " We have an altar," says the apostle ; 
 though invisible to the eye of sense, the eye of faith 
 beholds it ; and on that altar there is a victim ; will you 
 not reverently approach and look upon him ? Mark 
 the majesty and meekness, the dignity and compassion 
 of his looks ; it is Christ crucified ; it is the Lamb of 
 God, " taking away the sin of the world ;" " the Lord 
 hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all ;" is not that 
 
A SERMON. 177 
 
 superior to the Jewish sacrifices ? He is spotless ; his 
 " blood cleanseth from all sin ;" " by his one offering 
 he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified ;" 
 will you not draw near, and nearer still, and lay your 
 hand, by faith, on the head of this atoning sacrifice ? 
 " God hath set him forth, as a propitiation for sin through 
 faith in his blood." Do you look around here for the 
 ark of the covenant ? The ark we have not, but the 
 covenant we have. What means this sacred book ? 
 
 " All that the ark did once contain, 
 Could no such grace afford." 
 
 " This is the new covenant," said Christ, " the new 
 covenant in my blood," the covenant of life. Every 
 page of it proclaims, " Hear, and your soul shall 
 live." Do you look around for the mysterious veil^ 
 and for the high priest that enters within it ? We 
 know of no v^il to conceal the mercy-seat ; we have 
 access into the holiest of all ; the only veil we know 
 of is that which separates earth from heaven. And as 
 to our high priest, he has passed within that veil ; " he 
 is gone into heaven itself, now to appear in the pres- 
 ence of God for us ;" our " Advocate with the Father" 
 is " Jesus Christ the righteous ;" he " €ver liveth to 
 make intercession for us." 
 
 Every thing valuable in the Jewish economy has 
 found accomplishment, stability and perfection ; and 
 the design of it all is to make his house a house of 
 prayer, a place of friendly meeting between God and 
 man. This was the great object, at which he aimed 
 when he dwelt amongst us. Hence the attractions, 
 with which he invested the throne of grace, adorning 
 it with precious gifts, on which he inscribed — " Ask, 
 and ye shall receive" — describing him, that sits on the 
 throne, as our Father, willing to receive us as his 
 children — assuring us that we go there invited and ex- 
 pected, as his friends — placing in our hands a censer, 
 filled with the incense of his own merit, to make our 
 acceptance secure. And still his heart is set on effect- 
 ing an interview between God and man. Hence the 
 12 
 
178 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER: 
 
 specific design, for which he has instituted the ministry 
 of the gospel, is to beseech men to be reconciled to 
 God, to come and cast themselves down at his feet ; 
 and hence the office of intercession, which he fills in 
 heaven — never quitting his station, never remitting its 
 duties for a moment, but watching and encouraging 
 the sinner, as he takes the first step to the mercy-seat, 
 by declaring, " I will pray the Father for you ;" for 
 well he knows, that, when brought in penitence to the 
 footstool of mercy, our forgiveness is certain, and the 
 end of the gospel gained. 
 
 But, again, admitting that God is thus accessible and 
 gracious, is he thus accessible and gracious to all ? 
 Ask if the light of day is free for all that see, ask if 
 the air of heaven is free for all that breathe, but ask 
 not if the throne of mercy be open to all that need 
 salvation. " My house," saith he, " shall be called a 
 house of prayer for all people." And remember, he 
 said this under the local economy of the Jews ; is the 
 gospel church less open and free, than the Jewish 
 temple ? Its gates are never to be shut night nor day ; 
 its blessings are to be ofiered " without money and 
 without price ;" its ministers are dispatched into all 
 lands with the command — " Preach the gospel to every 
 creature" under heaven. ' Proclaim, that I am now 
 on my throne, giving audience to the world ; say to 
 them. All things are mine, come and share them ; I 
 possess them for your enjoyment and use, come and 
 let me confer them upon you ; all the riches and re- 
 sources of heaven are mine, and you may be made 
 the happy recipients ; come, and I will bless you with 
 eternal life ; " whosoever will, let him come ;" I cast 
 out none ; " my house shall be called a house of 
 prayer for all people." ' • 
 
 And is there ground to conclude that this sublime 
 result shall be realized ? " The mouth of the Lord 
 hath spoken it." " I have sworn myself ; the word 
 hath gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall 
 not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and 
 every tongue shall swear." By what particular 
 
A SERMON. 179 
 
 changes in the present kind of instrumentality, at what 
 precise period, or to what exact point of perfection, 
 the result may be realized, we cannot say, and are not 
 anxious to know ; sufficient is it for us to know, that 
 the time shall come^ when the world shall be seen 
 prostrate before God in prayer, and then will it be 
 clearly perceived that this has been brought to pass as 
 the result of all that God has planned, and Christ has 
 suffered, and the Spirit has effected. The very men- 
 tion of his name then will be sufficient to bring the 
 world into a posture of adoration ; they will come be- 
 fore him, hungering for his blessings, languishing for 
 his Spirit, coveting — craving the gifts of his grace. Is 
 his throne of mercy open to all ? Is his house " a 
 house of prayer for all people ?" " O thou, that hear- 
 est prayer, to thee shall all Jlesh come.'''' They shall 
 not be satisfied to enjoy thee alone ; they shall go out, 
 and, with a friendly violence, compel others to come 
 in and share thy favours witji them. " It shall come 
 to pass, that there shall come people and the inhabi- 
 tants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city 
 shall go to another, saying. Let us go quickly to pray 
 before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts, I will 
 go also ; yea, many people and strong nations shall 
 come, to seek the Lord and to pray before him." 
 Churches shall come to adore him, cities to consult 
 him, nations to surrender to him, all the kindreds of 
 the earth to fall down before him. They shall not be 
 content to praise him alone ; they shall feel as if they 
 wanted help — the help of the world — to raise a song 
 adequate to his praise, and a prayer equal to the ardour 
 of their desire. " And it shall come to pass, that, 
 from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath 
 to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, 
 saith the Lord of hosts." Then man will have found 
 his only proper place — will have returned to the only 
 spot in the universe, which becomes him — at the feet 
 of God ; and having found his proper place, his ulti- 
 mate end, there will be rest, confessing himself nothing 
 that God may be all — going out of himself, and losing 
 
180 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER : 
 
 himself in God — finding his heaven in the smile of 
 God. Then God will have recovered his proper glory ; 
 every idol will be abolished, every rival pov^er cast 
 out ; " the eyes of all" will " wait upon him ;" all 
 flesh will be hanging upon him, staying themselves 
 upon him ; he will be seen by the universe as the cen- 
 tre of a lapsing creation — the support and the stay of a 
 sinking world. Then the design of the whole gospel 
 constitution will be completed — " that no flesh should 
 glory in his presence ;" everything will have redounded 
 to the glory of his grace. And when all flesh shall 
 thus be seen prostrate before God in prayer, what will 
 it be, but the prelude to the worship of heaven ? What 
 will remain, but that the whole should be transferred 
 to the employment of praise above ? Infinite love, 
 ascending the throne and putting on the crown, shall 
 sit down and enjoy an eternal sabbath of love, while 
 the myriads of the redeemed and glorified, casting 
 their crowns at his feet, shall ascribe their happiness 
 to him — and the jubilee of eternity begin. 
 
 Brethren, to this point everything in the universe — 
 everything in the mediatorial government of Christ — is 
 tending, with the directness and force of a law. To 
 this end, therefore, every event in his church, every 
 movement of his people should be intentionally subor- 
 dinate. Viewed apart from this ultimate design, the 
 most magnificent projects of man become puerile ; 
 viewed in connection with it, things in themselves of 
 very slender account swell into infinite importance. 
 It hallows whatever it touches — ennobles whatever it 
 employs. Brethren, such is the fact in relation to this 
 and similar Christian edifices. Regarded merely as a 
 structure, raised or re-opened for the honour of a re- 
 ligious denomination, it is little better, little more, than 
 a few particles of fabricated dust ; but regarded as 
 pointing to the great end, of which we are speaking, 
 its foundations rest on the deep-laid purposes of God, 
 its top-stone touches the throne of God, its dimensions 
 on all sides stretch away into infinity, it is built into 
 and forms a part of the vast system of means, by 
 
A SERMON. 181 
 
 which God is working and which fills the universe. 
 Not more certainly is it connected, as a material fab- 
 ric, with the universal laws of gravitation, and as such 
 exerting a physical influence through all space, than it 
 stands connected, as a moral means, with the universal 
 government of God. There is a sense, in which even 
 the temple at Jerusalem still stands. Though, in a lit- 
 eral respect, not one stone of that sacred pile remains 
 upon another — in the moral influence, which it exerts 
 over the church of God, it still lifts up its sacred head, 
 its fires still burn, its victims still bleed, its days of 
 atonement still return; we have just seen them this 
 morning ; we shall see them in eternity. Brethren, 
 there is a sense, in which all the great events and sol- 
 emn transactions, related in the Bible, may be regard- 
 ed as having taken place within these walls. Here 
 they will come, (as they often have already, in the 
 ministry of the Gospel,) and occur again. Here 
 Eden will bloom, and man will fall. Here God will 
 speak, and Sinai will burn. Here prophets will repeat 
 their sacred strain, and priests present their offerings. 
 Here, " before your eyes, Jesus Christ" will " evident- 
 ly be set forth crucified among you ;" and here again 
 will be heard the " rushing mighty wind" and the 
 " cloven tongues" of the day of Pentecost. By link- 
 ing on this place to the great machinery of Provi- 
 dence, all the influences of the past come and gather 
 around it, and settle down upon it, while, for the fu- 
 ture, all heaven is awake with expectation ; for as a 
 house of God, a page is opened for it in the book of 
 his remembrance. As a house of prayer, it takes its 
 stand among the means, by which God is reducing 
 and restoring all things to himself; it forms a part of 
 that mighty stream of tendency, by which all things 
 and all men are to be borne on into the presence of 
 God, there to fall prostrate before him, and acknowl- 
 edge him all in all. 
 
 The question will be entertained, then, by every 
 Christian mind — How may this sacred place he made 
 effectually^ more effectually than ever^ to subserve this 
 
182 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER! 
 
 great end 7 The text supplies the answer — by mak- 
 ing it literally " a house of prayer." Every power 
 in the universe is regarded by God as more or less op- 
 posed to him, except the power of prayer and the 
 means by which prayer has sanctified. Every human 
 habitation, in which God is not worshipped, is a for- 
 tress raised in hostility to him, and the family which 
 inhabits it is in arms against him. On the other hand^ 
 wherever prayer is made, and in the exact proportion 
 in which it is made, there he beholds a spot reclaimed 
 from the powers of darkness, and subjects swearing 
 allegiance to his throne. My friends, the world itself 
 was intended to be " a house of prayer." Every 
 spot in it was meant to be sacred to the worship of 
 God ; all its air should have been incense, and all its 
 sounds adoration and praise. That purpose sin at- 
 tempted to defeat. But oh ! a higher purpose still 
 only waited till the attempt should be made. From 
 that moment the plan of grace has been unfolding, 
 which concentrates within itself all the interest of the 
 world's history — all that is eventful in the universe of 
 God. And when the consummation of all things shall 
 arrive, what will this world be thought of, think you> 
 but as it has furnished a stage for the unfolding of that 
 plan, and as it was graciously reclaimed, in conse- 
 quence, from being a house of sin, again converted 
 into a house of prayer, and thus restored to its original 
 design ? Let man record its history, indeed, and he 
 would dwell chiefly on topics of war and peace, of 
 pestilence and famine, the changes of thrones and the 
 revolutions of empires ; but, as written by the finger 
 of God, these things shall be noticed only as they sub- 
 served or opposed his final purpose, while the history 
 of the world, as far as man's instrumentality tended to 
 promote that purpose, shall be chiefly a history of 
 prayer. Preaching itself — benevolent activity itself — 
 except so far as it is associated with devotion — shall 
 be passed over to record the triumphs of prayer. 
 Many a Christian, who once filled the public eye with 
 his active deeds and his burning zeal, shall be compara- 
 
A SERMON. 183 
 
 dvely unnoticed ; and the man of prayer — the wrest- 
 ler with God, shall be drawn out from his closet ob- 
 scurity, and proclaimed in his stead, and it shall appear, 
 that while the one was only moving earth, the other 
 was moving heaven. 
 
 Are we asked for a proof of this ? Brethren, a 
 great portion of the world's history is written — written 
 by the finger of God. The Bible is God's summary 
 of the history of the world, down to the close of the 
 first century of the present era. What are the deeds 
 — what is the kind of human instrumentality — which 
 he has deemed most worthy of record ? Oh ! if I did 
 not believe you to be sufficiently acquainted with that 
 already, I would say, paint them on the walls of this 
 sacred place ; let those spaces, now left in unadorned 
 simplicity, be occupied with the principal scenes out of 
 God's history of man's instrumentality, and they would 
 soon be peopled with suppliants in all the postures of 
 devotion, crowded with the various forms and attitudes 
 of prayer. In one place, Abraham would appear, in- 
 terceding for Sodom — and Omnipotence waiting till 
 he had done, the tempest of descending fire suspended 
 in the air, suspended and ready to be blown away by 
 the breath of prayer. In another, Moses would ap- 
 pear, holding back the arm of God, while Omnipotence 
 is saying, as if hampered and embarrassed, let me 
 ALONE — " Let me alone, that I may destroy them." 
 In one compartment should stand the temple, with the 
 scene of dedication — a nation at prayer — and clouds 
 of massive glory filling the house ; and in anotlier, the 
 same temple, with its high priest occupied in the office 
 of two-fold intercession — prayer with the voice — and 
 prayer by sacrifice, the prayer of blood — thus justify- 
 ing the description given of it in the text, " a house of 
 prayer." Did Jesus pray ? Oh ! in a sense more 
 than figurative, he saved the world by prayer. Pour- 
 tray a mountain top, and Jesus on it, prostrate, alone, 
 wet with the dews of night, praying to God " with 
 strong crying and tears ;" and next, a garden — Geth- 
 semane — and Jesus there, praying in an agony, which 
 
184 THE HOUSE OF PKAYEK ; 
 
 baptizes him in his own blood ; and next the " place 
 called Calvary," for " there they crucified him," and 
 Jesus died, offering that great sacrificial prayer, which 
 still pleads, still fills the ear of God, and for the sake 
 of which alone all other prayers are heard. Can the 
 " cloven tongues of fire" be pourtrayed ? forget not to 
 represent the apostles, on whom they rest, assembled 
 in prayer. Elsewhere let an angel be seen, despatch- 
 ed from the divine presence to liberate Peter from 
 prison ; but forget not to represent the disciples, in a 
 neighbouring house, in prayer. But oh I there is a 
 vision no human eye but one hath seen, which sums up 
 all — " an angel standing at the altar, having a golden 
 censer, and there is given him much incense, that he 
 may offer it with" — mark — " that he may offer it witl> 
 the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which 
 is before the throne ; and the smoke of the incense," 
 blending " with the prayers of the saints, ascends up 
 before God out of the angel's hand." Yes ; here is 
 the summing up of man's instrumentality. Of all the 
 various ways, in which he employs himself here, look 
 into that censer, and mark which of them it is that 
 reaches heaven. When the clamours of a prayerless 
 zeal have subsided, and the undevout deeds, which 
 have dazzled and astonished men, have spent their 
 force, mark what is left in the censer ; only that, which 
 partakes of the nature of prayer. This is all that lives 
 to reach the skies, all that heaven receives from earth, 
 all that is ever permitted to ascend before God. Oh I 
 brethren, would you have this place to be named at 
 last in God's history of the world ? Let it be distin- 
 guished now as a house of prayer. For when that 
 history shall at last be summed up, nothing which has 
 not been in that censer, will be named, except to be 
 condemned ; and nothing now will ever find a place 
 in that censer, but that which ascends on the breath of 
 prayer. 
 
 Here, then, you are to come in the spirit of prayer. 
 The great idea of God, as the object of prayer, is to 
 mingle with all your thoughts of the place, hallo wing» 
 
A SERMON. 185 
 
 ennobling, and lifting it into sacred importance. The 
 very presence of a church or a chapel is to be viewed 
 as a perpetual protest against all prayerlessness and 
 irreligion. By it, God is to be regarded as repeating 
 his original announcement, and saying to all the pass- 
 ers by, ' I AM ; come, and fall down, and worship 
 me.' And by it, you are to be regarded as saying to 
 them, " Oh ! come, let us worship, and fall down, and 
 kneel before the Lord our Maker." Remembering 
 that you come to obtain an audience of the great King, 
 you will be punctual and regular in your attendance ; 
 you will see to it, that prayer — that " praise waiteth for 
 God in Zion ;" he will not have to wait for it. You 
 will allow no affairs but his to be transacted here ; it 
 was the violation of this understood compact with God, 
 which led our Lord to say of the ancient temple, " It 
 is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, 
 but ye have made it a den of thieves." As if you 
 had just heard of his existence for the first time, you 
 will come, labouring to realize to your minds the idea 
 of his glorious presence, to feel that he has entered 
 and is here. As if his providence had only just now 
 taken the affairs of men under its superintendence, or 
 as if you had only now heard of it for the first time, 
 you will come, full of confidence and of hope. For 
 what, if all the princes and philosophers, and philan- 
 thropists on earth were daily to meet in solemn council 
 on nothing but your affairs, and were to place all their 
 resources at your disposal — what would that be, com- 
 pared with the glorious truth that God has taken your 
 affairs into his hands, and that here he is always pres- 
 ent, expressly to receive you ? As if the great facts 
 of the Gospel history had only just occurred — as if the 
 clouds of glory, which conveyed the ascending Saviour 
 to heaven, had hardly yet disappeared — you will come, 
 full of expectation and joy. You will anticipate fresh 
 disclosures of his grace, royal favours from his hand ; 
 and the more you expect, the more will you honour 
 him. Adore his condescension, then, and expect his 
 blessing. Let your affections go forth to meet him. 
 
186 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER : 
 
 and your heart be enlarged to receive him. Regard 
 it as " none other than the house of God ;" and he 
 will see to it, that it shall prove " the gate of heaven." 
 
 Again, here every thing is to be done with the view 
 of leading to prayer. As we have been proceeding 
 with our remarks, the question may have arisen in 
 some minds. What ! is our piety to take no other form, 
 than that of prayer ? is it to show itself in no other 
 way, than by prayer ? Such a question, however, 
 could be entertained only where there existed a misap- 
 prehension of the nature of prayer, and of the way in 
 which prayer, like an all-pervading element, penetrates 
 and blends with all the various methods, in which piety 
 works. Confine yourselves to mere acts of devotion ! 
 no, not even in the house of prayer itself. Only see 
 to it, that whatever you do, you do it with an ultimate 
 view to prayer. 
 
 If you preach the Gospel, for instance, you are to 
 bear in mind, that that is the most successful preach- 
 ing, which brings men prostrate before God for mercy, 
 that this is the very end of the Gospel ministry : and, 
 the more vividly you can " set forth Jesus crucified 
 among them," the more effectually this end will be 
 answered. Yes, let this place, as every other house 
 of prayer — let this place have a Calvary in the midst 
 of it, and on that Calvary let there be a cross, and on 
 that cross a bleeding Saviour, and on that sight — that 
 spectacle of love, let the eyes of the people be kept 
 perpetually fixed. As preachers of the Gospel, our 
 great distinction is that we are the ministers of the 
 cross ; we have to wait on the cross, to walk around 
 the cross, to point out to the people the wonder's of 
 the cross. Have we any pathos ? It should be kept 
 for telling them of the cross. Have we any affection 
 for their souls ? It should gush forth, when we are 
 pointing them to the cross. Have we any tears for 
 them ? Where shall we shed them, but when we have 
 led our people to the cross — when we are there say- 
 ing to the sinner, " Behold him," look upon him, " he 
 was wounded for your transgressions," " bruised for 
 
A SERMON. 
 
 18T 
 
 your iniquities," " the chastisement of your peace was 
 upon him, that with his stripes you might be healed ;" 
 draw near to him ; it is of you, that he is thinking ; 
 that blood is to wash away your sins ; that life, which 
 he is pouring out, is the ransom he is giving for your 
 soul ; draw nearer still — look into his heart ; read the 
 names, which are written there ; your name is among 
 them. And while we are thus entreating the sinner, 
 does he relent ? does he " look upon him whom he has 
 pierced, and mourn ?" does he " smite upon his 
 breast, crying, God be merciful to me a sinner?" 
 Then the end of the ministry is answered. " Behold, 
 he prayeth." 
 
 But besides the preaching of the gospel, all the 
 other ordinances of God's house are to be administered 
 likewise ; and in addition to these, children are to be 
 collected and taught on the Sabbath, pecuniary oifer- 
 ings are to be cast into the Christian treasury, the Bible 
 is to be distributed, visits of mercy are to be paid in 
 the neighbourhood around ; it is to be God's house for 
 doing God's work. But however various the agencies 
 and extensive the operations, which are organized and 
 kept in activity, the tendency of the whole must be to 
 bring men to God in prayer. What will it avail, if it 
 stops short of this — if it does not contribute to this ? 
 The tendency of all that God does, is to lead to this ; 
 and if you would act in harmony with his design, the 
 direction of all your movements for others must be to- 
 wards the presence of God ; the language of all you 
 do for them must be. We cannot be satisfied, till we see 
 you reconciled to God, prostrate before him in prayer. 
 
 Here, too, the salvation of the world, and whatever 
 may be instrumentally necessary to that salvation — 
 should be made the subject of prayer. " My house," 
 saith God, " shall be called a house of prayer for all 
 people." But as all will not — cannot — here pray for 
 themselves, your obvious duty is to come and pray for 
 them. Parents, pray for your children ; and children, 
 pray for your parents. Let all the various relations of 
 life come to pray for each other. Pray for the neigh- 
 
188 
 
 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER ; 
 
 bourhood around : there is a sense in which it is com- 
 mitted to your care — in which God is saying to you, 
 as to his people of old, "I will make you, and the 
 places round about my hill, a blessing." " There 
 shall be showers of blessing." Pray to be made the 
 cloud, from which the showers descend, the channel 
 through which they flow. 
 
 Pray for the prosperity of the whole Christian 
 church. The great Intercessor above prays not for a 
 party ; the names of all the tribes are graven on his 
 breastplate ; and does he not love that prayer the most, 
 which most nearly resembles his own ? Pray, then, 
 for the prosperity of the whole Christian church. Do 
 you ask, what should be the special object of suppli- 
 cation ? Oh ! it wants more spirituality and distinct- 
 ness from the world ; it wants a higher appreciation 
 of its office, as the instrument of Christ for saving the 
 world ; it wants more of the spirit of liberality to sac- 
 rifice for Christ ; of union — of oneness, in accordance 
 with the prayer of Christ ; of zeal which shall burn 
 for the universal triumph of Christ. But one want 
 there is, which comprehends the whole — the imparta- 
 tion of the Spirit of Christ. Could a convocation be 
 held of all the churches upon earth, the object of their 
 one united cry should be for that promised Spirit. Let 
 that be secured, and in obtaining that we obtain the 
 supply of every other want ; we find, that we had ac- 
 quired the same mind, which was also in Christ — a 
 benevolence, which would yearn over the whole hu- 
 man race — a brotherly love, which would combine 
 with the whole body of Christians, for the conversion 
 of the world — a zeal, which would be ever devising 
 fresh methods of usefulness, practising self-denial and 
 laying itself out in the service of Christ — and a perse- 
 verance which would never rest, till the whole family 
 of man should be seated together at the banquet of 
 salvation. 
 
 And in coming here to implore the effusion of the 
 Spirit on the church, remember that you are in effect 
 interceding for the world : for it is through the instru- 
 
A SERMON. 189 
 
 mentality of his people, that he purposes to save the 
 world. Christians ! realise in thought the dignity of 
 your ofRce. You go to God as the earthly represen- 
 tatives of mankind, as intercessors for the world. You 
 pass to the throne of grace, through multitudes — myri- 
 ads of human beings. Do you not hear them, as you 
 go, imploring a place in your supplications ? Do you 
 not see all Africa assembled in your path, urging you 
 to go to God for them, to describe their wants, to ask 
 for the blessings of the reign of Christ for them ? 
 And before you have done pleading for Africa, China 
 comes with its untold myriads entreating you to inter- 
 cede for them. And while yet you are pleading for 
 China, India comes with its tale of lamentation and 
 woe, and entreats you to speak for it ; and can you 
 refrain ? And when you grow faint, they all combine 
 their entreaties that you cry to God for them louder 
 still ; that you call in help — more intercessors and 
 more still, till all the church be prostrate in prayer. 
 And when you move to quit the throne of grace, they 
 all in effect entreat you not to leave them unrepresent- 
 ed before God. ' Oh ! if there be a God,' they say, 
 ' and if prayer can reach him, do not leave us thus, or 
 we perish : our only hope is in the God you worship, 
 the Saviour you proclaim ; pray that the blessings of 
 his grace may speedily be extended to us.' Brethren, 
 realise your office thus. Let this be " a house of 
 prayer for all people ;" and you will be hastening the 
 day, when the world shall be given into the hands of 
 the church, and the whole shall cast themselves at the 
 feet of Christ. 
 
 Here then, in this place, (and oh ! that it might be 
 so from this day !) let a period of enlargedness com- 
 mence, in your views of the kingdom of Christ, and 
 in your endeavours to realise them. Imagine that a 
 new page is opened to-day in your history ; let it 
 prove a fairer page, than any in the past. Review 
 that past ; ascertain in what respects it admits of im- 
 provement — whether in the regularity of your attend- 
 ance on the means of grace — in the attention, serious- 
 
190 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER: 
 
 ness and self-application, with which you hear the 
 word of God — in the amount of your pecuniary contri- 
 butions to his cause — in your personal activity in his 
 service — or in the fervour and comprehensiveness of 
 your prayers : and in whichever it may be, ask God to 
 record to-day, in the book of his remembrance, a holy 
 resolution of instant amendment. Especially see 
 whether you ought not to take a loftier stand than ever, 
 in relation to the great interests of the kingdom of 
 Christ. Has he made you partakers of his grace ? 
 Then he has taken you (and often takes you still,) to 
 a height, which commands a view of eternity, and 
 bids you take a comprehensive view of existence — to 
 regard it as a whole — to live for eternity ; and having 
 taught you this, as essential to your own personal hap- 
 piness, he next takes you to another mount of vision, 
 which commands a view of all mankind, and he bids 
 you to pray for them all — to open your heart and em- 
 brace them all — to live for the universe. Let this 
 house be to you that mount of vision. The present is 
 a day of more extended views, than the past — a day 
 of greater designs and of more generous endeavours ; 
 let this be a house for the day. My young friends — 
 you whose eye is kindling at these designs, and whose 
 hearts beat high at those endeavours — be you, as men 
 of God, men of and for the day. Louder voices urge 
 you on, than your predecessors have ever heard ; and 
 more splendid achievements await your advance. 
 Take enlarged and comprehensive views of duty ; de- 
 vise liberal things ; design for the universe and for 
 eternity. The Lord of the church himself is your 
 leader ; angels witness the scene ; and the world is 
 waiting to be blessed by your instrumentality. 
 
 But when shall you begin ? Let the re-opening of 
 this place, signalized as it is in heaven, be signalized 
 here by your beginning now. The opening of the 
 temple was distinguished by the prodigious number of 
 the sacrifices offered, and by the solemnity, spirituality 
 and comprehensiveness of the dedication prayer ; shall 
 
A SERMON. 191 
 
 not the re-opening of this place be similarly distin- 
 guished ? Some of you, I know, have already, last 
 year, contributed — contributed of your property liber- 
 ally ; " well done, good and faithful servants ;" but 
 oh ! let us hear, as we do of the churches in Macedo- 
 nia, not only of your liberE^lity, but of the continuance, 
 the habit, " the riches" of your liberality. Give, as 
 God gives. Give under the expanding and exhilarat- 
 ing recollection, that you are giving in a house, where 
 you come to ask God to give you heaven and eternal 
 life — that you are giving towards ^" a house of prayer 
 for all people," for all. people for whom God hath 
 given his Son, his only-begotten Son. Give under 
 these impressions ; and you will so give, that in eter- 
 nity you will bless God for disposing you to act so 
 much like himself. 
 
 Prayers, too, have been offered — solemn prayers — 
 comprehensive prayers — prayers, which the angel hav- 
 ing the censer hath presented, and which he, who sits 
 on the throne, hath heard. But has each one present 
 joined ? Let inquiry be made — have all prayed .? 
 What ! is there one present, whose heart has not unit- 
 ed in the general supplication — one, who has never 
 yet begun to pray — who, in the very house of prayer, 
 while every one around him was engaged in prayer, 
 has yet kept aloof from the throne of mercy ? Is he 
 not pointed out, at this moment, by invisible beings ? 
 Are they not gazing at him with pity and with won- 
 der ? Ought not all present to gather about him, and 
 to pray for him ? My friend, do you know what you 
 do ? Shall we pause, while you do pray ? Suppose 
 we were now to say to this assembly, in the language 
 of the prophet, " Come now, and let us join ourselves 
 to the Lord, in a perpetual covenant," and let all, who 
 are ready to comply, give a sign ; would you alone 
 give no sign ? If all the rest were to join, would you 
 be the only one to remain out of the holy confedera- 
 tion ? Shall we pause, then, while you now pray ? 
 Shall we wait, while you now offer your first entreaty 
 
192 THE HOUSE OF PRAYER: A SERMON. 
 
 for mercy ? Yes, now ; it will gloriously signalize the 
 morning service. Now ; the news would be convey- 
 ed to heaven ; it would be hastening on the day, when 
 all flesh shall be seen prostrate before God in prayer ; 
 it would be preparing additional lustre for that day, 
 when all the crowns in the universe shall be cast at the 
 Saviour's feet — for then your crown would be amongst 
 them. 
 
CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE; 
 A SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED AT HOLYWELL-MOUNT CHAPEL, CHAPEL 
 STREET, CURTAIN ROAD, LONDON, APRIL 28, 1839. 
 
 Finally, brethren, 7vhat soever things are true, rvhat soever things are 
 honest (or venerable), whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
 things are 'pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things 
 are of good report ; if there he any virtue, and if there he any 
 praise, think on these things. Philippians iv. 8. 
 
 On reading this remarkable language, one is almost 
 unconsciously led to exclaim, How noble and ennob- 
 ling a system is the Gospel of Christ ! how triumph- 
 antly does it sustain a comparison with every other 
 religion ! how effectually does it eclipse, how glori- 
 ously transcend them all ! For poor humanity has had 
 its systems — systems of philosophy, morality and reli- 
 gion — systems which for a time resounded through the 
 world — systems which were to bring heaven down to 
 earth, or to raise earth to an equality with heaven ; it 
 has had them by hundreds, if not by thousands. 
 
 Of all these, however, the system of Plato, I sup- 
 pose, by aiming at what he called the true, the beauti- 
 ful and the good, is to be regarded as approaching 
 nearest to the surpassing excellence of the Gospel. 
 To that system the apostle is supposed by some to 
 refer in the text ; for it is professed to be composed 
 chiefly of whatever things were true and valuable in 
 the various systems which had preceded it. But this 
 character he claims in an infinitely higher sense for 
 13 
 
194 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : 
 
 Christianity. For even if that human system had 
 ascertained the true, the beautiful and the good, how 
 could it have demonstrated that the true v^as not false, 
 how could it have embodied the beautiful and made it 
 visible, how could it have induced mankind to aim at 
 the good or to practise the useful ? Where were its 
 motives ? what were its solemn sanctions ? and accord- 
 ingly, where were its churches or societies of men 
 embodying and propagating its principles ? But ask 
 you for the motives, which the Gospel supplies ? The 
 apostle never enforces its duties apart from its motives. 
 Before uttering the practical appeal in the text, he 
 takes us in the second chapter, to the cross- — takes us 
 there to behold an event, which whoever considers 
 feels that it contains motives for all duties and incen- 
 tives equal to all sacrifices — takes us to behold Him, 
 who " was in the form of God," " making himself of 
 no reputation, taking upon him the form of a servant," 
 still humbling himself, still passing from one depth of 
 ignominy to a lower still, till a cross receives him, and 
 death arrests his further descent. Ask you then for 
 the practical results of the Gospel — for its churches 
 and active societies ? Oh ! what miracles of moral 
 transformation has it not accomplished ! Was not the 
 apostle — was not Philippi itself — an instance ? There 
 its first triumph was to change the very jail into a 
 church — the receptacle of a city's depravity into a 
 sanctuary of God ; and there already it had begun to 
 leaven and to assimilate unto its own glorious nature 
 the mass of depraved humanity around. Nor was it 
 yet satisfied. He calls them in the text to higher at- 
 tainments and greater usefulness yet. Perfect itself, 
 it labours to produce, and is impatient to behold, per- 
 fection in all who embrace it. 
 
 Christian friends, the application of this subject to 
 yourselves is obvious and inevitable. If the character 
 of Christianity be so lovely, your character as its pro- 
 fessors must be proportionally excellent. If it actu- 
 ally produced in the Philippians an amount of Chris- 
 tian excellence, which called forth apostolical exulta- 
 
A SERMON. 195 
 
 tion— and if it still remains what it ever was — it comes 
 this morning into the midst of this church, and makes 
 inquisition for the same excellence. It calls over ,(if 
 I may say so) the muster-roll of all the Christian 
 graces, nor allows even one to be absent. Taking 
 you to a mount, of vision, which commands a view of 
 all the moral greatness and goodness the world, the 
 universe, has ever known, it says to you — Aspire to 
 imitate the whole ; whatever you behold in the wide 
 horizon true or venerable, just or pure, lovely or of 
 good report, take them all to your heart and make 
 them your own. It does not specify, you perceive, 
 what things these are ; it seems to say — Aim at uni- 
 versal excellence ; cherish the ennobling sentiment, 
 that there is nothing too good for Christian humility to 
 hope, nothing too great for Christian devotedness to 
 attempt ; propose to yourselves the loftiest standard of 
 Christian piety, and resolve devotedly to reach it ; de- 
 vise some exalted idea, and determine in the strength 
 of God to attain it ; vow to live for the cross of Christ ; 
 do this, and it will not be necessary to particularize 
 and prescribe. For remember, he who dedicates him- 
 self to a great object is a law to himself ; he who acts 
 on a lofty principle lifts his whole nature at once ; he 
 who aims at an exalted end is more than resolving on 
 good acts or even good habits — he is necessitating and 
 producing them ; he who lives for a noble purpose is 
 keeping all the laws at once, without feeling that he is 
 subjected to any. 
 
 Christian friends, the interesting occasion which has 
 called you together, and indeed any event which forms 
 an era in the existence of a church, may be regarded 
 as opening a fresh page of existence, and presenting a 
 loud providential call to enter on a higher stage of 
 Christian excellence. In order to render this call 
 intelligible and impressive, allow me to enforce at least 
 the spirit of the text by showing — that whatever there 
 is attractive in Christian morality, you are to exemplify 
 it — whatever there is exalted and mature in scriptural 
 piety, you are to aim to attain it — whatever useful in 
 
196 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE ! 
 
 Christian activity, you should labour to accomplish it — 
 whatever there is tender in solicitude for the salvation 
 ofc others, you should cherish it — whatever lofty in 
 Christian enterprise, you are to sympathise with it — 
 and whatever there is sublime and animating in Chris- 
 tian motive, you are to live under its ever-present in- 
 fluence. 
 
 I. Addressing myself especially to the professed 
 disciples of Christ, permit me to remark, first, that 
 whatever there is lovely in the practice of Christian 
 morality^ you are to exemplify it. 
 
 Not only is Christian piety compatible with the dis- 
 charge of social duties ; it will not absolve us from 
 them. It will not allow us to be idle spectators on the 
 great theatre of life. It enters the domestic circle, 
 and addresses an appropriate word to the husband and 
 the wife, to the parent and the child. It takes the 
 servant by the hand and daily leads him to his appoint- 
 ed task, and thus invests his station with a dignity, be- 
 side which the most splendid indolence is eclipsed and 
 disgraced. It accompanies the tradesman to the place 
 of business — takes its seat by the judge — and estab- 
 lishes the very throne in righteousness. And thus, 
 while it seems to be intent only on the happiness of 
 eternity, it overlooks nothing connected with the well- 
 being of time. It even seeks to prepare us for the du- 
 ties and immunities of that higher state, partly by ex- 
 ercising us first in the duties of our earthly condition. 
 
 And the reason of all this is obvious — that the object 
 of the Gospel is not to repeal our original and natural 
 relations, but to remedy and restore our moral consti- 
 tution, and to do this through the medium of those 
 relations. It is the tendency of sin to destroy them ; 
 the object of the Gospel is to employ them — and to 
 restore and sanctify, that it may employ them. Hence 
 in not only republishes the duties of the second table, 
 but adds tenderness and power to their sanction. 
 However -exhausted its treasury may be, it will not 
 allow the undutiful son to enrich it by saying " Cor- 
 ban," and casting into it that which the wants of his 
 
A SERMON. 197 
 
 parents require. However naked its altar, it scorns to 
 accept " robbery for burnt-offering." However de- 
 serted its shrine, it will not allow the angry suppliant 
 to approach it, till he has gone and become " recon- 
 ciled to his brother." And however long any of its 
 offices in the house of God may have stood vacant, the 
 only condition on which it will allow them to be filled 
 is that the occupants " first rule well their own house, 
 and have a good report of them that are without." 
 
 And the advantage of all this is as obvious, as the 
 reason in which it originates ; at all events, the evil 
 resulting from the want of it is obvious enough. Could 
 the Gospel overlook these proprieties, without arming 
 against itself all that is most deep and central in human 
 nature ? Can a church neglect them, without soon 
 becoming a proverb and a reproach ? Is not the want 
 of honesty, integrity, natural affection — of any of the 
 domestic or social virtues — in two or three of its mem- 
 bers only, sufficient to blast its reputation and to impair 
 its usefulness for years, if not for ever ? On the other 
 hand, can the members of a church honour these rela- 
 tions and cultivate these virtues, without augmenting 
 their influence and their means of usefulness ? Oh ! 
 my friends, if you would " adorn the doctrine of God 
 your Saviour in all things," if you would win for it the se- 
 cret admiration of the unconverted, and acquire for it an 
 influence over their hearts, exemplify the attractions of 
 Christian morality. Think what prodigious effect it 
 would give to the Gospel, if all its professors did this. 
 If they took " whatsoever things are true and just and 
 pure and lovely" and formed them into a bright and 
 beauteous diadem, what a halo of glory would it shed 
 over the whole of their earthly course ! what a kind 
 of emblazonment would be thrown over the very name 
 of Christanity ! how impossible it would be to pro- 
 nounce that name, without calling up in the heart feel- 
 ings of homage and of love ! 
 
 And is not this what the Gospel actually requires ? 
 Can it consistently be satisfied with less ? Does it not 
 seek to enlist into its service all the relations which 
 
198 CHRISTIAN excellence: 
 
 bind us together, and all the natural means by which 
 we influence each other ? It cannot do without them ; 
 consistently with the divine appointment, it cannot do 
 without them. They are the only instruments, with 
 which it has to work. It seeks to win the infant's heart, 
 by looking up through the eyes, and caressing it in the 
 tones of maternal affection. The father's love, the sis- 
 ter's entreaty, the brother's warning, the persuasion of 
 friendship, the active attentions of neighbourly kindness, 
 the tradesman's integrity and weight of character, the 
 disinterested beneficence of public life — it wants them 
 all, has work for them all. And even if it have them, 
 the kindest tones cannot equal the tenderness of its 
 entreaties, the hottest tears cannot equal its anguish 
 over human misery, the most throbbing heart cannot 
 beat quick enough to satisfy its eager longing for human 
 salvation. All the influence which the church can 
 wield in its behalf cannot do justice to its free and full 
 and gushing benevolence, cannot furnish channels 
 wide and deep enough to pour forth the ocean of its 
 grace. 
 
 II. But Christian morality supposes piety ; the holier 
 a church is, the more is it likely to excel in the practice 
 of the virtues, for the more will it live under the influ- 
 ence of the motives which produce them. Then, 
 secondly — whatsoever things are exalted and mature 
 in Christian piety aim to attain. 
 
 If the holiness of the individual Christian be pro- 
 gressive, then should the piety of a church be progres- 
 sive also (for what is the piety of the whole, but the 
 collective piety of all its parts ? ) ; and if the individual 
 believer should say, " Brethren, I count not myself 
 to have apprehended," the language of the church 
 should also be, ^' This one thing we do, forgetting those 
 things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those 
 things which are before, we press toward the mark for 
 the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 And yet how few the churches, whose conduct would 
 justify the adoption of this language ! How many a 
 church is seen to languish on from year to year, con- 
 
A SERMON. 199 
 
 tent with a bare existence ! How many a church, 
 which not only exists, but wears the general aspect of 
 health, is yet content to remain at a stand for years 
 together ! as if it had reached the standard of a perfect 
 church, it never exhibits a single sign of self-dissatis- 
 faction, or makes an additional onward move in the 
 path of Christian activity. And how many a church, 
 it is to be feared, that does exhibit some of these 
 signs — signs of increase in wealth, in numbers, and 
 even in Christian activity, signs like those which led 
 an ancient church to say, " I am rich and increased 
 with goods and have need of nothing" — is yet want- 
 ing, like that church, in a proportional increase of 
 scriptural piety! Indeed where is the church, that 
 aims as high in this respect, or advances as rapidly as 
 it ought ? Where is the church, which, if it does " run 
 well" for a time, does not soon begin to indulge in that 
 self-complacency, which is the sure precursor of a 
 fall ? Where is the church, which thinks of making 
 that grandest of all experiments — how much it may 
 enjoy of God, and how much (even to the highest pos- 
 sible amount) it may achieve of Christian usefulness ? 
 And consequently — where is the church, which, if He 
 who " walks in the midst" of the churches were to 
 pronounce on its character, might not expect him to 
 say, " I have somewhat against thee ?" 
 
 Christian brethren, is it true that you might expect 
 him to say this of you ? and will you not anxiously 
 examine what that " somewhat against you" would 
 prove to be ? and will you not pray for grace to dis- 
 cover and remedy the defect ? and will you not hence- 
 forth aim at whatever is exalted and mature in Chris- 
 tian piety ? " What ! know ye not that ye are the 
 temple of the Holy Ghost ?" and what is a " temple" 
 without piety ? Know ye not, that your only glory in 
 the eye of Christ, and your only distinction from the 
 world around, consists in your spirituality of charac- 
 ter and your devotedness to his service ? Know ye 
 not, that there is a something, the want of which alone 
 can account for the comparative inefficiency of our 
 
200 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : 
 
 churches and the slow progress of the Gospel ? It is 
 the want of that holiness of character, which is essen- 
 tial to give it weight with the world ? Then will you 
 not cast out from the midst of you every thing evil as 
 soon as it shows itself, and faithfully administer that 
 Christian discipline appointed on purpose to promote 
 holiness, and attach supreme importance to every thing 
 calculated to increase your spirituality ? Is it on ac- 
 count of the want of that Christian devotedness, which 
 counts nothing that may be possessed its own ? Then 
 will you not feel, as those who are " bought with a 
 price," that all you have and are is the property of 
 Christ? Is it the want of that Christian union, for 
 which Christ prayed when he entreated " that they all 
 may be one ?" And will you not join in that lofty 
 supplication ? Shall he offer it alone ? Will you not 
 take the entire church into the ample embrace of your 
 Christian affection ? 
 
 Remember, however, that when you have " given 
 all diligence," and have " added to your faith virtue, 
 and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temper- 
 ance, patience, godliness, brotherly-kindness and 
 charity," even then you will not have reached the 
 limit of your progress. Never can you reach that, till 
 you have entirely exhausted the power of prayer, or 
 till the Holy Spirit has no more quickening and enab- 
 ling influences to impart. And when shall that he ? 
 
 As long then as the throne of grace continues to be 
 accessible and you continue to approach it in earnest and 
 united supplication, and as long as the Spirit of all 
 grace is able to replenish your hearts with his influ- 
 ences, so long should you continue to advance in 
 whatsoever is exalted and mature in Christian piety. 
 
 III. But such piety is diffusive ; it cannot exist 
 without making itself felt by all around, and the prom- 
 ise of God is, that it shall be felt so as to issue in his 
 glory. Then, thirdly — whatever is useful in personal 
 Christian activity^ aim to accomplish it. 
 
 As a church, remember, the very relative design of 
 your formation is the increase of your usefulness. 
 
A SERMON. 201 
 
 Every thing in nature exists for a purpose ; even the 
 atom of the rock has its appointed place and its defi- 
 nite end. Surely, then, man — and of all men the 
 Christian — is not exempt from this law ; he has not 
 been " Created anew in Christ Jesus" for mere self- 
 enjoyment or show. And if not the individual Chris- 
 tian, still less a number of these combined. As a 
 church, the mere circumstance of your separation 
 from the world is designed of itself to attract attention. 
 Your number is to invest you with comparative impor- 
 tance ; your formation and existence as a visible soci- 
 ety, complete in itself, is to raise you into the rank of 
 a distinct power. As a church, you are entrusted 
 with means, either exclusively adapted, or eminently 
 calculated to affect and benefit the world around. You 
 possess, for instance, " the ministry of reconciliation ;" 
 and of what use is that, but " to beseech men to be re- 
 conciled unto God ?" As a church, you have a special 
 sphere of labour. However small the circle of Chris- 
 tian influence which each one separately filled before, 
 from the moment you constitute a church, the hand 
 which so forms you draws around you a circle, which 
 includes the region round about. As a church, you 
 are now charged with a collective responsibility. All 
 the souls within that circle, are in a sense given into 
 your hand. All its sick are to be visited, all its igno- 
 rant instructed, all its children " trained up in the way 
 they should go," its widows and fatherless and desti- 
 tute visited in the time of their affliction ; the whole 
 of its area is to be filled with appropriate " works of 
 faith and labours of love." Hence all your means, 
 the mite of the widow and the wealth of the affluent, 
 the leisure of one and the influence of another, the 
 ardour of the young, the wisdom of the aged, the re- 
 sources of the whole, are to be combined, surrendered 
 and actively employed. Here the motto of each is to 
 be — " None of us liveth to himself." Each one is to 
 be assigned a post of labour. The influence of 
 each, by union with all, is made to be felt ; and as 
 often as others are added to you, you are to regard the 
 
202 CHRISTIAN EX-CELLENCE : 
 
 circle as proportionally enlarged, and are again to fill 
 it to the circumference with the influence of the cross. 
 
 But all this, I say, supposes that every individual 
 member is prepared to take his post as an agent for 
 Christ. It does not allow the indolent to fold his arms, 
 and devolve his duty on another. It does not permit 
 • the fashionable professor to wait till Christian labour 
 becomes genteel. It will not permit the wealthy to 
 buy off his personal service by the bribe of large do- 
 nations ; it requires both — his activity and his dona- 
 tion too. Whether it contains a man for every post or 
 not, it is certain that it contains a post for every man. 
 And hence the first inquiry, which some churches 
 make of a newly-admitted member, is — And what 
 shall your post be ? 
 
 Christian friends, were I to be asked to what it was 
 owing chiefly that the early triumphs of the Gospel 
 were arrested, how it was that Christian usefulness 
 died out of the world and piety out of the church, I 
 should say that it was to be ascribed chiefly to that 
 master-device of Satan, by which the Christian pro- 
 fessor was led to suppose that he could do almost ev- 
 ery thing by proxy — that there was an order of men, 
 on whom for a certain consideration he could devolve 
 his duties both to God and man. By these means it 
 was, that the requirements of God came to be lost 
 sight of, and the claims of the world to be utterly 
 neglected. Now this, I need not remind you, is sub- 
 stantial Popery ; the very essence of that system con- 
 sists in undertaking to exempt its votaries from their 
 personal responsibility, in finding a price for every du- 
 ty and a discharge from every claim of individual ac- 
 countableness. Brethren, we pride ourselves in our 
 Protestantism ; but from how much of that enormous 
 system have we been rescued ! For just as much as 
 still cleaves to us, just so much are we eflTectually dis- 
 abled from " doing the first works" and emulating the 
 first days of the Christian church. Now judging from 
 the past, we should say that the Reformation rescued 
 us from only a part of Popery — from that part which 
 
A SERMON. 203 
 
 blinded men to a sense of their personal concern in 
 the affairs of their own salvation. But while the Prot- 
 estant wonders at the infatuation of the Papist, in im- 
 agining that any thing can exempt from the necessity 
 of personal diligence in seeking his own salvation, 
 are not we objects of equal wonder in acting so gen- 
 erally as if we thought any thing could exempt us 
 from the duty of personal activity in seeking the sal- 
 vation of others ? If the one is Popish, equally so in 
 spirit is the other also. And oh ! glorious as the Re- 
 formation was for the church, in rescuing its members 
 from the grasp of a spiritual despotism and making 
 each one feel the necessity of personal faith and per- 
 sonal holiness, as glorious will that reformation be for 
 the world, which shall complete the work of deliver- 
 ance by rescuing them also from the grasp of selfish- 
 ness, and making each one feel his accountableness to 
 God for personal activity in the work of human salva- 
 tion. Never till the Christian feels himself as much 
 ordained to diffuse the Gospel, as the minister is or- 
 dained to preach it — never till a church regards itself 
 as a society organised expressly for that diffusion — will 
 it be aware of its vast capabilities in the hand of God 
 for blessing the world. What but this feeling in the 
 hearts of a few has originated all the Christian instru- 
 mentality, which is at this moment at work 7 And if 
 sense of responsibility for personal activity in only a 
 few instances has led to so much, what might we not 
 hope under God from the individual and united activity 
 of the universal church ? 
 
 Whatsoever things are useful, then, in personal 
 Christian activity, aim to accomplish. 
 
 IV. But all this supposes a deep solicitude for hu- 
 man salvation ; he who sympathises with Christ in ac- 
 tively seeking the salvation of men, must have sympa- 
 thised with him first in his compassion for human 
 misery. Then, fourthly — whatever is tender in ChriS' . 
 tian solicitude for the salvation of others, cherish it. 
 
 The cross is the utterance of divine compassion ; 
 and the church collected around it is the proof of its 
 
204 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE I 
 
 power. The compassion, which bled on the cross, is 
 supposed to be in the hearts of all its members. They 
 know the wretchedness of sin, into which the sinner 
 sunk ; they look forward in imagination to the end of 
 his course — hear already his doom pronounced — see 
 the pit open to receive him — and hear by anticipation 
 his hopeless cries for deliverance. And the deep 
 anxiety they should feel to snatch the fire-brands from 
 the flame, and to quench them in the blood of Christ, 
 should impart a depth of tenderness to their tone, an 
 earnestness of solicitude to their manner, and a com- 
 bination and energy to their efforts, which, by the 
 blessing of God, nothing should be able to resist. 
 
 But who feels this ? Who sympathises with Christ 
 in his travail for souls ? How little do we feel with 
 God on that particular point, on which (if on no other) 
 the strongest bond of union might be supposed to exist 
 —-compassion for depraved, guilty and perishing men ! 
 Who is there, that makes the burden of a dying world 
 his own ? — that goes about as Paul did, with " great 
 heaviness and continual sorrow of heart," oppressed 
 and borne down by the weight of its woes ? Jesus 
 wept over the guilt and obduracy of Jerusalem- — a sin- 
 gle city ; who is there prepared to mingle their tears 
 with his over this city — over the guilt and impending 
 destruction of a thousand cities— of a world ? Abra- 
 ham and Moses, David and Jeremiah and Paul evinced 
 the tenderness and depth of their compassion for men 
 by tears, entreaties, and restless anguish of soul ; who 
 is there now, that can say, " Rivers of water run 
 down mine eyes because they keep not thy law ?" 
 who now is heard exclaiming, " Oh ! that my head 
 were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I 
 might weep day and night, for the slain of the daugh- 
 ter of my people ?" Who now asseverates as with 
 an oath, " I could wish myself accursed from Christ 
 for my brethren and kinsmen's sake ?" 
 
 Christians ! are there not souls perishing in the very 
 midst of you ? Do they not meet with you every Sab- 
 bath — sit by your side every service } Have they not 
 
A SERMON. 205 
 
 done so for years ? Are they not yet unsaved ? 
 Have not the very sermons, which have proved to you 
 a " savor of life unto life," proved to them a " sa- 
 vor of death unto death?" Has not mercy wept 
 over them in vain ? Has not Jesus Christ been " evi- 
 dently set forth crucified before them" in vain ? Can 
 you conceive any thing more deserving your deep 
 commiseration ? You will have to appear as witnesses 
 against them ; can you conceive of any prospect more 
 appalling ? Oh ! look at them in imagination, till 
 your eyes fill with tears, till your hearts fill with pity 
 and yearn over them. Pray for them. Your Lord 
 has died for them ; will you not pray for them ? It is 
 your interest to do so. At present they constitute 
 your weakness, your obstacles to enlarged prosperity ; 
 they impair the effect of every sermon delivered, of 
 every prayer offered, whereas if converted they might 
 constitute your strength. Pray for them. It is 
 your office ; you are to be intercessors for them, as 
 Christ is for you. Pray for them. It shall be your 
 triumph ; for your prayers offered in faith shall " avail 
 much." Hold meetings of prayer for them ; in that 
 act alone, angels would see occasion to rejoice in the 
 presence of God, and in its glorious results Christ 
 would " see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied." 
 
 V. But it is impossible to feel and act thus for 
 some, without being conscious of similar solicitude for 
 others ; Christian compassion knows nothing of geo- 
 graphical limits ; the cross vibrates to the sounds of 
 human misery in every part of the earth, and the 
 heart of the Christian is to thrill in sympathy with it. 
 Then, fifthly — whatever is lofty in Christian enter ' 
 prise^ aim to sympathise with and promote it. 
 
 After what we have said we cannot be supposed to 
 mean that the duties of the family are to be neglected, 
 or the duties of the particular church to which we be- 
 long overlooked, for any other objects however mag- 
 nificent. Nor need they. Our duty is in this respect 
 coincident with our most enlarged desires ; for by fill- 
 ing the sphere immediately around us first, we are 
 
206 CHRISTIAN excellence: 
 
 multiplying our agencies for wider and still wider in- 
 fluence. And not only so ; such are the gracious ar- 
 rangements of the scheme of mercy, that by earnest 
 supplications at the throne of grace the obscurest be- 
 liever can touch and set in motion an almighty agency 
 ^for the good of the world ; such the facilities which 
 exist at present for the operations of Christian benefi- 
 cence, that by contributing his mite the poorest Christian 
 can become an instrument of good to the ends of the 
 earth and to nations yet unborn; and such the vast 
 and varied machinery which that beneficence has put 
 into action, that the humblest church is summoned to 
 its part, and invited to share in the honour of restoring 
 a ruined world. 
 
 And will you not aspire to partake of it ? Can you 
 ascend that mount of vision, which takes in the field 
 of the world, without marking how vast the multi- 
 tudes, how urgent and awful their condition, and how 
 momentous the results depending on our hastening to 
 save them ? Can you mark how uniformly God en- 
 larges the successes of his people in proportion as they 
 enlarge the sphere of their activity, without feeling a 
 holy determination that " no man shall take your 
 crown ?" Can you remember the magnitude of the 
 work to be accomplished, and the claims which the Sa- 
 viour has upon you, without feeling the strong neces- 
 sity of entire consecration to the service, and wishing 
 that you could multiply your means a thousand-fold ? 
 Oh ! whatever there is ennobling in Christian enter- 
 prise, be ambitious to mingle in and practically to as- 
 sist it. 
 
 VI. But all this supposes adequate motives ; and 
 accordingly, if the text does not contain, it at least 
 suggests them. " If there be any virtue and if there 
 be any praise, think on these things." In other words 
 — whatever there is suhlime and animaling in Chris- 
 tian motive^ live under its ever-present influence. 
 
 Are we not apt to act from the lowest allowable, 
 rather than from the highest possible motives to Chris- 
 tian devotedness } and is not this one reason why our 
 
A SERMON. 207 
 
 instrumentality is so feeble and inefficient ? — whereas 
 the apostle here seems to invoke all that is inspiring 
 and noble from every part of the universe. " If there 
 be any virtue and if there be any praise," he intimates 
 that the church has heard of it, has had it, and that we 
 are to live as in its presence — that whatever the world 
 has known of great and good has belonged to the 
 church — that its influence goes on accumulating from 
 age to age, and is devolved on each successive gen- 
 eration in the church, so that we in the present day are 
 living under the collective influences of all the past, 
 and moving under an impulsive power greater than 
 that of any preceding age. " Ye are come," says the 
 apostle, " to mount Zion, to the city of the living God, 
 the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable com- 
 pany of angels, to the general assembly and church 
 of the first-born, which are written in heaven." 
 
 Your union with a Christian church brings you into 
 connection with all that was great, and under the in- 
 fluence of all that was good, in the Jewish church. 
 True, the temple is gone, and the economy abolished ; 
 but all its proper and mighty influence is existing still. 
 Nothing that belonged to it existed for itself. Every 
 judgment that made it awful looked on beyond its own 
 time, and is frowning still. " All these things hap- 
 pened unto them for ensamples ; and they are written 
 for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world 
 are come." Each of its prophets spoke less for his 
 own time than for ours ; so that for us in eflect he is 
 prophesying still. " Not unto themselves," says an 
 apostle, " but unto us they did minister the things 
 which are now reported to us" by the Gospel. Every 
 event which distinguished them is still in actual 
 operation, diffusing the elements of other events and 
 propagating its influence somewhere. And where 
 shall we look for it, but within the limits of the Chris- 
 tian church ? The Bible is the true conductor of all the 
 holy influences the church has ever known. From it 
 the Jewish church received " whatsoever things were 
 true and lovely and of good report" in the preceding 
 
208 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : 
 
 economy. In that church, it may be truly said, Abel, 
 " though dead, was ever speaking ;" and Enoch, " the 
 seventh from Adam," was ever " prophesying of the 
 coming of the Lord." There the patriarchs came and 
 lived again for their posterity ; there the rod of Aaron 
 was ever blooming, the manna ever fresh, the rod of 
 Moses ever working and repeating its miracles ; there 
 Sinai reared its awful head, and from its thundering 
 top its law was ever demanding for God the heart of 
 the world, and demanding for every man the love of 
 all the rest. In the same sense the Bible has now dis- 
 charged all the accumulated moral influence of the 
 last economy into the present ; the Christian church 
 has received the whole. Here in effect the temple 
 still stands ; though in a literal respect not one stone 
 of that sacred pile remains upon another, in the hal- 
 lowed influence which it sheds over the church of God 
 it still lifts up its awful front ; its fires still burn, its vic- 
 tims still bleed, its " day of atonement" still returns. 
 We behold them now ; we shall see them in eternity. 
 All the great events and solemn transactions of the 
 Old Testament may be regarded has having taken place 
 in the Christian church — within these walls. Here, in 
 the ministry of the Gospel, they do come, and occur 
 again. Here its miracles are still convincing, and its 
 angelic messengers still appearing. Here Moses is 
 still teaching self-renunciation, by wishing himself 
 "blotted out from the book" of life for the good of 
 others — and David leading the intercessions of the 
 church for the salvation of the ends of the earth — and 
 the prophets still " testifying of the sufferings of Christ 
 and the glory that should follow." And what is more, 
 here they are all present at once. Truths and events, 
 which for the Jewish church were scattered thinly over 
 a long tract of time, are here collected to a point and 
 made operative at once ; ages, with the men who 
 made them memorable — and dispensations, with all the 
 miraculous facts and sublime disclosures which distin- 
 guished them — pass in quick and close succession be- 
 fore us, and we feel ourselves standing uilder the eye 
 
A SERBION. 209 
 
 and influence of the whole. And more still ; great as 
 was the influence which that economy was calculated 
 to exercise during its actual existence, that influence 
 has gone on gathering strength with each successive 
 age, and is comparably mightier for us, than .for 
 those who lived in its immediate presence. All that 
 was evangelical and immortal in its principles was far 
 in advance of the time then present, and was destined 
 to act chiefly on the future. Who does not feel, for 
 instance, that the lofty aspirations of the psalmist for 
 the universal diflusion of the truth, and the splendid 
 visions of prophecy in which those aspirations were 
 seen realised, are only as yet beginning to produce 
 their legitimate effect, and that with every year that 
 effect under God is likely to increase ? 
 
 But together with all this influence from the former 
 economy, there comes a mightier influence peculiar to 
 the present — a power so irresistible, that wherever it 
 has had free course it has swept away the thrones of 
 idolatry, changed the aspect of society, and left its 
 sacred impress upon every object it has touched. Ours 
 is THE CROSS — the great " power of God" — not only 
 absorbing and concentrating all the influences of the 
 past, but charged with a new power direct from God — 
 containing in its bosom all the springs of benevolence 
 the world will ever know, an energy of expansive 
 goodness capable of replenishing the universe with 
 light and with love. Here God is seen enriching the 
 world with a gift, which leaves us nothing to ask for 
 more. Here Christ is seen taking the world to his 
 heart, seizing our nature as it trembles over the bottom- 
 less gulph, assuming it into union with his own, taking 
 our place under the descending stroke of justice and 
 suffering in our stead. Here angels, drawn from heav- 
 en, bend to gaze, and labour to comprehend the mystery 
 of incarnate love. Here the infinite Spirit himself, 
 drawn down from the heights of his everlasting dwell- 
 ing place, descends as " a rushing mighty wind," and 
 the cries of penitents are heard around. Apostles 
 come, to lose themselves in wonder, and exclaim, 
 14 
 
210 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : 
 
 " Herein is love !" — and to surcharge their hearts with 
 a benevolence, which impels them to the ends of the 
 earth, testifying that " the Father hath sent the Son to 
 be the Saviour of .the world." 
 
 And what do we behold in this result, but the ap- 
 propriate answer to the prayer of Christ — " Sanctify 
 them through thy truth ; thy word is truth." The 
 sanctification he prayed for was not their personal ho- 
 liness (though that was indispensable,) but their rela- 
 tive or official consecration ; " As thou hast sent me 
 into the world," he adds, " even so have I also sent 
 them into the world, and for their sakes I sanctify my- 
 self" or devote myself " that they also might" (in the 
 same sense) " be sanctified" or devoted '' through the 
 truth" — that standing under the action of my cross, 
 feeling the full influence of that mystery of compas- 
 sion, beholding how I thy Son " the brightness of thy 
 glory" there devote and set myself apart as a sacrifice 
 for the manifestation of thine infinite love, they may 
 feel impelled to devote themselves with a similar en- 
 tireness of consecration to the proclamation of that 
 love through the world. Oh ! if the influence of prom- 
 ises, comparatively vague in their meaning and indefi- 
 nitely distant in their fulfilment, could produce under 
 God the martyr piety of Abel, the dauntless fidelity of 
 Enoch, the persevering obedience of Noah, the mis- 
 sionary pilgrimage of Abraham, the self-sacrificing 
 zeal of Moses — if the comparatively feeble influences 
 of the Jewish dispensation could create under God 
 those splendid constellations of excellence, which glow 
 and burn in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews — 
 who shall set limits to that moral greatness and that 
 Christian devotedness, which the mightier influences 
 of the Gospel shall produce ^ To know that a whole 
 economy has existed for us (that is, for the church of 
 which we are members,) that for us its heroes lived 
 and its martyrs died — to know that for us that econo- 
 my of a thousand years was at last dismissed, as for 
 us it had at first been called into being, leaving to us 
 all its rich accumulations of inspired wisdom, God-like 
 
A SERMON. 211 
 
 example, and moral wealth — this alone should surely 
 be sufficient to teach us the greatness of living for the 
 future, and to kindle in our hearts unquenchable desire 
 of transmitting the great inheritance to those who suc- 
 ceed us, not merely unimpaired, but augmented by the 
 influence of our own devotedness. But to know that 
 that which displaced that economy was the personal 
 advent, the actual sacrifice, the visible humiliation of 
 the Son of God — that the eternal Father should have 
 '' so loved us, as to give" from his bosom " the ex- 
 press image of his person" — should surely come on 
 us with an effect, which should leave us no power but 
 that of obedience, no wish but that of multiplying our 
 means of serving him ten thousand-fold. Before that 
 gift could have been bestowed, the ocean of the divine 
 benevolence must have been stirred in all its unfath- 
 omable depths ; should the shallow stream of our grat- 
 itude be only rippled upon the surface ? Of all his 
 infinite resources He freely gave the sum ; of the 
 mite-like penury of our nature, shall we return him 
 only a fraction? To know that He " who was rich" 
 should " for our sakes have become poor," that the 
 second Person in the mysterious Godhead should have 
 personally advanced to our rescue, descending from 
 one depth of humiliation to another, till he had reach- 
 ed a depth which made it impossible for^divine conde- 
 scension itself to stoop lower — this is knowledge, 
 which, as it has moved all heaven, should surely be 
 sufficient to move and agitate all earth. To hear that 
 event succeeded by the signs and sounds of another 
 advent, the advent of the Holy Spirit — to find that thus 
 each of the three Persons in the awful and mysterious 
 Godhead is infinitely interested in our recovery, and that 
 so intimately is the compassion of the triune God set upon 
 the object, that no truth is left untaught, no miracle of 
 mercy unperformed, no angel or agency unemployed, 
 no part of the universe unmoved, no perfection of the 
 divine nature unconcerned, no aspect of the divine 
 character unexhibited, which is in the least essential 
 
212 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : 
 
 to its accomplishment — this should leave no portion of 
 the church at rest, no means within its fartliest reach 
 untaxed, for the attainment of the same glorious end. 
 To find that this is manifestly the divine design, that 
 Christ as the Head of the church on earth authorita- 
 tively requires that each individual Christian surrender 
 himself and live supremely for the conversion of oth- 
 ers, that these unite into particular societies for the 
 conversion of greater numbers still, that all these soci- 
 eties in every land combine in simplicity of purpose 
 for the salvation of the entire race — to find that as the 
 President of the universe he commands and combines 
 the sympathies and instrumentality of the church in 
 heaven with that of the church on earth, assigning to 
 angels the time and the place for their agency in prov- 
 idence concurring with his movements both in provi- 
 dence and in grace — and to find that in his mediatorial 
 capacity, he even adds the presence and the power of 
 the Holy Spirit himself — surely this should leave no 
 Christian unemployed, no church unrelated, no agency 
 we could invoke on earth or in heaven to be absent 
 from our combined endeavours to carry it into effect. 
 And to find that this design is as practical as it is obli- 
 gatory — to hear other Christians avowing their readi- 
 ness to be messengers or martyrs, honoured or accurs- 
 ed, any thing* or nothing, so that they might be instru- 
 mental in promoting it — to see churches selecting and 
 sending out such men to carry the Gospel forward, 
 and other churches emulating and imitating their ex- 
 ample — to find that each convert as he comes into the 
 church is expected to be ever at his post, and to find 
 that each church as it comes into being is expected to 
 help forward in the universal object-^to see that each 
 church is expected to join in the triumph of all, so that 
 the success of one church is the rejoicing of all, and 
 that if they suspend their efforts for a time, it is only 
 to prostrate themselves in prayer for that aid which 
 the Spirit alone can impart and which furnishes them 
 with energy and means for more vigorous endeavours 
 
♦ A SERMON. 213 
 
 and louder triumphs still— this is a spectacle, which 
 should surely leave no other question on the lips of 
 every individual Christian, than " Where is my post ? 
 What shall I do ?" and no other law for the church 
 universal than that of entire consecration. Now this 
 was the prayer of Christ, not for the apostles only, but 
 for them also (he adds) " which shall believe on me 
 through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, 
 Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be 
 one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast 
 sent me ;" finding themselves acted on by the pres- 
 ence of " whatsoever things are pure and lovely and 
 of good report," by hallowed and benignant influences 
 from from every quarter and from the remotest period 
 of the church, finding themselves surrounded by lofty 
 examples of Christian devotedness, and ever standing 
 in the presence of his wondrous cross, he prayed that 
 they might feel theniselves impelled to make his con- 
 secration the model and motive of their own, that God 
 might be glorified and man saved. 
 
 Be it remembered, also, that there is a sense, in 
 which we of the present day sustain the accumulated 
 responsibility of the eighteen centuries, which have 
 revolved since that prayer was uttered. In each suc- 
 ceeding age, " the truth" to which that prayer refer- 
 red (that is, the Gospel) has been exercising its conse- 
 crating influence, and instrumentally creating eminent 
 examples of moral power — examples of conscientious- 
 ness, which treated no duty as unwelcome, and which 
 evaded no obligation— of fidelity, which spared no sin, 
 nor allowed any iniquity (however splendid and pow- 
 erful) to pass unrebuked — examples of courage, which 
 cowered before no opposition and shrunk from no con- 
 flict — of enlarged benevolence, which knew no limits 
 to its plans and toils and travels for the welfare of 
 man — examples of Christian self-abandonment, which 
 swore eternal devotedness to Christ, though in the 
 presence of the flames which were kindled for its mar- 
 tyrdom — and of love for man, which even in those 
 flames wept over the misery of the world and agonis- 
 
214 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : » 
 
 ed in prayer for its recovery. These examples are 
 not lost. Though their memory is not embalmed in 
 the volume of inspiration, their influence has been real- 
 ly added to that of patriarchs and prophets, of apos- 
 tles and primitive saints. Whether v^e are conscious 
 of its stimulating power or not, we are all at this mo- 
 ment reaping its advantages, and are consequently 
 standing under the weight of an increased responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 And to this is also to be added the influence acting 
 on us from the prophetic disclosures of the future. 
 The torch, which the hand of prophecy holds up, 
 throws its beams onward to the consummation of all 
 things. By this light we catch glimpses of noble ex- 
 amples yet to arise, and of glories yet to dawn. 
 Many are seen " running to and fro" with the mes- 
 sage of salvation, multitudes flocking to embrace it, 
 angels pouring destruction on its foes, mountainous ob- 
 stacles rolled from its path, nations walking in its light, 
 heaven and earth celebrating its triumphs, and Christ 
 encircled by his redeemed myriads and receiving the 
 homage of the renewed universe. One of the ob- 
 vious intention of these disclosures is, that by the cer- 
 tain prospect they aflTord of ultimate success the 
 church may be encouraged to act out its divine design, 
 and to throw all its sanctified energies into the object 
 of the world's recovery. This is the eflect, which 
 they have had on many of its members in every age ; 
 " having seen them afar off*," and caught their inspi- 
 ration, the martyr for Christ has embraced the block, 
 the minister has startled the slumbering church, the 
 missionary has gone forth to arouse the slumbering 
 world ; the saint, like David, has exclaimed in death, 
 " Let the whole earth be filled with his glory" — and 
 the church has echoed with the response of thousands 
 adding, " Amen and Amen." And for us the light of 
 prophecy still burns, that on us it may produce the 
 same effect. 
 
 And shall it not produce it ? " If there be any 
 virtue," here there is nothing else ; and shall we not 
 
A SERMON. 215 
 
 copy it ? " If there be any praise," here nothing but 
 praise awaits the devoted Christian ; and shall we not 
 aspire to win it ? Oh ! if there existed a certain 
 method of extinguishing all human misery and replen- 
 ishing the world with joy, would you not desire to pro- 
 mote it ? Such a method there is. All the treasures 
 of eternity have been lavished on it ; " all creation is 
 groaning and travailing in pain together" for want of 
 it ; and all the voices of heaven and earth are urging 
 you to take part in it. If you knew of a scheme so 
 vast in its sweep as to subordinate all other plans to its 
 own designs, so varied in its workings as to demand 
 the strenuous activity of every agent in the universe, 
 and yet so self-sufRcient as absolutely to stand in need 
 of none, would you not count it the highest honour to 
 take part in it ? Need I remind you that such a plan 
 there is ? — ^that in the arrangements of that plan a post 
 of activity is assigned to each of you, and that in that 
 post (which awaited your coming into the world,) the 
 whole of your consecrated influence was bespoke from 
 •eternity ? If we could inform you of an end, so great 
 that all other ends stand to it only in the relation 
 of means, so lofty that there is nothing higher, so 
 glorious that every thing else is honoured by serving 
 it, would you not pant to be identified with it ? Need 
 I remind you that such an end there is ? — that the one 
 point, the sole end, to which every thing in the universe 
 of God is tending, is to " the praise of the glory of 
 his grace" — ^that apart from that end, nothing is great 
 or good — that connected with it, nothing is mean or 
 little — ^that it hallows whatever it touches, and enobles 
 whatever it employs — that consequently it is our high- 
 est wisdom to form such a plan, each one for himself, 
 as shall link us on to that infinite ultimate end as its 
 humble willing agents, and as shall appropriate all our 
 moments and all our powers to this grand design ? If we 
 could tell you of a day when all the holy excellence in 
 the universe shall be collected together in the presence 
 of God, and all the holy beings in the universe shall be 
 convened together to admire and to praise it, and when 
 
216 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : 
 
 God himself shall applaud it in language with which 
 eternity shall never cease to resound, would you not 
 cheerfully give all the world (were it yours) to share 
 in the transports of that day ? Need I remind you, 
 that such a day there will be ? — that Christ himself 
 will preside over its transactions, and that inconceivable 
 eternal blessing will be his certain award to every one 
 present devoted to his service ? If in the revolutions 
 of time there should come a period, when events should 
 thicken, when all the agencies of providence should 
 seem urged into unusual activity, and all things seem 
 rushing to that final issue, would you not long to live 
 in that period and to take part in its scenes ? Need I 
 remind you that that time has come — that that period 
 is the present ? Brethren, we stand in the midst of a 
 scheme, which unites us with all the past, and is in pro- 
 gross with all the future. Upon our heads the rela- 
 tions, influences, and consequent responsibilities of all 
 the past meet and rest ; and to us the ends of the 
 earth, the remotest generations of time, and all the 
 holy beings and interests in the universe are looking 
 for corresponding fidelity and zeal. Whoever may 
 deem it necessary to form plans of independent action^ 
 we are surely exempted from that necessity ; for we 
 ourselves form part of a plan, in which every beings 
 from the loftiest archangel to the lowliest saint, has his 
 course assigned, and every holy act its appointed effect^ 
 so that the only solicitude left for us is how best we 
 may satisfy its high requirements. Boast who may, of 
 extensive relations and influences ; this plan connects 
 us with every being and agency in the past, and places 
 in our hand lines of interminable relation and influ- 
 ence with all the universal and endless future. Trem- 
 ble who may, under a sense of responsibility ; upon 
 us " the ends of the world are come." Our very 
 position consecrates us to the loftiest service, clothes us 
 with the weightiest obligations, surrounds us with anx- 
 ious eyes and cries of solicitude from every quarter of 
 the divine dominion. For the church to be faithful 
 NOW, is to save the world. Now, if ever, " the weak 
 
A SERMON. 217 
 
 should be as David, and David as an angel of the 
 Lord." Now, if ever, prayer should wrestle — liber- 
 ality should bring forth its richest offerings, its final 
 mite — the church should unite, and clothe itself with 
 zeal. For now, if ever, crowns may be gained, and 
 kingdoms won, and a world in the crisis of its danger 
 may be saved — crowns to be cast at the feet of Christ, 
 kingdoms of which Christ is the rightful Lord, and a 
 world from which he is destined to derive his richest 
 revenue of praise for ever. 
 
 May God command his blessing. — Amen. 
 
 Christian friends, I may suppose that nearly all of 
 you are acquainted with the particular circumstances, 
 which have called us together this morning. For the 
 information of such of you as may not be acquainted 
 with the occasion of our convening, I will read you 
 the following statement : — 
 
 " This chapel was enlarged last year ; but the altera- 
 tions could not then be completed. Besides the sittings 
 obtained for adults, the gallery built for the Sabbath 
 school will hold two hundred and sixty-eight children ; 
 the ceiling, gas, and pulpit, are entirely new ; the 
 substantial repairs have been heavy and extensive. It 
 was stated last year, that the expenses would only 
 amount to about eight hundred pounds, but they have 
 exceeded that sum. The church and congregation 
 have given so liberally, that if about one hundred and 
 thirty pounds are collected this day, the whole of the 
 expenses will be liquidated. It is hoped that this sum 
 will be raised before the day closes. And an earnest 
 appeal is made to the friends of the Redeemer now 
 assembled, on behalf of so Christian and legitimate 
 an object. If all contribute, (and all can give in pro- 
 portion to their means,) the amount required will be 
 realised." 
 
 As an appropriate conclusion to the remarks which 
 have been advanced this morning, and in reference to 
 
218 CHRISTIAN EXCELLENCE : A SERMON. 
 
 the collection now to be made, I might have added, 
 had your time permitted — Whatsoever things are noble 
 in Christian liberality, emulate and exceed them. I 
 will, however, add but one sentence in addition to this 
 statement. If, as we have remarked, in the arrange- 
 ments of the mediatorial kingdom a post of duty is 
 assigned for every Christian, it is as true that at that 
 post there is a duty assigned for his every moment ; the 
 duty of this moment is Christian liberality. 
 
ESSAYS, &c, 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 Not long ago a proposition was made to prepare a 
 book of asbestos, whose pages should record the annals 
 of the world ; and as the material is incombustible, 
 and would survive the fires of the last day, the volume 
 was to be called " The Book of Eternity." Vain as- 
 piration ! the true book of eternity is already extant — 
 the Bible ; and with this vast superiority over the hu- 
 man invention, that it is mysteriously related to a two- 
 fold eternity : it is the gift of the past eternity to time, 
 and will finally be restored by time to the eternity 
 which is yet to come. It is a leaf from the book of the 
 divine decrees ; it reveals thoughts which were revolv- 
 ed from everlasting in the mind of God ; in its march 
 through time it scatters those thoughts like seeds, 
 whose fruit is to be gathered in eternity. It is the 
 voice of one eternity speaking to another, for the ben- 
 efit of every listening child of time and heir of im- 
 mortality. It has never been out of the hand of the 
 Eternal ; though he graciously presents it to us as an 
 open book, and turns it over, page by page, to the 
 willing eye, yet it will hereafter appear, that he has 
 never allowed it to pass out of his keeping, but has al- 
 ways held it in the hollow of his hand. This alone 
 will account for its preservation. 
 
 So copiously did the Fathers quote from the New 
 Testament, especially from the gospels, that had that 
 
220 THE BIBLE : 
 
 portion of Scripture been destroyed, their writings, it 
 is said, would have supplied and restored the whole 
 again. That destruction will eventually take place ; 
 but when the final conflagration shall have reduced the 
 material of the Bible to ashes, the indestructible truths 
 will be found transcribed by the finger of the Spirit, 
 and enshrined in the hearts of the renewed. The dis- 
 embodied spirit of truth will appear before the throne 
 of God, and beholding in every face the reflection of 
 her own image, will justly claim them all for her off- 
 spring. 
 
 There are certain places on the face of the globe 
 which mankind seem, by general consent, to have se- 
 lected for the theatres of great events. Such, for in- 
 stance, is the Plain of Esdrelom, the battle-field of 
 empires, where every nation of the old world has seen 
 its banners wet with the dew of Hermon. And such 
 the Mediterranean, the naumachia of the nations, 
 where empire has often been lost and won. But the 
 Bible is the arena of more and higher conflicts still ; It 
 is at once the object of contest, the armoury which 
 supplies the weapons, and the chosen ground of strug- 
 gle. Why has it witnessed more frequent and fierce 
 encounters than any other object on the face of the 
 earth ? Ask why is the rock of Gibraltar an object of 
 fierce contention in every war with the power that 
 holds it. Why is the pass of Thermopylas steeped to 
 the centre with blood ? The Bible is the frontier for- 
 tress of the church; all the armies of error, in every 
 age, have beleaguered it ; but the sons of truth, who 
 hold it for God, have received it with this address, 
 " Here stand, and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against you ;" and they " loved not their lives unto 
 the death." 
 
 The Bible is the true prophet of hope. The books 
 of pagan antiquity sung only of the golden-aged past ; 
 for the future, their moral was despair. Like the 
 stern-lights of a ship, the radiance they threw fell only 
 on the track behind. The Bible builds on the future ; 
 the chorus of all its songs is of a glory to come. In 
 
AN ESSAY. g21 
 
 the mid-winter of humanity it has gone on sowing 
 light for the righteous — seeds of the sun. And in the 
 captivity of the church, when the daughter of Sion sat 
 disconsolate in her chains, the voice of the Bible has 
 ever been, " Arise, and shine." No dell of Tempe, 
 no garden of the Hesperides, no vale of Cashmere, 
 no slope on the banks of Genesareth, where the sea- 
 sons met and danced together, ever dazzled with more 
 golden fruit, or charmed with fairer verdure and richer 
 fragrance, than the Bible presents in the moral land- 
 scape of the future. 
 
 " O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true ! 
 Scenes of accomplished bliss ! which who can see,' 
 Though but in distant prospect, and not feel 
 His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy ? 
 Rivers of gladness water all the earth, 
 And clothe all climes with beauty. * * * * 
 The various seasons woven into one, 
 And that one season an eternal spring." 
 
 To the Bible, the great philosophers, legislators, and 
 founders of ancient sects were indebted, directly or 
 indirectly, for nearly every thing excellent in their 
 codes and systems. 
 
 " Hither, as to their fountain, other stars 
 Repairing, in their golden urns drew light." 
 
 A live coal from off its altar, quickly transmitted, — 
 like the torch passed from hand to hand in the lamp- 
 game of the Grecian youth — kindled the light of Per- 
 sia, Greece, and Rome. Hence, doubtless, Plato drew 
 the dim conception which he is supposed to have en- 
 tertained, of the necessity of a divine Mediator; 
 whether from an indistinct echo of the patriarchal 
 faith, or from rays refracted from the Hebrew prophets, 
 through a Phoenician medium, it is not easy to deter- 
 mine. Probably both co-operated, with his own deep 
 sense of necessity, in partially unveiling the awful 
 truth to this divine philosopher, this " plant from the 
 
222 THE BIBLE : 
 
 wreck of Paradise, thrown on the shores of idolatrous 
 . Greece." 
 
 The Bible is distinguished from every other book 
 professedly inspired — from Shasters of the Brahmin 
 and the Koran of Mahomet — by its earnest commen- 
 dations of knowledge. Imposture fears the light ; the 
 Bible courts and creates it. Not only does it extol 
 knowledge as a glory, it excites a thirst for it, and 
 commands us to seek after it as a most sacred duty. 
 
 And, O, what a field for contemplation does it lay 
 open ! It is the history of a world, of our own world 
 — its morning, its meridian, its many changes, its pro- 
 spective close. The countless multitudes of antiquity 
 pass before our eyes, the heroes, and tyrants, and 
 martyrs of old time, their enormous wealth, their glit- 
 tering palaces, and mighty cities. We hear the tumult 
 of their armies, and the fame of their kings proclaim- 
 ed, — Assyrian and Persian, Babylonian, Egyptian, 
 and Mede ; and all is suddenly swept away. Another 
 king or conqueror comes, and another army, more nu- 
 merous than the last, and that, too, perishes before our 
 eyes ; and another after rises up, and then another. 
 And all these men were our fathers, whose virtues 
 and vices are recorded in blazing letters, and whose 
 punishment or reward is made known to the uttermost 
 regions of the earth, for the benefit and guidance of 
 us their sons. Were it but the ruin of a history it 
 would be venerable ; were it a fiction, only it would 
 be a grand one ; but it is complete and true, it is full 
 of general as well as individual interest, it is replete 
 with simple and manly narration, with passionate ap- 
 peals, and overwhelming eloquence. It is addressed 
 to ourselves, it is connected with us and our well-be- 
 ing ; it gives us a story of the past, and a lesson for 
 the future. There is nothing in Homer which can 
 mate with the soaring spirit of its poetry ; there is 
 nothing in Virgil which can equal the gentle pathos of 
 its strains ; Dante is less awful, and Ariosto less wild ; 
 even Milton, who has topped the sublimity of all other 
 writers, and Shakspeare, who has surpassed the united 
 
AN ESSAY. 223 
 
 world in prodigality of imagery and variety of thought, 
 must yield to the infinite grandeur and beauty which 
 are impressed on the living oracles, or scattered in ex- 
 uberance over every page. 
 
 I have said the Bible is the history of our world ; 
 but this is not saying enough, its subject is the fate of 
 worlds, the revolutions of heaven and of earth — des- 
 truction and restoration on the vastest scale. It is 
 more than the history of all this, it is the philosophy 
 of the history ; and, more than this, the theology of 
 the philosophy. But in the remarks I have made, I 
 have only ascended the steps of the temple, the hal- 
 lowed interior is yet to be viewed. For the present, it 
 only remains for us to admire the manner in which the 
 Bible embodies its great doctrines, and inculcates its 
 great lessons. It narrates interesting facts, and teaches 
 by example. And here I shall avail myself of a par- 
 agraph in Mr. Binney's " Discourses on the Practical 
 Power of Faith :" " We are more likely to be success- 
 ful in our inculcation of duty, if we not only state 
 what it is right to do, but actually show how it has 
 been done. The mind, in such cases, seems to have 
 the advantage of another sense — it not only hears, but 
 it sees ; the understanding is not only put in possession 
 of truth, but the fancy is furnished with illustrations 
 and images. Many a man who could not comprehend 
 the arguments for a particular providence, can feel the 
 proof as seen in the lives of Abraham or Joseph. He 
 whose weakness would be overcome by temptation or 
 calamity, could he remember nothing but the abstract 
 precepts of the preacher, may be stimulated to exert 
 both firmness and faith, by knowing that others have 
 been equally tempted, without sacrficing their virtue, 
 and equally afflicted, without losing their confidence. 
 For this very purpose, we imagine, has the Holy Spirit 
 included so much of an historical nature in the inspired 
 volume. On the same account, our divine Lord con- 
 veyed most of his instructions in parables, embodying, 
 in the intelligible actions of men, the particular truth 
 he intended to enforce. This was emphatically 
 
224 AN ESSAY. 
 
 ' teaching the multitude.' The mass of mankind feel, 
 rather than reason ; they arrive at truth by sensation, 
 rather than by argument ; the voice of nature from 
 within, responds to the voice of nature from without. 
 They cannot go along with you, perhaps, in your 
 demonstration of a principle ; but they can compre- 
 hend the principle itself. They can learn nothing 
 from a laboured disquisition on the beauty of virtue ; 
 but they can both see its beauty and feel its attractions, 
 if presented before them in action and character. 
 Now, by becoming familiar with the history of holy 
 men, you will become familiar with the principles of 
 religion itself; for it is these, in fact, you are required 
 to contemplate, embodied in obvious and striking illus- 
 trations." On this account I am pleased to notice a 
 book called, " Interesting Narratives from the Sacred 
 Volume, Illustrated and Improved," by the Rev. J. 
 Belcher, a volume of which I have only left myself 
 room to say, that it is calculated to interest and instruct 
 the young, to invigorate the best principles of the 
 Christian, and to aid the Christian minister in his pre- 
 paration for the pulpit, by giving him a connected 
 bird's-eye view of the many Scripture narratives of 
 which it treats. 
 
DIVINE CONDESCENSION. 
 
 Some of the most magnificent expressions of Scripture 
 are those which relate to the Divine condescension. 
 The doctrine that the infinite God, who inhal)its im- 
 mensity and eternity, enters minutely into all the affairs 
 of his creatures, presented to the mind of the psalmist 
 an image of condescension so overwhelming, that he 
 exclaimed, " Who is like unto the Lord our God who 
 dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold 
 the things that are in heaven, and in the earth !" Ob- 
 serve, he couples together the things that are in heaven 
 and earth without distinction. Now, to our apprehen- 
 sion, the things of heaven are inconceivably greater, 
 more important, more worthy the Divine attention, than 
 the things of earth. But in the eye of God the differ- 
 ence is only a difference in minute degrees — a differ- 
 ence in degrees of littleness — and therefore, in itself, 
 a very little difference. 
 
 Were you, from the top of some lofty eminence, 
 some dizzy height, to look down upon two objects — 
 the one a man and the other a child — though they 
 would doubtless consider the difference between them- 
 selves to be very great, to you it would appear to be 
 very little, if any. This, indeed, would arise from 
 the necessary imperfection of your organs of sight — 
 but idea may serve for an illustration. For while to 
 our apprehension the things of heaven are unspeakably 
 greater than the things of earth, we are to bear in 
 mind that the Almighty is infinitely higher then the 
 highest created intelligence in heaven ; that while the 
 difference between the highest and the lowest of his 
 creatures can be measured, the difference between 
 him and the highest creature which he has formed 
 . 15 
 
226 DIVINE condescension: 
 
 cannot be measured ; so that he has to look down — ^^(if 
 we may say so) he has to look down from an infinite 
 height upon the highest as well as upon the lowest, 
 upon the things that are in heaven as well as upon the 
 things that are in the earth. The wonder is that he 
 condescends to regard the things that are in heaven ; 
 but having stooped thus far, we are prepared to hear 
 that he stoops a little farther, and regards the things 
 that are on earth. For though there is a difference 
 between them, and though his eye measures that differ- 
 ence in all its proportions, yet is it really so insignificant 
 to Him whom heaven and the heaven of heavens can- 
 not contain, that it is an act of infinite condescension 
 in him to notice either. 
 
 Looking at the history of this condescension towards 
 man, there appear to have been four remarkable stages 
 in it, at each of which we behold him carrying it a 
 degree farther than before, until he has reached the 
 very lowest point to which it could be carried. We 
 say nothing of the benignity which he displayed to- 
 wards our first parents, while yet they retained their 
 original purity, — benignity which showed itself in 
 symbolically walking with them in paradise, in visible 
 manifestations, in frequent and familiar converse. 
 That belonged to a state which soon passed away, and 
 of which we know little more than this — that it once 
 existed. But we have to contemplate the Divine con- 
 duct in a subsequent and far different state — a state 
 which was commenced by an act of disobedience and 
 rebellion against God — a state in which man has out- 
 raged every attribute of the Divine character, in which 
 he has lost all love and likeness to God, and has joined 
 in league with his enemies ; in which the prevailing 
 habit of his mind is that of enmity against God ; and 
 a state, therefore, in which his holy and insulted Maker 
 might justly have left him to perish, and have with- 
 drawn and enclosed himself for ever within the depths 
 of his everlasting dwelling-place. 
 
 Now it was towards man in this state that the Al- 
 mighty took the first step in his career of condescen- 
 
AN ESSAY. 227 
 
 sion, hy speaking to him. He broke the fearful silence 
 which siri had produced, and which might have lasted 
 for ever, and spoke to us. And every accent he utter- 
 ed was an accent of love. For the sentence which 
 consigned our bodies to the stroke of death was only 
 the application of what had been previously threaten- 
 ed ; while every additional word was intended to miti- 
 gate that doom, by inspiring us with the hope of being 
 finally delivered from it. And having broken the 
 silence, he proceeded to address us at sundry times and 
 in divers manners. He prescribed the way by which 
 we might hope to regain his favour ; he added promise 
 after promise to encourage our obedience ; and though 
 it did not comport with the majesty of his holiness to 
 maintain, as before, familiar intercourse with our pollut- 
 ed race, yet every time he spoke to us he opened a 
 fresh view of his excellence, and furnished an addition- 
 al proof of his condescension. 
 
 Another stage in his divine condescension to man 
 was, when he appointed a place for the symbol of his 
 presence to dwell in, and where man might be always 
 welcome to approach and commune with him. That 
 Presence, indeed, was concealed from the public eye, 
 and could be approached only in a prescribed manner. 
 But still it was a vast advance in the Divine condescen- 
 sion : it seemed to say that his benignity knew no 
 limits ; it seemed to place earth in close proximity to 
 heaven. When Solomon offered up the first prayer at 
 the dedication of that hallowed edifice, he appears to 
 have been almost overwhelmed with the idea : — " Will 
 God," said he, " in very deed dwell with man upon the 
 earth ? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens 
 cannot contain thee, how much less this house which 
 I have built !" Will the Divine Omnipresence take up 
 his dwelling here ? Is not the expectation too great 
 to be realized ? Will he do so " in very deed .?" To 
 this appeal of his servant, which showed a mind labour- 
 ing and staggering under the amazing conception, the 
 Almighty replied, " I have chosen and sanctified this 
 house, that my name may be there for ever ; and mine 
 
228 DIVINE condescension: 
 
 eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually." And 
 through a long succession of ages he continued to 
 meet with his people there, and to commune with them 
 from off the mercy-seat. 
 
 But all this — astonishing as it was — was only pre- 
 liminary. The next stage in the condescension of 
 God to man threw all its past history into the shade. 
 The " Word" himself became flesh and dwelt among 
 us. Great, indeed, is the mystery of godliness : God 
 was manifest " in the jlesW'^ — came and tabernacled 
 among us in our own nature. By a mysterious act he 
 took our nature into union with his own, and actually 
 walked the earth, conversed with us, instructed us, 
 pitied and wept over us, by all the arts of a divine 
 compassion commended his love to us. This was a 
 stoop of condescension immeasurably deep. Beyond 
 this (we might have said) he cannot go — even he can- 
 not go. He has now reached the lowest point to 
 which he can descend, for he has reached the low 
 basement of earth, he has placed himself on a perfect 
 level with ourselves. We have now seen the utmost 
 limits of his condescending grace. 
 
 " But my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither 
 are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." Look at 
 that cross — at Him who hangs upon it. Look at that 
 bleeding form — that is a lower point of condescen- 
 sion. He is dying — dying for us — dying for us the 
 accursed death of the cross. " He was in the form of 
 God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; 
 but he made himself of no reputation, and took upon 
 him the form of a servant and was made in the like- 
 ness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he 
 humbled himself and became obedient unto death, 
 even the death of the cross." That was, indeed, the 
 lowest point to which he could descend. The sun 
 shrunk back, amazed at that sight ; angels hung over 
 it perplexed, unable to comprehend it. All nature 
 sympathized and wondered. And shall we, for whom 
 all this voluntary humiliation was endured, be the only 
 beings who are unmoved by it ? 
 
AN ESSAY. 229 
 
 Let us glance at the ground over which we have 
 passed. We have seen that man had reduced himself 
 to the condition of an enemy against God ; and that 
 with this condition he was in love, when God, who is 
 rich in mercy, resumed the intercourse which sin had 
 interrupted, by speaking to him. This was the com- 
 mencing act of his condescension — and it was amaz- 
 ing. When any thing of a similar kind takes place 
 among men — when a party injured is known to have 
 spoken first to the party which* injured him, especially 
 too if he be his superior in rank — the act is spoken of 
 with unfeigned admiration. But that the Creator 
 should have thus acted towards his creature — that the 
 infinite God should have first spoken, and have spoken 
 amicably, to the poor, alienated, debased children of 
 men, surpasses unspeakably the utmost condescension 
 which man can show to his fellow-man. And still 
 more, that he should appoint a place for his presence 
 to dwell in, where we might go and commune with 
 him ; that he should hide from our sight the glories of 
 his throne, lest they should overwhelm our feeble 
 spirits ; that he should conceal from us the ministries 
 of his celestial court, and, dismissing that train which 
 fiUeth the temple above, should stoop to visit the lowly 
 abodes of those that fear him, and dwell as a Father 
 in the homes of earth — this was a lower stage in his 
 condescension stilL That he should have left the high 
 and holy place which he had inhabited from eternity, 
 and have assumed the nature of his creature man, and 
 have become a resident on earth, was another and a 
 far lower stage in his condescension still. But that 
 while here he should have submitted to suffer death — 
 " the death of the cross" — by the hand of those he 
 came to redeem — was a depth of condescension never 
 before imagined, never after to be surpassed. If he 
 humbles himself when he only deigns " to behold the 
 things that are in heaven and earth," then what shall we 
 say of his condescension in becoming flesh, and dying 
 for us ? It is the everlasting wonder of the universe. 
 
DIVINE CONDESCENSION, HUMAN 
 EXALTATION. 
 
 The condescension of God, as already traced in its 
 downward stages, was not ostentation and display. It 
 could not fail to be productive of certain effects ; for 
 as surely as the natural operation of his justice would 
 have tended to destroy, so certainly the operation of 
 his love would have a tendency to save. And it could 
 not be otherwise than that these restorative effects should 
 be commensurate with the degree of condescension 
 which he exercised ; they would correspond in meas- 
 ure as well as in kind. Accordingly, we find that this 
 exact correspondence obtains : He stooped to earth 
 that we might be raised to heaven ; he partook of our 
 human nature that we might be made partakers of his 
 divine ; he died an ignominious death that we might 
 live a glorified and eternal life. 
 
 In glancing at the pinnacle of distinction to which 
 man is raised, let us mark two or three of the more 
 elevated stages in the ascending scale. The lowest to 
 which we shall allude is that of a servant of the most 
 high God. From being the slaves of sin, he advances 
 us into his high and holy service. He has no need of 
 our services, for he is self-sufficient, and could accom- 
 plish every thing by the word of his power ; or if he 
 chose to surround himself with obedient servants, as 
 a thing becoming his majesty and state, he might have 
 taken them all from the inhabitants of the heavenly 
 world.* They have never revolted from him, never 
 
 * If the writer mistake not, there is a passage somewhere in the 
 celebrated Howe's works, the scope of which bears a resemblance to 
 this paragraph. 
 
AN ESSAY. 231 
 
 abused his goodness, nor renounced his authority, as 
 we have done ; but have ever counted it their highest 
 honour to adore and serve him. How astonishing is 
 it, then, that he should come to seek for servants in 
 this sinful world ! that he should call any into his ser- 
 vice from among our apostate and guilty race ! And 
 yet he does this ; and he does it in a manner as though 
 he were really dependent on our services, as though 
 he were unable to conduct the affairs of his govern- 
 ment without us ; for he not only calls us, he urges, 
 and entreats, and even offers to reward us, though we 
 can never be otherwise than unprofitable servants. If 
 we neglect his first invitations he repeats them ; if we 
 faint in his service he supports and encourages us-; if 
 we revolt from his service he actually follows and 
 brings us back to it again ; he stoops to do that which 
 we should count it a degradation to do to our fellow- 
 creatures. He reminds us that angels are our fellow- 
 servants ; he calls us co-workers together with himself; 
 he even engages to applaud us at last in the face of the 
 universe, by saying, " Well done, good and faithful 
 servants, enter ye into the joy of your Lord." 
 
 But if it be an honour to be advanced into the ser^ 
 vice of God, how surpassing the distinction of being 
 raised into his friendship I And yet this is his lan- 
 guage, " Ye are my friends ; henceforth I call you 
 not servants, but friends," Had he only regarded his 
 people in the light of his servants, he would only have 
 laid his commands upon them; and even this would 
 have beer! conferring on them an honour which angels 
 are emulous and happy to enjoy. But he not only en- 
 trusts them with his commands, he shares with them 
 his secrets, and honours them with his confidence. 
 He gives them the utmost freedom of access to him, 
 permitting them to come even to his seat, and to 
 enter the secret of his pavilion. They share his sym- 
 pathy, his counsel, and his aid ; and in return, they 
 feel a growing congeniality with his character, make 
 his cause their own, and rejoice when it is promoted, 
 as though their own interests were advanced. They 
 
232 DIVINE CONDESCENSION, ETC. 
 
 are conscious of a holy jealousy for the honour of his 
 name, as if it were committed entirely to their custo- 
 dy, or as if their own life and happiness were bound 
 up with it. O how exalted and how ennobling is this 
 relation to God ! and yet it is their privilege to sustain 
 it : they are known in heaven, though they may not be 
 on earth, as the friends of God, 
 
 But they sustain a relation still higher, if possible, 
 than this : " Beloved," says an apostle, " now are we 
 the sons of God." " Ye are all the children of God," 
 says another apostle, " by faith in Christ Jesus." 
 " And if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint- 
 heirs with Christ." " O," said one of the Malabarian 
 converts appointed by the Danish missionaries to trans- 
 late a catechism, in which believers are called the 
 " sons" of God, — " O it is too much ! let me rather 
 render it, ' they shall be permitted to kiss his feet.' " 
 But no, it is not too much : " It is just like him," said 
 a converted negro woman, with sublime moral sim- 
 plicity, when speaking of his unutterable gift of Christ 
 for our redemption. Inconceivably great as the gift is, 
 " it is just like him ;" and unspeakably great as the 
 privilege is of constituting believers his children, " it 
 is just like him ;" it is no figment of the imagination ; 
 the honour is realized to the fullest extent. They are 
 renewed after his likeness, and by the special opera- 
 tion of his own Spirit. They are clothed with the 
 robes of his righteousness ; are sustained with manna 
 from heaven, and enjoy the training and tuition of a 
 Divine teacher ; while every step they take brings 
 them nearer to an inheritance worthy of those whom 
 he has adopted as his children and his heirs. " Be- 
 loved, now are we the sons of God ;" and when we 
 look down to the depth from which he has raised us, 
 we may well be astonished at the height of our pres- 
 ent elevation ; but when we look up towards the sum- 
 mits which we are yet destined to attain, we feel that 
 " it doth not yet appear what we shall be." Great as 
 the honour is which he has already conferred upon us, 
 it is only the beginning, the pledge of what he purposes 
 
AN ESSAY. 233 
 
 to bestow on us in heaven. High as is the exalta- 
 tion to which he has already raised us, we are still 
 rising, and shall continue to ascend, till we have left 
 sin, and death, and hell at an infinite depth below us, 
 and find ourselves placed at the right hand of God. 
 
 Now, looking at the history of this exaltation, we 
 may remark that, like that Divine condescension to 
 which it is owing, it is marked by distinct and succes- 
 sive stages, by which the Christian is carried from 
 glory to glory till he has reached the summit of per- 
 fect bliss. What an important moment in his history 
 is that, when the voice of God first calls him, and in- 
 duces him to consider his ways. The period of con- 
 version comes, and he arrives at another stage : he 
 now cordially believes, and embraces the Gospel ; his 
 sins are forgiven ; he draws the first breath of a new 
 life, and aims at heaven. Henceforth, his course may 
 be marked by numerous vicissitudes — but they all 
 form so many steps, by which he rises towards heaven. 
 The period of death comes, and he arrives at another 
 and a most important point — he escapes from the state 
 in which he had been walking by faith, and finds him- 
 self standing in the brightness of the throne of God ; 
 he quits his conflicts and temptations, and finds himself 
 in a world where all is security, holiness, and bliss ; 
 he rises as by one mighty bound from earth to heaven. 
 Nor is this the summit of his dignity. The morning 
 of the resurrection will dawn, and he will reach a 
 higher point of glory still. His body will be raised 
 from the low chambers of the grave, and be fashioned 
 like unto Christ's glorious body. The hour of judg- 
 ment will arrive, and constitute another stage in his 
 advancing career ; he will then be acquitted from every 
 charge, welcomed as an heir of heaven, and confirm- 
 ed in his title to eternal life. And do you think that 
 even then he will have reached the limits of his glory ? 
 That glory is an ocean — and he will only then be just 
 launched forth on its shoreless expanse. Even then 
 he will be heard saying, as he surveys the interminable 
 
234 DIVINE CONDESCENSION, ETC. 
 
 prospect of blessedness that stretches before him, " it 
 doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but this we 
 know, that we are like him, for now we see him as he 
 is ;" and this we believe, that in proportion to the 
 depth to which he stooped in order to raise us, in that 
 proportion will be the height of our exaltation, for 
 ever advancing in endless progression. 
 
 To this advanced stage of their exaltation, however, 
 Christians have not yet attained. Some of them are 
 only just emerging into spiritual light and life ; others 
 are in the midst of their career toward heaven ; others 
 have just arrived at the point at which their spirits pass 
 to the throne of God ; and others have long been fa- 
 miliar with the scenes and the society of heaven. 
 Were the operation of the grace of God to terminate 
 at this moment, were the affairs of his kingdom to be 
 wound up at once, how astonishing the effects which 
 his condescension has already produced ! How many 
 has it raised to the enjoyment of eternal life ! What a 
 tide of happiness has it poured through the world — 
 bearing on its bosom to the haven of rest an innumer- 
 able multitude, every one of whom would else have 
 perished in the blackness of darkness for ever ! But 
 it shall not cease to operate till it has compassed the 
 salvation of all his people ; and then, and not till then, 
 will it be adequately appreciated and adored. But 
 then, when all the objects of his love — the fruits of his 
 condescension — shall stand upon the mount of God ; 
 when they shall look up and gaze upon the glories of 
 him who sits upon the throne, and then look back, and 
 down upon the cross, and remember that he once hung 
 upon it, and trace the various stages through which he 
 passed till he reached it, what an amazing impression 
 of his condescension will they have, and what a theme 
 for praise. And when they shall contrast their divine 
 exaltation with their former depression, when they shall 
 find that they are without fault before the throne of 
 God, that they are walking in the society of angels, 
 are raised to the enjoyment of all that heaven con- 
 
AN ESSAY. • 235 
 
 tains, and then look down at the state in which his 
 condescension found them', and, still lower, at the state 
 of perdition from which his grace has saved them, 
 what a view will they have of their high exaltation, 
 and what a subject for gratitude to him " who raiseth 
 up the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set him 
 with princes," even the princes of heaven. 
 
 But the adoration and praise of heaven must begin 
 on earth. Christians are not strangers to these emo- 
 tions now. It is by these, and the influence which these 
 have upon their life, that they are distinguished from 
 an ungodly world. The Saviour has spoken to them — 
 and they have listened, wondered, and obeyed. He 
 has raised them from the dust, and they have followed 
 him. He has shown them his cross, and they feel that 
 they are not their own. He has pointed them to the 
 open gate of heaven, and they are hastening and as- 
 cending to reach it. He has constituted them his 
 friends and his children, and they are advancing to 
 take possession of their inheritance, and to share his 
 glory. 
 
A SEASONABLE RECOLLECTION. 
 
 " Remember Jesus Christ." 
 
 Mebiory, like every other endowment, becomes valu- 
 able only as it is properly employed. In this world 
 we are comparatively unable to appreciate its worth. 
 Here, at most, it has only the range of a few short 
 years, a large proportion of the history of which does 
 not deserve remembrance. It is a capacity which 
 increases in importance as the history of our being 
 advances. What a source of pleasure must memory 
 be to a pure and happy being, who, by its aid, can call 
 up the events which have given interest to ten thou- 
 sand years ! But it may be turned to the highest ac- 
 count even here. It is a casket ; and if it contain 
 " the pearl of great price," it is sacred, it is rich in- 
 deed. 
 
 In the present state our memory is weak and inca- 
 pacious, unable to contain but a small portion of the 
 innumerable objects which claim a place in it. The 
 part of wisdom, therefore, is to examine and select 
 what should obtain the first admission, and occupy the 
 most prominent place in it ; that, as all cannot be re- 
 membered, trifles at least may not be received to the 
 exclusion of important objects. Let such an examina- 
 tion be instituted, and, before and above all things, we 
 shall remember Jesus Christ. 
 
 He deserves to be remembered for the moral splen- 
 dour of his achievements, in vanquishing all the ene- 
 mies of human happiness ; for his unmerited kindness 
 in remembering us in our low estate ; for the strength 
 and endurance of his love, in continuing his regard 
 for us unabated, notwithstanding the. slights he receives 
 
AN ESSAY. 237 
 
 at our hands, and notwithstanding his own personal 
 removal and exaltation and for the reward of grace 
 which he promises to our remembrance of Him. 
 They that remember Him, he will remember. And, 
 oh ! to be remembered by Him would amply compen- 
 sate for being forgotten by all the universe besides ! 
 The dying malefactor only asked the Kedeemer to 
 remember him ; and his humble request was answered 
 with an assurance that, on that day he should be with 
 Him in paradise. 
 
 Our remembrance of Christ must not be confined to 
 the Sabbath, or the hour of prayer, or the day of 
 death, when no aid but his can avail us. This would 
 denote no great attachment to him ; this would be re- 
 membering him only when we could scarcely forbear 
 doing it — when even they that hate him remember 
 him. 
 
 Many would have us think about them, only when 
 we ourselves are in prosperity. If we are in want, 
 they would be pleased to find that we had forgotten 
 them, lest we should importune or disgrace them. 
 Not so Jesus Christ ; he is pleased when our trials in- 
 duce us to remember him : then it is that they answer 
 their appointed end. In the hour of conscious guilt, 
 his language is — " Remember my grace ; it will pre- 
 vent despondency, and inspire you with hope." In 
 the time of affliction — " Remember my sympathy, it 
 will heal the wounds of the heart." In the season of 
 duty — " Remember my example ; like a guiding col- 
 umn of light, it will direct your course, and quicken 
 your progress." In the prospect of death — " Remem- 
 ber that your ' Redeemer liveth,' and it will convert 
 the chamber of sickness into the gate of heaven." 
 
 It is not easy for a man entirely to banish the 
 Saviour from his recollections. Moving, as we are, 
 in a world whose moral history is blended so intimate- 
 ly with the history of Christ, whose happiness depends 
 on his mediation, and whose destiny will be determin- 
 ed at his tribunal, we are surrounded by intimations of 
 his character and presence : and lest we should forget 
 
238 A SEASONABLE RECOLLECTION : 
 
 him, he has written his name more or less legibly on 
 every object in the moral world — has left us, in a vari- 
 ety of forms, and in every direction, memorials of his 
 merciful relations to us. Be it understood, however, 
 that to remember him aright involves the noblest efforts 
 of the human mind. The exercise is at once so easy, 
 that it invites compliance ; so arduous, that it demands 
 supreme attention ; and so indispensable, that to neg- 
 lect it is to perish. It originates in a scriptural ac- 
 quaintance with his character, and a devout affection 
 for him ; it implies our deepest sympathy with all that 
 is pure and lofty ; it renders us conversant with the 
 beings and pursuits of another world. To remember 
 him aright is to remember his promises, and believe 
 them — his commands, and obey them — his glory, and 
 to make it the object of our life. 
 
 There must be an intenseness in our recollections of 
 him, which will not merely place him on an equality 
 in our thoughts with other endeared objects, but which 
 must give him a superiority above them all ; — -a re- 
 membrance which will yield us pleasure, which we 
 shall often be disposed to indulge in as our highest 
 gratification, and which, instead of readily giving way 
 to other recollections, will keep its place in the mind, 
 notwithstanding all the importunate solicitations of 
 earthly objects. If we are not aiming at such a re- 
 membrance of Christ, we are recollecting him only as 
 a being who deserves to be forgotten ; but thus to 
 remember him will impart a Divine character to a hu- 
 man mind — will make a sinful man a partaker of the 
 Divine nature. 
 
 It has been said that a thought is valuable in pro- 
 portion to the number of other thoughts which it nat- 
 urally suggests. Then how valuable is the scriptural 
 recollection of Christ ! connected as he is with the 
 past, the present, and the future, with all that is pure 
 and spiritual, benevolent and great. In the universe, 
 the Christian possesses in him a memorial and repre- 
 sentative of all that is worth remembering ; while, on 
 the other hand, every thought suggested by the con- 
 
AN ESSAY. 239 
 
 templation of those objects may, in its turn, become 
 the means of recalling the Saviour to his mind ; and 
 thus there will be an established connexion maintained 
 in the mind between Christ and all that deserves to be 
 associated with him. There will be a system of holy 
 thoughts and recollections, of which Christ will be the 
 centre and the soul : thoughts which at one time might 
 have passed through the mind without being detained 
 or cherished, will now find a welcome and a home ; 
 and will find it, simply because they bear a relation to 
 him. 
 
 We listen with pleasure to the man who can give 
 us the least information concerning a dear and distant 
 friend ; and every incident relative to Christ will be 
 welcome to the heart which enshrines him. Could we 
 look into the memory thus consecrated, and survey the 
 interior imagery, we might trace with ease innumera- 
 ble associations sacred to him, mingled, indeed, with 
 some of an unhallowed kind ; for even the temple 
 itself was not unvisited by idols, 
 
 " Who durst fix their seats next the seat of God, 
 Their altar by his altar 5 yea, often placed 
 Within his sanctuary itself their shrines. 
 Abominations !" 
 
 But such sacrilegious thoughts will not find a welcome, 
 or effect a lodgment, in a heart which is thus sacred 
 to him. And this suggests the importance of vivid as 
 well as frequent recollections of Christ. If they cease 
 to be vivid, they cease to exert a practical influence. 
 They mingle and pass through his mind with other 
 thoughts ; but, instead of controlling the man, they 
 are controlled by him ; instead of imparting a religious 
 character to his mind, his mind imparts to them its 
 own worldliness. This is the secret of the religious 
 declension of many Christians from what the Scrip- 
 tures designate their " first love." Instead of remem- 
 bering /iim, they come to be satisfied with merely 
 remembering past recollections of him. 
 
 It is, no doubt, strange in the estimation of the 
 
240 A SEASONABLE RECOLLECTION. 
 
 world, to insist on the paramount importance of habit- 
 ually remembering a Being so far removed beyond the 
 range of our natural sympathies and associations. So, 
 under the former economy, the heathens were at a loss 
 to conceive what could be the object of the Jewish 
 worship, since the temple contained no image of a 
 god ; and when at last, on the conquest of Jerusalem, 
 they rushed into the " Holy of Holies," they exclaim- 
 ed with amazement, that there was no God ! We ad- 
 mit the difficulty of remembering an unseen Saviour, 
 but affirm its practicability, and urge its importance, 
 and exult in the pleasure which its performance in- 
 volves. 
 
 If we desire to cherish the recollection of a distant 
 friend, in order to prevent the possibility of long for- 
 getting him, how often do we carry about with us 
 some memento to awaken recollections of him ! Now, 
 though the Christian does not stand in need of such 
 assistance, yet whatever is calculated to bring the 
 Saviour properly before us should not be despised. 
 There should be such a sensitiveness of feeling culti- 
 vated towards him, that every thing we hear and see 
 should have a tendency to remind us of him. Our 
 sacred mental associations should be so multiplied, 
 that nothing could claim our attention without directly 
 or indirectly leading us to him ; that no train of 
 thought could be excited within us, without terminat- 
 ing in thoughts of him ; that as the magnetic needle 
 turns in the direction of the pole, so, whatever our situ- 
 ation, our hearts, being imbued with his love, might 
 spontaneously and habitually turn to him. 
 
 Pointing to his sacramental ordinance, he enjoins, 
 " Do this in remembrance of me." The Christian 
 should do every thing in remembrance of Christ, and 
 thus convert life into one sacramental feast. 
 
THE TRUE KINDRED OF CHRIST. 
 
 To HAVE seen a place or a person of eminence, is a 
 circumstance on which we are accustomed to reflect 
 with pleasure, and which we relate to others who have 
 not enjoyed the gratification, with a feeling of superiori- 
 ty. Had we seen the Son of God — had we traced the 
 features of his heavenly countenance — had we listened 
 to the kind and encouraging tones of his voice — had 
 we heard him addressing the astonished and delighted 
 multitude — seen him healing the sick, comforting the 
 distressed, and raising the dead — had we gazed on his 
 sacred person after his own resurrection from the dead 
 — how often should we have been heard reverting to 
 the fact — reverting to it as the most interesting part of 
 our history — and perhaps claiming to ourselves a degree 
 of credit and authority on account of it. Thus, when 
 the apostle Peter was exhorting the elders of the Chris- 
 tian church, he claimed to be heard, not only because 
 he himself was an elder, but also because he had been 
 " a witness of the sufferings of Christ." And our 
 Lord himself declares that, in the last day, many will 
 claim admission into heaven, partly because they have 
 eaten and drunk in his presence, and had seen him teach 
 in their streets. 
 
 Had we not only seen him, but had we been also on 
 terms of friendship with him — had he taken us with 
 him when he left the multitude, and explained to us his 
 public discourses, and admitted us to familiar inter- 
 course, and even permitted us to recline on his bosom, 
 how distinguished would have been the honour, and 
 how many would have envied us its possession. 
 
 But still more — had we been related to Christ ac- 
 cording to the flesh, how much greater the distinction 
 .16 
 
242 THE TRUE KINDRED OF CHRIST ." 
 
 Still. Many employ their time and their wealth in 
 tracing back their pedigree to the great and mighty of 
 the earth ; they value an exalted ancestry even more 
 than an honourable character ; and if they can but 
 establish a remote and doubtful alliance to it, they make 
 it their boast and their glory. But if it be an honour 
 to be allied to any earthly dignity — to any one to v^hom 
 man has given a title — then who can estimate the dis- 
 tinction of being related to Him who is the great foun- 
 tain of all the honour and authority in the universe ? 
 If it be an honour to be related to the wise — in him 
 are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; 
 every sentence he uttered was a revelation ; and he 
 has given to us the key of the knowledge which opens 
 heaven and leads to eternal life. If it be an honour to 
 be allied to the rich — he is the heir of all things : — or 
 to be related to the conquerors of the earth — he is the 
 conqueror of sin, and deaths and hell. And hence the 
 apostle Paul, when enumerating the peculiar distinc- 
 tions of the Jewish nation, describes it as one, that 
 Christ was born of it : " Whose are the fathers ; and 
 of whom, as concerning the flesh-, Christ came, who 
 is over all, God blessed for ever." 
 
 But, on a certain occasion, the Saviour declared that 
 there is an honour greater than that of having seen him 
 — of having been admitted to occasional intercourse 
 with him — or of even having been related to him by 
 the ties of human consanguinity — namely, the honour 
 of a spiritual relationship. The union to him which 
 originates in faith, is cemented by love, and which 
 leads to a life of holy obedience, is an* honour which 
 swallows up every other distinction, and which puts 
 the believer into the possession of all he can desire or 
 enjoy. " Jesus stretched forth his hand towards his 
 disciples, and said. Behold my mother and my breth- 
 ren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, 
 who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, 
 and mother." 
 
 Here, our Lord describes the man who is most nearly 
 related to him. When a person of property dies in- 
 
AN ESSAY. 243 
 
 testate, it is considered a point of great importance to 
 determine^vvho is the nearest of kin — who has the first 
 and the strongest claim to the property of the deceased. 
 But the question here pending is, — who is the most 
 nearly related to Christ ? because to him devolves 
 spiritual wealth and honours beyond all computation. 
 Guided by the language we have just quoted, the ques- 
 tion admits of an easy solution. The happy individual 
 may be found in a palace, or in a hovel — pining in 
 poverty, or rolling in affluence — lying in the depths of 
 obscurity, or standing on the pinnacle of fame — desti- 
 tute of learning, or sitting in the chair of philosophy 
 and wisdom ; his ancestry, age, and external circum- 
 stances, are altogether unimportant ; — but, wherever 
 he is to be found, he is distinguished by doing the will 
 of God. This is his proprium — his distinctive badge. 
 He avails himself of every opportunity which he en- 
 joys of learning that will. As far as he understands 
 it, he loves it ; and loves the Saviour for having reveal- 
 ed it. He is conscientiously earnest in obeying it, how- 
 ever humbling the doctrines which it requires him to be- 
 lieve, and however difficult the duties which it calls 
 him to perform ; he counts its his meat to do the will 
 of his Father who is in heaven. He knows no other 
 rule to walk by than the word of God — no other end 
 to aim at than the glory of God. And, this being his 
 character, he is related to Christ. He is moving in a 
 line with Christ ; and tending, though not with equal 
 steps, to the same celestial goal. He has been born 
 into the same family — partakes of the same spiritual 
 nature — and, as an heir of God, he is said to be a joint- 
 heir with Christ. However obscure, therefore, the 
 station he may occupy — whatever the country which 
 gave him birth — and whatever the circumstances which 
 may combine to depress him — all such considerations 
 are merged and lost sight of in that greatest of all 
 distinctions, that he does the loill of God ; — while the 
 Saviour extends his hands towards him, and says. Be- 
 hold my mother., and sister., and brother. 
 
 Here, too, we learn the superiority of this relation- 
 
244 THE TRUE KINDRED OF CHRIST t 
 
 ship to Christ to every other. It is more vital ;— by 
 which we mean, that it is more essential to 8ur spiritual 
 life than our natural ties are to our natural life. The 
 rupture of the latter we may survive ; but Christ is 
 our life, and were it possible for the ties which bind us 
 to him to be broken asunder — though we might live on 
 as men, as Christians we should perish. 
 
 It is more dignified than any earthly relationship. 
 It allies us to the throne of God — to the royalty of 
 heaven — to dignities which will survive the wreck of 
 all things earthly, and live on when time shall be no 
 more. By our kindred to him, our weakness becomes 
 linked to Almighty strength, and our exigence to Divine 
 all-sufficiency. We become entitled to share in all his 
 possessions and glories. 
 
 This union is more tender than any earthly connex- 
 ion. The language of Christ on this point is remark- 
 able ; he does not say, " the same is my brother, or , 
 sister, or mother ;" but, " the same is my brother, and 
 sister, and mother. He is bound to me by a tie so 
 tender and intimate, that it includes all relations in 
 one. I feel for my obedient followers all the tender- 
 ness due to a mother — all the kindness and generous 
 regard a man would feel towards his own sister — and 
 all the faithful friendship due to an affectionate broth- 
 er.*" Whatever there is peculiar in the affection or,, 
 regard of the different endeared relations of life, all"; 
 centres in the love of Jesus to his sincere disciples. 
 
 And this union is more enduring than any earthly 
 connexion. Mere human relationships are daily break- 
 ing up. Whole families, with every branch belonging 
 to them, have entirely disappeared. How probable is 
 it that the family from which our Lord himself de- 
 scended, in his human nature, is now entirely extinct. 
 But the relation which subsisted between him and his 
 primitive disciples is not extinct : he can now point 
 them out in the ranks of the blessed above, and say, 
 Behold my mother and my brethren. And when every 
 earthly tie shall be dissolved — when he shall come to 
 receive his people to himself — he declares that he 
 
AN ESSAY. 245 
 
 will recognize and acknowledge them all as his breth- 
 ren, his true and only kindred : for he will say to such 
 as have cherished a benevolent and fraternal spirit 
 towards his followers, " inasmuch as ye have done it 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren^ ye did it 
 unto me." He will look around on the assembled 
 world, as he once did on his assembled hearers, and, 
 extending his hand towards them, will draw on them 
 the admiring regards of the universe, by saying. Be- 
 hold my mother and my brethren. And, oh, who would 
 not in that day gladly disclaim relationship to the 
 noble and mighty of the earth, rather than be destitute 
 of relationship to Christ ! Who among the proudest 
 and the loftiest will not then wish that he had claimed 
 kindred with the dust which he almost disdained to 
 tread — that he had said " to corruption, ' Thou art my 
 mother,' and to the worm, ' Thou art my sister' " — 
 rather than be destitute of relationship to Christ ? Who 
 among the dispisers and persecutors of the saints will 
 not deplore their folly, and envy the faithful the rela- 
 tionship which binds them to Christ ? Every other con- 
 nexion will then have melted away before the fires of 
 the last day — the golden chain which binds his people 
 to himself will be the only remaining bond — and that 
 shall remain for ever ; for, saith he, " because I live, 
 ye shall live also." 
 
 How utterly insufficient is every other relationship 
 to Christ than that which arises from faith^ and love^ 
 and holy obedience ! How little has it availed the 
 Jews that they are related to Christ by the ties of 
 country : and as little will it avail them in the last day, 
 when the nations shall be seen coming from the east 
 and from the west, from the north and from the south, 
 to sit down with the patriarchs in the kingdom of God, 
 and they themselves shall be cast out. How little will 
 it av^ those who enjoyed the personal ministry of 
 Christ— -or those who performed miracles in his name 
 — to plead their peculiar privileges, when he shall say 
 to them, " Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I 
 never knew^ you." And as useless will it be for one 
 
246 THE TRUE KINDRED OF CHRIST. 
 
 nominal Christian to plead that he occupied a high sta- 
 tion in the church — and another that he maintained a 
 profession of religion — and a third that he was born of 
 a pious ancestry — and a fourth that he gave even his 
 body to be burned as a martyr to religion. If they 
 were not his humble and sincere followers, he would 
 say to each of them, as the Almighty is represented 
 saying of one of old, " Though this man were the 
 signet on my right hand, I would pluck him off and 
 cast him away." The salvation of our Lord's breth- 
 ren — the salvation of the virgin mother herself — arose 
 not from the alliance of blood, but from sincerely be- 
 lieving in his name. Nothing, nothing short of a 
 Divine and scriptural relationship to Christ will ever 
 entitle us to the joys of heaven. But, possessed of 
 this, let the Christian rejoice in the assurance that the 
 hand which unites every other bond, shall only draw 
 the principle which binds him to Christ closer than ever^ 
 and render it indissoluble. 
 
INTERCESSORY PRAYER. 
 
 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 
 
 James. 
 
 All who have made pretensions to religion, have uni- 
 formly assigned a distinguished place to the exercise 
 and efficacy of prayer ; and even they who have 
 practically renounced religion, are generally found, in 
 the hour of suffering or danger, to make an involuntary 
 effort to call on the name of the Lord. The voice of 
 nature, at such periods, overpowering the prejudice of 
 irreligion, which had hitherto silenced it, asserts the 
 presence, the power, and the goodness of God, and 
 invokes his favourable interposition. But the Christian, 
 taught by that Being who is at once the great Object 
 and Spirit of prayer, avails himself of this holy exer- 
 cise as of the richest privilege ; not that he is always 
 equally disposed to engage in it, but, having acquired 
 this habit, and enjoyed the advantage of prayer, he 
 can never allow himself to regard it merely in the 
 light of an arbitrary duty, dangerous to be neglected, 
 and, therefore, necessary to be performed. It is his 
 meat and his drink, the aliment which sustains and in- 
 vigorates his spiritual life ; he values it as the only 
 channel of communication with his unseen and almighty 
 Friend ; he regards it as the instrument which allies 
 his weakness to the power of God, and his emptiness 
 and unworthiness to the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 
 The Scriptures reveal the character of a Being who is 
 infinite in wisdom, unchangeable in truth, and unlimited 
 in power and benevolence. Prayer allies the believer 
 to all these perfections, and makes them all virtually 
 his own. They lay open to his view the economy of 
 redemption, with all its blessings of pardon, adoption,- 
 
248 INTERCESSORY PRAYER : 
 
 and complete preparation for heaven. By prayer, the 
 believer appropriates all these blessings to himself; 
 they tell him of a world where all is pure, and glorious, 
 and happy ; he prays, and becomes entitled to it, pre- 
 pared for it, and soon receives the call to enter on its 
 richest joys. 
 
 Nor is the efficacy of prayer confined to the believer 
 himself : it places him in a new relation to all around 
 him. He was needy and helpless, and unable to take 
 a single step toward the accomplishment of his own 
 salvation ; but having acquired the habit of prayer, he 
 can contribute largely toward the salvation of others. 
 It is an invisible cord by which he can draw them to- 
 ward heaven ; it invests him with an indefinite power 
 over the destiny and happiness of the world at large. 
 
 It is of intercessory prayer that the apostle speaks — ■• 
 " confess your faults one to another, and pray one for 
 another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And hav- 
 ing illustrated the truth of this declaration, by referring 
 to the prayers of Elijah, he concludes the epistle by 
 saying, " Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, 
 and one convert him, let him know that he who con- 
 verteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save 
 a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins ;" 
 thus intimating that the salvation of a sinner, and even, 
 of an apostate, the most hopeless of sinners, is quite 
 within the limits of prayer, and may be effected by it. 
 
 The text describes the character and efficacy of 
 genuine prayer. 
 
 It describes the character of prayer. It is inwrought 
 by the energy of the Spirit. This is a characteristic 
 of prayer suggested by the text ; and most abundantly 
 is it confirmed by the universal experience of believers 
 and the testimony of the word of God : — " Likewise 
 the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ; for we know 
 not what we shall pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit 
 itself maketh intercession for us with groaning that 
 cannot be uttered ; and he that searcheth the hearts 
 knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he 
 
AN ESSAY. 249: 
 
 maketh intercession for the saints according to the will 
 of God." 
 
 He makes the believer a temple of the Lord, and 
 graciously takes upon himself the office of conducting 
 the worship of this temple ; he becomes the High- 
 priest and Intercessor ; he prepares and presents to 
 God the welcome sacrifice of a broken and contrite 
 heart ; he calls the affections and desires of the soul 
 away from the world, and brings them, like a company 
 of humble worshippers, to the throne of God, and con- 
 strains all that is within the soul to bless his holy name. 
 He regulates and purifies the affections and desires ; so 
 that, when the believer gives utterance to them, the 
 almighty Father regards them as the urgent desires of 
 his own Spirit. Or should the believer be unable to 
 give full utterance to his desires ; should he only be: 
 able to express them in sighs, and tears, and groans, he 
 that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of 
 the Spirit ; he that is always looking into the hearts of 
 men, detecting all that is evil, and discerning and ap- 
 proving all that is good, — he knows, from the peculiar 
 state of the mind, though no intelligible words have* 
 been uttered, that his Spirit has been operating there ;; 
 he reads every thought, understands every desire, and 
 recognizes, with perfect ease, that these thoughts and 
 desires are the well known operations of his Spirit ; 
 they perfectly coincide with his own divine will, and 
 he therefore gratifies these desires and fulfils his owa 
 will at the same time. Now it is only the utterance 
 of such desires that can be regarded as genuine prayer ; 
 it is only such as have been excited and presented by 
 the great Intercessor within us, that the Almighty does 
 or can regard. These alone, as they arise from a senses 
 of need, and of the magnitude of the blessings sought, 
 will be expressed and urged with becoming earnest- 
 ness. We are naturally in the condition of Elijah 
 when his altar and offering were immersed in water ; 
 the fire of heaven must descend, or we shall thus re- 
 main immersed. 
 
 It is only in proportion as the Spirit puts forth his 
 
250 INTERCESSORY PRAYER : 
 
 energy within us, that we put forth our energy at the 
 throne of grace, and present the inwrought fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man. 
 
 When the apostle declares that the prayer of this 
 description availeth much, he states the efficacy of 
 prayer. Like every other means, prayer depends, for 
 its efficacy, on the sovereign appointment of God ; but 
 in the whole compass of divinely appointed means, 
 prayer occupies the highest place, and possesses the 
 mightiest efficacy. Passing by all inferior objects, all 
 created agency, it makes a direct appeal to the throne 
 of God ; and it appeals to him in a manner and through 
 a medium which has never failed — in the name and 
 for the sake of his only begotten Son. It enables the 
 believer to take hold of his almighty strength ; it iden- 
 tifies him with the Almighty ; and so closely indentifies 
 him, that the voice of God declares, " He that toucheth 
 you, toucheth the apple of mine eye :" it gives him 
 immediate access to the treasury of the divine benevo- 
 lence, so that, even in this world of danger and sin, he 
 can not only ward off and suspend around him every 
 . evil, but he can encompass himself with every good, 
 as though he possessed an omnipotent charm ; he can 
 create around him an atmosphere of joy and happi- 
 ness ; it gives him access to the armoury of God, and 
 to all his resources of strength ; so that, like the angel 
 who had the key of the bottomless pit and a great 
 chain in his hand, he can fetter the operations and re- 
 strain the power of the prince of darkness, or he can 
 enter the field of conflict and overpower him. It has 
 been said that the smallest pebble cannot be thrown 
 into the sea from our shores without producing some 
 effect on the other side of the great Atlantic ; but with- 
 out waiting to examine the correctness of this asser- 
 tion, it is only sober and undeniable truth to assert, that 
 the humblest Christian cannot offer a single breath in 
 prayer, which does not reach the throne of God, and 
 become productive of effects which spread through 
 the universe. . " If ye abide in me," said Jesus, " and 
 my words 'abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and 
 
AN ESSAY. 251 
 
 it shall be done unto you." Here is an unlimited 
 promise ; and it cannot be pleaded in faith without pro- 
 ducing unlimited effects. 
 
 But the text directs our attention particularly to the 
 efficacy of intercessory prayer. And here we are at 
 once reminded of the numerous instances of its power, 
 recorded, doubtless for our encouragement, in the word 
 of God. Sodom and the cities of the plain are to be 
 burnt from the face of the earth ; but what is it which 
 for a time delays their doom, and gives them, humanly 
 speaking, a probability of escape } It is the interces- 
 sion of Abraham pleading with God, that fifty, or forty, 
 or thirty, or twenty, or, at least, that ten righteous men 
 might be found there. The Israelites have made a mol- 
 ten image at the foot of the very mount on which the 
 glory of God has descended. " And the Lord said 
 unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold it is a 
 stiff*- necked people ; now, therefore, let me alone, that 
 my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may con- 
 sume them." And what could allay, at this fearful 
 moment, the fierceness of his anger ? What could 
 restrain him from destroying them with the breath of 
 his nostrils } The fervent, the impassioned intercession 
 of Moses. It held back his uplifted arm ; it changed the 
 purpose of his heart ; " and the Lord repented of the 
 evil which he thought to do to his people." Again they 
 incurred his displeasure by their rebellious discontent ; 
 " and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and con- 
 sumed them ; and the people cried unto Moses, and, 
 when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was 
 quenched." 
 
 Again they revolt, and murmur against the Lord ; 
 and he said unto Moses, " How long will this people 
 provoke me ? I will smite them with the pestilence, 
 and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater na- 
 tion, and mightier than they." But again this interces- 
 sor prayed for them ; and the Lord said, " I have par- 
 doned them according to thy word." " Elias was a 
 man subject to like passions as we are ; and he prayed 
 earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on 
 
252 INTERCESSORY PRAYER I 
 
 the earth for the space of three years and six months ; 
 and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and 
 the earth brought forth fruit." 
 
 Prayer has suspended and controlled the elements 
 and operations of nature ; it has procured the minis- 
 try of angels ; it has quenched the violence of fire 
 that came forth from the Lord ; it has arrested the 
 progress of Almighty displeasure ; like the great Object 
 to whom it is addressed, it operates silently and unseen, 
 but irresistibly and universally. It has proved its un- 
 limited efficacy in turning the sinner from the error of 
 his ways, and saving a soul from death. This is the 
 greatest, the most glorious triumph which it can 
 achieve. It has raised tbe dead in sin, and brought 
 the light of heaven into the benighted soul, and sub- 
 dued the enmity and hostility with which it was armed ; 
 it has arrested the sinner at the gates of hell, trans- 
 formed him, and lifted him up to the joys of heaven ; 
 it has saved his soul from death : and who, that has 
 not looked into the region of perdition, that has not felt 
 the gnawing of the undying worm, and the raging of 
 the quenchless fire, can tell the meaning of that ex- 
 pression ? ' It has instrumentally raised him to the en- 
 joyment of heaven : and who, that has not been caught 
 up to the third heaven, and beheld the unveiled glory 
 of the Lamb, and heard the hymnings of the blessed, 
 and drank of the river of the water of life, can esti- 
 mate fitly the import of that .expression ? 
 
 But this is not all that intercessory prayer could 
 effect ; — its full efficacy is unknown ; for it has never 
 been tried. Like the elements of nature, it contains a 
 power which, if put forth to the utmost, would infalli- 
 bly change the face of the earth : and the day is has- 
 tening on, when its efficacy shall be tried on a scale 
 before unknown ; for all flesh shall come to pray 
 before the Lord ; and it shall then be found, that to 
 pray is to use the mightiest instrument for the conver- 
 sion of the world. 
 
 Let us not be deterred from trying the efficacy of 
 intercessory prayer by the fear of failure. Our sue- 
 
AN ESSAY. 253 
 
 cess may not equal our desires ; but let us impress it 
 on our minds, that our prayer, if earnest and importu- 
 nate, availeth much. It may not procure for the ob- 
 ject of our solicitude the desired good ; but it may 
 avert from him numerous evils ; and, if so, it availeth 
 much. It may not avail him so soon as our impatience 
 would dictate ; but, finally, it will avail, and avail him 
 much. It will avail him more than any other means 
 or instrument we can employ in his behalf. Yes, let 
 it encourage us to persevere in prayer, when we reflect 
 that, of all the instruments with which God has en- 
 trusted us for the benefit of the world, prayer is incom- 
 parably the most efficacious. " The eflfectual fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man availeth much ;" how much, 
 the day of judgment alone can fully disclose. 
 
CHRISTIANITY NO PERSECUTOR. 
 
 The ecclesiastical bigotry and persecution by which 
 the history of the Christian church is disgraced, consti- 
 tutes the source whence the sceptic derives his 
 strongest objection to Christianity, and forms, accord- 
 ing to his insinuation, the sum and substance of its 
 annals. Having gratuitously asserted, and ostenta- 
 tiously displayed, the mild and tolerant nature of ancient 
 heathenism, he places it in invidious contrast with the 
 contentions and persecutions which from age to age 
 have stained the Christian name ; and then proclaims, 
 as by sound of trumpet, the superior spirit of the for- 
 mer, and denounces the latter as a convicted criminal 
 and a curse. 
 
 Now, as this is the chief, if not even the only point 
 of superiority to the Gospel which the advocates of 
 ancient polytheism claim for it, as the impression of its 
 truth, by incessant repetition, is so general that even 
 a Bacon is found unguardedly stating that " the quar- 
 rels and division about religion were evils unknown to 
 the heathen," and as the supposed tendency of the 
 Gospel to produce dissensions has created perhaps 
 stronger prejudices against it than all the other cavils 
 of infidelity combined, we propose to offer a few 
 warning and corrective remarks. 
 
 1. Even allowing that the theory of the tolerant 
 spirit of ancient heathenism had ever been carried into 
 practice, it could not have been accounted a virtue. 
 For if polytheism allowed the unlimited reception of 
 new divinities, the admission of an additional god to the 
 Olympian synod was not the tolerance of a new relig- 
 ion, but only a step towards the completion of that 
 which already existed. Nor was there any more 
 
AN ESSAY. 255 
 
 ground for praise in such admission than there is in the 
 church of Rome on the canonization of a saint, or in 
 the official act of registering a birth. 
 
 2. But the plausible theory of the tolerant spirit of 
 paganism is never known to have been realised in 
 practice. The Athenians allowed no alteration 
 v^hatever in the religion of their ancestors ; and the 
 lives of -^schylus, Anaxagoras, Diagoras, Protagoras, 
 Prodicus, Socrates, and Alcibiades, decided that inno- 
 vation in religion was death. The holy or sacred 
 wars among the Grecian states — the sanguinary con- 
 tests between the respective votaries of the different 
 gods of Egypt — and the cruel extermination of the 
 disciples of every other religion except that of Zoroas- 
 ter, in Persia, conspire to prove that bigotry is pecul- 
 iar to no clime, but is indigenous to our fallen na- 
 ture. As to the vaunted toleration of the Roman gov- 
 ernment, we learn from Livy that about 430 years be- 
 fore Christ, orders were given to the iEdiles to see 
 " that none except Roman gods were worshipped, nor 
 in any other than the established forms :" and that 
 about 200 years after this edict another was published, 
 to crush certain rites which were obtaining in the city, 
 and which enacted " that no one shall sacrifice on pub- 
 lic or sacred ground after new or foreign rites." In- 
 deed the same historian informs us, (b. xxxix. c. 16,) 
 that it had been customary, in all the early ages of the 
 republic, to empower the magistrates " to prevent all 
 foreign worship, to expel its ministers from the forum, 
 the circus, and the city, to search for and burn the 
 religious books, and to abolish every form of sacrifice 
 except the national and established form." Valerius 
 Maximus confirms the testimony of Livy, and records 
 the jealousy with which all foreign religions were pro- 
 hibited by the Roman republic. Dio Cassius attests 
 that the emperors pursued the same policy. Maximus 
 earnestly exhorted Augustus " to hate and punish" all 
 foreign religions, and to compel all men to conform to 
 the national worship. Augustus and his successors 
 literally obeyed the exhortation. Tiberius prohibited 
 
256 CHRISTIA.NITY NO PERSECUTOR: 
 
 the Egyptian worship, banished the Jews from Rome, 
 and restrained the worship of the Druids in Gaul. 
 Domitian and Vespasian banished the philosophers from 
 Rome, some of whom were confined in the islands, 
 and others put to death. From all of which it would 
 appear that intolerance was an original law of Rome, 
 that this law was never repealed, and that from time to 
 time it was let loose on the professors of other relig- 
 ions with terrible effect. While the history of France, 
 during the revolution, proclaims that hot as are the 
 fires of persecution which Paganism has often kindled. 
 Atheism has a furnace capable of being heated " seven 
 times hotter ;" that intolerance is inherent in our sinful 
 nature. 
 
 3. Not only did persecution exist prior to the intro- 
 duction of Christianity, it employed its utmost power 
 for the extinction of the Gospel. " The dragon stood 
 to devour the child as soon as it was born." The in- 
 fant church was cradled in suffering ; its champions 
 were covered with the scars of conflict ; its members 
 dated from their persecutions. All the instruments of 
 suffering were prepared — all the varied apparatus of 
 torture and death were brought out and arrayed in its 
 path to arrest its progress, and drive it from the earth. 
 Philosophy, descending from that lofty contempt with 
 which she had professed to view the early steps of the 
 Gospel, joined hands with the pagan priesthood, and 
 conferred on the church the unintentional honour of 
 distinguishing it from all other " superstitions," by the 
 superior activity of its deadly hate. Armed with the 
 sword of the civil power, and marching under its ban- 
 ners, 300 years were spent in labouring to crush the 
 Christian church. Yet, during all these ages of perse- 
 cution, it does not appear that the emperors had occa- 
 sion to enact any new penal laws. So amply was the 
 ancient armoury of the Roman code stored with the 
 weapons of persecution that they had only to select 
 and to wield them at pleasure. Nor should it be for- 
 gotten that the bad pre-eminence of raising persecu- 
 tion from a law to a science was reserved for a pagan. 
 
AN ESSAY. 257 
 
 Julian it was who first taught the theory of persecu- 
 tion, and made it a branch of practical philosophy. 
 
 4. If Christianity has practised persecution, she 
 learned the dreadful art from her own personal suffer- 
 ings at the hands of her pagan tormentors. Long in- 
 structed in the maxims of intolerance, and accustomed 
 to the spectacle of persecution, it was hardly possible 
 that Christians should suddenly forget the lessons of 
 their pagan oppressors, or support with perfect equa- 
 nimity the sudden transition they experienced, from 
 being treated as the " ofFscouring of all things," to 
 becoming the lords of the world. But to the honour of 
 the Christian name be it remembered, that universal 
 toleration was first taught, and taught by one professed- 
 ly Christian, even at the time of that transition. Con- 
 stantino, whatever his motives, and however inconsis- 
 tent his subsequent conduct, enacted, in his edict of 
 Milan, universal toleration, protecting alike pagan and 
 Christian ceremonies. 
 
 5. The greatest waste of human life has been oc- 
 casioned, not by religion, true or false, but by causes 
 purely political. What ancient empire was not found- 
 ed in or cemented by blood ? What but war fills the 
 pages of ancient history ? What do we know of 
 Sesostris, but that he led out armies of above 700,000 
 men, and coloured the Mediterranean with blood ? 
 What do we know of Semiramis, but that she armed 
 three millions for a single war with India, and conduct- 
 ed every other contest on the same gigantic scale ? 
 What do we know of the Assyrian, Median, and Per- 
 sian monarchies, or of the Grecian and Roman states, 
 but that each had, in every age, its own Aceldama, or 
 field of blood ? 
 
 " War," says Machiavel, " ought to be the only 
 study of a prince." While Hobbes, judging from the 
 past, imagines that war is the state of nature. " Politi- 
 cal society," says Burke, " has slaughtered upwards 
 of seventy times the number of souls this day on the 
 globe." So that if the quarrels and bloodshed occa- 
 sioned by a nominal Christianity is to be employed as 
 17 
 
258 CHRISTIANITY NO PERSECUTOR: 
 
 an argument against the Gospel, the greater evils aris- 
 ing from civil society supply a still stronger argument 
 for returning to a state of savage nature.* 
 
 6. Many of the contentions, v^ars, and massacres 
 professedly religious have, in their origin, been really 
 and simply political. The crusades themselves, or, as 
 they v\rere called to serve a purpose, the holy wars, 
 unquestionably originated, not in any reverence for the 
 land they wasted, but in the rapacity and ambition of 
 two of the most turbulent popes that ever filled the 
 pontifical throne. And in the same way, the wars of 
 the league, commonly ascribed to a religious origin, 
 took their rise in the personal resentment and ambitious 
 projects of the leaders of factions and the princes of 
 the blood. Political causes having drawn the sword, 
 a corrupt religion was only employed to poison its edge, 
 that the wound inflicted might be the more difficult to 
 heal. 
 
 7. All those persecutions and wars which have 
 professedly originated in religious motives, have been 
 undertaken in direct opposition to the spirit of the Gos- 
 pel, and are denounced by it. Popery may have been 
 to blame, human nature may have been to blame, (for 
 every man has more or less of the priest in his heart, 
 as far as that term is associated with the idea of bigot- 
 ry,) but the Gospel never. So far from this, it pro- 
 claims " peace on earth, good- will towards men." To 
 every individual who would draw a material sword in 
 its defence, its language is, " Put up thy sword again 
 into its place." And if the sword be not quickly 
 sheathed, it flies from the place as from an uncongenial 
 element ; so that in every scene of intolerance, the 
 presence of the Gospel has always been felt like a bur- 
 den and a restraint. Nor was it till men had succeed- 
 ed in forgetting or defying it, that persecution felt itself 
 at full liberty to kindle its fires and indulge its hate ; 
 and often, alas ! at such times, the Bible has been the 
 first martyr cast into the flames. 
 
 * See that admirable piece of irony by Burke, " A. Vindication of 
 Natural Society." 
 
AN ESSAY. 259 
 
 8, In proportion as the Gospel triumphs, persecu- 
 tions cease, and a spirit of forbearance and charity- 
 succeeds. To take the character of Christianity from 
 its stagnant and corrupted form in the middle ages, is as 
 inconsistent as to judge of the mountain stream of the 
 Jordan from an analysis of the bituminous waters of 
 the Dead Sea, in which they are lost. To judge of 
 them fairly, they should be traced to their fountain, 
 and examined in their purity. If ever benevolence 
 was made visible in human form, it was in the person 
 of the Divine Founder of Christianity. In accordance 
 with these representations, excommunication was the 
 earliest, and, for ages, the only weapon the church 
 employed. Though burning with zeal against erro- 
 neous opinions, the apostolical fathers, like the apostles 
 themselves, neither authorised nor hinted any severity 
 on the persons of those opposed to them. The only 
 panoply they wore was an armour of character ; their 
 only weapons, the love that attracts, the patience that 
 endures, and the union that gives strength. The vic- 
 tories they achieved were all bloodless — the moral 
 conquest of revolted minds. And now again, after 
 Christianity has, for ages, been overlaid by the accu- 
 mulated errors and oppressions of the world, it is rising 
 and shaking the mountain weight from its giant breast, 
 and resuming its celestial character. Unlike the Jor- 
 dan, it is not only pure at its fountain, but is gradually 
 purifying the element of corruption which had neutral- 
 ised and absorbed it. Like the waters of prophetic 
 vision, — its own appropriate type, — it is " going down 
 into the desert and into the sea, to heal the waters. 
 And it shall come to pass, that the waters shall be 
 healed, and every thing shall live whither the river 
 comes." 
 
 Wherever the light of the Gospel comes, the spectre 
 of intolerance shrinks and retires from its presence, 
 while the Divine principle of charity lifts up its head 
 and feels reassured. The splendid hope which some 
 entertain, — that the Gospel will ultimately unite the 
 whole Christian church in every article of faith and 
 
260 CHRISTIANITY NO PERSECUTOR. 
 
 practice, in inward sentiment as well as in outward 
 form, — is only, it is to be feared, a visionary scene ; 
 though the fact that it should be able to awaken such 
 an expectation proclaims abroad its conciliatory spirit. 
 There is, however, an union which its members pray 
 for and its promises secure — an union of affection, 
 which, linking heart to heart, shall leave the judgment 
 free, and which, out of the varying tones of many 
 minds, shall form an harmonious whole. 
 
THE COMING SPRING. 
 
 I SING the spring : — 
 
 " The spring, the spring, the beautiful spring." 
 
 Whose heart does not leap up at the sound ? It re- 
 news one's youth Uke the eagle's. It makes one feel 
 all over wings ; requiring weights and policemen, like 
 the monster balloon, to keep one down. But the allu- 
 sion reminds me of the murky town, I live in the 
 country : what will the poor townites say to that ? I 
 know what they ought to say and to do ; let them ac- 
 knowledge my superiority, and take off their hats, and 
 stand while I address them. Talk of classification ! 
 what division of the human race so simple, natural, 
 and comprehensive, as that which distributes it into 
 city-dwellers and country-dwellers ? Do you require 
 proof ? " God made the country, and man made the 
 town :" — there the point is settled. Even your poor 
 town-dwellers have your anticipations of the coming 
 spring — anticipations bright as a farthing rush-light in 
 a fog ; you expect your two or three stinted and im- 
 prisoned trees will find out, somehow or other, that the 
 season of spring is at hand, and will try to look green. 
 Hope is the evergreen, the perpetual spring of the 
 heart — and you hope to hear your cockney sparrows 
 give two chirps instead of one, and to see them fly by 
 your windows with bits of string, in default of hay 
 and straw ; and you hope your poor coffined mignon- 
 ette will smell as sweet " as can be expected ;" and 
 that your two or three sickly shrubs — which, though 
 not dead, are decently buried — will still hold up their 
 heads. And even the poor Esquimaux, at Wapping 
 and thereabouts — with their arctic winter and polar fogs 
 
262 THE COMING SPRING: 
 
 — are no doubt beginning to hope ; not that they ex- 
 pect to see more summer for the present, but a little 
 less fog. 
 
 Oh ! who does not love the country ? It is a pas- 
 sion born with all ; an element of our common nature, 
 infused at the creation of the kind ; a flame that lives 
 on unextinguished even amidst the brick-and-mortar 
 influence of town — 
 
 " Where nothing feeds it ; neither business, crowds, 
 Nor habits of luxurious city-life, 
 Whatever else they smother of true worth 
 In human bosoms, quench it, nor abate. 
 The villas with which London stands begirt, 
 Like a swarth Indian, with his belt of beads, 
 Prove it. A breath of unadulterated air, 
 The glimpse of a green pasture, how they cheer 
 The citizen, and brace his languid frame ! 
 Even in the stifling bosom of the town, 
 A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms 
 That soothe the rich possessor ; much consoled 
 That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint. 
 Of nightshade, or valerian, grace the well 
 He cultivates. These serve him with a hint 
 That nature lives." 
 
 Oh ! who does not love the country } " We are here," 
 says Cowley, in language more passionate than can 
 any where be found in his passionless poetry, " we 
 are here among the vast and noble scenes of nature ; 
 we are there among the pitiful shifts of policy : we 
 work here in the light and open ways of the Divine 
 bounty ; we grope there in the dark and confused lab- 
 yrinths of human malice : our senses are here feasted 
 with the clear and genuine taste of their objects, which 
 are all sophisticated there, and for the most part over- 
 whelmed with their contraries : here is harmless and 
 cheap plenty ; there guilty and expensive luxury." 
 
 But what has this to do with the coming spring ^ 
 What } why, is it not very introductory } and would 
 you rush into the presence of such a subject without a 
 formal introduction } With this preparation, then, we 
 proceed. And, first, has it never struck you as a 
 
AN ESSAY. 263 
 
 thing to be wondered at, that of the five hundred and 
 one essays, odes, sonnets, and verses written last year 
 on the four seasons, just ^Ye hundred were devoted 
 to them while current, or else celebrated their glories 
 when they had passed away ; and that only the odd 
 one (and that a very odd one indeed, of which the 
 least said the better,) looked forwards, and antedated 
 the object of its regard ? I propose to add another. 
 
 I have just been strolling abroad to refresh my ver- 
 nal associations. It is true the landscape still wears a 
 bald and wintery aspect ; and a month, at least, must 
 yet elapse before it will assume a much lovelier hue. 
 But I need not wait till then, thought I, in order to en- 
 joy a foretaste. The spring is even now invisibly at 
 work in ten thousand times ten thousand ways. Na- 
 ture, at this moment, is a vast laboratory, in which all 
 her vital elements and divine essences are in process. 
 The omnific word has gone forth, — " Let the face of 
 the earth be renewed," and all the agents of the mate- 
 rial universe (and many of the spiritual too, for aught 
 we know) are busily obeying the fiat. Below the 
 brown surface of that ploughed land there lives, and 
 wakes, and works a sleepless principle, which is silent- 
 ly but irresistibly converting these clods into food, and 
 life, and beauty. That bank is covered, at present, 
 with nothing but grass, but he who has an ear to hear 
 will hear, if he bends and listens, a sweet whispering 
 below, between a violet, a daisy, and a wild primrose, 
 about an annual visit which they have lately received, 
 and which has put them all in the highest spirits. 
 That old hawthorn looks dead, but not he ! spring has 
 touched his remotest and minutest fibres ; his juices 
 are already ascending, and every thing within him is 
 saying — " only wait a little, and you shall see me one 
 white impurpled shower of fragrant blossoms." In 
 all her myriad ways Nature is abroad, reviving her 
 works, shedding her perfumes, mingling her colours, 
 breathing on her seeds, and calling her beautiful chil- 
 dren to life. The very air owns it, and is balmy ; the 
 
264 THE COMING SPRING: 
 
 soil feels it, and inhales the incense of gratitude ; that 
 cloud, so different from the clouds of winter, so soft 
 and wreathy, and like the dew-filled fleece of Gideon, 
 comes spring-loaded from the great Giver — one of the 
 wishes of nature fulfilled. Only stand still, and lis- 
 ten ; all is silent, the silence of hope, of assured ex- 
 pectation. The very birds, for the moment, are hush- 
 ed ; but it is only the hush of pleasing suspense ; let 
 the signal be given, and out they will burst into a glo- 
 rious chorus. Did you note that slight rustle among 
 the branches ? was it not soft as the folding of angel- 
 wings ? It was nature breathing over her beauties. 
 
 But I need not tax imagination in order to see the 
 spring. Already its outward and visible signs are 
 every where around me. Yesterday morning, on vis- 
 iting my garden, I descried that welcome messenger 
 of spring, the galanthus nivalis^ or snowdrop. There 
 it lay " beneath its white coverlid, so pure and pale, 
 so true an emblem of hope, and trust, and confidence, 
 that it might teach a lesson to the desponding, and 
 show the useless and inactive how invaluable are the 
 stirrings of that energy that can work out its purpose 
 in secret, and under oppression, and be ready in the 
 fulness of time to make that purpose manifest and 
 complete." A little further on, a group of hepaticas 
 smiled to receive me ; the fringed star of Bethlehem 
 and the spring bulbocodium were trembling with de- 
 light — a crocus was looking like a whole spring in it- 
 self — a primrose spoke to the imagination of thatched 
 cottages, and sloping banks, and woody dells, and hap- 
 py children — and a violet, without holding up its head, 
 spoke to the heart of modest retiring beauty, and the 
 fragrance of virtue. Going forth again, in the open 
 weather of the evening, I was greeted with other har- 
 bingers of spring — less lovely to the eye, indeed, than 
 those which I have named, but far from unacceptable 
 to the lover of nature — the grey slug, and the homely 
 earthworm, and the bat, just awoke from its winter's 
 sleep. 
 
AN ESSAY. 265 
 
 Before I left home this morning for my walk, a red- 
 breast, which I have fed through the cold weather, 
 came to my window, sang as merrily as a robin can — 
 thanked me for all past favours — and said, as plainly 
 as he could, that he was about to look out for a " bet- 
 ter half." A tomtit and chaffinch were by and heard 
 him, and signified that so good an example deserved 
 to be followed. As to the sparrows, they have all 
 paired, and are furnishing their houses. But what 
 large bird is that winging its way on high, as if from 
 the sea-coast ? surely it is the curlew ; then he is re- 
 tiring from his winter haunt to his inland breeding- 
 place. And, hark ! the lyric sky-lark is aloft at heav- 
 en's gates, raining down a shower of music to the 
 earth ; and there bursts forth the song-thrush, singing 
 " as if he would never grow old," and as if the six 
 pure scarlet drops in his body were elixir vitce; and 
 there darts by a bee, humming as merrily as if all the 
 world were a hive, or every thing in it flowers and 
 honey. 
 
 Man of the city ! dost thou not almost wish for a 
 country calenture, that thou mightest taste the spring, 
 if only by the force of a diseased imagination ? Wilt 
 thou not treat thy poor wheezing lungs with a little 
 country air ? Dost thou not long for " the key of the 
 field ?" Wouldst thou not give thy freedom of the city 
 to be made free of the green paths, — 
 
 " The haunts of deer, 
 And sheep-walks populous with bleating lambs j 
 And lanes, in which the primrose ere her time 
 Peeps through the moss that clothes the hawthorn root ?" 
 
 Will thy street-music compare with that music of 
 the flock ? or thy dancing dogs with the joyous gam- 
 bols of those new-yeaned lambs ? Hear what Milton 
 saith on the subject : "In those vernal seasons of the 
 year, when the air is calm and pleasant, it were an in- 
 jury and sullenness against nature not to go out and 
 
266 THE COMING SPRING. 
 
 see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing with heav- 
 en and earth." Dost thou not feel inclined to go forth 
 at once ? Is not the spring strong upon thee, and the 
 sun shining in upon thy heart ? Lift up thy voice, 
 then, and sing of " the coming spring :" — 
 
 " Hail, bounteous spring, thou dost inspire 
 Mirth, and youth, and warm desire ; 
 Woods and groves are of thy dressing, 
 Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing. 
 Thus we salute thee with one early song, 
 And welcome thee, and wish thee long." 
 
THE LEAF. 
 
 We all do fade as a leaf. — Isaiah. 
 
 Have you never been struck, reader, by the evident 
 resemblance between the various appearances of na- 
 ture, and the various states of the human mind, as 
 well as the successive stages of human life ? If not, 
 reflect on it, and you will find it interesting. We can 
 easily conceive how the Divine Being might have' 
 created a perpetual variance between our condition 
 and the state of nature around us. When he pro- 
 nounced the earth accursed " for our sakes," he might 
 have aggravated that curse, by surrounding us to a 
 painful extent with immitigable sameness. He might 
 have reduced the large variety of animal tribes to the 
 few which we use for food ; and have left us no quad- 
 ruped to please us with its gambols — no insect to sport 
 in the summer's sun — no birds to delight us with their 
 flight and their song. He might have taken away all 
 the beauty of the landscape, by commanding the hill 
 to sink and the valley to rise to a perfect level — by 
 sinking the torrent and the rivulet beneath the surface 
 of the earth — and by substituting for the towering and 
 luxuriant tree nothing but the thorn and the brier. And 
 from this scene he might have commanded the moon 
 and the stars to withdraw their light, and have permit- 
 ted the sun to look upon it only through a cloud. And 
 had the face of nature worn an aspect so dreary, he 
 doubtless would have counted himself most happy, or 
 rather least miserable, who could have secluded him- 
 self most effectually from beholding it. But so far 
 from being surrounded by such a scene, paradise was 
 not more adapted to man in his state of primeval 
 
268 THE leaf: 
 
 purity, than the present condition of nature corresponds 
 with our altered circumstances. 
 
 We know not to what extent the fall of man affected 
 the original constitution of nature. In the poetic eye 
 of Milton, 
 
 " Sky lowered, and, muttering thunder, some sad drops 
 Wept at completing of the mortal sin 
 Original." 
 
 But this, if more than poetically correct, was only 
 a presage of approaching revolution. From the tenour 
 of the curse, we learn that a material change, never 
 to be revoked, immediately followed. Nor do we 
 know the effects produced by the universal deluge, and 
 by other convulsions of nature. But whatever they 
 may have been, we find ourselves the passing inhabi- 
 tants of a world where nature, animate and inanimate, 
 seems to sympathize with out lot, to point out our 
 duties, and to remind us of our end. Nature, in this 
 light, is only a grand depository of means intended to 
 promote the end of our being. It is a temple in which 
 piety finds herself surrounded by a thousand emana- 
 tions from the Supreme, and addressed by a thousand 
 voices of warning and encouragement. The poet has 
 drawn from it his most pathetic images — the moralist 
 many of his best arguments and examples — and the 
 prophet some of his most arousing monitions. 
 
 In exemplification of this fact, but without pretend- 
 ing to furnish an adequate idea of it, you may be 
 reminded of a few of the more obvious illustrations of 
 our condition with which nature abounds. How often 
 is the restlessness of man compared to the constant 
 agitation of the ocean ; and the uncertainty of friend- 
 ship, and of success in life, to the instability of that 
 element. How beautifully does the setting of the un- 
 clouded sun illustrate the closing scene of the Chris- 
 tian's hfe; how friendly the calm and twilight of 
 evening are to solitude and meditation ; and how aptly 
 the rage of a storm represents the frequent turbulence 
 
AN ESSAY. 269 
 
 of human passions. If life be compared to a day, it 
 has its morning, its noon, its evening, and its night ; 
 and when compared with the year, it has its " flower- 
 ing spring," its " summer's ardent strength," its 
 
 " Sober Autumn fading into age ; 
 And pale concluding winter comes at last 
 And shuts the scene." 
 
 No subject, however, has been more copiously illustrat- 
 ed, by comparisons drawn from nature, than the brevity 
 and uncertainty of human life. The change con- 
 tinually passing upon every thing around us, can 
 scarcely fail to remind even the most thoughtless that 
 such, " in his best estate," is man. But it is an unwel- 
 come subject to the majority of mankind, and often 
 remanded, like Paul by Felix, until a more conveni- 
 ent season shall have arrived. It cannot, however, 
 be dismissed at present on account of its unseasona- 
 bleness, for scarcely can we walk out without being 
 reminded of it by some striking emblem. The warmth 
 of summer is gone, and the freshness of the grass. 
 The tribes of insects have gradually disappeared, and 
 those which Providence instructs to provide for the 
 winter, have begun to live on the fruit of their in- 
 dustry. The trees have lost the beauty and luxuriance 
 of their foliage ; for while some of them are already 
 left naked to the blast, the leaves which remain on the 
 rest have become sere and yellow, and every breath 
 of air diminishes their number. The birds are become 
 silent, and the sun leaves us in darkness early in the 
 day. Here then is a silent but an eloquent appeal to 
 our hearts, and surely no one can be offended when 
 nature itself becomes the instructor. Had we, by 
 any possibility, been ignorant that all the preceding 
 generations of men had died, and that the same event 
 awaited us, who could go out and contemplate those 
 images of desolation, without wondering whether a 
 change would ever take place in our condition, answer- 
 ing to this change in the aspect of nature ? But this 
 
270 THE LEAF. 
 
 is not a subject of conjecture — we know that it is the 
 lot of all, and nature only aims to remind us of it. 
 We are too much disposed to act as though the winter 
 of our life would never come. But nature addresses 
 us in the tone of warning, and assures us that it will ; 
 and presents itself as an example. We are so far 
 absorbed in the present concerns of life, that we are 
 in extreme danger of forgetting what awaits us at the 
 end. But, as if to prevent this fatal inattention, nature 
 dies before our eyes. It prospectively celebrates our 
 funeral ; and while the funeral procession is passing 
 before us, the voice of wisdom pronounces in solemn 
 accents, " We all do fade as a leaf." 
 
 And is it so, reader ? — Then act as though you be- 
 lieved it. And remember that the portion which awaits 
 the Christian, when he has faded and fallen here, is 
 " an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
 fadeth not away." His body too, like seed deposited 
 in the earth, is eventually to burst into second life. It 
 is designed to wear no earthly form, but to be " fashion- 
 ed like unto Christ's glorious body." And at the same 
 moment a new heaven and a new earth are to start 
 into being likewise. Not more certainly will the pre- 
 sent season give place to another spring, than the 
 storms and vicissitudes of time will be succeeded by 
 that glorious event. To secure that, the Saviour died ; 
 and to accelerate it, he lives, and reigns, and triumphs. 
 It is that to which all the affairs of the universe are 
 hourly tending. Then a summer shall flourish which 
 shall know no winter ; then the verdure shall never 
 wither ; and the blessed who enjoy it, freed from every 
 thing which rendered them fading on earth, shall know 
 no change but that of advancing " from glory to glory." 
 
EGOTISM. 
 
 You may rely on it, reader, that nearly all the 
 world, except you and I, are egotists ; so that, by the 
 bye, we ourselves must have had a very narrow es- 
 cape. " But how is it, then," you inquire, " that so 
 many pass for modest, unassuming men?" Why, it 
 is simply thus : some men are much more accomplish- 
 ed egotists than others ; they know when to attract 
 notice by appearing to disregard it ; when to change 
 the first person singular into the second , and when to 
 excite the surprise and concern of the sympathetic, by 
 affecting an undue degree of self-dissatisfaction and 
 self-severity. And some are much less egotistical 
 than others. The principle of egotiveness is within 
 them, but circumstances have prevented the develop- 
 ment of the organ. And provided a man's propensity 
 to self-exaltation be not very obtrusive, he is allowed, 
 by a kind of common courtesy, to pass for a modest 
 man. This is his premium for being what he is, and 
 his bribe to remain so. He is but a pigmy conipared 
 with the giant egotists arourtd him, and his reward is 
 to pass unnoticed. 
 
 But look me out the man who appears most dispos- 
 sessed of self, and transport him to some planet inhab- 
 ited by beings guiltless of selfism, and you shall find 
 that even he will prove to be an egotist in every world 
 but his own. He was humble here only by compari- 
 son ; but there, no one could doubt for a moment that 
 he was of the earth — earthy. And why ? because he 
 would be always talking about our world, and the 
 superiority of our habits and manners ; and be dispos- 
 ed to take the lead in every planetary conversation ; 
 
272 EGOTISM. 
 
 and aiming to excite astonishment by recitals of the 
 marvelous. 
 
 But you need not transport him to a distant planet 
 for this purpose : try the experiment on a smaller 
 scale ; track him through two or three days of his 
 earthly wanderings, and you will find that however 
 unassuming he may appear in some circumstances, in 
 others he can lay claim to all the privileges of a vete- 
 ran egotist. Has he just terminated a journey rather 
 longer than usual ? Then hush : " I am Sir Oracle — 
 let no dog bark." For one half hour, at least, he lays 
 claim to your attention as the " leading article," 
 though, perhaps, he has merely to relate, " how he 
 went farther than he intended, and came safe home 
 again." Has he been involved in a wordy war ? 
 Then he will astonish you with the point of his repar- 
 tees, and with what " I said" to what " he said." 
 But it is in his own family that his egotistical propen- 
 sity is most conspicuous. And it must be acknowl- 
 edged that here, if any where, it almost ceases to of- 
 fend ; here, indeed, it becomes almost amiable. He 
 is, beyond dispute, the most important personage in 
 the group ; and his importance must be maintained. 
 In the eyes of his children — those multiplications of 
 himself — he is the strongest, the wisest, and the best 
 of men. And in the heart of his other self^ the dear 
 idea of his superiority is enshrined till death. But 
 this pleasing delusion, which seems almost necessary 
 to domestic happiness, cannot be maintained without 
 the occasional declension of ego. And let him egotize, 
 reader ; he offends neither you nor me. I envy him 
 his auditors ; and let him who would attempt to dissi- 
 pate the grateful error be anathematized, and never 
 allowed to graduate beyond a bachelor. 
 
 But who is not an egotist in his dreams ? I cannot 
 forbear venturing an opinion that even you, reader, 
 though of so retiring a disposition while awake, and 
 while your thoughts are under the eye of a vigilant 
 judgment, no sooner lose yourself in the vagaries of a 
 dream, than you become the hero of every scene 
 
AN ESSAY. 273 
 
 which your imagination portrays. You may dream 
 of others ; but then they are only admiring spectators 
 of your exploits. You may quarrel ; but your antag- 
 onist never fails to be worsted. The drama suddenly 
 changes, and a new scene makes its appearance ; but 
 you are there in time to sustain the principal part. 
 You dream of precipices, and of persons falling over 
 them ; but rather than be a mere spectator, you will 
 fall from the highest point yourself. But this modifi- 
 cation of egotism is excusable ; you were beguiled 
 into it during the absence of all mental control. Tf, 
 indeed, as many do, you were accustomed to relate 
 
 your dreams, then, perhaps but away with the 
 
 idea ! it is not for a moment to be entertained. 
 
 It is said that an extra glass will occasionally trans- 
 form a very reserved person into a most loquacious 
 egotist, if into nothing worse ; — that it has a strong 
 tendency to revive the memory of personal adven- 
 ures, respectable connexions, and rich relations. But 
 however this may be, it must be allowed that a slight 
 degree of personal deference, to say nothing of adu- 
 lation, will frequently operate to this effect. When a 
 man perceives that you know him, and that you regard 
 him (perhaps justly) with marked and respectful at- 
 tention, he feels that he has to support a certain char- 
 acter, and rather than sink in your estimation, he is in 
 extreme danger of contracting the guilt of egotism. 
 This will, in some measure, account for the fact why 
 so many men of mental eminence are chargeable with 
 the commission of this offence. For be it remember- 
 ed, that whatever it may betray, it is a propensity by 
 no means peculiar to mental imbecility. They have 
 been placed in circumstances of this description so 
 often, that a feeling of self-importance has been first 
 generated, and this, by repetition, has gradually led to 
 a habit of self-exaltation. Hence Cicero became an 
 egotist, though he was evidently most anxious to con- 
 ceal it ; and Montaigne, who wrote I more frequently 
 than any other letter of the alphabet ; and Wolsey, 
 whose motto of " I and my king," renders him an ex- 
 18 
 
274 EGOTISM. 
 
 ample worthy the attention of every succeeding ego- 
 tist. And why should thy name be omitted, Cobbett ? 
 thou prince of egots ! thou whose every page breathes 
 self-inspiration, and the most enviable degree of self- 
 satisfaction. This, too, will partially account for the 
 publication of so many trips and travels, conversa- 
 tions, reminiscences, autobiographies, and a variety of 
 nameless effusions, " at the request of friends." And 
 why will it not equally account for the slight degree 
 of egotism attributable to honest John Bull ? He boasts 
 " a constitution which is the envy of surrounding na- 
 tions, and the admiration of the world." And when 
 it is remembered that many compliments to this effect 
 have reached his patriotic ear, it is not strange that he 
 should believe it. And when, in addition to this, the 
 character and pretensions of his southern neighbours 
 are remembered, it is not strange that he should so far 
 throw off his natural reserve as to assert it, and thus 
 turn egotist in self-defence. 
 
 I once knew a thorough-paced egotist, and I would 
 not willingly part with the idea which I retain of him. 
 It was the fulness, the perfection of his egotism alone 
 
 which rendered T s supportable. Had he been 
 
 less egotistical he would have been intolerable, simply 
 because he would not have appeared incurable. Had he 
 occasionally descended from his stilts, his friends 
 might have cherished a hope that he might be gradual- 
 ly taught to walk upon the earth ; but he never disap- 
 pointed their hopes, for he never excited any. Had 
 he occasionally enjoyed a lucid interval, an attempt 
 might have been made at exorcism ; but the demon of 
 egotism never left him, so that no one could hesitate 
 to pronounce him an incurable. It was scarcely pos- 
 sible to offend him by any of the ordinary means of 
 giving offence. Convict him of ignorance ; his self- 
 confidence remained unshaken : he felt assured " in 
 his own mind," that he had read or heard to the effect 
 of what he had stated ; or, he was not in the habit of 
 forming an opinion hastily, nor should he be hasty in 
 relinquishing it. Politely request him to withdraw ; 
 
AN ESSAY. 5275 
 
 hie evidently pitied you for defrauding yourself of the 
 pleasure of his company. Tax him with egotism ; he 
 professed to hate nothing so cordially. But if it was dif- 
 ficult to displease him, it was a proverbial impossibility 
 to put him on indifferent terms with himself If he 
 ever admitted, for a moment, that he could, in any 
 single point, be more perfect than he was, it was done 
 so blandly, with so many alleviating expressions and 
 assurances of self-esteem, that he could not possibly 
 be offended with himself; and, moreover, it was al- 
 ways the certain forerunner of invidious comparisons 
 with those around him, and ended in torrents of self- 
 gratulation. He was a happy instance of the princi- 
 ple of gravitation, for he was his own centre, and to 
 that he tended with a constancy and force of deter- 
 mination which nothing external could ever disturb — 
 
 " And I s, self-balanc€d, on his centre hung." 
 
 In conversation he quoted principally from himself, as 
 a classical scholar would from the ancients ; for few 
 sayings had ever escaped from his lips which his mem- 
 ory had not embalmed with the most pious solicitude. 
 In a doubtful question he seldom appealed to a higher 
 authority than himself, which he did with the readi- 
 ness and accuracy of a lawyer appealing to an old act 
 of parliament ; naming the date when he had formed 
 the opinion or used the expression alluded to, together 
 with the minutest circumstances which led to it. Few 
 incidents of modern times could be mentioned in con- 
 versation of which he had not some knowledge, which 
 called for the attention of the company. But when- 
 ever he condescended to refer to an incident which 
 did not relate immediately to himself, he commonly 
 atoned for the defect by giving a most detailed account 
 of the several stages through which it had passed be- 
 fore it reached him — the depository of all knowledge 
 and secrets, past, present, and to come. And in doing 
 this, he generally managed to introduce, indirectly, a 
 few names and circumstances, intended, if not calcu- 
 
276 EGOTISM. 
 
 lated, to raise him in the opinion of those he address- 
 ed, so that, before he had concluded, the original inci- 
 dent was entirely lost sight of, and you found yourself 
 brought back to that beginning and end of all things — 
 himself. And yet there is not one of his acquaint- 
 ance — friends, I believe, he has none — who would not 
 devour his Memoirs, provided they were written by 
 himself, as the choicest morsel which ever gratified 
 their literary palate. But such a pleasure is not to be 
 -expected ; for unless he could be present at the read- 
 ing of every copy which might be sold, to announce 
 himself as the hero, and to offer any little explanation 
 which he might deem necessary, he would never think 
 of the publication. Farewell, then, thou worthy arch- 
 etype of the egotistical tribe, farewell ! and accept, at 
 parting, this feeble tribute to thy cherished memory. 
 Never shall it be said that thou art self- irreverent ; for 
 seldom dost thou pronounce thy name but with an em- 
 phasis approaching to awe, or offer incense at any 
 human shrine but thine own. Thou art self-canon- 
 ized. Never can it be said that thou lackest a subject 
 for conversation ; for thou art so full of thyself, that it 
 is only to address thee, and thou overfiowest. Never, 
 whilst thou livest, canst thou be taxed with forgetting 
 the object which first engrossed thy affections ; for thy 
 " first love" was thyself, and "thou wilt love on till 
 death. 
 
THE CHARACTER OE 
 JOHN FOSTER, AS A WRITER.* 
 
 The connexion between this subject and the spirit and 
 manners of the age, will be apparent to those only 
 who have not read the author in question. And even 
 to such the connexion may not be made apparent. I 
 might assume, for this purpose, that most writers have 
 read " Foster's Essays," and infer that most readers 
 have felt the effects of it. It might indeed require 
 some skill to prove the truth of this remark in its un- 
 qualified state ; but provided it were dealt with fairly, 
 no modification would destroy its identity. It may be 
 as difficult to apprehend the relation between his mind, 
 as an author, and yours, as a reader of this periodical, 
 as for an untutored mind to understand the connexion 
 between the two great elements of nature — water and 
 fire. It is, however, more than poetically correct, 
 that, — 
 
 " The sun that light imparts to all, receives 
 From earth his alimental recompeuce 
 In humid exhalations ; and at «ven 
 Sups with the ocean." 
 
 And it is evident to the reflecting mind, that a recipro- 
 city equally real is traceable between the remotest parts 
 of the intellectual world. Were a man, whose men- 
 tal energy and tastes somewhat resembled those of our 
 
 * There is a mournful interest in presenting this article to the eye of 
 the reader, now that its distinguished subject has closed his eyes on earth, 
 and passed to the regions of immortality. Some years after he had writ- 
 ten this paper. Dr. H. became acquainted with Foster, and strong mutual 
 friendship was the result. Though they had minds, in some particulars, 
 exceedingly dissimilar, each could see and admire the excellences of the 
 
278 THE CHARACTER OF JOHN FOSTER, 
 
 author, (excepting a few points of difference, we 
 might name such a man as Dr. Johnson,) to sit down 
 this evening to the perusal of " Essays," it is not to 
 be supposed that his mind would be affected in any 
 other way .than by a deep feeling of pleasure and ad- 
 miration. His own mental habitudes, having, by time 
 and exercise, become so permanent, that nothing short 
 of natural decay or death could change them. But 
 even this feeling of admiration, excited as it would be 
 by the exhibition of truths brought out from obscuri- 
 ty to which custom had consigned them, invested with 
 new powers of attraction, skilfully disentangled from 
 the network of sophistry, or triumphing over antago- 
 nist errors, must be attended by a corresponding effect 
 on many of his subsequent thoughts, and sympathies, 
 and expressions, on the same subjects. One of the 
 most likely modes, perhaps, in which this effect would 
 discover itself, would be by pronouncing on the author, 
 in conversation, an extravagant eulogy.* Were a 
 mind of powers somewhat inferior to those of the au- 
 thor, to read his productions with congenial views, the 
 effect produced would probably be, that of a wish to 
 resemble, without the appearance of attempting it. 
 
 other. One of the last notes I received from Dr. H. before I crossed the 
 Atlantic, expressed his grief at the removal of the distinguished Essayist,, 
 and his hope that no mean man would undertake his biography. I rejoice 
 to learn that a complete edition of his works, with a memoir of his life, 
 may shortly be expected from the united pens of two of his intimate 
 friends, fully equal to the task. In the mean time, I would refer the 
 readers of this volume who may be able to gain access to it, to an able 
 sketch of Foster's intellectual character in the London Patriot, which 1 
 happen to know is from the powerful pen of my highly talented and. 
 valued friend, the Rev. Dr. Campbell, of that city. Ed. 
 
 * Such as, " his thoughts deserve and require to be communicated in 
 the language of another world." A near approach to the hyperbolical, 
 it is true ; but such substantially is reported to have been an expressioEs 
 used in reference to the author in question, by a living writer and preach- 
 er of eminence, whose style, it is presumed, would go far towards sup- 
 pressing, in any who are acquainted with it, the desire of an importation 
 of solar or lunar vocabularies, and to reconcile them to the language of 
 our own planet. 
 
AS A WRITER. 279 
 
 This feeling would, insensibly perhaps, but inevitably 
 steal into his pen, and for a time affect its movements. 
 I could, on warrantable grounds, point out three illus- 
 trations of this remark. In one of them, the writer, it 
 would appear, was fascinated by the figures of the 
 essayist ; and whether owing to a defective talent of 
 appropriation, or the curse of a memory too retentive, 
 or the fear of mutilating what he could not improve, 
 he has carefully removed as many of them as he 
 deemed desirable ; and, as the fates would have it, has 
 given them a silent and unhonoured burial in his own 
 tome. He evidently does not believe in the doctrine 
 of literary transubstantiation. Were the productions 
 of the author read by an ardent youth, whose mind 
 had not yet acquired a character, the probability is, 
 that he would take from them impressions on some 
 subjects never to be obliterated, though their origin 
 might be soon forgotten. So that whenever he ap- 
 proaches these subjects afterwards, he will always 
 find the author there before him. He will never again 
 be able to revisit them alone. But it cannot be neces- 
 sary to multiply remarks on this subject. 
 
 The peculiar characteristics of Mr. Foster, as a 
 writer, are energy and originality. Some, indeed, 
 may be disposed to make considerable deductions from 
 his claims to mental originality, and to transfer them 
 to his peculiar style of composition. And it must be 
 admitted that passages might be pointed out, in which, 
 as in Tom Thumb's alphabet, there is a great deal of 
 straining and effort to express a, Z>, c. And there are 
 other passages which remind us of Voltaire's expres- 
 sion, that language was given us to conceal our 
 thoughts. But these are few, and scarcely worth no- 
 tice. Where his style is obscure, the reader may 
 commonly obtain a glimpse of the idea, as of a moun- 
 tain partially veiled in mist, sufficient to satisfy him 
 that he is still in the presence of grandeur. Where it 
 is laboured and complicated, it is generally the evident 
 result of a herculean struggle to drag some powerful 
 and untractable thought to the light, and to make it to 
 
280 THE CHARACTER OF JOHN FOSTER, 
 
 do homage to the subject ; and the reader feels grate- 
 ful that so much trouble has been apparently taken, 
 and pleased that the effort has been crowned with so 
 much success. Bui for an occasional sentence of this 
 description, you are presented with paragraphs and 
 pages of profound but transparent writing, rolling on- 
 ward with the majestic and uninterrupted progress of 
 a river. His style, probably, never knew the puerili- 
 ties of a juvenile writer, never exhibited marks of 
 carelessness, nor of mere attempt. Its faults, like its 
 beauties, are those of a writer not to be deterred from 
 embodying the most impalpable ideas, and, at the 
 same time, determined, as far as language can go, to 
 be understood and felt. It is a style which few could 
 aim to imitate with impunity, but even its peculiarities 
 are consecrated by the thought which they enshrine, 
 and render it, probably, the only adequate representa- 
 tive of the mind which created them. 
 
 From these remarks it must be evident that our au- 
 thor is not to be consulted for light reading. If taken 
 up, and glanced at cursorily, the eye may trace, page 
 after page, with as little mental advantage as would be 
 derived from allowing it to wander over the same 
 space occupied by bieroglyphics ; — it might recognise 
 most of the signs, but to understand the things signifi- 
 ed requires the application of the mind. But, in the 
 present day, when so many aim to furnish not only 
 " reading made easy," but thinking likewise, the ma- 
 jority of readers would probably discard our author as 
 imposing on them too severe a condition. He requires 
 attention ; but he employs no artifice to beguile them 
 into it. They must knit their forehead at the very 
 first sentence, and preserve their gravity unrelaxed till 
 they have reached the last. His vein of thought 
 may be unusually rich, but it lies too far beneath the 
 surface for their resolution to follow him. They 
 might stay above, for a short time, in the hope of 
 catching a few indistinct sounds from the depths be- 
 low, but wearied with the unusual effort of attention, 
 they would soon imagine he was bewildered and lost, 
 and leave him to his fate. 
 
AS A WRITER. 281 
 
 Whatever estimate, however, might be formed of 
 our author by a great proportion of mere readers, if 
 original combination of thought, and striking illustra- 
 tions, and a complete mastery of his subject, possess 
 any merit, he cannot be perused without being admir- 
 ed. It would be but a small part of his praise to say 
 that he dignifies and illuminates whatever he touches, 
 or even that he frequently surprises and delights by 
 his powers of creation and discovery. He is peculiar- 
 ly happy in exercising that great prerogative of genius 
 which renovates the trite, and invests the familiar with 
 interest. The spear of Ithuriel, and the voice of him 
 who stood in the valley of dry bones, seem, in a figu- 
 rative sense, to be equally at his command. His mind 
 is a crucible, in which the debased is reduced to its 
 elements ; and a mould, in which the mutilated and 
 effaced take their original shape and impression. He 
 brings to his subject an intimate acquaintance with the 
 various states of the human mind, especially its irreli- 
 gious tastes and aversions. These he examines and 
 amplifies with all the conscious security of one who 
 knows that he can expose and trample on them at 
 pleasure. And after placing them in a light far more 
 imposing than the generality of tfeeir advocates could 
 place them, he shows how completely they are at the 
 mercy of a powerful mind " valiant for the truth." 
 And then his peculiar mode of aggravating his repre- 
 sentations, of torturing his antagonist with fearful 
 doubts, of sternly persevering in his appeals and ques- 
 tions, and of returning again and again to the subject 
 with the same and even increased vigour and hostility, 
 until he has silenced and overwhelmed him, leaves the 
 mind of the religious reader in a state of exulting ad- 
 miration. One might have felt satisfied before that 
 these tastes and aversions were irreligious, but the 
 mind is delighted that they can be so clearly shown to 
 be so, and that so much can be said for religion. In 
 short, one feels a persuasion that it must be impossible 
 ever to doubt on the subject again. 
 
 Mr. Foster is remarkable for his illustrations. In 
 
282 THE CHARACTER OF JOHN FOSTER, 
 
 this department it must be acknowledged he is highly- 
 original and happy. He lays the most remote, and 
 unpromising, and familiar objects, under contribu- 
 tion with facility and success. Like the attendant 
 spirits of some potent magician, they come from all 
 elements and worlds to do his bidding. His images 
 from the supernatural are especially striking. And, 
 indeed, there are numerous indications in his writings, 
 that his imagination is frequent in its communion 
 with the mysterious and the invisible. He impresses 
 one with the idea that a mind which apprehends so 
 vividly " the powers of the world to come," will, at 
 length, enter that world as a scene comparatively 
 familiar, — that he must be rapidly exhausting its sources 
 of wonder by anticipation. Irony, though it may not 
 be a favourite weapon, is yet, in his hands, a most 
 efficient one. Whenever he employs it, the reader 
 may aptly think of Hercules playing with his club ; 
 or recall to mind the scene in which Sampson made 
 sport for the Philistines. And, in either case, he 
 would not be less indisposed to smile, than he would 
 at the grave irony and biting sarcasms of the author, — 
 even when it is all over. Irony is a mask, and when- 
 ever he puts it on he looks terrific. It cannot, and it 
 need not, be concealed, that his pages are not unfre- 
 quently of a sombre hue. Not that he is at all capa- 
 ble of that gloomy misanthropy which can gorge itself 
 only midst scenes of human misery ; or that he makes 
 the slightest approach to that whining sentimentalism 
 which confounds imaginary with real evil, and which 
 knows nothing of benevolence beyond sighs and tears. 
 The peculiarity to which we allude is evidently owing 
 to no incapacity for enjoyment, nor to any insensibility 
 to the value, and efficacy, and ultimate triumph of that 
 mighty power by which Supreme Benevolence can 
 " subdue all things unto itself." It arises from a keen 
 perception of moral evil, and a vivid antipathy against 
 its influence. Hence it is discoverable principally 
 when he is unmasking hypocrisy, disenchanting infatu- 
 ation from its slumbers, or deploring the desperate per- 
 
AS A WRITER. 283 
 
 severance with which sin contends for its prey, and 
 the threatening aspect with which it slowly retires 
 from the conflict. On these topics he often appears to 
 have consulted the roll of Ezekiel, and to Kave caught 
 " the spirit and power of Elias." 
 
 In closing these remarks, allow me, reader, to inti- 
 mate that many of them are especially, though not 
 exclusively, applicable to the Essay which Mr. Foster 
 has given to the public as introductory to " Doddridge's 
 Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." If you 
 wish to enjoy a high intellectual and religious treat, 
 read that Essay. And if your religious concern be 
 not increased, and your principles fortified, by the 
 perusal, you will be free to confess that the blame 
 rests not with the author. 
 
MEMOIR OF MRS. HARRIS. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Ann Harris, bom July 19th, 1815^ 
 was the daughter of W. Wrangham, Esq., of Epsom, 
 Surry. Characterized from childhood by great docility 
 and affectionateness of disposition, and attending the 
 public means of grace, she early became the subject 
 of that Divine teaching which maketh wise unto salva- 
 tion. As soon as her great self- diffidence would permit, 
 she became a member of the congregational church at 
 Epsom, then under the pastoral care. of him who, in 
 July, 1838, had the happiness of becoming her hus- 
 band. 
 
 Up to the period of her marriage, she had been, for a 
 considerable time, the devoted teacher of a class of 
 children in the Epsom chapel Sunday school ; meet- 
 ing them regularly and punctually twice every Lord's 
 day. Her love for the young induced her to take a 
 lively interest in every thing which related to their 
 welfare ; and, on her removal to Cheshunt, gladly 
 would she have resumed, had circumstances permit- 
 ted, her favourite occupation in the duties of a Sunday 
 school. 
 
 The quiet and even tenor of her wedded life, and 
 the cheerful equanimity of her temper, prevented the 
 occurrence of any thing calcuated to move and to 
 strike by the recital ; but, for the same reason, her sud- 
 den departure will be felt most deeply and permanent- 
 ly by those who knew her best. Her presence was 
 ever felt like that of the quiet dew and the cheerful 
 light — simply by the sunny enjoyment which it dif- 
 fused around. Entirely unconscious of her own at- 
 tractiveness, she was content simply with not having 
 wounded or offended, where at the very time she was 
 
286 MEMOIR OF MRS. HARRIS. 
 
 exciting the strongest esteem ; and yet was she ever 
 ready to point out and enlarge on the excellences of 
 those with whom she mingled : in ' lowliness of mind 
 esteeming others better than herself.' Transparent as 
 the day, she was confided in as soon as seen ; for to 
 see her, was to know her ; — and warm in her affec- 
 tions, she lived and moved in the happy little circle of 
 which she formed a part, only to love and to be loved. 
 
 But it was, as it ought to be, in the sphere of domes- 
 tic life that she appeared to the greatest advantage ; 
 finding in its ordinary duties scope for the practice of 
 many virtues, and in its ever-recurring scenes a variety 
 and freshness of pleasure which promised never to be 
 exhausted. If, like Martha, she was ever careful (not 
 troubled) about many things, it was only that after- 
 wards, like Mary, she might sit in quiet at the feet of 
 Christ. Most truly might it be said that the Bible was 
 her favourite book. Often would she sit perusing it by 
 the hour together ; and, on the Lord's-day, for hours ; 
 breaking silence only to ask a question on the subject 
 of her reading, or rising only to consult a Commentary. 
 
 For some months previous to the event which occa- 
 sioned her death, she had entertained the apprehension 
 of its fatal termination. Her habitual cheerfulness, 
 however, wasbut little, if at all, affected by the antici- 
 pation. In patience she possessed her soul. The 
 principal effect appeared to be, the more rapid devel- 
 opment of her character, intellectual and religious. 
 Especially was this apparent in her deepening concern 
 or the welfare of those around her ; a concern which 
 showed itself at times, when in conversation respect- 
 ing them, in tears, lest they should be neglecting the 
 great salvation. In the prospective usefulness of the 
 newly-formed society of which she was treasurer, she 
 felt much delight. Her last act, on the evening prior 
 to her dissolution, was to arrange the little details of 
 her office. Whatsoever of this kind her hands found 
 to do, she did it with all her might. 
 
 On the Lord's-day morning she was occupied in the 
 perusal of the word of God, and of a volume of dis- 
 
MEMOIR OF MRS. HARRIS. 287 
 
 courses by Mr. Binney, on " The Practical Power of 
 Faith," by which she expressed herself unusually pleas- 
 ed and benefitted. About six o'clock in the evening, 
 though the hour of " travail" evidently approached, she 
 begged me not to absent myself from the house of 
 God, on her account ; but desired, that if an interval of- 
 fered, I would read the Scriptures and offer prayer with 
 her after my return. By a little after eight, however, 
 she had given birth to a fine little girl ; and on my 
 approaching her, at her request, and saying, " God has 
 been very good, my love, in bringing you through the 
 crisis, so quickly and safely ;" '' Oh, yes," said she, 
 " never shall I be able to be sufiiciently grateful for his 
 goodness." Little, at that moment, did she herself, or 
 any one around her, expect that she was so soon to be 
 transported to that blessed state where gratitude finds 
 the harp and the voice which on earth it had wanted to 
 pour itself forth in an adequate song of praise. Be- 
 tween three and four hours after — hours of agony — 
 agony borne with uncomplaining patience — but agony 
 which exhausted her vital powers — she suddenly^and 
 peacefully, with a smile on her face, sunk into the 
 sleep of death. " So," in the language of a hymn which 
 she was admiring the Lord's-day evening before — 
 
 " So fades a summer cloud away ; 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ; 
 So gently shuts the eye of day j 
 So dies a wave along the shore." 
 
 Numerous and affecting are the lessons which this 
 Divine dispensation conveys. But it is not for the hand 
 which has traced these lines, to point out those lessons 
 to others, at least for the present, so much as to in- 
 terpret and take them to himself. May the God under 
 whose " mighty hand" he is now smarting, graciously 
 help him in all humility and submission so to do. 
 
 [tJiriVBRSITY] 
 
 ^IFOl 
 
VALUABLE WORKS 
 
 PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY 
 
 GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, 
 
 |JubUsI)crs, JSooksdkrs U JStationers, 
 59 WASHINGTON STREET, 
 
 m©%T©m. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF MORAL SCIENCE. 
 
 BY FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D. 
 
 Presideat of Brown University, and Professor of Moral Philosophy. 
 
 Twenty-Fourth Thousand. 
 
 U3°^ This work has been extensively and fav orably reviewed in the 
 leading periodicals of the day, and has already been adopted as a clasS' 
 book in most of the collegiate, theological, and academical institutions 
 of the country. 
 
 "The work of Dr. Wayland has arisen gradually from the necessity of 
 correcting the false principles and fallacious reasonings of Paley. It is a 
 radical mistake, in the education of youth, to permit any book to be used 
 by students as a text- book, which contain erroneous doctrines, especially 
 when these are fundamental, and tend to vitiate the whole system of 
 morals. We have been greatly pleased with the method which President 
 Wayland has adopted: he goes back to the simplest and most fundamental 
 principles; and, in the statement of his views, he unites perspicuity with 
 conciseness and precision. In all the author's leading fundamental prin- 
 •ciples we entirely concur." — Bib. Rep. and Theol. Review. 
 
 From Rev. Wilbur Fisk^ Pr^s. of the Wesleyan University. 
 
 "I have examined it with great satisfaction and interest. The work 
 was greatly needed, and is well executed. Dr. Wayland deserves the 
 grateful acknowledgments and liberal patronage of the public. I need say 
 nothing further to express my high estimate of the work, than that we 
 shall immediately adopt it as a text-book in our university." 
 
 From Hon. James Kent, late Chancellor of New York. 
 
 "The work has been read by me attentively and thoroughly, and I think 
 very highly of it. Theauthor himself is one of the most estimable of men, 
 and I do not know of any ethical treatise, in which our duties to God, and 
 to our fellow-men, are laid down with more precision, eim.plicity, clear- 
 ness, energy, and truth." 
 
 "This is a new work on morals, for academic use, and we welcome It 
 with much satisfaction. It is the result of several years* reflection and 
 experience in teaching, on the partof its justly distinguished author; and if 
 it is not perfectly what we could wish, yet, in the most important respects, 
 it supplies a want which has been extensively felt. It is, we think, sub- 
 stantially sound in its fundamental principles; and being comprehensive 
 and elementary in its plan, and adapted to the purposes of instruction, it 
 will be gladly adopted by those who have for a long time been dissatisfied 
 with the existing works of Paley."— Z/t7. and Theol. Review. 
 
 A 1 ' 
 
THE ELEMEJMTS OF 
 
 MORAL SCIENCE, ABRIDGED. 
 
 ADAPTED TO THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. 
 
 Eighteenth Thousand, 
 
 J13— The attention of Teachers and School Committees is invited to 
 this valuable work. It has received the unqualified approbation of all 
 who have examined it; and it is believed to be admirably adapted to 
 exert a wholesome influence on the minds of the young, and lead to the 
 formation of correct moral principles. 
 
 '• Dr. Wayland has published an abridgment of his work for the use of 
 schools. Of this step we can hardly speak too highly. It is more than 
 time that the study of Moral Philosophy sheuld be introduced into all our 
 institutions of education. We are happy to see the way so auspiciously 
 opened for such an introduction. It has been ** not merely abridged, but 
 also re-written." We cannot but regard the labor as all well bestowed. 
 The difficulty of choosing words and examples so as to make them intel- 
 ligible and interesting to the child, is very great. The success with 
 "Which Dr. Wayland appear^! to have overcome it, is, in the highest degree, 
 gratifying." — North American Review. 
 
 ** We speak that we do know, when we express our high estimate of 
 Dr. Way land's ability in teaching Moral Philosophy; whether orally or 
 by the book. Having listened to his instructions, in this inieresting de- 
 partment, we can attest how lofty are the principles, how exact and severe 
 the argumentation, how appropriate and strong the illustrations which 
 characterize his system and enforce it on the mind." — Chr. Witness. 
 
 "The work of which this volume is an abridgment, is well known as 
 one of the best and most corinplete works on Moral Philosophy extant, — 
 and is in a fair way of superseding Paley, as a text-book in our higher 
 seminaries. The author is well known as one of the most profound schol- 
 ars of the age. That the study of Moral Science, a science which teaches 
 goodness, should be a branch of education, not only in our colleges, but in 
 our schools and academies, we believe will not be denied. The abridge- 
 ment of this work seems to us admirably calculated for the purpose, and 
 we hope it will be extensively applied to the purposes for which it is in- 
 tended. " — Mercantile Journal. 
 
 "So far as we have been able to examine the two works of Dr. Way- 
 land, we must say. that we are quite as well pleased with the smaller as 
 with the larger. The work, the author himself says, has been not merely 
 abridged, it has been re-ioritten. It is written in a style well suited 
 to the comprehension of youth. The illustrations are apt and sirikinif. 
 The work is divided into short chapters, as it should be. to suit for a class 
 book for the young. Ilach chapter is followed by questions for the aid of 
 the teacher, rather than for the learner."— Chr. Sccretari/, Hartford. 
 
 "We hail the abridgment as admiiably adapted to supply the deficiency 
 which has long been felt in common school education,— the study of moral 
 obligation. Let the child early he taught lb*; relaticns it sustains to man 
 and to its Maker, the first acquainting it with the duties owed to society, 
 the second with the duties owed to God, and who can foretell how many 
 a sad and disastrous overthrow of character will be prevented, and how 
 elevated and pure will be the sense of integrity and virtue?"— £re. Guz. 
 
 " It is a work of the highest and purest order of intellect. It is meta- 
 physics reduced to practical common sense, and made subservient to 
 Christianity. The original work has acquired for its profouj^d and philo- 
 sophicauthor,alareeaddiiionio the intellectual reputation, and the abridg- 
 ment, which is entirely re-written, compresses the whole substance in a 
 duodecimo of 240 pages, judiciously adapted to common understandings. 
 Jt would be a valuable addition to our high schools."— iJatVv Advocate. 
 
ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 BY FRANCIS WAYLAND, D, D, 
 
 Tenth Thousand. 
 
 rr3=" TViis work is adopted as a text-book in many of our principal 
 Colleges, and has an extensive sale. 
 
 Extract from the Preface. 
 
 *' His object hag been to write a book, which any one who chooses may 
 undarstanj. Ha has, therefore, labored to express the general principles 
 in the plainest manner possible, and to illustrate them by cases with 
 which every person is familiar. It has been to the author a source of re- 
 gret, that the course of discussion in the followin? passes, has unavoidably 
 lud him over ground which has frequently been the arena of pol'tical con- 
 traversy. In all such cas^.s, he has endeavored to stale what seemed to 
 him to be truth, without fear, favor, or affection. He is c mscious to 
 himself of no bias towards any party whatever, and he thinks that he who 
 will read the whole work, will be convinced that he has been influenced 
 by none." 
 
 THE ET.EMENTS OF 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY, ABRIDGED. 
 
 ADAPTED TO THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES. 
 
 Fifth Thousand. 
 
 The swcces<i which has attended the abridgment of '* TVie Elements 
 of Moral Science." ha-i induced the author to prepare the following 
 ahridgmmt of " The Elements of Political Economy." In this case, 
 as in the other, the work has been wholly re-written^ and an attempt has 
 been mide to adxpt it to the attainments of youth. 
 
 "The oris;inal work of the author, on Political Economy, has already 
 been noticed on our pa?es; and the present abridgment stands in no 
 need of a recommendation from us. We may be permitted, however, 
 to say, thit both the rising and risen generations are deeply indebted to 
 Dr. NVayland, for the skill and power he has put forth to bring a highly 
 impirtant subjict distinctly before them, within such narrow limits. 
 Thonsfh "abridged for the use of academies." it deserves to be introduced 
 into every private family, and to be studied by every man who has an 
 interest in the wealth and prosperity of his country. It is a subject little 
 understood, even practically, by thousands, and still less understood theo- 
 retically. It Is to be hopjid, this will form a class-book, and be faithfully 
 studied In our academies; and that it will find its way into every family 
 library; not there to be shut up unread, but to aff(»rd rich material for 
 thou'^ht aid discussion in the family circle. It is fitted to enlarge the 
 mind, to purify the judgment, to correct erroneous popular impressions, 
 and assist every man in forming opinions of public measures, which will 
 abide the test of time and experience." — Boston Recorder. 
 
 " A.a abridgment of this clear, common sense work, designed for the 
 use of academies, is just published. We rejoice to see such treatises 
 spreading among the people: and we urge all who would be intelligent 
 freemen, to read them."— .Veu? York Transcript. 
 
 *' We can say, with safely, that the topics are well selected and ar- 
 ranged; that the author's name Is a guarantee for more than usual excel- 
 lence. We wish it an extensive circulation." — New York Observer. 
 
 *' It is well adapted to high sch )ols, and embraces the soundest system of 
 repui!icai Pjlitical Economy of any treatise extant." — Daily Advocate, 
 
 3 
 
CLASS BOOK OF MTTJRAL THEOLOGY; 
 
 Or, the Testimony of Nature to the Being, Perfections, and Government 
 
 of God. By Rev. Henry Fergus. Revised, enlarged, and adapted 
 
 to Paxton's Illustrations; with Notes, selected and original, 
 
 Biographical Notices, and a Vocabulary of Scientific 
 
 Terms. By Rev. Charles Henry Alden, A. M., 
 
 Principal of the Philadelphia High School 
 
 for Young Ladies. Third edition. 
 
 " We are glad to see this work of Fergus brought before the public with 
 advantages likely to engage attention, and swre to promote its usefulness. 
 We are e pecially pleased, that this has been done by one whose reputation 
 and devotion in the cause of female education will be a sufficient recom- 
 mendation of it to those whom it seems to have been his particular design 
 to benefit. A growing attention to this branch of education, and consid- 
 erable improvements in it, have of late appeared. The book, as now pre- 
 sented, is better fitted for a class-book on natural theology, than any with 
 which we are acquainted. The style of it is free and easy, yet concise, 
 and withal exceedingly chaste and classical, — the production of a well-dis- 
 ciplined, well-stored, and pure mind. The author treats of the origin of 
 the world, the evidences of design in nature, the perfections of the Deity. 
 These, and his various topics, are illustrated by Paxton's admirable plates, 
 heretofore published in connection with Dr. Paley's work on the same 
 subject. These, together with the notes and explanations of the American 
 editor, are important additions, and contain much valuable information. 
 Besides these, there is inserted a lecture by Dr. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, 
 on "the wisdom of God in the formation of water," which is consonant 
 with the general spirit of the work, and abounds in wise and happy re- 
 flections." — Episcopal Recorder. 
 
 "The general plan of the work is excellent, and the details, so far as we 
 can judge, are good. We take a delight in running our eye over such a 
 work as this; it reconciles us with our lot, and vindicates "the v\ays of 
 God to man." It serves to awaken curiosity in the young student, to 
 extend and gratify inquiry, and to lead him from the objects of creation 
 around him, "to him in whom we live and move, and have our being." 
 It is a most admirable study for schools. * The proper study of mankind 
 is man.'"— LT: S. Gazette. 
 
 "We do not hesitate to pronounce the work one of the best class books 
 we have examined. It must have an extensive sale."— Jovrttal of Belies 
 Lettres. 
 
 THOUGHTS 
 
 ON THE PRESENT COLLEGIATE SYSTEM IN THE U. S. 
 
 BY FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D, 
 
 "These Thoughts come from a source entitled to very respectful atten- 
 tion; and as the author goes over the whole ground of collegiate education, 
 criticising freely all the arrangements in every tlepanment and in all their 
 bearings, the book is very full of matter. We hope it will prove the begin- 
 ning of a thorough discussion. It is a noticeable fact, that none, or next 
 to none, of the reforms that have been attempted in some of our collfises 
 within fifteen or twenty years, have succeeded. ' Yet the public mind is 
 not very easy on the subject ; Dr. Wayland is not satisfied ; and the minds 
 of other gentlemen similarly situated, are in like position." 
 
 4 
 
YOUNG LADIES' CLASS BOOK; 
 
 A Selection of Lessons for Reading in Prose and Verse. 
 
 By Ebenezer Bailey, A. M., Principal of 
 
 ihe Young Ladies' Higli School, Boston. 
 
 Twenty-third Stereotype Edition, 
 
 From the Principals of the Public Schools for Females^ Boston. 
 "Gentlemen; — We have examined the Young Ladies' Class Book 
 with interest and pleasure; with interest, because we have felt the want 
 of a Reading Book expressly designed for the use of females; and with 
 
 fleasure, because we have found it well adapted to supply the deficiency, 
 n the selections for a Reader designed for boys, the eloquence of the bar, 
 the pulpit, and tlie forum, may be laid under heavy contribution ; but such 
 selections, we conceive, are out of place in a book designed for females. 
 We have been pleased, iherefore, to obserye, that in the Young Ladies' 
 Class Book such pieces are rare. The high-toned morality, the freedom 
 from sectarianism, the taste, richness, and adaptation of the selections, 
 added to the neatness of its external appearance, must commend it to all; 
 while the practical teacher will not fail to observe that diversity of style, 
 together with those peculiar ,^oiw/s, the want of which, few, who have 
 not felt, know how to supply. Respectfully yours, 
 
 Abraham Andrews, 
 Charles Fox, 
 Barnum Field, 
 R. G. Parker. 
 
 From the Principal of the Mount Vernon School, Boston. 
 "I have examined with much interest the Young Ladies' Class Book, 
 by Mr. Bailey, and have been very highly pleased with its contents. It 
 is my intention to introduce it into my own school, as I regard it as not 
 only remarkably well fitted to answer its particular object as a book of 
 exercises in the art of elocution, but as calculated to have an influence 
 upon the character and conduct, which will be in every respect favorable. 
 
 Jacob Abbott. 
 
 From the Principal of Franklin Seminary ^ NewMarket, N. H. 
 
 " I have examined with much satisfaction the Young Ladies' Class Book, 
 by Mr. Bailey, and consider it the best work of the kind extant. Such a 
 work has long been a desideratum, and I am happy that it is so fully met 
 in the present work; the happy and judicious selections, indicate the 
 chaste spirit which has so long distinguished its author, both as a teacher 
 and a scholar. I earnestly desire that it may have a universal patronage. 
 1 have selected it for my school, in preference to all others. 
 
 Yours, with esteem, Amasa Buck. 
 
 '*The reading books prepared for academic use, are often unsuitable for 
 females. They contain pieces too masculine, too martial, too abstract and 
 erudite, and too little adapted to the delicacy of the female taste. "We are 
 glad, therefore, to perceive that an attempt has been made to supply the 
 deficiency ; and we believe that the task has been faithfully and success 
 fully accomplished. The selections are judicious and chaste; and so far 
 as they have any moral bearing, appear to be unexceptionable. — Educa- 
 tion Reporter. 
 
 ** We were never so struck with the importance of having reading books 
 for female schools, adapted particularly to that express purpose, as wJiile 
 looking over the pages of this selection. The eminent success of the com- 
 piler in teaching this branch, to which we can personally bear testimony, 
 is sufficient evidence of the character of the work, considered as a selec- 
 tion of lessons in elocution; they are, in general, admirably adapted to 
 cultivate the amiable and gentle traits of the female character, as well ai 
 to elevate and improve the mind." — Annals of Education. 
 A* 6 
 
ROMAN ANTiaUITIES 
 
 AND 
 
 ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 By C. K. DILLAWAY, A. M., 
 
 Late Principal in the Boston Public Latin School, 
 
 Illustrated by elegant Engravings. 
 
 Sixth edition, improved, ^ 
 
 D3-This work is rapidly coming into use all over our country; it is 
 already introduced into most of our High Schools and Academies, and 
 many of our Colleges. A new and beautiful edition has just been 
 published. 
 
 From the Boston Education Reporter. 
 
 "The want of a cheap volume, embracing a succinct account of ancient 
 customs, together with a view of classical mythology, has lone been felt. 
 To the student of a language, some knowledge of the manners, habits, and 
 religious feelings of the people whose language is studied, is indispensably 
 requisite. This knowledge is seldom to be obtained without tedious re- 
 search or laborious investigation. Mr. Dillaway 'shook seems to have been 
 prepared with special reference to the wants of those who are just entering 
 upon a classical career; and we deem it but a simple act of justice, to say, 
 that it supplies the want, which, as we have before said, has long been felt. 
 In a small duodecimo, of about one hundred and fifty pages, he concen- 
 trates the most valuable and interesting particulars relating to Roman 
 antiquity; together with as full an account of heathen mythology as is 
 generally needed in our highest seminaries. A peculiar merit of this com- 
 pilation, and one which will gain it admission into our highly respectable 
 female seminaries, is the total absence of all allusion even the most re- 
 mote, to the disgusting obscenities oi ancient mythology; while, at the 
 same time, nothing is omitted which a pure mind would feel interested to 
 know. We recommend the book as a valuable addition to the treatises in 
 our schools and academies." 
 
 From Ebenezer Bailey, Principal of the Young Ladies^ High School, 
 Boston. 
 
 "Having used Dillawat/'s Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology 
 Sn my school for several years, I commend it to teachers, with great confi- 
 dence, as a valuable text-book on those interesting branches of education. 
 
 E. Bailey. 
 
 "We well remember, in the days of our pupilage, how unpopular as a 
 study was the volume of Roman Antiquities introduced in the academic 
 course. It wearied on account of its prolixity, filling a thick octavo, and 
 was the prescribed task each afternoon for a long three months. It was 
 reserved for one of our Boston instructers to apply the condensing appara- 
 tus to this mass of crudities, and so to modernize the antiquities of the 
 old Romans, as to make a befitti ng abridgment for schools of the first order. 
 Mr. Dillaway has presented such a compilation as must be interesting to 
 lads, and become popular as a text-book. Historical facts are staled with 
 great simplicity and clearness; the most important points are seized upon, 
 while trifling peculiarities are passed unnoticed,'* — American Traveller 
 
 6 
 
BLAKE'S PIRST BOOK IN ASTRONOMY. 
 
 Designed for the Use of Common Schools. By Rev. J. L. Blake, D. D. 
 
 Illustrated by Steel-Plate Engravin;s:s. 
 
 From E. Hinckley, Prof, of Mathematics in Maryland University* 
 
 "I am much indebted to you for acopy of the First Boole in Astronomy. 
 
 It is a work of utility and merit, far superior to any oiher which I have 
 
 seen. The aulhor has selected his topics with great judgment, — arranged 
 
 them in admirable order, — exhibited them in a style and manner at once 
 
 tasteful and philosophical. Nothing seems wanting,— nothing redundant. 
 
 It is truly a very beautiful and attractive book, calculated to afford both 
 
 pleasure and profit to all who may enjoy the advantage of perusing it. 
 
 E. Hinckley. 
 
 From B. Field, Principal of the Hancock School, Boston. 
 "I know of no other work on Astronomy, so well calculated to interest 
 and instruct young learners in this sublime science." 
 
 From James F. Gould, A. M. Principal of the High School for Young 
 Ladies, Baltimore, Md. 
 •'I shall introduce your First Book in Astronomy into my Academy in 
 September. I consider it decidedly superior to any elementary work of 
 the kind I have ever seen. James F. Gould. 
 
 From Isaac Foster, Instructer of Youth, Portland, 
 "\ have examined Blake's First Book in Astronomy, and am much 
 pleased with it. A very happy selection of topics is presented in a manner 
 which cannot fail to interest the learner, while the questions will assist 
 him materially in fixing in the memory what ought to be retained. It 
 leaves the most intricate parts of the subject for those who are able to 
 master them, and brings before the young pupil only what can be made 
 intelligible and interesting to him. Isaac Foster. 
 
 "The illustrations, both pictorial and verbal, are admirably intelligible; 
 and the definitions are such as to be easily comprehended by juvenile 
 scholars. The author has interwoven with his scientific instructions 
 much interesting historical information, and contrived to dress his phi- 
 losophy in a garb truly attractive." — N. Y. Daily Evening Journal. 
 
 " We are free to say, that it is, in our opinion, decidedly the best work 
 we have any knowledge of, on the sublime and interesting subject of 
 Astronomy. The engravings are executed in a superior style, and the 
 mechanical appearance of the book is extremely prepossessing. The 
 knowledge imparted is in language at once chaste, elegant and simple, — 
 adapted to the comprehension of those for whom It is designed. The 
 subject-matter is selected witli great judgment, and evinces uncommon 
 industry and research. We earnestly hope that parents and teachers will 
 examine and judge for themselves, as we feel confident they will coincide 
 with us in opinion. We only hope the circulation oi the work will be 
 commensurate with its merits." — Boston Evening Gazette. 
 
 " We do not hesitate to recommend it to the notice of the superintend- 
 ing committees, teachers, and pupils of our public schools." — State Her- 
 aid, Portsmouth, N, H, 
 
 ^ *• This neat and prepossessing little volume comprehends all the requi- 
 sites of a good book, — such a book as may safely be put into the hands of 
 children with advantage.' The diction is chaste and pure, the subject 
 matter selected with great judgment, and the language is peculiarly 
 adapted to the comprehension of the young mind. The introduction of 
 it into our schools generally, will, we believe, essentially promote the 
 cause of education,"— ^Sacopaj^er. 
 
 7 
 
BLAKE'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 A NEW EDITION, ENLARGED. 
 
 Being Conversations on Philosophy, with the addition of Explanatory 
 Notes, Questions for Examination, and a Dictionary of Philo- 
 sophical Terms. With Twenty-eight steel engravings. 
 By the Rev. J. L. Blake, D. D. 
 
 ?I3°^ Perhaps no work has contributed so much as this to excite a fond- 
 ness for the study of Natural Philosophy in youthful minds. The familiar 
 comparisons with which it abounds, awaken interest, and rivet the atten- 
 tion of the pupil. It is introduced, with great success, into the public 
 schools in Boston. 
 
 From Rev, J. Adams, Pres. of Charleston College, S. C. 
 "I have been highly gratified with the perusal of your edition of Con- 
 versations on Natural Philosophy. The Questions, Notes, and Explana- 
 tions of Terms, are valuable additions to the work, and make this edition 
 superior to any oth»r with which 1 am acquainted. I shall recommend it 
 wherever I have an opportunity." 
 
 " We avail ourselves of the opportunity furnished us by the publication 
 of a new edition of this deservedly popular work, to recommend it, not 
 only to those inslrscters who may not already have adopted it, but also 
 generally to all readers who are desirous of obtaining information on the 
 subjects on which it treats. By Ques4ions arranged at the bottom of the 
 pages, in which the collateral facts are arranged, he directs the attention 
 of the learner to the principal topics. Mr. Blake has also added many 
 Notes, which illustrate the passages to which they are appended, and the 
 Dictionary of Philosophical Terms is a useful addition.— (7. S. Lit. Gaz. 
 
 PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY; ' 
 
 Illustrated by forty Plates, and Selections from the Notes of Dr. Paxton. 
 
 With additional Notes, original and selected, for this edition; 
 
 With a Vocabulary of Scientific terms. 
 
 Edited by John Ware, M. D. 
 
 "The work before us is one which deserves rather to be studied, than 
 merely read. Indeed, without diligent attention and study, neither the 
 excellences of it can be fully di.^xovered. nor its advantages realized. It 
 is therefore gratifying to find it introduced, as atext-book, into the colleges 
 and literary institutions of our country. The edition before us is superior 
 to any we have seen, and, we believe, superior to any that has yet been 
 published."— ^ipmV of the Pilgrims. 
 
 *' Perhaps no one of our author's works gives greater satisfaction to all 
 classes of readers, the young, and the old, the ignorant, and the enlighten- 
 ed. Indeed, we recollect no book in which the arguments for the existence 
 and attributes of the Supreme Being, to be drawn from his works, are 
 exhibited in a manner more attractive and more convincing."— CAmimn 
 Examiner. 
 
 ** We hail the appearance of Paley's Theology with unfeigned pleasure. 
 No man is an atheist ci...er reading the work. Infidelity changes its char- 
 acter, and becomes downriglit and wilful opposition to the truth, after it 
 has gone over the pages before us. We recommend to all young men who 
 may see this article, to procure a copy of it forthwith; we advise parents 
 to procure it for their sons and for their daughters." — Trumpet. 
 
CLASSICAL STUDIES. 
 
 * 
 
 ESSAYS ON ANCIENT LITERATURE AND ART. 
 
 With the Biography and Correspondence of eminent Philologists. 
 By Barnas Sears, President Newton Theol. Institution, 
 B.B.Edwards, Prof. Andover Theol. Seminary; and 
 ' C. U. Felton, Prof. Harvard University. 
 
 "This elegant book is worthy of a more extended notice than our limits 
 at present will permit us to give it. Great labor and care have been be- 
 stowed upon its typographical execution, which does honor to the Ameri- 
 can press. It is one of the rare beauties of the page, that not a word is 
 divided at the end of a line. The mechanical part of the work, however, 
 is its least praise. It is unique in its character, — standing alone among 
 the innumerable books of this book-making age. The authors well deserve 
 the thanks of the cultivated and disciplined portion of the community, for 
 the service whicii, by this publication, they have done to the cause of 
 letters. Amid the tideofirifluences which are calculated to deteriorate our 
 literature, and degrade the standard of taste and learning, we feel under 
 great obligiuions to those who endeavor to restore the authority of ac- 
 knowledged models, to set up barriers against the sweepings flood of worth- 
 less literature, which is spreading far and wide its evil results, and con- 
 cerning whick our chief consolation is, that it is likely to be as transitory 
 as it is deleterious. The book is a plea for classical learning. While its fine 
 introduction and some of the essays directly avow this design, the corre- 
 spondence of literary men which it contains, aims indirectly at the same 
 result. The book is of a high order, and worthy of the attentive perusal of 
 every scholar. It is a noble monument to the taste, and judgment, and 
 sound learning of the projectors, and will yield, we doubt not, a rich har- 
 vest of fame to themselves, and of benefit to our literature."— C^r. Bev. 
 
 "This volume is no common-place production. It is truly refreshing, 
 when we are obliged from week to week to look through the mass of books 
 which increases upon our table, many of which are extremely attenuated 
 in thought and jejune in style, to find somethins which carries us back 
 to the pure and invigorating influence of the master minds of antiquity. 
 The gentlemen who have produced this volume deserve the cordial thanks 
 of the literary world.'* — New England Puritan. 
 
 "This book will do good in our colleges. Every student will want a 
 copy, and many will be stimulated by its perusal to a more vigorous and 
 enthusiastic pursuit of that higher and more solid learning, which alone 
 deserves to be called 'classical.' The recent tendencies have been to the 
 neglect of this, and we rejoice in this timely eflfort of minds so well quali- 
 fied for such a work." — Rejlector. 
 
 "The object of the accomplished gentlemen who have engaged in its 
 preparation has been, to foster and extend among educated men, in this 
 country, the already growing interest in classical studies. The design is 
 a noble and generous one, and has been executed with a taste and good 
 sense, that do honor both to the writers and the publishers. The book 
 is one which deserves a place in the library of every educated man. To 
 those now engaged in classical study it cannot fail to be highly useful, 
 while to the more advanced scholar it will open new sources of interest 
 and delight in the unforgolten pursuits of his earlier days."— Prof. Jour, 
 
 **The work has been prepared by three gentlemen connected with as 
 many different institutions, who seem to have entered upon and executed 
 their labor con amore It is a beautiful example of the attractive force of 
 elegant and useful literature, overcoming the repelling elements of what 
 are presumed to be diflferent creeds. And the product is worthy of the 
 sacrifice, if there have been one. It is an elegant and valuable tribute to 
 the value of classical learning. An introductory essay leaves a deep im. 
 pression of the worth and use of classical studies."— Portland Mirror. 
 
 9 
 
GESENIUS' HEBREW GRAMMAE, 
 
 Translated from the Eleventh German Edition. By T, J. Conant, Prof. 
 
 of Hebrew and of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation in the 
 
 Tiieol. Institution at Hamilton, N. Y. Witii a Course of 
 
 Exercises in Hebrew Grammar, and a Hebrew Chres- 
 
 tomathy, prepared by the Translator. 
 
 Third Edition. 
 
 53°" Special refitrp.nce has heen had in thf. arrangem'int, illustrations, 
 the addition of the Course of Exercises, the Chrestomalhy, ^'C. , to adapt 
 it to the wants of thost icho miy wish to pursue the study of Hebrew 
 without the aid of a teacher. 
 
 Prof. Stuart in an article in the Biblical Repository, says:— "With such 
 efforts, — such unremitted, unwearied, energetic efforts, — what are we to 
 expect from such a man as Gesenius? Has he talent, juds'ment, tact, as 
 a pliilologist? Read his work on [saiah; compare his Hebrew Gframmar 
 with t he otlier grammars of the Hebrew which Germany has yet produced; 
 read and compare any twenty, or even ten articles on any of the difficult 
 and important words in the Hebrew, with the same in Buxtorff, Cocceius, 
 Stockins, Eichhorn's Simonis, Winer, even (Parkhurst, I cannot once 
 name), and then say whether Gasenius, as a Hebrew philologer, has talents, 
 tact, and judgment Nothing but rival feerm?:j,or prejudice, or antipathy 
 to his theological sentiments, can prevent a unity of answer." 
 From the Hon. Edward Everett. 
 
 GsxTLEMH?^, — I am greatly indebted to you for a beautiful copy of the 
 translation of Geseniu^'s Hebrew Grammar, by Prof Conant. Tlie reputa- 
 tion of the original is beyond the necessity of any testimonials, and I doubt 
 not, from the character of Prof. Conant, that the translation deserves the 
 favorable reception which, I am happy to see, it has met with. As a spe- 
 cimen of typography, the work doe:3 great credit to your press. 
 
 Your obliged friend and servant, Edward Everett. 
 
 ''The workof Gesenius requires no eulogy from U3: nor is this the place 
 to enter into a detailed examination of his theoretical views or practical 
 expisilion of the struf^ture of the language; but we concur with the 
 translator in considering that, as a philosophical arrangement and ex- 
 planation of its grammatical phenomena, it has no equal; and that it is 
 particularly distinguished by a chaste simplicity, and attractive clearness 
 of method. — quilities which not only imply a correct taste and logical 
 undirstanding, but evince, also, a thorough mastery of the subject. 
 Profissor Gi tant has rendered a substantial service to the cause of biblical 
 learning, and done honor to the important denomination of which he is a 
 member. Besides executing with excellent fidelity and good judgment 
 his translation of the Gram nar of the great Hebraist of the age, he haa 
 some useful additions of his own, and has, in numerous instances, cor- 
 rected mistakes of a too common class, which, if they give little trouble 
 to some readers, are the worst annoyance to others,— Ihat of errors in 
 reference. He has also made ad litlons of a very judicious as well as moral 
 character, in a series of grammatical Exercises. The typographical exe- 
 cution is in the best style of the Cambridge university printers. The 
 letterpress is beautiful, and all b it immaculate." — N. A. Review. 
 
 "Professor Conant has executed his task with great ability. He does 
 not appear merely in the character of a translator: the Chrestomathy and 
 Exercises prepared by him form a very valuable addition to the work. 
 The latter, especially, are prepared with great skill and ability, in such a 
 way as to lead the student forward, step by step, making him thoroughly 
 familiar with each point as he advances. One other point of extreme im- 
 portance in such a work, we must not fail to notice, — the correctness of the 
 printing. And when we add that the typography, — at least the English 
 part of it, — is as beautiful as it is correct, we have said as much as is 
 necessary to recommend the book to all sludentsof Hebrew"— /Recorder. 
 
THE FOUR GOSPELS, WITH NOTES. 
 
 Chiefly Explanatory; intended principally for Sabbath School Teachers 
 
 and Bible Classes, and as an Aid to Family Instructioa. 
 
 By Henry J. Ripley, Prof, of Sacred Rhetoric 
 
 and Pastoral Duties, Newton Theol.lna. 
 
 Seventh Edition. 
 
 &3°* This work should be in the hands of every student of the Bible; 
 
 especially every Sabbath school and Bible class teacher. It is prepaied 
 
 with special reference to this class of persons, and contains amass of just 
 
 Ihe kind of information wanted. 
 
 ''The undersigned, having examined Professor Ripley's Notes on the 
 Gospels, can recommend lliem with confidence to all who need such helps 
 in the study of the sacred Scriptures. Those passages which all can 
 understand are left 'without note or comment,' and the principal labor 
 is devoted to the explanation of such parts as need to be explained and 
 rescued from the perversions of errorists, both the ignorant and the learned. 
 The practical suggestions at the close of each chapter, are not the least 
 valuable portion of the work. Most cordially, for the sake of truth and 
 righteousness, do we wish for these Notes a wide circulaiiwn. 
 
 Baron Stow, R. H. Neai.e, R. Turnbull, 
 Daniel Sharp, J. W. Parker, N. Colver." 
 Wm. Hague, R. W. Cushman, 
 " Professor Ripley has given us a specimen of the right kind of Com- 
 mentary ; the Notes are more strictly explanatory than those of Mr. 
 Barnes; they occupy a smaller space; the style, though less pointed and 
 vivacious, exhibits more sobriety; the principles of interpretation are 
 more cautiously applied; and the explanations, particularly on the sub- 
 ject of baptism, are more correct." — Christian Review. 
 
 ACTS OE THE APOSTLES, WITH NOTES. 
 
 Chiefly Explanatory. Designed for Teachers in Sabbath Schools 
 
 and Bible Classes, and as an Aid to Family Instruction* 
 
 Ey Prof. Henry J. Ripley. 
 
 "The external appearance of this book, — the bindiner and the printed 
 page, — ' it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to behold.' On examining the 
 contents, we are favorai^ly impressed, first, by the wonderful perspicuity, 
 simplicity, and comprehensiveness of the author's style; secondly, by the 
 completeness and systematic arrangement of the work, in all its parts, 
 the 'remarks' on each paragraph being carefully separated from the ex- 
 position ; thirdly, by the correct theology, solid instruction, and consistent 
 explanations of difficult passages. The work cannot fail to be received 
 with favor. These Notes are much more full than the Notes on the Gospels 
 by the same author. A beautiful map accompanies them." — Bojlector. 
 
 "The steady and extensive sale of Ripley's Notes on the Gospels aflTord 
 g0(ul reason to expect great popularity for the present work, and an ac- 
 quaintance with both will induce most readers to long for similar Notes on 
 the Epistles."— A^. Y. Baptist Advocate. 
 
 " For those who desire aid in understanding and explaining this portion 
 of Revelation, and who have no access to larger commentaries, we coidial- 
 ly recommend this yohxm^.^'— Baptist Record, Phila. 
 
toork© on BapttBm. 
 
 THE BAPTISMAL QUESTION; 
 
 Containing Messrs. Cooke and Towne's ''Hints to an Enquirer, on 
 
 the subject of Baptism," — a Review of the "Hints," by the 
 
 Rev. William Hague, with a "Rejoinder," by 
 
 Cooke and Towns, and Mr. Hague's 
 
 Examination of the Rejoinder. 
 
 baptism its own WITNESS; 
 
 Or, Reflections suggested by reading "The Baptized Child." By Rev. 
 Wm. Hague, Pastor of Federal St. Baptist Church, Boston. 
 
 JEWETT ON BAPTISM. 
 
 The Mode and Subjects of Baptism. By Milo P. Jewett, A. M., 
 
 late professor in Marietta College, and a licensed minister 
 
 of the Presbyterian church. 
 
 Sixth Thousand. 
 
 CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. 
 
 An Examination of Stuart's Essay on Baptism. By H. J. Ripley, 
 Professor in Newton Theological Institution. 
 
 FULLER'S DIALOGUES ON COMMUNION. 
 
 Being a candid and able Discussion of Strict and Mixed Com- 
 
 munion ; to which is added, Dr. Griffin's Letter on 
 
 the subject, and a Review of the same, 
 
 by Prof. H. J. Ripley. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 Those Christians who have read the writings of the celebrated Mr. Hall 
 on this subject, ought to do themselves the justice to peruse these con- 
 versations by one of his church, the son of the late Andrew Fuller. The 
 work is written in a manly style, and did not interrupt the affection 
 which existed between Mr Hall and Mr. Fuller. This relation between 
 the two writers gives much interest to the publication. One important 
 trait in the Dialoe:ue is, that Mr Fuller meets Mr. Hall arrayed in his 
 own language. As a controversial work it has few rivals, in regard either 
 to Christian spirit, or arsrumentative p(»wers. The public are under ob- 
 ligations to the editor, Rev. Peter Chase, for his notes, references, &c., 
 which enhance the value of the American edition. Prof. Ripley's able 
 Review of Dr. Griffin's letter, adds intrinsic worth to the book, which will 
 ever remain a standard volume on this important subject. 
 
 12 
 
MY PROGRESS IN ERROR, 
 
 AND RECOVERY TO TRUTH. 
 
 Ob, a Tour through Universalism, Unitarianism, and Skepticism. 
 Second Thousand. 
 Extract of a letter from Prof Stuart, Andover. 
 *' Gentlemen: — I have received a copy of My Progress in Error,' and 
 read it with attention and much interest. I take the liberty to say, that 
 in my judgment, the author of that book has written a plain and unvar- 
 nished account of the operations not only of his own mind, but of many 
 others. The author has gone through the whole, without personal abuse 
 of any body, and without any slanderous insinuations. It seems to me, 
 that what he has said about the operations of Unitarian sentiments, he 
 has been compelled to say by a regard to truth. In fact, I regard the 
 book as a remarkable example of prudent forbearance, as to stigmatizing 
 either opponents or their sentiments. I predict it will be found fault 
 with, and violently attacked. But in my humble opinion, the reason of 
 this will be, that the author has drawn a true likeness of so many ; and 
 when this is held up to public view, it is not a very pleasing portrait. 
 Who likes to be seen in a forbidding picture? The book will be read, 
 notwithstanding newspaper criticism ; and if 1 do not miscalculate great- 
 ly, it will aid much in opening the eyes of the public, as the workings and 
 evasions of a skeptical spirit. Bid the author of it God speed. 
 
 " Your friend and obedient servant, M. Stuart." 
 
 Opinions of the Press. 
 "In many of the passages we almost fancied that the writer had been 
 sketching a history of our own ' progress in error,' so true is the history, 
 and^so similar the feelings of those who are led away in the morning of 
 life, into the dark and dreary path of religious error. We should be glad 
 to have this book placed in the hands of every ynung man whose mind is 
 unsettled upon the question of experimental religion, and especially of 
 those who are trying io believe the doctrine of Universalism." — Chris- 
 tian Secretary. 
 
 *• It is written in a bold and comprehensive style. We doubt not it 
 will find numerous readers in the community, and may serve as a chart 
 to guide others in the progress of life." — American Traveller. 
 
 " We should be glad if a copy of the book could be put into the hands of 
 every one who is disposed to cavil at the truth, and embrace error." — 
 Phil. Baptist Recorder. 
 
 "In this work the author gives an affecting account of his downward 
 course through the bewildering mazes of Universalism, Unitarlanism, &c., 
 giving but a living picture of the * progress of error ' of very many, who 
 are almost imperceptibly led on from one step to another, until they are 
 lost in the fearful labyrinth of infidelity. The author is candid in his man- 
 ner, and forcible in his reasonings, and at last informs us of his being 
 brought to a knowledge of the truth."— iST. H. Register. 
 
 "The anonymous author of this book informs us that this is not a 
 hasty production, more than ten years havin? elapsed since the last lead- 
 ing event which it records transpired; without his declaration, we might 
 have thought it written as an offset to Mr. Brownson's Charles Ellwcod. 
 It is in fact a reliffious novel, and as such, is rather interesting. It was 
 to us, for we read it through at one sitting." — Boston Courier. 
 
 " It cannot be doubted that it is admirably adapted to a wide-spread 
 circulation, and salutary influence. Great good will result from the dis- 
 tribution of this work." — Boston Recorder^ 
 
 B 13 
 
LIFE OF PHILIP MELANCTHON. 
 
 COMPKISING AN ACCOUNT OF THE REFORMATION. 
 By F. A. Cox, D. D. L.L. D. 
 "This is a neat edition of a work, which has obtained in England a 
 permanent reputation. The acquaintance, which many in this country 
 have formed with its author, will induce them to read the book with in- 
 creased interest. It is well written, in a style, which, though flowing 
 and ornate, is not turgid. It shows allthe learning which is appropriate 
 to the subject, without an offensive display. The facts concerning Me- 
 lancthon are detailed with clearness, and a lucid view is presented of the 
 principal personages and events uf the age. From no other book, within 
 the same compass, could a better knowledge of the rise and progress of the 
 Reformation be obtained. For this reason, as well as for the attractions 
 which belong to the character of Melancthon, the book is valuable." — 
 Christian Review. 
 
 ONESIMUS: 
 
 OR, THE APOSTOLIC DIRECTION TO CHRISTIAN MASTERS 
 IN REFERENCE TO THEIR SLAVES. 
 
 By EVANGELICUS. 
 
 "We are glad to see this subject presented to the consideration of 
 Christians, by itself, and without any reference to oiher questions that 
 agitate the public mind; and we are glad that the writer has confined 
 himself, in the argument, so closely to the law of love. The Essay is 
 written with care, and in a kind and dispassionate spirit ; and although 
 it cannot be expected to unite the minds of all parties either here or at 
 the South, it is well calculated to promote, wherever it is read, the au- 
 thor's object. — Vermont Chronicle. 
 
 " It is written in an excellent spirit, with close logic, and severe per- 
 spicuity, and is evidently from a practised pen." — Zion's Herald. 
 
 " Its whole spirit and tendency are the opposite of the anti-slavery pub- 
 lications, which have produced so much evil.''— Princeton Reziew. 
 
 MEMOIR OF ROGER WILLIAMS, 
 
 The Founder of the State of Rhode Island. 
 By Rev. James D. Knowles. 
 "In perusing Prof. Knowles's Memoir of Roger Williams, the reader 
 will find much of this beauty of history to which we have alluded, as 
 combined wiih biography. There were many noble trails of character 
 in Mr. Williams, which rendered him the object of deserved admiration; 
 such as his eminent piety, his acts of humanity and justice towards the 
 Indians, his unbending integrity in principle. &c. — but as that for which 
 he is most peculiarly the object of our admiration, we select his un- 
 shaken attachment to. and perseverin? vindication of entire liberty of 
 conscience in relieious worship. Mr. Williams was decided on this sub- 
 ject The Holy Scriptures wer€ the standard of his belief, and the au- 
 thority which he recognized for the regulation of his conscience. The 
 task of writing a memoir of Roger Williams was by no means inconsider- 
 able. Professor Knowles, from a correct apprehension of the principles 
 ftf religious liberty, was peculiarly the man to enter on this labor. We 
 are pleased that he has completed it in an able manner, and given as full 
 and correct a delineation of this gr^at man as could probably have been 
 given by any other author in Europe or America. The volume is a rich 
 acquisition to the history of our country, ranking high in the catalogue 
 of our best works in American literature."— C/ir2sao?i Watchman. 
 
 14 
 
0abbatl) Scfjool Sook©. 
 
 LIJMCOLJN'S 
 
 SABBATH SCHOOL CLASS BOOK. 
 
 Comprising copious Exercises on the Sacred Scriptures. By E. Lincoln. 
 
 Revised and improved by an eminent Clergyman 
 
 and a Superintendent. 
 
 tO^The present edition has been thoroughly revised and enlarged by 
 gentlemen well qualified for the task The book, in its present shape, is 
 one of the cheapest and most complete of the kind now in use. 
 
 "Having examined your Sabbath School Class Book, it gives us pleasure 
 to express our satisfaction with its design and execution. The great 
 benefit which a good class book accomplishes, consists in guiding the 
 mind of the scholar in the study of his lesson, and in suggesting topics 
 of conversation to the teacher. To this end we think your work is well 
 adapted, having avoided, in a great degree, the evils of extreme redun- 
 dance or conciseness. Wm. Hague, H. Malcom, 
 
 L BoLLEs, Baron Stow." 
 
 E. Thresher, 
 
 LINCOLN'S SCRIPTURE QUESTIONS. 
 
 With the Answers annexed, giving, in the language of the Sacred Volume^ 
 
 interesting portions of the History, and a concise View of the 
 
 Doctrines and Duties exhibited in the Bible. 
 
 Where Bibles cannot be furnished to each scholar, the Scripture Ques- 
 tions may be used with convenience, as the answers are printed. 
 
 MALCOM'S BIBLE DICTIONARY. 
 
 A Dictionary of the most important Names, Objects, and Terms, found in 
 
 the Holy Scriptures; intended principally for Sunday School 
 
 Teachers and Bible Classes. By H. Malcom, A. M. 
 
 Illustrated by thirty-nine Engravings on 
 
 Wood, and a Map of Palestine. 
 
 From the Minutes of the Vermont State Convention. 
 "Your Committee earnestly recommend Malcom's Bible Dictionary, 
 the worth of which every lover of the Bible will feel, and the low price of 
 which places it within the reach of all." 
 
 Prom the Minutes of the Boston Association. 
 "Believing that the advantages of Sabbath School and Bible Class in- 
 struction depend greatly on the intelligence of their teachers, and that 
 the extended circulation of Malcom's Bible Dictionary would conduce to 
 their better qualification. Resolved, That this work be recommended to 
 the patronage of the friends of early religious instruction." 
 
HAGUE'S GUIDE TO CONVERSATION 
 ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 Designed for the Use of Bible Classes and Sabbath Schools. 
 
 Vol. I, Matthew,— Vol. II, John. 
 
 By Rev. William Hague. 
 
 The object of this work is two-fold: — 1st. To facilitate the efforts of 
 the teachers in communicating instruction to their classes:— 2d. To ex- 
 cite a spirit of inquiry among the classes themselves. To this end. such 
 questions are asked as are adapted to lead the mind to think, and only 
 such as the scholar, with the Bible in his hand, may be expected to 
 answer, by the aid of his own reflecting powers. The questions are in- 
 terspersed with familiar remarks, which are designed to convey to the 
 scholar such information as may not be within his reach and also to 
 keep up a continuous conversation between the teacher and the class. 
 
 THE SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST. 
 
 By the Rev. Richard Baxter. 
 
 From Bev. Dr. War/land, President of Brown University. 
 **T am gratified to perceive that you have published a handsome edition of 
 Baxter 's^Saint's Rest. Of the value of the work itself it is superfluous to 
 speak. It has few equals in any language. The ordinary copies are pal- 
 pably beneath the value of the work." 
 
 THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. 
 
 In Three Books. By Thomas a Kempis. With an Introductory Essay, 
 
 by Thomas Chalmers, of Glasgow. A new edition. 
 
 Edited by Rev. Howard Malcom. 
 
 This work has, for three hundred years, been esteemed one of the best 
 practical books in existence, and has gone through a vast number of 
 editions, not only in the original Latin, but in every language of Europe. 
 Dr. Payson, of Portland, warmly recommended ii, in a letter to a y( ung 
 clergyman. That the benefit of the work may be universally enjoyed, 
 the translation of Payne, which best agrees with the original, has been 
 revised by Rev. Howard Malcom, and such retrenchments made, as adapt 
 it to general use. 
 
 JAMES'S CHURCH-MEMBER'S GUIDE. 
 
 With an Introductory Essay, by Rev. H. Winslow. 
 Edited by Rev. J. O. Choules. 
 
 Wishes for its universal circulation are received by the Publishers 
 from ministers and brethren in every section of the country. 
 
 A pastor writes, "I sincerely wish that every professor of religion in 
 the land may possess this excellent manual. 1 am anxious that every 
 member of my church should possess it, and shall be happy to promote its 
 circulation still more extensively." 
 
 A gentleman in Virginia writes: "I wish every Christian to possess the 
 Church-Member's Guide." 
 
 "The spontaneous effusion of our heart, on laying the book down, 
 was, — may every church-member in our land soon 'f)ossess this book, and 
 be blessed with all the happiness which conformity to its evangelic sen- 
 timents and directions is calculated to confer." — Christian Secretary. 
 
 16 
 
THE BEAUTIES OF COLLYER. 
 
 Selections from the Theological Lectures of Rev. W. B. Collykr, D. D. 
 
 By Rev. J. O. Choules. 
 
 The merits of Dr. Collyer are thus noticed by an eminent reviewer. — 
 "His researches, his various learning, and accumulation of interesting 
 facts, his presenting old and familiar truths in a new and striking man- 
 ner, entitle him to rank high as a theological writer. His style is re- 
 markably elegant and polished, and there is a rich vein of evangelical 
 piety running through all his works." In making up the volume from 
 so eminent an author, the editor has selected those parts which he sup- 
 posed would create habits of thought in the Christian community, and 
 present a volume well suited for the Christian library. Indeed, this book 
 contains a rich treasure of truth up^n seventy subjects, for all classes of 
 readers. It is well calculated to give youth a taste for reading, as it is to 
 encourage the mature Christian in his course of duty, and to confirm his 
 hopes of a happy immortality. 
 
 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Containing a descriptive account of Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Insects, 
 
 Reptiles, Serpents, Plants, Trees, Minerals, Gems, and Precious 
 
 Stones, mentioned in the Bible. By Wm. Carpenter, 
 
 London ; with improvements. By G. D. Abbott. 
 
 Illustrated by numerous engravings, 
 
 also, Sketches of Palestine. 
 
 "This is a very interesting volume to general readers of the Bible. 
 Mr. Abboit has divested the work of its learned references, and adapted 
 it to the comprehension of all. Mr. Carpenter compiled the work from 
 the Natural History of the Rev. Dr. Harris, of Dorchester, Mass., and very 
 ungenerously refused to acknowledge his obligations to the author, while 
 he abusfd him for his want of orthodoxy. Mr. Abbott has faithfully ex- 
 posed the piracy. We recommend the volume as one of great value. '^ — 
 American Giuarterly Register, 
 
 CAMPBELL & FENELON ON ELOQUENCl^. 
 
 Campbell's Lectures on Theology and Pulpit Eloquence, 
 
 and Fenelon's Dialogues on Eloquence. 
 
 Edited by Prof. H. J. Ripley. 
 
 td'^'It has been the aim of the editor of this work to make it more 
 fitted to students in this country, and more profitable to those whose 
 studies have not extended beyond their own language. And he considers 
 that these Lectures inculcate the true mode in which the study of theology 
 should be conducted. The excellence of Fenelon's Dialogues concerning 
 Eloquence, their general agreement with the sentiments of Dr. Camp- 
 bell's Lectures, and their more ample discussion of certain topics connect- 
 ed with preaching, render their insertion in this volume quite appropriate. 
 These dialogues Dr. Doddridge has called "incomparable dialogues on 
 eloquence," which, he remarks, "may God put it into the hearts of our 
 preachers often and attentively to read " This complete volume on elo- 
 quence has been noticed by several periodicals, and recommended to all 
 students who are preparing for the Christian ministry. 
 
 B* 17 
 
(Elegant ittiniature tJolumes. 
 
 Gilt Edges and Beautifully Ornamented Covers. 
 
 DAILY MANNA, 
 
 FOR CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS. 
 By Rev. Baron Stow, Pastor of the Baldwin Place Church, Boston. 
 
 tl3= This work contains a text of Scripture for each day in the year, 
 with an analysis of its contents, and a verse of poetry, 
 
 " A perfect gem of a book, and full of gems from the mine that yields 
 the purest and brightest that are found in the world,— every one that sees 
 it will wish to have the volume." — N. Y. Observer. 
 
 "This is one of the most beautiful, and beyond all doubt one of the most 
 valuable, of tliose little books, that have been issued for the purpose of 
 euggftstmg themes of daily meditation to Christians. A passage is fur- 
 nished for each day in the year, and an appropriate divisii n of the passage 
 is suggested as the foundation of thought, to which is appended an appro- 
 priate stanza." — Baptist Record. 
 
 " It is a charming little volume." — Boston Recorder, 
 
 THE YOUNG COMMUNICANT: 
 
 An Aid to the Right Understanding and Spiritual Improvement 
 
 of the Lord's Supper. , 
 
 "A work of this character has been much needed, especially by the 
 young members of our churches." — Oh. Rejlector. 
 
 "An exceedingly interesting and instructive little volume."— CAris- 
 tian Watchmmn. 
 
 "A timely little volume, just when we needed it. We know of no 
 present to the young Christian more timely and valuable than this." — 
 Norwich Spectator. 
 
 "A book of choice practical matter, a little gem." — Boston Cultivator. 
 
 THE CASKET OF FOUR JEWELS, 
 
 FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS. 
 
 Containing, Apollos— Growth in Grace— The Golden Censer— and the 
 
 Christian Citizen. By John A. James, Jonathan Edwards, 
 
 and John Harris, D. D. 
 
 *• These Jewels are truly 'pearls of great price/ compacted in a neat 
 and beautiful casket. Spiritual Chrisiians have exan.ined these jewels 
 separately, and expressing high admiration of their individual precious- 
 ness, have desired to possess them in a form less perishable and more 
 worthy of their excellence." — Salem Gazette. 
 
 18 
 
THE BIBLE AND THE CLOSET; 
 
 Or, how we may read the Scriptures with the most spiritual profit. 
 
 By Thomas Watson. — and Secret Prayer successfully managed, 
 
 By Samuel Lee, Edited by Rev John O. Choules. 
 
 **This class of publications supply the most striking deficiency in the 
 practical religious literature of the day. Here are rich views of scriptural 
 illustration and of religious sentiment, buried in the tomes of the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries, and it is a good service to the church 
 of the nineteenth to reopen those mines. Our neophytes need it, and 
 our ministerial corps may find models which can be most profitably imi- 
 tated." — Mr. Kirk's Letter. 
 
 THE MARRIAGE RING; 
 
 OR, HOW TO MAKE HOME HAPPY. 
 
 From the writings of John Angell James. 
 
 "It is a precious little work, calculated alike to improve the morals 
 and promote the happiness of the domestic hearth." — Southern Whig. 
 
 "A beautiful little volume, and composed of lessons of sound wisdom 
 and useful instruction." — Boston Recorder. 
 
 " This is a charming little keepsake which every young married couple 
 ought to possess. It gives a most satisfying account of the nature and 
 duties of married life. It makes ' mutual aiiachment' the indispensable 
 basis of the marriage state, raising its eloquent little voice against any 
 attempts to unite in marriage those who are influenced only by worldly 
 motives, selfish aims, or considerations of woildly honor. We commend 
 this Utile book to all young men and women who expect ever to be blest 
 in marriage; and we wish the ministers who lake it upon them to join 
 these young men and women, would see that the uninitiated have in their 
 possession this safe and useful little guide." — Nortcich Spectator. 
 
 LYRIC GEMS. 
 
 A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL AND SELECT SACRED POETRV. 
 Edited by Rev. S. F. Smith. 
 
 "But this is an exception. We have read nearly every one, a circum- 
 stance rather extraordinary in case of a collection;^ but the good taste 
 here exhibited has charmed us, and disposes us strongly to recommend 
 the work to others." — Baptist Advocate. 
 
 " It is appropriately named ' Gems,'— not the least brilliant of which 
 are the contributions of the editor \\\mse\V— Christian Secretary. 
 
 THE CYPRESS WREATH: 
 
 A BOOK OF CONSOLATION FOR THOSE WHO MOURN. 
 Edited by Rev. Rufus W. Griswold. 
 
 "This is a most beautiful and judicious selection of prose and poetry, 
 from the most popular authors, inierspersed with select, passages from 
 Scripture, designed especially for the mourner. When the hand of death 
 has separated the bond of union existing between a parent and child, a 
 wife and husband, or a brother and sisterrthe mind naturally turns away 
 in disgust from the delusive phantoms of happiness which the world af- 
 fords, and feels the need of the heavenly Comforter. It was with a view 
 of furnishing the mind, while in a stale like this, and while he was him- 
 self a mourner, that Mr. Griswold prepared the Cypress Wreaih. It is 
 not necessary to say that he has lurnished a book exactly adapted to the 
 purpose for which it is designed, for the character and talents of the au- 
 thor are too well known to admit of a contrary opinion." 
 
 19 
 
A NEW GUIDE FOR EMIGRANTS TO THE WEST. 
 
 By John M. Peck, of Illinois. 
 
 *' We earnestly wish this most excellent work was in the hands of those 
 hundreds of Emigrants, who are now about town, and intend to go ' West.* 
 The advice and information contained in these three hundred and seven- 
 ty-four pages, are really invaluable, and if attended to, would save an im- 
 mense amount of time, trouble, and last, not least, money. The author 
 may be depended upon ; having had every opportunity lor gathering facts 
 and knowledge on the subject." — N. Y. Messenger. 
 
 " The merits of the ' Guide for Emigrants,' published some years since, 
 are well known. The present volume, however, contains many improve- 
 ments on the former work, and embraces many additional facts in relation 
 to the Slates and Territories lying in, and bordering on, the Great Valley 
 of the Mississippi, which render it not only exceedingly valuable to the 
 emigrant or man of business, who may be induced to visit that portion of 
 the country, but all who are desirous of gaining information relative to the 
 soil, climate, productions, and character and pursnits of the people who 
 reside in the Great YdUey."— Mercantile Journal. 
 
 SELF-EXAMINATION: 
 
 OR, PLAIN QUESTIONS FOR PROFESSORS OF RELIGION. 
 By a Pastor. 
 
 ESSAY ON THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. 
 
 By D. Van db Wynpersse, D. D. 
 
 . TRAVELS OF TRUE GODLINESS. 
 
 By Rev. B. Keach. A Memoir of his Life, by Howard Malcom, A. M. 
 
 FEMALE SCRIPTURE BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 With an Essay on what Christianltyhas done for Women. 
 By Rev. F. A. Cox. 
 
 HELP TO ZION'S TRAVELLERS. 
 
 By Rev. Robert Hall, with a Preface, by Rev. Dr. Ryland. 
 Edited by Rev. J. A. Warne. 
 
 THE THEATRE. 
 
 In its Influence upon Literature, Morals, and Religion. 
 By Rev. R. Turnbull, 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIAN UNION. 
 
 By Rev. William Hague. 
 
 20 
 
IDr. j| arris's iUorks. 
 
 Probably no writer of modern times has so much engaged the public 
 mind as Dr. Harris. All his works have been favorably received, eX' 
 tensively reviewed, and both the style and spirit highly recommended. 
 
 MISCELLANIES ; 
 
 CONSISTING PRINCIPALLY OF SERMONS AND ESSAY'S. 
 
 By J. Harris, D. D. With an Introductory Essay 
 
 and Notes, by Joseph Belcher, D. D. 
 
 THE GREAT COMMISSION; 
 
 The Christian Church constituted and charged to convey the Gospel to 
 
 the World. With an Introductory Essay, by 
 
 Rev. Wm. R. Williams, D. D. 
 
 Fourth Thousand, 
 
 THE GREAT TEACHER; 
 
 Or, Characteristics of our Lord's Ministry. With an Introductory 
 
 Essay, by Heman Humphrey, D. D. 
 
 Ninth Thousand. 
 
 MAMMON; 
 
 Or, Covetousnegs the Sin of the Christian Church. A Prize Essay. 
 Seventh Thousand. 
 
 UNION; 
 
 Or, the Divided Church made One. 
 Second Thousand. 
 
 ZEBULON; 
 
 Or, the Condition and Claims of Sailors. The Prize Essay, written for 
 
 the British and Foreign Sailors' Society. American Edition. 
 
 Edited by Rev. William M, Rogers and D. M. Lord, 
 
 Third Thousand. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN; 
 
 Paper, gilt eilges. 
 
 THE GOLDEN CENSER; 
 
 Or, a Visit to the House of Prayer. Paper, gilt edges. 
 
ilTusic Books. 
 
 COMPANION FOR THE PSALMIST. 
 
 CONTAINING ORIGINAL MUSIC, 
 
 Arranged for Hymns in "The Psalmist," of peculiar character and metre; 
 
 and to most of which no tunes found in the collectionsnow in use are 
 
 adapted. By N. D. Gould, Teacher of Music, and Editor of the 
 
 "The Sacred Minstrel," "Church Harmony," "Sabbath 
 
 School Harmony," " Social Harmony,'* &c. 
 
 This work is designed, and the music has been written, expressly to 
 meet the wants of those who use The Psalmist. It is adapted tothe nu- 
 merous beautiful hymns of peculiar metre, which are embraced in that 
 collection, few of which are to be found in other Hymn Books, and to 
 none of which have any tunes been hitherto adapted. They are simple, 
 and suitable for either private, social, or public devotion. 
 
 It will at once be seen that, as the words and music are not only adapt- 
 ed to each other, but are placed together on the same page the work 
 must be of very great convenience to Singing Choirs where The Psalm- 
 ist is used. The work contains thirty-two common size music pages, 
 bound with neatly printed paper covers. Price $1 60 per dozen. 
 
 THE SABBATH SCHOOL HARMONY. 
 
 Containing appropriate Hymns and Music for Sabbath 
 Schools, Juvenile Singing Schools, and Family 
 Devotion. By N. D. Gould. 
 "The work before us is got up in a very convenient and attractive form. 
 It contains about fifty tunes, and seventy-five hymns. The music is 
 most of it original, and of that style and character, which, long experi- 
 ence in teaching has satisfied the author is best calculated to interest 
 not only children, but personsofmaturer age, when learning to sing. The 
 hymns appear to be selected with peculiar taste and care, and, for Sab- 
 bath School purposes, of such variety, as to require no other hymn book. 
 We e.specially 'commend this little work to the notice of Sabbath School 
 teachers, believing it to be the best work for Sabbath Schools now before 
 the public." 
 
 THE SACRED MINSTREL; 
 
 A Collection of Church Music, consisting of Psalm and Hymn Tunesy 
 
 Anthems, Sentences, Chants, &c., selected from the most 
 
 popular productions of nearly one hundred 
 
 dilfereni authors in this and other 
 
 countries. By. N.D.Gould. 
 
 NATIONAL CHURCH HARMONY, 
 
 Containing Tunes calculated for Public Worship, Anthems and 
 
 Sleect Pieces for Fasts, Thanksgivings, Christmas, 
 
 Missionary Meetings. &c. By N. D. Gould, 
 
 New stereotype edition. 
 
 WINCHELL'S WATTS. 
 
 Enlarged, being an arrangement of all the Psalms and Hymns of 
 Dr. Watts. With a Supplement. 
 
 HYMNS FOR THE TESTRY JJND FIRESIBE. 
 
 A choice Collection of about four hundred hymns. 
 
 22 
 
®l)e illisstonarj) €nktpxxst. 
 
 It has been well said, that " to imbue men thoroughly with the mission' 
 ary spirit^ we must acquaint them intimately with the m.issionary enter' 
 prise." The spirit oj" missions seems everywhere to be increasing. The 
 circulation of sprinted documents, and other like efforts^ are giving a 
 new impetus to the cause. 
 
 The following valuable works contain just the kind of information 
 needed. Let every one purchase and read them. 
 
 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 
 
 Or the Christian Church constituted and charged to convey the Gospel to 
 
 the World. By Rev. John Harris, D. D., author of • Mammon,' 
 
 'Great Teacher,' &c. With an Introductory Essay, by 
 
 Wm. R. Williams, D. D., of New York. 
 
 Fourth Thousand. 
 
 Jl^This work was written in consequence of the offer of a prize of two 
 hundred guineas, by several prominent individuals in Scotland, for the 
 best essay on ''The duty, privilege, and encouragement of Christians 
 to send the gospel of salvation to the unenlighioned nations of tiie 
 earth.'* The "adjudicators (David Welsh, Ralph Wardlaw, Henry Mel- 
 ville, Jabez Bunting, Thomas S. Crisp) state "■ \.\\diX. forty-two essays 
 were received, and, after much deliberation, the essay of Dr. Harris was 
 placed ^rs^ They were influenced in their decision by the sentiment, 
 style, and comprehensiveness of the essay, ana by the general adaptation 
 to the avowed object of the prize." 
 
 fi;;^Thi3 work has received the highest commendation, 
 
 MEMOIR OF ANN H. JUDSON, 
 
 Late Missionary to Burmah, including a history of the American Baptist 
 Mission in the Rurman Empire. By Rev. James D. Kkowles. 
 A new edition. With a continuation of the Histo- 
 ry down to the present year. 
 
 " We are particularly gratified to perceive a new edition of the Me- 
 moirs of Mrs. Judson. She was an honor to our country— one of the 
 most noble spirited of her sex. It cannot, therefore, be surprising, that 
 so many editions, and so many thousand'copies of her life and adven- 
 tures have been sold. The name — the long career of suffering— the self- 
 sacrificing spirit of the retired country-girl, have spread over tJ e whole 
 world; and the heroism of herapostleship and almost martyrdom, stands 
 out a living and heavenly beacon fire, amid the dark midnight of ages, 
 anu human history and exploits. She was the first icoman who resolved 
 to become a missionary to heathen countries." — Americari Traxtlltr. 
 
 "This is one of the most interesting pieces of female biography which 
 has ever come under our notice. No quotation, which our^limits allow, 
 would do justice lo the facts, and we milst therefore refer our readers to 
 the volume itself. It ought to be immediately added to every family 
 library." — London Miscdlany. 
 
 23 
 
MEMOIR OF WM. CAEEY, D. D. 
 
 Forty Years a Missionary in India. By Eustace Carey. With an 
 
 Introductory Essay, by Francis Wayland„D. D. 
 
 With a Likeness. 
 
 ^C^i^During the forty years which Dr. Carey labored in the missionary 
 cause, he was instrumental in the publication of 212,000 volumes of the 
 Scriptures in forty different languages, embracing the vernacular tongues 
 of ai least 27,000,000 of the human race, besides performing other labors, 
 the enumeration of which would seem almost incredible. 
 
 MEMOIR OF 
 
 GEORGE DANA BOARDMAN. 
 
 Late Missionary to Burmah, containing much intelligence relative to 
 
 the Burman Mission. By Rev. Alonzo King. A New Edition. 
 
 With an Introductory Essay, by a distinguished Clergyman. 
 
 Embellished with a Likeness; a beautiful Vignette, 
 
 representing the baptismal scene just before 
 
 his death; and a drawing of his Tomb, 
 
 taken by Rev. H. Malcom. 
 
 &3°°In noticing the lamented death of Mr. Boardman, Mr. Judson, in 
 one of his letters, thus speaks of his late worthy co-worker on the field 
 of Burmah: "Oneof ihe brightest luminariesof Burmah is extinguished, 
 — dear brother Boardman is gone to his eternal rest. He fell gloriously at 
 the head of his troojip, in the arms of victory, — thirty-eight wild Karens 
 having been brought into the camp of king Jesus since the beginning of 
 the year, besides the thirty-two that were brt)ught in during the two 
 preceding years. Disabled by wounds, he was obliged, through the whole 
 last expedition, to be carried on a litter; but his presence was a host, 
 and the Holy Spirit accompanied his dying whispers with almighty in- 
 fluence. Such a death, next to that of martyrdom, must be glorious in 
 the eyes of heaven. Well may he rest, assured, that a triumphal crown 
 awaits him on the groat day, and ' Well done, good and faithful Board- 
 man, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' " 
 
 From Rev. Baron Stow. 
 "No one can read the Memoir of Boardman. without feeling that the 
 religion of Christ is suited to purify the affections, exalt the purposes, and 
 give energy to the character. Mr. Boardman was a"man of rare excellence, 
 and his biographer, by a just exhibition of that excellence, has rendered 
 an important service, not only to the cause of Christian missions, but to 
 the interest of persona] godliness. Baron Stow." 
 
 "The author had a fine opportunity for making an interesting book ; and 
 in the execution he has done ample justice, alike to himself and to his in- 
 teresting subject. This memoir belongs to that class of books,, which may 
 be read with interest and profit by every one. It comprises so much i»f 
 interesting history, so much of simple and pathetic narrative, so true to 
 nature, and so much of correct moral and religious sentiment, that it can- 
 not fail to interest persons of all ages and of every variety of taste. It 
 should have a place in every family library, and especially in all Sabbath 
 school libraries." — Christian Watchman. 
 
 24 
 
THE KAEEN APOSTLE; 
 
 Or^ Memoir of Ko Thah-Byu, the first Karen convert, with notices 
 
 concerninff his Nation. With maps and plates. By the 
 
 Rev. Francis Mason, Missionary. American 
 
 edition,. Edited by Prof. H. J. Riplky, 
 
 of Newion Theol. Institution. 
 
 * Second Thousand. 
 
 El3~This is a work of thrilling interest, containing the history of a 
 remarkable man, and giving: also, much, information respecting the 
 Karen Mission, heretofore unknown in this country. It must be sought 
 for, and read with avidity by those interested in this most interesting 
 Mission. It gives an account, which must be attractive from its 
 novelty, of a people that have been but little known and visited by 
 missionaries, till within a few years. The baptism of Ko-Thah Byu, in 
 1828, was the beginning of the mission, and at the end of these twelve 
 years, twelve hundred and seventy Karens are officially reported as 
 members of the churches, in good standing. The mission has been 
 carried on pre eminently by the Karens themselves, and there is no 
 doubt, from much touching evidence contained in this volume, that 
 they are a people peculiarly susceptible to religious impressions. The 
 account of Mr. Mason must be interesting to every one. 
 
 "Perhaps no nation, recently discovered, has attracted or deserved 
 more general interest than the Karen. All will be delighted to read the 
 memoir of one, who united with the common characteristics of his 
 countrymen such an extraordinary degree of zeal, ef perseverance, and 
 success, in the propagation of the gospel which he himself first received 
 in faith and in love." — Baptist Advocate. 
 
 " It is a valuable addition to the volumes now multiplying, which bear 
 testimony to the valuable character and results of the missionary work." 
 — Christian Intelligencer. 
 
 "This work will be read with interest, showing, as it does, the power 
 of the gospel upon a degraded people, and the rich blessings it confers 
 upon the heathen, both as it respecis this life and the life to come. What 
 can be more interesting to a Chriplian mind, than to see the darkness 
 which, by nature, broods over the human mind, dispelled by the light of 
 the gospel, and a benighted spirit guided to a world of eternal day. A 
 striking instance of this, the memoir presents. It also shows how the 
 gospel can raise up an individual from the depths of wretchedness and 
 crime, and make him, thousrh possessed of small natural abilities, a rich 
 blessinerto his fellow- men."— FerwowZ Chronicle. 
 
 "It is an interesting little volume, and gives a vivid picture of the 
 influence of the Christian relisrion in taming, subduing, and elevating 
 a rough and darkened mind. The historical notices of the Karen people 
 we have read with pleasure." — Bangor Courier. 
 
 "This volume abounds in that kind of interest which belongs to per- 
 sonal narrative; and the effect of good teaching upon 'new minds/ is 
 admirably illustrated." — Philadelphia U. S. Gazette. 
 
 MALCOM'S TRAVELS IN SOUTH-EASTERN ASIA, 
 
 Embracing Hi ndastan,Malaya,Siam, and China; with notices of numerous 
 missionary stations; and a full account of the Burman Empire; 
 with Dissertations, Tables, &c. In two volumes, 
 beautifully illustrated. Sixth edition. 
 By Rev. Howard Malcom. 
 |l3='The work has received the highest commendation from the press; 
 and the best proof of the estimation in which it is regarded, is in the un- 
 exampled sale of I he work. Near four thousand copies were sold within 
 one year from its first appearance. In its mechanical execution it sur- 
 passes any similar work ever attempted in this country. 
 
 c 25 
 
"A CHURCH WITHOUT A BISHOP." 
 
 APOSTOLICAL AND PRIMITIVE CHURCH; 
 
 Popular in its Form of Government, and Simple in its Mode of 
 
 Worship. By Lyman Coleman, of Andover, Author of 
 
 *' Christian Antiquities." With an Introductory 
 
 Essay, by Dr. Augustus Neander, 
 
 Berlin, Germany. 1 vol. 12mo. 
 
 D3°" An important and very interesting work. Just published. .=C33 
 
 From the Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 2, No. 2. 
 
 "This is the title of a new work upon our table from the pen of one who 
 enjoys a high reputation in this country and in Europe. Appearing 
 from such a source, at this time, and devoted to such topics as are 
 indicated in its title, it can hardly fail of attracting much more atieniion 
 than is usually accorded to publications of a similar kind. Many, we 
 are sure, will feel that this unpreteniiing duodecimo goes far toward 
 supplying a very obvious deficiency in our ecclesiastical history. 
 
 '■ Most of the topics upon which Mr. Coleman touches in this volume 
 have indeed been ably handled by others. But some such book as this 
 was yet needed, as a convenient manual for frequent use, as a repository 
 of the results to which patient and extended investigation will lead, and 
 as a guide to sources of information with Which some are not very 
 familiar and which many have not the requisite time thoroughly to 
 explore for themselves. There are some cardmal points on the subject 
 of church polity which ought to be clearly expounded in a popular and 
 attractive form, not so much for the benefit ef the few as of the many. 
 Unlettered men, and even some who are called men of letters, need to be 
 enlightened and fortified, in this way, against the pretensions of error. 
 
 *' We are free to express the opinion that Mr. Coleman has done more 
 than any other writer toward meeting the wants of the churches in this 
 respect. His book is decidedly better adapted than any other with which 
 we are acquainted to take this place in our libraries; he has brought 
 together much valuable and well-authenticated information, and has 
 presented the whole in an acceptable form. 
 
 '• Mr. Coleman was well qualified lo write on the topics here discussed, 
 by the studies in which he had been zealously engaged for several years, 
 and which as embodied \n his Christian Antiquities have already gaijied 
 him a high reputation both at home and abroad. He has written, loo, in 
 the present case, under the most favorable circumstances, having had 
 access to the best original authorities, and being favored with the person- 
 al counsel of the first ecclesiastical historian of the age His production 
 shows convincingly that none of these facilities have been neglected, 
 He has evidently spared no pains to make his treatise answer the high 
 expectations which his learning and advantages justified us in entertain- 
 ing with regard to it. 
 
 *' The chapter on 'The Equality of Bishops and Presbyters' in the 
 primitive churches, is one of the best specimens of convincing cumulat ive 
 argumentation upon this topic with which we have ever met. The 
 success with which he has traced 'the rise of PJpiscopacy,' through its 
 various stages, is complete. The disasters which belel the churches in 
 consequence of this revolution in their goveri-ment are well detailed. 
 And every petition which is taken is so amply fortified by the best 
 authoritie.s. that the work cannot be read without profit, or answered 
 without difficulty." 
 
ANTIOCH; 
 
 OR, INCREASE OF MORAL POWER IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 By Rev. P. Church. With an Introductory 
 
 Essay, by Rev. Baron Stow. 
 
 "Here is a volume which will make a greater stir thon any didactic 
 work that has been issued /or many a day. It is a book of close and con- 
 secivtivs thought, and treats of subjects which are of the deepest inter- 
 est, ai the present time, to tlie churches of this country. The author is 
 favorably known to the religious public, as an original thinker, and a 
 forcible writer,— his style is lucid and vigorous. The Introduction, ly 
 Mr. Stow, adds much to the value and attractions of the volume."— CAr, 
 Reflector. 
 
 " By some this book will be condemned, by many it will be read with 
 pleasure, because it analyzes and renders tangible, principles that have 
 been vaguely conceived in many minds, reluctantly promulgated and hesi- 
 tatingly believed. We advise our brethren to read the book, and judge 
 for Ihem^eUes-"— Baptist Record. 
 
 "It is the work of an original thinker, on a subject of great practical 
 interest to the church. It is replete with suggestions, which, in our 
 view, are eminently worthy of consideration."— PAzV. Chr. Cbserrer. 
 
 "This is a philosophical essay, denoting depth of thinking, and great 
 originality. * * * He does not doubt, but asserts, and carries along the 
 matter with his argument, until the difference of opinion with which the 
 reader started with the writer is forgotten by the former, in admiration of 
 the warmth and truthfulness of the latter."— PAiV. U. S. Gazette. 
 
 PENTECOST, 
 
 OR, THE SOLE EFFICIENCY OF CONVERTING THE WORLD. 
 
 By Rev. P. Church, author of "Antioch." 
 
 Contents — Evangelical Enterprise — Scale on which to graduate Man's 
 Efficiency in it. Part I. Nature of the Energy which the Believer is to 
 expect from Christ. Part 2. The Forms under which this Heavenly En- 
 ergy manifests itself. Part 3. Means ©f securing enlarged Measures of 
 this Energy upon ourselves. 
 
 "One desire in the writer predominates overall others; that Christians, 
 generally, may rise to a just appreciation of the unspeakable blessings 
 treasured up for them in Christ; that all men may see the riches of the 
 glory of his inheritance in the saints." 
 
 THE CICERONIAN; 
 
 OR THE 
 
 PRUSSIAN METHOD OF TEACHING THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 
 Adapted to the Use of American Schools. 
 
 By B. Sears. 
 
 27 
 
CHURCH DISCIPLINE ; 
 
 The Scripture Doctrine of Church Order and Government. 
 
 By Rev. Warham Walker, Homer, N. Y. 
 
 On6 volume. ISmo. Cloth. 
 
 tl3" ^ timely and very useful work. 
 
 Contents — Introduction. — Church, definition of the term — Constitu- 
 tion of the Churches— First Christian Church, in its incipient State — 
 The Church at Jerusalem— The Church at Antioch— Organization of the 
 Churches — Government of the Churches— The True Idea of Church Disci- 
 pline. Part I. Formative Church Discipline. — Terms of Church Mem- 
 bership—Importance and necessity of Maintaining Formative Discipline 
 —Formative Measures. Part 2. Corrective Church Discipline— Power 
 of the Churches to Maintain Corrective Discipline— Limitations of the 
 Power of Disi'.ipline — Obligation of the Churches to Maintain Corrective 
 Discipline — Objects of Corrective Discipline — Spirit in which Corrective 
 Discipline should be conducted— The Law of Corrective Discipline — 
 Offences demanding Corrective Discipline— The Process of Corrective 
 Discipline — The First Admonition — The Second Admonition — The Final 
 Act of Disci pline— Treatment of the Excommunicated — Restoration of the 
 Penitent— Conclusion. 
 
 The following recommendatory noteg from individuals residing in the 
 vicinity of the Author, were received by the Publishers with the manu- 
 script of the work. 
 
 From the Professors in Hamilton Literary and Theol, Institution. 
 
 "We have carefully perused the most important parts of the manu- 
 script, and the result has been highly gratify mg. The work is charac- 
 terized by great sobriety and caution. We believe the views it presents . 
 to be scriptural; and that where they are not supported by the direct and 
 and positive declaration of the word of God, they are, at least, sustained 
 by the general spirit of the teachings of Christ and his apostles. Such a 
 work as this, we think, is greatly needed; it is well adapted to pr«mote 
 correct views and uniformity of practice in relation to the subject of 
 which it treats. We cordially recommend it to the careful perusal of the 
 members of our churche.<=i. J. S. Maginnis, 
 
 Hamilton, Nov. 6, 1843. T. 5'. Con ant, 
 
 A. C. Kendrick." 
 
 From the Editor of the N. Y. Baptist Register. 
 "I have just had the privilege of hearing the principal part of Professor 
 Warham Walker's work on Church Discipline. The subject is presented 
 in a clear and beautiful style, and in accordance with the sacred oracles; 
 and the instruction conveyed is much needed at the present lime, when 
 young converts are so numerous and so imperfectly acquainted with duty 
 in this matter, and with the proper manner of discharging it. The author 
 is well known in this State, as a writer of great force and elegance, and 
 any thing he undertakes is done with fidelity and effect. 
 
 Utica^Nov. 7, 1843. Yours, truly, A. M. Beebeb.'* 
 
 " We are truly gratified at the Issue of this publication. A work of this 
 kind has been greatly needed In our churches, and its appearance will be 
 warmly welcomed, we believe, by thousands. The subject is one involv- 
 ing many difficult and debateable questions, and it will be strange indeed 
 if it satisfies all parties, in the execution, equally well. But from looking 
 at the general plan, and reading several pages, we are inclined to believe 
 that it will meet with great favor. The work originated in an essay read 
 at a Ministerial Conference, and was completed and published by the re- 
 quest of the brethren composing that conference. It is issued in a neat 
 style;— a volume of one hundred and fifty-six pages."- CAr. Rejector. 
 
 28 
 
THE PSALMIST: 
 
 A NEW COLLECTION OF HYMNS FOR THE USE OF 
 THE BAPTIST CHURCHES. 
 
 BY BARON STOAV AND S. F. SMITH. 
 
 This work contains nearly twelve huvdred Hymvs, original and select* 
 etl, together with a collection of Chants and Selections for Chanting. 
 
 Surprising as it may appear to those who are aware of the great diversity 
 of opinion and tastes every where existing in reference to hymns best 
 suited to public worship, this new collection meets with almost universal 
 favor. Its rapid introduction into churches in various parts of the coun- 
 try; the numerous testimonials of approval and high commendation daily 
 received, in connection with the acknowledged ability of the editors; the 
 uncommon facilities enj<iyed by them, of drawing from the best sources in 
 this and other countries; the great care with which the compilation has been 
 made; the new, convenient, and systematic plan of arrangement adopted, 
 give the publishers full confidence in the superior merits of the work. 
 
 In addition to the protracted labor of the editors, the proof-sheets have 
 all been submitted to a Committee, composed of clergymen of high stand- 
 ing, in different parts of the Union, by whose critical examinations and 
 important suggestions the value of the work has been greatly enhanced. 
 
 All of Watts's Hymns, possessing lyrical spirit, and suited to the wor- 
 ship of a Christian assembly, are inserted; and a large number of hymns 
 heretofore unknown in this country have been introduced. The distinc- 
 tion of psalms and hymns, usually made in other collections, has been 
 avoided in this, and all have been arranged together, under their appro- 
 priate heads, and numbered in regular, unbroken succession. There are 
 four valuable Indexes, — a 'General Index' of subjects, a 'Particular In- 
 dex.' an ' Index of First Lines,' and an extended 'Scripture Index.' 
 
 Notice of the A m. Bap. Publication and S. S. Society, Vhiladelphia. 
 
 The Board of Directors of the A.B. P. and S. S. Society, induced by the 
 numerous and urirent calls which, for a long time, have been made from 
 various sections of the country, for a new collection of Hymns that should 
 be adapted to the wants of the churches generally, resolved, in the year 
 1841, to take immediate measures for the accomplishment of this object. 
 With this view, a committee, consisting of Rev. W, T. Brantly. D. D., of 
 South Carolina, Rev. J. L. Da?g, of Alabama, Rev R. B. C. HowelU of 
 Tennessee. Rev. S W. Lynd, 1). D.. of Ohio, Rev. J. B. Taylor, of Virginia, 
 Rev. S.P.Hill, of Maryland. Rev. G. B. Ide and R. AV. Griswold, of Penn- 
 sylvania, and Rev. W, R. Williams, D. D.. of New York, was appointed 
 to prepare and superintend the proposed selection. It was, however, sub- 
 sequently ascertained that a similar work hati been undertaken by Messrs. 
 Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Publishers, of Boston; and that Rev. B. Stow 
 and Rev. S. F. Smith, whose services they had engaged, had already com- 
 menced their labor. From the well-known ability of these gentlemen, 
 there seemed good reason to expect a valuable collection, and one that 
 would fully nieet the end which the Board contemplated. In order, there- 
 fore, to avoid the unnecessary multiplication of Hymn Books, it was 
 deemed expedient by the Board to unite, if possible, with the above- 
 mentioned Publishers. Accordingly, the manuscript of Messrs. Stow and 
 Smith having been examined, and found quite satisfactory, arrangements 
 were made to have the proof sheets as they were issued from the press, 
 submitted to the committee of the Board, with the understanding, that if, 
 after such alterations and improvements as might be suggested, it should 
 meet their approval, the Board would adopt it as their own. This ap- 
 proval having been obtained, the Board voted, unanimously, to adopt and 
 publish the work, and have negotiated with Gould. Kendall & Lincoln, to 
 that effect. Signed by order and on behalf of the Board, 
 
 J. M. Peck, Cor. Sec. Am. Pub. S. S. Soc. 
 c* 29 
 
Certificate of the Committee appointed by the Am. Baptist Publication 
 and Sunday School Society. 
 The undergisrned, having been requested by the Board of Directors of 
 the Am. Bap. Publication and S. S. Society to examine the prooof sheets 
 of *'The Psalmist." edited by Rev. B. Stow and Rev. S. F. Smith, and to 
 suggest such emendations as might seem expedient to render the work 
 more acceptable to the churches throughout tiie country, hereby certify, ' 
 that they have performed the service assigned them, and unite in recom- 
 mending the work as one well adapted to the purpose for which it was 
 designed. William R. Williams, James B. Taylor, 
 
 George B. Ide, Jno. L. Dagg, 
 
 RuFUs W, Griswold, W, T. Brantly, 
 Stephen P. Hill, R. B. C. Howell, 
 
 Samuel W. Lynd. 
 United Testimony of Pastors of Bap. Churches in Boston and vicinity. 
 Messrs Gould, Kendall & Lincoln,— Permit us to take this method 
 of expressing our great satisfaction with the Collection of Hymns which 
 you have of late published for the use of the Baptist denomination. As 
 Pastors, we have long felt the need of some book different from any which 
 could be obtained, and we have looked forward with interest to the time 
 when your proposed work should be issued from the press. The work is 
 now completed, and before the public; and from an attentive and careful 
 examination of its pages, we are prepared to give it a hearty recommenda- 
 tion. It is clear in its arrangement, sound in doctrine, rich in senti- 
 ment, sweet and beautiful in its poetry, and, in our opinion, most admirably 
 adapted to the wants of the denomination. We cannot but hope, there- 
 fore, that it will soon be adopted by all our churches. 
 
 Daniel Sharp, T. F. Caldicott, Nicholas Medbery, 
 
 R. W. Cushman, W. H. Shailer, J. W. Parker, 
 R. H. Neale, H. K. Green, Bradley Miner, 
 
 William Hague, Silas B. Randall, J. W. Olmstead, 
 Robert Turnbull, Thomas Driver, Joseph Banvard, 
 Nath'l Colver, Duncan Dunbar, Thos. D. Anderson. 
 Prom the Professors in Neioton Theological Institution. 
 Union of judgment in regard to all the principles which should regulate 
 the preparation of a HymnTBook, both as to the character of the hymns, 
 and as to the omission and alterations in the case of selected hymns that 
 have long been in use, is not to be expected. We are free, however, to 
 say, that in copiou.sness of subject, in adaptation to the various occasions 
 of worship, in devout and poetic character, and m general excellence, we 
 regard the work as eminently superior to collections now in common use. 
 Barnas Sears. Pres. and Prof. Christian Theology. 
 Irah Chase, Prof. Ecclesiastical History. 
 H. J. Ripley, Prof Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Duties. 
 H. B. Hackett, Prof Bib Literature and Interpretation. 
 Testimony of a Committee of the Faculty of Hamilton Literary and 
 Theological Institution. 
 Messrs. Gould, Kendall & Lincoln,— The undersigned have been ap- 
 pointed, by ihe Faculty of our Institution a Committee to examine the 
 Hymn Book, entitled "The Psalmist," recently published by you, and 
 edited by Rev, B. Stow and Rev. S. F. Smith. It gives us pleasure to 
 state, as the result of our examination, that we consider the work decided- 
 ly superior to any similar collection with which we are acquainted. Its 
 materials are drawn from the best sources of sacred lyrical poetry in our 
 language; the arransrement ij eminently happy; and the variety of its se- 
 lections adapts it to' almost every occasion. We think the adoption of 
 the work in the Baptist churches of our country would be calculated greatly 
 to elevate that interesting branch of worship with reference to which it is 
 prepared. A. C. K end rick, Prof Greek Lan. and Literature, 
 J. S. Maginnis, Prof Biblical Theology. 
 T. J. Conant, Prof Heb. ^ Bib. C r it. ^ Interpretation. 
 J. H.Raymond, Tut.Intel.SrMor.Philoa.Sf Belles-lettres. 
 ^ 30 
 
United Testimony of the Pastors of Baptist Churches in Philadelphia 
 and vicinity. 
 We, the undersigned, Pastors of the Baptist Churches in the city of 
 Philadelphia, and its vicinit>, having examined "The Psalmist," a new 
 Hymn Book for the use of the Baptist Churches, edited by Rev. Messrs. 
 B. iStow and S. F. Smith, published by the Am. Bap. Pub. S. S. Society, 
 and Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Boston, most cordially express our con- 
 viction that it is decidedly superior to any other Hymn Book with which 
 we are acquainted. In arrangement, it is very natural; in doctrine, it ia 
 sound and peculiarly evangelical; in its selection of hymns upon every 
 important subject, it is very copious and judicious; while there is a va- 
 riety that characterizes no other. Its lyrical excellence places it far 
 above all other compilations, and makes it a delightful companion for the 
 Christian, in private and domestic, as well as public worship. We shall 
 regard that as a happy era in the churches of our denomination, when it 
 ehail be universally adopted by them. 
 
 , George B. Ide, Horatio G. Jones, 
 
 J. Lansing Burrows, Thos. O. Lincoln, 
 A. D. Gillette, F. Ketcham. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS OF ASSOCIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS. 
 
 Boston Baptist Association^ 1843. 
 
 ^Vhereas, for some time past, we have felt the need of a new 
 collection of hymns, for the use of our churches in their public 
 worship 5 and whereas, the new work entitled ^ The Psalmist,' 
 edited by two brethren connected with this body, supplies this 
 need, and answers admirably the end for which it was designed, 
 therefore Resolved, That in our opinion, The Psalmist is worthy the 
 patronage of the Baptist denomination^ and we cordially recom- 
 mend its adoption in all our churches i 
 
 Miami {Ohio), Baptist Association, 1843. 
 
 The Committee appointed to report upon a Hymn Book, have 
 attended to the duty assigned them, and report the fbllowing as 
 their views. For several reasons, the Committee recommend to 
 the attention of the churches, the new work called ' The Psalmist,' 
 as worthy of special patronage. 1. It is exceedingly desirable that 
 our whole denomination should use in the praises of the sanctuary 
 the same psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. To secure uniform- 
 ity, we prefer ' The Psalmist,' because it is strictly, and from the 
 foundation designed for the use of Baptist churches, — is not sur- 
 passed by any Hymn Book in the world, — and the proprietorship 
 IS wholly Baptist, by which the greatest facilities can be furnished 
 for its introduction to the churches, and the perpetuity of its pub- 
 lication. 2. It has been prepared with the greatest care. In no 
 instance has a Hymn Book gone through so thorough a revision j 
 and the influence which is rationally exerted in its favor by the 
 Committee of revision, — by the known qualification of the editors, 
 by the popularity of the Boston publishers, and by the fact that it 
 is connected with the series of the Am. Bap. Pub. Society, — will 
 necessarily give it an ultimate circulation greater than that of any 
 other similar work in the churches. 3. It is a book of very supe- 
 rior merits, and probably will not need any important emendation 
 for a long period to come. The Committee therefore recommend 
 to the churches the adoption of this work as well calculated to ele- 
 vate the taste and the devotion of the denomination. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted. 
 
 S. W. Lynd, Chairman. 
 31 
 
Philadelphia Baptist Association, 1843. 
 Resolved, That we request the attention of the churches to The 
 Psalmist, a hymn book, approved by a large committee of distin- 
 guished Baptist ministers, in various parts of the United States. 
 
 Portsmouth {N. H.), Baptist Association, 1843. 
 Resolved, That we highly approve of The Psalmist, prepared by 
 Brethren Stow and Smith, and recommend its adoption in all our 
 churches. 
 
 Illinois Baptist State Convention, 1843. 
 Resolved, That, after an examination of the Hymn Book com- 
 piled by Messrs. Baron Stow and S. F. Smith, we can cheerfully 
 recommend it to the denomination as being superior to any other 
 work of the kind ever before published, and advise its adoption and 
 use among the churches. 
 
 Huron {Ohio), Baptist Association,,'iS43. 
 Among the resolutions adopted, was one recommending the new 
 Hymn Book published by the Am. Baptist Publication Society, 
 Philadelphia, and Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, Boston. 
 
 Munroe {N. Y.), Baptist Association, 1843. 
 Resolved, That we recommend to the several churches of tliis 
 Association, for their adoption, the Hymn Book recently prepared 
 by brethren Baron Stow and S. F. Smith, called '^ The Psalmist," 
 as being in our estimation the choicest selection of hymns extant, 
 and well adapted to promote the objects of Christian worship. 
 
 Bethel {Tenn.), Baptist Association, 1843. 
 The committee on Hymn Books reported as their choice, '' The 
 Psalmist." The report having been received, the Hymn Book 
 was adopted, and recommended to the churches. 
 
 Kennebec (Me.), Baptist Association, 1843. 
 Voted, That we recommend to those churches who are intend- 
 ing to supply themselves with new Hymn Books, to purchase * The 
 Psalmist,' recently prepared by He v. Baron Stow and Rev. S. F. 
 Smith ; this, in the estimation of those who have examined it, being 
 the best Hymn Book in the English language. 
 
 EDITORIAL NOTICES AND REVIEWS. 
 
 From an extended notice in the Christian Review, 
 The Psalmist was originated under circumstances, and from a 
 source, which give it a claim to our respect and attention. Both 
 the editors and publishers of the book are so well and favorably 
 known to the religious community, that their motives in this under- 
 taking will not be called in question. We hazard little in saying, 
 that it is the best collection of hymns ever published in the English 
 language. They have been drawn from the best sources, and 
 probably, from a greater number of authors than those in any 
 other hymn book extant. 
 
 The Psalmist contains 1180 hymns, besides doxologies and 
 chants. Of the hymns, 303 are by Dr. Watts^ or about one quarter 
 
 32 
 
of the whole collection. Next to Watts, are Doddridge, 57 hymns 3 
 Mrs. Steele, ^%] Beddome, 41 ; Montgomery, 33 ; S. F. Smitl^26 ; 
 Kelly, 17; John Newton, 16 ; Charles Wesley, 12; Toplady, Sten- 
 nett and Cowper, 10 each ; Heber, 8 ; CoUyer and Hefjinbotham, 7 
 each ; Bowring, Mrs Barbauld, Dwight, Fawcett, and Mrs. Sigour- 
 ney, 6 each ; Hart,Hawes, Needham, and Scott, 5 each ; Addison, 
 Bathurst, Fellows, Gibbons, Hemans, Kippis, Tappan, Reed, and 
 H. K. White, 4 each ; Conder, Ednieston, Judson, T. Moore, Noel, 
 Raffles, Swain, and Wrangham, 3 each ; thirty-two other authors, 2 
 each; and ninety, 1 each. The hymns are by 161 writers, besides 
 pieces credited to fifty collections of hymns or other works, the 
 authorship of which is unknown. Forty -five are anonymous, being 
 traced neither to author nor collections. 
 
 The order of the book is clear and natural, a due respect being 
 paid to the several subjects of religious worship. We question 
 whether it would be possible to arrange a collection of hymns in 
 better order. The numerous objects of Christian benevolence 
 have created a necessity for a, much greater variety of hymns than 
 was formerly needed ; and of which no book in use furnished the 
 requisite number. The Psalmist meets this deficiency, particularly 
 in hymns upon the subject of missions, the number of which is 76, 
 
 The hymns in The Psalmist are of convenient length ; most of 
 them containmg four, and some, but two or three verses. The 
 preacher using this book, will seldom find it necessary to abridge 
 a hymn, — a service always unpleasant to him, and disagreeable to 
 the congregation. The variety of metres is good 3 we do not see 
 how it could be improved. 
 
 As a specimen of book-manufacturing. The Psalmist is deserving 
 of great praise. It is printed with beautiful type, on clear, white 
 paper, is strongly bound, opens easily, and may be read with com- 
 fort, by old and young. It would be not less gratifying than ad- 
 vantageous for the churches of this country, could they unite in 
 adopting the same hymn book for public worship. 
 
 The editors have accomplished a noble work, for which they 
 deserve not only the thanks of our own churches, but of all lovers 
 of true devotional psalmody. 
 
 From the Christian Reflector, Boston. 
 We have before referred to the new hymn book, entitled " The 
 Psalmist." We have since given it a more careful examination, 
 and we cannot withhold from it our unqualified praise. Winchell's 
 Watts has a great many excellent hymns, and will, doubtless, con- 
 tinue to be used by many churches ; but the volume contains many 
 hymns that cannot be given out to be sung, with any propriety 
 whatever; and these are in the way, and embarrass a minister in 
 making his selections. We have other compilati^no *n use which 
 contain many of the best hymns extant. The Psalmist surpasses 
 them all, in the select character of all its hymns. Not one can be 
 regarded as inappropriate to public worship. The good old hymns 
 are all there, and many most beautiful new ones. Those from the 
 pen of S. F. Smith, are surpassingly excellent. The book is ad- 
 mirably arranged, neatly printed, and well bound. It cannot fail 
 of becoming, sooner or later, the standard hymn book of the de- 
 nomination. It is to be introduced into .all parts of the United 
 States. 
 
From the Christian Watchman, Boston. 
 
 This volume impresses us as being very complete. The editors 
 seem to have been more solicitous to make a good book, than a 
 new book. The reader will find that a majority of the pieces are 
 such as have long been familiar to his ear in our devotional assem- 
 blies. We should have been sorry to have found it otherwise. 
 The hymns of Dr. Watts take the lead. All his pieces are inserted 
 which possess lyrical spirit, and are suited to a Christian assembly. 
 
 We need say nothing upon the need of a new hymn book. Had 
 Winchell's Watts, which has now been in use in these parts near- 
 ly a quarter of a century, been made as perfect as it were possible 
 at the time to make it, we should at this period need a new book. 
 
 From the Musical Visiter, Boston. 
 ''The Psalmist," a new collection of Hymns, for the use of the 
 Baptist churches, by Baron Stow and S. F. Smith, is just out, in a 
 beautiful style, on good paper, and handsomely bound. It has four 
 Indexes, one of the first lines, one general and one particular index 
 of subjects, and a Scripture index. Having examined the book, we 
 are satisfied that besides many more, it has three great excellences, 
 viz., the hymns are generally short, having about four verses, very 
 many three, and about as many of two as of six, and a few of five 
 verses. Another excellence is, the variety of subjects, well adapted 
 to these last days. Another is, the highly literary, and yet plain 
 and beautiful style of the language. This is truly a literary gem, 
 besides being a sweet ' Psalmist ' for the church of Christ. 
 
 From the Christian Secretary, Hartford. 
 
 We are no great sticklers for changes and innovations in the 
 church, by the introduction of new books, new instruments of 
 music, &c., it having ever been more congenial to our taste to 
 walk in the *' old paths." We must say, that The Psalmist, just 
 published, presents claims to the denomination not to be found in 
 any other work of the kind. There is one merit in this hymn book 
 which we are glad to find, viz., it is not divided into parts, as in the 
 case with Winchell's Watts. Another is, that the hymns are of a 
 suitable length for Divine worship, few of them exceeding six 
 verses, and in most cases not exceeding four. 
 
 After a somewhat careful examination, we have been led to tlie 
 conclusion, that this Hymn Book possesses qualities over every 
 other of the kind that we are acquainted with, which entitle it to 
 a place in every Baptist pulpit in the country. 
 
 From the Religious Herald, Richmond, Va, 
 It has evidently been compiled with much care, and comprises 
 a sufficient variety of hymns for all the purposes of worship. The 
 missionary department is very full, containing some original hymns, 
 and others which have not heretofore appeared in our hymn books. 
 Throughout the book, original compositions, with hymns not here- 
 tofore met with in our selections, and of modern origin, are inter- 
 spersed with those long known and familiar to the public. The 
 work deserves high praise for its purity of style and expression. 
 It has great and deserved merit, and as a whole is not only well 
 adapted to the object aimed at, but superior to its predecessors. 
 
From the New York Baptist Register, 
 The Psalmist is one of tlie most delightful and complete books 
 of the kind we ever had the privilege of examining. It is the very 
 book wanted. The poetry is choice and beautiful, the sentiments 
 are scriptural, expressed with peculiar felicity and force, and 
 adapted to every variety of condition, — there is something for 
 every body and every occasion. If it could be introduced into 
 our churches, they could want nothing better. 
 
 From the Alabama Baptist. 
 This work is intended to be the Baptist Hymn Book ; and, after a 
 careful and critical examination, we are fully prepared to say, that 
 it really deserves to be adopted as such, by the denomination. We 
 think it decidedly superior to any collection of Psalms and Hymns 
 ever before issued from the American press. The compilers, 
 themselves, are men of the purest taste, refined by familiar con- 
 verse with the most elegant writings of ancient and modern times, 
 and sanctified by the influences of the Holy Spirit. We earnestly 
 commend The Psalmist to the attention of pastors and churches. 
 We believe it will be introduced into the churches throughout the 
 United States. The preparation of this work may be regarded as 
 the act of the entire denomination, and if it be universally adopted, 
 will greatly tend to produce uniformity of doctrine, and church 
 order and discipline, through all the churches. 
 
 From the Zioii's Advocate, Portland, Me. 
 It is sometimes said, that editors are induced to commend books 
 by the donation that is usually made to them of a copy of the work. 
 But ' cannot be so in this case, since we have, by some means, 
 failed of receiving a copy. Yet we are willing to do the publishers 
 a service, and our readers a greater service, by cordially recom- 
 mending this to those who are purchasing new books We do not 
 know any other equal to it. 
 
 From Graham's Magazine, Philadelphia, 
 The Psalmist is, in our opinion, decidedly the best compilation of 
 sacred lyric poetry ever published in this country. Its editors are 
 distinguished clergymen of the Baptist church, and one of them is 
 himself a poet of no mean reputation. Mr. Smith's Missionary 
 Hymn, commencing, "Yes, my native land, I love thee," is nearly 
 as well known as the celebrated lyric of Heber, " From Greenland's 
 icy mountains," etc., and a large number of his pieces, on a variety 
 of subjects, rank highamong the best of their kind in the language. 
 
 From Tlie Macedonian, Boston. 
 It has been prepared with the most critical regard to the laws of 
 language and poetry, and to the wants of the church of the present 
 age. It is designed for use throughout the United States, and was 
 accordingly examined in the proof-sheets, by gentlemen of known 
 ability and scholarship, in different parts of the country. We refer 
 to it chiefly to express our gratification at the extensive and ad- 
 mirable collection of missionary hymns which it contains. One of 
 these we select, entitled " The Missionary Angel," was written by 
 Rev. S. F. Smith. 
 
 35 
 
EXTRACT OF LETTERS FROM CLERGYMEIf. 
 
 From Rev. Geo, B. Ide, Philadelphia. 
 
 At the risk of appearing intrusive, I have taken my pen to let you 
 know the emotion which your new Hymn Book, in its beautiful 
 dress, has excited in my mind. My expectations were very highly 
 raised ; but the result has more than answered them. Such another 
 collection of hymns for public worship, so beautiful in its execution, 
 BO natural, clear, and perfect in its arrangement, so varied, copious, 
 and appropriate in its list of subjects, so lyrical in its structure, so 
 devotional in its spirit^ so scriptural in its sentiments, so sweet, 
 pure, and elevated in its poetry, I do not believe the world can 
 furnish, and I am certain the English language cannot. It is a 
 work, in every respect, of such surpassing excellence, as to leave 
 nothing in its department to be desired. All here, who have seen 
 it, are delighted with it. If there be any true taste in our churches, 
 it must speedily come into universal use. Our own denomination, 
 and the Christian public generally, are under great obligations to 
 the gifted brethren who have so successfully performed their task, 
 and to the liberal and enterprising publishers, by whom they were 
 employed. You will, I am confident, receive an ample remunera- 
 tion for all your expense and outlay And 1 trust, that both you 
 and they will enjoy the far higher, richer reward, of knowing that 
 through your united labors, the public praises of God have been 
 improved, chastened, and rendered more edifying and refreshing j 
 and that, upon the return of each holy Sabbath, millions of saints 
 on earth are chanting the hallowed and inspiring strains with which 
 you have supplied them ; and thus preparing to join the blissful 
 choir and the eternal anthems of the upper sanctuary. 
 
 Philadelphia, June, 1843. George B. Ide. 
 
 From Rev. John Dowling, Providence, R. 1. 
 About six years ago, the lamented James D. Knowles, at the 
 close of a valuable editorial article upon Church Psalmody, in the 
 Christian Review, remarked as follows : " We repeat the expression 
 of our hope, that the time may soon arrive, when a compilation 
 shall be prepared, worthy, in its sentiments and poetical character, 
 to be adopted by the Baptist denomination throughout this extend- 
 ed republic." Had this gifted brother lived to examine The Psalm- 
 ist, 1 cannot doubt that he would have agreed with the writer of 
 these remarks, that the present is just such a work, and that that 
 hope is completely realized. 1 f I were to enumerate the excellences 
 by which I'he Psalmist is distinguished above every other hymn 
 book with which I am acquainted, in use among the Baptist de- 
 nomination, I should say, 1. There are no hymns, so far as I can 
 discover, offensive to a correct taste, and most of them possess a 
 high degree of poetic excellence. 2. Every hymn may be read 
 with propriety from the pulpit. 3. All the hymns are adapted to 
 be sung, being properly lyrical in their character, and not historical 
 or didactic. 4. Most of the hymns are of a suitable length j the 
 greater number consisting of not more than four verses. 5. The 
 unmeaning division into psalms and hymns is avoided, and the 
 numbering of the hymns is continuous, thus avoiding the difficulty 
 sometimes experienced, especially by strangers, in finding the 
 hymn that \s announced. J. Dowling. 
 
 36 
 
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