<- > ' my' ^* f J!>.S B^ULfC^OV-^ I !8S"6b m =tfi>fc®;i tr iS PREACHED IN SHANGHAI, BY EEV. JOHN S. BURDON, leiriiiBM II, Mii. m Wi m m m CHRISTIAN JOY. A SERMON, Preiiolii'd in the loiulou Mission Chapel, Slianghai, 'M\ November, Uoi THE LAST THURSDAY IN THE MONTH, rSUAI.LY OBSERVED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS THANISGIYING DAY. BY EEV. JOHN S. BURDON, Of the English Church Missionary Society. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. SHANGHAI, CHINA: PRESS OJ J. H. DE CAEVALHO. 1858. SERMON. PSALM II. 11. REJOICE WITH TREMBLING. We are met together, my Brethren, on a peculiarly interesting occasion. In the land from which many of us come, this day will be observed by thousands of Christians as a day of special Thanksgiving to the Almighty Giver of all good, for the mercies of the year now fast drawing to a close, — mercies to themselves, to the Church and to the World. Here^ at these ends of the earth, a few Christians of dif ferent denominations, sinking for the time their differences both in country and in sect, are assem bled to commence that song of praise which, in a few hours, almost an entire nation will take up and pro long until this day's western sun be set. There is no duty, the performance of which as similates the Church militant to the Church trium phant more than that of Christian joy; but when we have reached our highest note of praise here, we are soon reminded that as yet we are still in the region of sorrow and sin. It is on this account that I have chosen for our consideration, this morning. words that appear to me to be appropriate to even the highest state of blessing on earth: "Rejoice with trembling." We have here, in this Text, first an Exhortation and then a Caution. I. The Exhortation is to ^'¦rejoice;" and as it occurs in a passage of Scripture that sets forth the future glory and power of our Redeemer, we regard it as addressed to those who believe in that Re deemer. Taking then Christian jot as the subject of the exhortation, I shall briefly notice its nature, its duty, and its grounds. 1. The joy of the Christian is in its nature a hallowed thing. It differs as much from the joy of the world as true sorrow for sin differs from the sorrow of the world. Both the joy and the sorroAv, of those Avho have their portion in this life and who are content to look no higher, alike "work death." Their sorrow has nothing in it of contrition ; their joy has nothing in it of the holiness of heaven ; both are of earth and both have the effect of binding us more closely to earth. But Christian joy carries us out of the consideration of ourselves and of every thing earthly, and fixes our thoughts entirely on Him who alone is worthy to fill our hearts. Christ Himself is the great Object of the Chris tian's joy. We look at Him in his original glory, co-equal with his Father. We look at Him with awe and wonder as He manifests that expression of his love to fallen man, before which his richest mercies in creation and in providence grow dim. We follow Him through his thirty-three years of suffering "for us men and for our salvation." We Avatch his dying agonies, until the Sun refuses us permission to look upon a scene so awful. We hear. amid that miraculous darkness, his death-cry, "it is finished;" and we are permitted once more to behold the body of the God-man. It is now cold and motionless in death ; a death which never had, nor e-s'er will have, its parallel during the whole course of time ; a death not caused by a time-serving governor, or effected by the nails by which he Avas fastened to the cross ; for had it only been the Ro mans from Avhom he needed deliverance. He might have had "twelve legions of angels," to guard his person and compel the homage that Avas his due. Christ was arraigned, not before Pilate'sjudgment- seat, but before that of unbending holiness. It was not the chief priests, but sin^ that caused His death. Your sins and my sins Avere His accusers ; and while personally He proved himself free from every spot of sin, in the name of a Avorld undone He acknowledged the charges and voluntarily paid the penalty. The penalty noAV is paid ; eternal justice is satisfied; and Ave thenceforth see the Lord of Glory re-assuming His own proper position in the universe. Christ rises ; A'ictorious over death and the grave He ascends to heaA-en, where "He is expecting," or Avaiting, "till his enemies be made his footstool." We behold Him, b}' faith, Avithin the veil that hides that heaven of heavens from our vicAV, not inactive in His Avaiting, but engaged in unceasing interces sion for his people; Avatching over their interests as though they were his OAvn ; following their every step through life and death; preparing their dif ferent places in heaven before they come ; receiving and welcoming them Avhen they do arrive; and by His Spirit so working on the hearts of men that "there are added to the Church daily such as shall be saved." We look at Him, then, in his character as God, in his humiliation as man, in his present exaltation as the God-man; we feel that "this God is our God for ever and ever ;" and it would be strange indeed, if we did not "rejoice" in Him. Consistent with this object of our joy, must be the manlier of its expression. Christian joy there fore is shown by a thankful acceptance of the Saviour in our hearts and by a life devoted to His service. Without these no Thanksgiving Service aa^U be ac ceptable to God, and it is only in proportion to the degree in which Ave experience these that Ave can be said ever to rejoice in Christ. There must be the acceptance of Him in the heart, as the only Saviour, and the actual experience, to some extent, of what His salvation is. It is in this point of view, that the Avriter of the Psalm, before us, brings in the words of my text : "Be Avise noAV, therefore, 0 ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges of the earth ; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice Avith trembling; kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the Avay, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." Christian joy is, in its very nature, founded on the acceptance of Christ as the sinner's only hope ; and, therefore, all the Thanksgiving Days of men, whilst unreconciled to God, are little else than a mockery of Him whom they outAvardly appear to honour. They join indeed in all the noisy mirth that eating and drinking can induce ; but in their hearts they hate the humbling truths of Christ's religion, and in their very rejoicings sin against the Great Source of all good. The first thing to be done, then, in order to evince 5 true thankfulness, is to give the Saviour the first place in our afi'ections. He requires from us the same place in our hearts, that He noAV occupies in heaven ; and He will be content Avith nothing short of this. A divided allegiance is his abomination. He must be accepted in such a sense that each in dividual believer shall regard Him as the object of every act, the author of everv mercy, and the giver of every suffering in this probationary state. The Christian rejoices in Christ as the high and mighty Ruler of the uniA'erse; he rejoices in Him as the Lord of his affections and the Saviour of his soul; and he finds cause of rejoicing in all the dealings of that Saviour Avith himself individually. Even seasons of the deepest trial are often to the true Christian productive of the purest joys, and the prospect of an unclouded eternity in heaven renders appropriate, to every circumstance in his life, the language of the Psalmist; "I will bless the Lord at all times ; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." ¦Christian experience, vicAved in this Scriptural manner, may be used by us, very safely, as a test of our state before God. We are apt to think that God requires nothing more from us than mere re pentance and faith. It is true that these are at the foundation of all his requirements, so that without these there can be no Christian life ; but we must not forget that they are called, even by an Apostle, the "first principles," the rudiments, of the doctrine of Christ, and that Ave are exhorted to go on to something higher in the Divine life. The existence of these in the soul is quite consistent, I believe, Avith a certain measure of that spirit of bondage which deprives us of the present joys of forgiveness, and tends to make us regard (jod, not Avith the holy freedom of sons, but Avith the abject fear of slaves. Now though this unhappy state of mind may, for a time, be consistent Avith life, it is utterly incon sistent with groicth; and no Christian, Avho has tasted, even in the smallest measure, "the blessed ness of the man to Avhom the Lord doth not impute sin," can be content to remain in such a state. Joy in God is no less a fruit of justification by faith, than is acceptance A\dth God. That all Avho are ac cepted do not experience it, is generally no doubt the fruit of si?i, from Avhich, by seeking persever- ingiy and rightly, Ave shall obtain freedom. Any cdlowed sin, be it remembered, may be the means not only of depriving us of this higher privilege, to which I am referring, but also of quenching alto gether the little spark of life Ave thought to have been kindled in our souls. "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection." Being justified by faith, we have not only peace with God and access to God, but we shall also rejoice in hope of the glory of God. A life devoted to the service of the Saviour is the outward manifestation of iiiAvard rejoicing in Him. This folloAvs as a natural and necessary consequence. With the heart man believes and accepts and rejoices in the Gospel of Christ ; and Avith all the powers of his mind and body he shows the sincerity of the work Avithin. When Avords are required to shoAV this, in Avhatever company he may be, he does not hesitate to speak them; Avhen sacrifices, either of property or of personal ease, are demanded, he does not hesitate to make them. Some argue as though no outAvard manifestation of discipleship was need ed, or as though religion Avere a thing for the heart alone. NoAV it is true, that its foundation is laid there; but its superstructure must be seen in the Avhole outward life of the man. The secret of the Lord is indeed in the hearts of them that fear Him, hidden tlier(> by God himself; and He can hide his people personally from all fear of danger. But it is the believer's pi'ivilege, and his duty too, to hide neither the Word nor the Author of his salvation. Yea, it is his delight, his highest joy, to make both manifest in his daily Avalk and couA-ersation. This one feeling of joy in God ought to enter more fully into the Christian's service. The actual possessors of present joys as superior to those of unconverted men as heaven is to earth, and the heirs of future joys of Avhich Ave can noAV have no adequate conception, we are bound to make it felt, by the Avorld around us, that the service of Christ is a joyous one ; that, from first to last, there is no gloom connected Avith it; and that, in constantly having reference to the requirements of the Gospel, we find ourseh^es far less under restraint than those do Avho have cast off altogether the fear of God. "Who soever committeth sin," said Jesus to his disciples, "is the servant, (or slave) of sin;" and consequently such an one must be the servant of him "who sinned from the beginning ;" whose serA^ce is a hard bondage, and Avhose Avages are death. But, "if the Son of God shall make you free," said the Saviour again, "ye shall be free indeed." Every "freed man" of (Jhrist, by rejoicing in the liberty Avherewith his Saviour sets him free, ought to become a Avitness for God, in truth a Christian Missionary. This indeed he cannot help being, if he Avill only give full scope to that nature Avhich God has implanted in him, noAV sanctified by the Gospel. We are essentially social beings ; and a man is very seldom content to rejoice alone in any thing that gives him peculiar pleasure. If then Ave do not think our religion AVorthy of being enjoyed by others, it is a very plain proof that we do not value it very highly, and it may be Avell for us to examine our hearts more carefully, lest Ave find, Avhen too late, that Ave never kncAV AAdiat Avas meant by Christian peace, or gratitude or joy. 2. The habitual exercise of Christian joy, begin- nmg and ending in our Saviour, is a duty plainly set forth almost on every page of Scripture. It is insisted on both in the Old and New Testaments; and the examples given of it shoAV Iioav joy of this kind can be felt and expressed even in circumstances Avhere the world Avould think rejoicing strange and inconsistent conduct. But to any one who knoAvs the Saviour, Avho has found forgiveness through his atoning blood, and Avho believes that He is seated at the right hand of power, upholding, directing, governing all things both in heaven and on earth, there is nothing strange in the command to rejoice even in suffering. A firm conviction that, over all the confusion at present prevailing around us, God, as the source of unerring and eternal justice, reigns, — the full assent of our understandings and Avills to this great truth, even Avhen his dealings Avith ourselves seem dark and mysterious, — our acceptance of it and rejoicing in it as a guarantee of blessing yet to be vouchsafed to a lost and ruined Avorld, — cheerfulness in obeying his precepts even Avhen they come into direct op position to our Avishes or our Avorldly gain, — a Avell- tempered enjoyment of his mercies, and patient and cheerful submission to all his trials — this is the duty to Avhich Ave are called when we are told to rejoice in the Lord; and the very terms that set it forth shoAv a fitness of the duty in itself which must commend it to every true believer in Jesus. On the ground of this fitness the Avord of God repeatedly lays down its plain injunction — "Rejoice evermore." " Rejoice in the Lord ahvays ; and again I say rejoice." " Let all that put their trust in thee rejoice." 3. The grounds of Christian thankfulness are many ; and they relate either to believers personally or to the world generally. The first cause of Christian joy is that greatest of all mercies, bestoAved upon ourselves individually, the salvation of our own souls by the blood and right eousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only proper foundation of Christian j oy . It aatlU not make my sufferings, in the eternal Avorld of retribution, one whit more endurable, Avere the Avhole of the human race saved, except myself; and therefore if we are without this, Ave are without the chiefest of all the causes for gratitude that a dependent creature can possess. But taking it for granted that Ave all have experienced it, then Avhat a vast extent of per sonal mercies does this open before us ! For us the Saviour died and shed his most precious blood ; and all the benefits of that death, stretching into a long eternity Avhich our minds seek in vain to grasp, are made ours. To us the Holy Spirit has been given, and God has condescended to dwell in us. The great object of our creation and preservation, in this Avorld, has been ansAvered in us ; and Ave have only to employ Avell the time yet left to us, before we are permitted to realize the blessedness of salvation in all its fulness. 10 Connected Avitli this, and floAving from it, are per sonal mercies and personal trials. Salvation brings them to us in its train, for they are all necessary to our growth in grace and to the making of us meet for that inheritance Avhich is being prepared for us on high. Let us look in this light, then, at all those minor incidents that mark our pathway to the skies. VicAved upon the ground that Ave have already experienced the converting poAver of the Holy Spirit, the joy that has been granted to us has been sent to encourage and quicken us in the Divine life; and the sorroAv that has been meted out to us has been equally a consequence of our being in Christ Jesus; for, "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth ; and scourgeth every son, Avhom he re- ceiveth." In our OAvn retirement Ave shall find it a profit able exercise to look back, from time to time, and often, on the course of the Lord's dealings Avith our souls since He graciously brought us to himself. An occasion, such as this day affords, is especially fitted to lead us to a review of mercies peculiar to ourselves ; only let us take care that, in our review, Ave do not count what we call "the good things of this life " our only mercies : for the trials of the Christian are among his richest blessings, and though he smarts under them more keenly perhaps than other men, yet he Avould not wish to be left without them. Whatever either of joy or sorroAv Ave receive, let it all be sunk in that greatest of all causes for thanksgiving, so far as Ave are individually concern ed, the salvation of our souls. This year will afford to many of us abundant matter for such reflection ; "Ye shall weep and lament," said our Saviour, "and 11 ye shall be sorrowful, but )iiur soi'i'ow shall be turned into joy." Now though Christian joy will begin at home, it Avill not end there: or rather it is because it begins AVith self, in the manner 1 have described, that it extends to other objects intimatelv connected Avith God's glory and the good of man. Evcrv year that we are permitted to spend, on t'arth, has some pecu liarly distinguishing merey, but this year, noAV fast passing aAvay, appears to me to have been so full of DiAdne goodness, so abounding in great and glorious events, that the most careless can haidlv help ac- knoAvledging in them the hand of God. In dispensing the blessings of his Providence in the natural Avorld around us. He has not been un mindful of this unhappy land, and has giA^en a beau tiful illustration of our Saviour's Avords, "causing his sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sending rain upon the just and the unjust." For several seasons past has a blight been sent upon the fruits of the earth, in this part of the coun try ; but during this year, the fields have been made to bring forth plentifulh'; and the Chinese are noAv rejoicing in abundant harA'ests. Unconscious of the Giver of all this good, they are unthankful; or, if a feeling of gratitude comes into their minds, it is directed to they knoAv not Avhat. But we can return thanks for them, and ask that all this Divine bounty may be made the means of softening their hearts, and causing them to love and adore Him, Avho has so crowned the year with his goodness and whose paths have to them dropped fatness. The great distinguishing mercies of this year, those to which the Christian's heart turns with special thankfulness and hope, have been the exten- u sion of the Church in the remote West, and the ex tension of the Field of labour of that Church in the remotest East. The Avork of grace that has been going on in the United States of America, for more than a tAvelve- month, is perhaps second only to the Reformation, in its real importance and magnitude. I regret that I haA^e not now at hand statistics and details, Avhich would serve to indicate the ex tent of this "Great Revival," though these, however full they might be, could from the very nature of the case only convey to us an approximation to its actual results already produced. How far that work of grace has been effectual, in the salvation of individual souls, the last great day alone will be able to reveal; but judging from the interest that has been manifested in vital religion, — the multitudes Avho have daily met together for prayer, — the absence of all improper excitement, — the apparent earnestness and deep solemnity that perA^ade the meetings, — the wide extent of the move ment through all parts of the country, — and, above all, its long continuance with little or no abatement, but rather a steady increase, — ^we are led, as Ave stand by and behold it, to Avonder "whereunto this thing Avill grow." No one man, no one denomination of Christians, connected with this work, so far as I am aware, stands prominently forward more blessed than another. Everything human has been as much as possible kept out of sight ; and differences of sect have been forgotten in the evident working of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of men. "Here," says a private letter from Philadelphia — in describing the revival in that city — "on this 12th day of i:'. July, and Avith Fahrenheit above 90, at noon-day, you find betAveen one and tAvo thousand [)eople con gregated in one of the great halls of the city, to seek the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This has been continued daily for about six months. In these audiences, you will find the laAvyer, the physician, the man of business, the nu'clianic, the labourer, the outcast, the intemperate, yes and even the sable son of Ethiopia, with the refined and elegant Avoman, doAvn to the most common of our people, all sitting side by side, fused as it were into one mass by that Blessed Spirit, AAdio is no respecter of persons. Sometimes the audience swells to three thousand in number. Conversions are numerous and very re markable. It is no uncoimnon thing for a young convert to stand up, in the midst of this great as sembly, and give glory to God, by telling Avhat the Saviour has done for his soul. 'There is no sitting still with these converts. They go to Avork, gather ing in others. I haA^e seen men rise up and heard them say that, for tAvelve or fifteen years, they had never been inside a place of worship, but somehoAV, they kncAV not hoAV, they had Avandered into one of these meetings ; their attention had been arrest- ed ; their understandings enlightened ; their hearts opened to receive the truth ; and they noAV felt it a privilege publicly to testify their faith in Christ." There Avill, no doubt, be much in all this to offend the good taste of some who enshrine religion in an undeviating round of formalities ; and even many Chiistians, with their strong vicAVS regarding the sacredness of personal religious experience Avhich lead them to shrink from publicity, may look rather coldly upon such a Avork as this. But if these con versions are real, and, so far as man can at present 14 judge, Ave haA'e no reason to doubt that thousands of real conversions have taken place, it is the duty of Christians, of all denominations, and in all places, to return thanks to the great Head of the Church for thus remembering and visiting his people. It is not pretended that all, Avho are now excited on the subject of religion, will become true con verts ; but I am sure that all, Avho know the value of a throne of grace, will agree with me that a nation, Avhen throughout its length and breadth in difi^erent cities and toAvns and villages from one to two hundred thousand of its inhabitants are daily meeting for prayer, does present a grand moral spectacle to the world. Thousands and tens of thousands have asked this year, and are still asking, that simple but time- honoured question, " What must I do to be saved." If the Awakening in the year that Avitnessed the establishment of the Christian Church was a source of joy and thanksgiving to its first founders, then surely the Great AAvakening of 1858 must kindle feelings of the liveliest gratitude in the hearts of all those Avho love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth. Thousands, in America, will observe this day with feelings very different from those with which they used to welcome it, and will pray that the Avork of grace may be prolonged and extended. Let us, too, my Brethren, pray that this day's services may be made the means of adding, as true converts, many more to their number. And moreover, let us not forget to pray that the Parent Country, now again united to her Daughter in a Avay that will, for aU time to come, make this year remarkable in the annals of science, may be similarly blessed from on 15 High ; and that the spirit of the first memorable message Avhich ran along that Avonderful line, de siring "glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good Avill to men," may so animate all Christians on both sides of the Atlantic, that our tAvo nations, ever foremost as the great evangelizing poAvers of modern times, shall unite all their energy and zeal in giving the blessings of the gospel to the Avide fields now opened up in the east to Christian effort and enterprize. The extension of the fields, to be evangelized, has been Avonderfully simultaneous Avith the exten sion of the Church, as though God himself, with one hand prepared the means of Avorking, Avhile with the other He opened up the ground to be worked. On one side of us India, Avith its one hundred and seventy millions of inhabitants, has been during the present year peculiarly prepared for a large acces sion of Missionaries. That terrible upheaval, by Avhich a heathen soldiery thought to set up their OAvn superstitions on the ruins of British supremacy, has ended in the firmer and as Ave trust permanent establishment of that supremacy. They succeeded indeed in overthrowing their merchant rulers, but these have only given place to a governing power Avhich need not be afi'ected in its movements by any mercantile connection Avith that country. The East India Company, Avhile professing neu trality, practically through fear of being dispossess ed regarded the profession of Christianity among its native servants as a crime, and the general ten dency of its proclamations has induced the belief, on the part of the Natives, that their religion suit ed them as Avell as Christianity did the English. "Instead of maintaining their Christian character," 16 Avrites a Missionaiy Avho has been for twenty-one years in one of the most extended and important fields of observation at present occupied in India, "and Avithal by every means as in duty bound pro tecting the Natives in their just religious and civil rights, our men in authority have in too many instances become, in their habits of thought, Hindus or Mohammedans, according to the class Avith Avhich their public duties have brought them most into contact." This is a neutrality Avhich it is hard to understand, a one-sided neutrality, acknowledging and countenancing the slavish and polluted systems of Idolatry at the expense of Christianity. Various causes Avill be assigned, by different classes of men amongst us, to account for the down fall of the East India Company, after such a long period of power; but Avhatever be the causes, this year records the fact that its rule in India has ceased. Queen Victoria, aided by her Ministers, now go verns India ; and it remains yet to be seen what will be their line of policy with reference to the moral elevation of our fellow men in that heathen land. We deprecate, as much as any one can, the active interference of Government on behalf of the means employed by private Christians to evangelize the nations; but we equally deprecate, on the high ground of even-handed justice, any active inter ference in opposition to such means. In dealing Avith the Missionary, the plain duty of Government is to let him alone, neither to help him nor retard him; and in dealing with the Native, let personal merit, irrespective of the religion professed, be the only ground of rcAvard. The Government Avill best shoAV its Christian character by entirely severing its connection with all those practices of the Native 17 Avhich bring dishonour on the one true God, and by ignoring that fearful system of caste Avhich produced the disastrous results of 1857. In the hope that this new order of things in India, under the auspices of Queen Victoria, may be inau gurated with such changes as these, Avhich her title of "Defender of the Faith" leads us to expect, Ave regard India as especially prepared for an increase of Missionary effort. On the other side of us, Japan with its twenty millions of immortal souls no longer counts the cross an unholy thing to be trampled under foot, or refuses to admit either the merchant or missio nary within its borders. A compact kingdom in itself, — Avith a people industrious and cleanly in their habits, apparently ready to adopt and apply western science, and professedly Avilling to receive every thing foreign, except Opium, — it presents a fine field for the introduction of both our religion and our commerce. It is however to the country in which our lot is cast that Ave naturally turn with the deepest inte rest, and Ave rejoice in the fact that China has at last opened its gates to admit us to free and unres trained intercourse with its four hundred millions of people. In any point of view, this event would be one of the most interesting of modern times, but the Christian's mind becomes bcAvildered as he con templates the immense mass of human beings now added to the number of candidates for the bread of life. Not India and Japan united give such wide scope for the varied talent and energy and devoted- ness of the Christian Church. The close relationship into Avhich India has been brought Avith the Anglo- Saxon race certainly entitles that country to the 18 first claim on our Christian sympathy; but China is surely entitled to the second place in our consi deration of the countries to be evangehzed. From the very vastness of the country however, and the little that is generally knoAvn of it, Ave feel utterly at a loss to conjecture Avhether the Church at large Avill make efforts commensurate Avith China's present need. But Avhether this be done or not, it must be a cause of rejoicing that this year has seen the final doAvnfall of Chinese exclusiveness Avhich has stood almost unimpaired for thousands of years, and that Christians haA^e at all events the opportunity of seeking to Avin for the Redeemer a large and jire- cious portion of the earth . China has hitherto resolutely and sullenly kept her gates closed against the intrusive foreigner, and entrance has by little and little been ceded to him only as the expression of Sovereign favour and good Avill. This state of things is iioav altered ; and, under certain restrictions, — exceedingly proper when those Avho are strong in might but not always equally so in right principles are permitted to go amongst aAveak people, — ^ we may travel from Peking to Canton, and from Shanghai westward to the very heart of Central Asia. The responsibilities of those Avho Avill avail them selves of this change cannot be overrated. We are to be admitted to intercourse Avith a people who have been accustomed to think of us rather as Avild beasts than as men, and it Avill very much depend on those who first go amongst them Avhether these ignorant prejudices be deepened or removed. Their feelings ought not to be outraged by any exhibition on our part of contempt or disgust. Their manners differ, it is true, from ours; but that difference is 19 in many cases, I think, on the side rather of supe riority ; and it must be admitted that the professing Christian foreigner, in degrading himself to ill-use a Chinaman avIio has no means of redress, sinks in finitely loAver in the scale of humanity than many of these very despised heathen. These Chinese have had none of those religious advantages Avhich Ave have enjoyed from our child hood; but their conduct, on some occasions, is suf ficient to cover our faces Avith the crimson blush of shame. We are too prone to indulge in calling them "stupid," Avhen under similar circumstances, of a person speaking an unknoAvn tongue to us, Ave should be equally stirpid too; and the manner in Avliich it is sometimes applied makes it hard to tell Avhether the term more strictly describes the speaker or the person addressed. If they lack our quick ness or fail to perceive our exact line of thought, let us remember that the Chinese were bom in China, and not in England or America, and that that is not their fault but their misfortune. Above all must high principles of integrity be brought to bear upon them in aU our transactions with them, and the superiority of "the Faith that reaches to Heaven" be triumphantly shoAvn to the Heathen themselves over that "Avhich does not rise above the earth." Christian morality descends to a very Ioav ebb, Avhen it seeks to overreach a private individual in any particular bargain, merely because we may happen to have him in our poAver, or stoops to take advantage of the Aveakness of a Government to defraud it of its proper dues. These and other principles of the Christian religion must be practised by us in our more enlarged intercourse Avith this people, else the influx of foreigners into the country 20 will only add to poor China's already aggravated miseries. The great remedy for this benighted people is the Gospel, and this it is iioav our privilege to take to them, Avhether as missionaries to teach and preach it, or as Christian merchants to exemplify it. God grant that the teaching of it may be more Avide- spread than heretofore, and the exemplijication of it more true. We have now noticed the nature, the duty, and the grounds of Christian joy, and the exhortation of the text comes to us on the strength of all the considerations derivable therefrom. No one has a better right than the Christian to rejoice, and no one has higher incentives to the constant exercise of this duty and the enjoyment of this privilege. And on this Thanksgiving Day, the first it may be hoped of other similar occasions to be celebrated in China in years yet to come, I ask you to rejoice with all the well-tempered joy of the people of God in vicAV both of the past and the future. "God hath done great things for us, whereof Ave are glad." His hand the Christian delights to trace in the up heavals of nature and the convulsions of empires, as well as in the lesser changes of his own personal his tory ; and though many of His dispensations may be unintelligible, faith triumphs over all difficulties and rejoices in a God unseen but ever felt. " Clouds and darkness are round about him ; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his seat." Look up, then. Christian, and "rejoice" that God ruleth among the armies of Heaven ; look around you, and rejoice that God is arishig to shake terribly the earth; look forward, and rejoice that there is a good time coining for this sin-sick Avorld, Avhen "the 21 people shall be all righteous ;" above all look Avithin, and rejoice that God reigns in your heart and that you have received an earnest of those "better things, Avhich eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man to conceive." But I must hasten to a close, and let me then briefly, in your rejoicing, ask you to remember — II. The Caution, "Rejoice — ivith fremUing." There is no joy Avithout its sorroAV here, and the design of this evidently is to make us feel that there is nothing perfect on earth, and that Ave are to look for an unalloyed state of bliss and joy only in that world of purity for which Ave are here preparing. Are Ave, as Ave trust, saved sinners, and has the Spirit begun in our hearts that work Avhich shall last forever? .... Rejoice with trembling: You are A-et on Satan's battlefield, and never secure from his assaults ; you cannot, therefore, lay doAvn your weapons of warfare and feel that you are safe. Search your OAvn heart more; tiy its motives, its feelings, its aftections, by the word of God, and never for one moment cease that iuAvard struggle, against sin, which the Devil longs and hopes to see even yet ending in eternal death. "Work out your OAvn salvation Avith fear and trembling," for not until you are within the Heavenly Jerusalem can you be safe beyond the reach of harm. Rejoice, 0 Christian! but rejoice Avith trembling. Again : does all go Avell Avith you uoav outwardly, and is your path a happy one ? Rejoice in the good things Avith Avhich God surrounds you, but do it with trembling! That gourd in Avhich you now rejoice has the Avorm of corruption already AVorking within it, and a feAV short months may cause it to wither before your eyes. 22 Once more : God has been doing Avonders in Ame rica, and we rejoice to hear of them; but even here, also, it is our duty to rejoice Avith trembling. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately Avicked ;" and though the Avork be genuine in thou sands of cases, there may be other thousands avIio are self-deceived. We must wait, therefore, to judge of this Revival by its fruits, looking anxiously for its results. From it, Ave expect, a large supply of earnest labourers to come into this and other fields; and Avhile we will not anticipate disappointment, there is yet sufficient weakness in human nature and subtlety in the Devil to make us "rejoice with trembling," lest the enemy be permitted to mar so good and great a Avork. Lastly : is it no longer illegal to carry the Gospel into the remotest parts of China ? This is a boon for which all Christendom will thank the represen tatives of our respective nations, securing it as they have done to us with so little loss of life. As Chris tians, however, we are compelled to feel that one of the accompaniments of that magnificent boon leads us to "rejoice vdth trembling." Opium is as much legalized as the Gospel. Now these two are diametrically opposed to each other, so that Avhere one is accepted, the other is naturally and necessarily rejected. A man may daily smoke opium and for many years continue to be a respectable member of society, so that it Avould be A^ery difficult to detect this practice in him either by his appearance or his neglect of duty. But a man cannot indulge this habit, in however small a degree, and either become or continue Avhat the Bible calls a Christian. The excitement Avhich it induces, and the growing inability to leave it off. ">:'. produce the same result as any other l)ad habit does when long persevered in. It unfits the heart for the acceptance of God's truth; and the two are, therefore, utterly inconsistent Avith each other. Which of these two will find, for the present, the readier acceptance, experience of the past too plainly and mournfully tells. I have no fear for the ulti mate triumph of the Gospel even in China; but, in the present state of things, I do fear, more than ever, for the salvation of those Avho are too weak to resist temptation. In arguing Avith the foreigner, who engages in this traffic, I prefer to dwell rather on the spiritual than the physical evils of opium. The latter have no doubt been much exaggerated, but the former can not be overrated. Let any man be under the in fluence of a strong stimulant, or narcotic, and it is impossible to exercise repentance tOAvards God or to keep up communion with God. How then must the difficulties be increased, by the use of opium, in the case of those Avho, in addition to this, have to struggle against all the influences of their own native heathenism I Now this is a method of arguing that will only be alloAved by men who value religion themselves, and from them it is entitled to the most careful at tention. Let all these who recognize the golden rule, of "doing to others as we Avish others to do to us," ask themselves, what is the purpose for which opium is brought here ? They know that it brings no blessings to the Chinese, and they Avould very probably admit, in so many words, that it would be better for this people if it Avere not brought to them. The gain derived from the traffic, then, is the only conceivable object to be answered; and on the ground 24 that the effects of the use of opium are to keep a man back from conversion and salvation, Avhich every careful observer can testify, I respectfully appeal to every merchant, Avho makes any profession of Christianity, to relinquish this traffic. Let the Chinese, if they please, cultivate the poppy to gratify a taste which most unfortunately we have created ; let those who know nothing of the power of religion, on their own hearts, and who cannot therefore be expected to understand the high re quirements of the gospel, rejoice in their newly ac quired freedom from the appellation of smugglers ; but let me not fill my pockets with gains earned at the fearful risk, (to use no stronger language,) of any fellow-creature thereby losing his soul. Weighty interests may no doubt be involved in this matter ; and many, in China, may fancy them selves so bound Avith others as to put it out of their power to be freed from connection Avith this trade. But all such difficulties will readily be overcome by one who feels the glory of God and the good of man to be paramount to every other consideration. If opium militates against these, let this be the noble resolve, of all who know the value of their own souls, "I may sufter, but I dare no longer sin." The trade however is legalized, and the brand of illegality having been removed, it may be thought, by many, — Avhose perceptions of right and wrong are sadly dimmed by the prospect of gain, — that its character has been changed merely because a Aveak Heathen government has, after a long but ineffec tual struggle, yielded to the force of circumstances and permitted its admission into the Tariff. By those Avho are forgetful of that other and higher Tariff of God's appointment, the trade Avill be ex- tended, and Christianity Avill have to enter the lists against evils both of native growth and foreign in troduction. Rejoice indeed Ave must in China's ulti mate Aveal, but at present Ave must "rejoice with trembling." And Avhat, my Brethren, is the sum of the Avhole matter? What noAv devolves upon us to be acted out as the result of our meeting to-day? Christian! look to yourself, and "tremble," no matter in how highly favoured a position you may be. Sin abounds on every side of you, and is the great obstacle to the triumph of the Gospel ; sin yet dAvells in you, and is the great obstacle to your own advancement in grace. Tremble then, Avlien you think of man's helplessness in himself and his num berless spiritual foes. But, Christian ! look to your Redeemer, and "re joice," hoAVCA'cr Aveak you may be. He has all power in Heaven and in Earth, and amid the changes that foUoAv one another fast and thick on earth. He con tinues "the same, yesterday, to-day and for ever." He will never disappoint : therefore, trust in Him. He reigneth, be the earth never so unquiet : there fore, rejoice in Him ! 3 9002 08561 1607