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the world might excite; and I imagine that I hear reiterated the language of Gallio: "So far as the dissemination of religion is a matter to repress wrong, or lewdness, reason would that we should co-operate with you. But when you represent it to be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for we will be no judges of such matters.' And because we speak of disseminating an authorized ministry, and valid ordinances, and a primitive Church, the Christian advocate is driven from the tribunal of such men's heart and conscience. Let me affectionately exhort you,-any who may discover the secret rising in the bosom of such a sentiment,-to reflect upon the principle by which the inspired historian accounted for its existence in the Roman governor. "Gallio cared for none of

these things."

I am aware that to a large portion of our Church from various causes, this topic has hitherto been an unwelcome one. Many are remote from the cities, which have generally been the great centres of action, in such matters, and discussion and excitement have scarcely reached them. Others have been engrossed by the paramount and sometimes perplexing interests of their own parish, and it seemed to them a wise and beneficial policy to discourage a division of interests and means. And because the subject was an unwelcome and thus became an unprofitable one, the clergy have allowed themselves to be confined to considerations more immediately affecting the welfare of their own districts. Some having the eye, and the heart filled with objects of pity, of deep and thrilling interest, at their feet, have been forgetful of the unenlightened savage, and of the little Christian flock without a shepherd, languishing and dying on the borders of our land. Must I not fear that there are others into whose souls, the anguish and terror of their own lost state, the power of crucified love, the joy of the HOLY · GHOST, the holy transport of the hope of heaven, have never entered, casting a shade over the pursuits and possessions of life; and that they are therefore incapable of feeling the worth of Gospel truth in its relation to their distant brethren. Judging from the magnitude of the benefactions to various schemes

of benevolence and religion, in other countries and societies, what may be denominated comprehensively the missionary spirit appears to exert less power among us than among them. With a few honorable exceptions, we have nothing in correspondence with their self-devotion and zeal as exhibited in pecuniary efforts. And yet we partake not less than they, of all the riches of redeeming mercy. Now, my brethren, there is one important view to be taken of this duty, which, properly appreciated, might change the whole aspect of the thing to your heart. The great Author and Disposer of our being would no doubt call out our agency in evangelizing the world, because such an agency is known to have a direct and sensible moral influence upon the individuals holding it; and because, in proportion as we promote the power of religion in the world, we increase the security of our own enjoyments. But there is a higher consideration still. The Psalmist wrote, and St. Paul quotes the passage; "The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof. Every beast of the forest is his, and so are the cattle on a thousand hills." And so are we; and all that we can do, and all that we can accumulate, and all that we can devise, all are his by right of creation, of sovereignty, of preservation, by virtue of our final accountability to him. It is objected, however, that God freely blesses your labor, and your schemes; and through his bounty makes you the lawful and unqualified proprietors of certain portions of the earth, and of its wealth, as the fruits of your industry? This is doubtless the case, considered in relation to your fellow-men. But is there not reason to believe that a part of this bounty, and this blessing, is bestowed by Him expressly with reference to the vast calls which the advancement of religion will make upon the human family? And that if it were not on account of this agency, which he demands of you, your prosperity would have been narrower, your resources less? Have you not then in your hands, derived from the great Proprietor, who dispenses both riches and poverty, two distinct funds; one for your own personal and social accommodation; another which, as stewards, GOD commits to you, for the advancement of his vast designs

and enterprises of mercy? How this view of it dignifies and hallows the observance which, I have before remarked, was directed by St. Paul; that in the Christian assemblies for worship in his day, collections should be made for the saints! In any other view would it not be a mere pecuniary arrangement, or the extortion of an odious though unavoidable tax, almost desecrating the temple and the occasion? But thus regarded, it is a sacred and impressive transaction, when a portion of the great family of GoD, entering into his temple to worship there, unite publicly in placing upon his altar, his own share of the product of his own domain, which he ordains for the use of the ignorant and of the destitute. The loaf which your priest breaks and distributes among you, is not, in this view, confined within these walls. The word which he preaches is not received only in your ears. The prayer which he utters is not only destined to warm your hearts. But at the very hour of rejoicing in the consolation, which CHRIST's ordinances afford to your own trembling spirit, you thus send a portion of that consecrated loaf to languishing souls beyond the ocean and the mountain. You cause the glad sound of the Gospel, as it thrills through your own bosom, to go out, and cheer, and sanctify the tenements of the far-distant wilderness. You waken a voice of prayer, a song of praise in many a solitary cabin, and make the forests of the hitherto untutored Indian, vocal with the story of a Saviour's love. And is not this a noble part of worship? Is not this not only to build one sanctuary to GoD, but to convert the whole earth into a vast temple, and to place your oblations at the same moment, perhaps upon a thousand altars. As stewards, and who will deny that he is God's steward, as stewards is it not safe? As children of a common Parent is it not dutiful and affectionate? As worshippers of the universal Sovereign, is it not a fit oblation?

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Ascertain, then, whether your appropriation hitherto, of the bounties of Heaven, has been governed by such principles, or by selfish principles; whether there has been a correspondence between your efforts, and the amount of the work; whether the ALMIGHTY in his wisdom has not ordained that wealth

should accumulate in the hands of individuals, as in a vast reservoir, merely for the more powerful impulse which it may thus be made to give in the furtherance of his designs. There are, you object, millions within our own borders, and in Asia, and Africa, — millions, yet to be evangelized. But when you consider that the whole earth is God's, and its secret wealth to be drawn out, that redemption may be universal in its offer, and mighty in its operation, you will discover that, great as the enterprise is, it can be effected.

Yes, the grounds for this conviction are equally consoling and animating. "Without holiness no man shall see GoD," is, it is true, a decree operating no less inflexibly in rude hamlets and remote districts, than in more favored communities, where education and refinement have chosen their seats. And to carry the holy law of GOD into every country and town, into every lane and alley, and to cause it to be a living principle of justice, and purity, and sobriety through all the unseen ramifications of the vast multitude, and to subdue every stubborn, rebellious spirit there, this is an appalling obligation and necessity. It is an enterprise which confounds rather than animates one; and from which all shrink whose dependence is not on the faithfulness of the promises, and the might of the God of Israel. But the same Spirit which sustained the obscure illiterate apostles, going out two by two, into a world, whose characteristics were pride, superstition, love of power, and of vain philosophy, going out to expose that pride, to cast contempt upon that superstition, to defy that power, to combat that philosophy, to revolutionize the moral aspect of that world, the same Spirit sustains and animates the believer in the present day. And the success of that holy apostolic band, forbids despondency and unmanly apprehensions among us. The victory which the Gospel then achieved over idolatrous empires, is a pledge of our success; for in many cases we co-operate with laws already Christian, and seek to make our gradual progress in cabins and villages, already filled with admiration of the doctrines of "the Prince of Peace." We may overrate the difficulty of carrying the Gospel to an unsancti

fied people, as, in reflecting upon our own accountability for continuing in a state of imperfect holiness, we may make a dangerous allowance for human infirmity. A man wishing to apologise for his unfaithfulness in religion exclaims: - With all these instinctive passions within, and all these cares, perplexities, seductions without, what can I do to acquire the exalted perfections of the Christian character? Nothing, — in your own unaided strength, positively nothing effectual. But to this you are not called. For "GoD worketh in us to will and to do." It is in God's strength, that we are to do the work of GOD. And if this be the case with each individual, the spiritual nourishment of whole classes of men, of the vast multitude, of the Church of CHRIST, may be effected by the same means. Take a single child, and behold all the institutions of a Christian social state about to be employed, that he may be educated for immortality, and it appears that there can be scarcely any uncertainty in the result. And we are only confounded when our minds attempt to comprehend at a glance all the countless objects of divine grace. But recollect that the immensity of God's nature pervades the field of human action. Did ever a sparrow fall to the ground because there are so many of them to be the objects of his providential care? Did ever an insect perish because there are myriads of insects in each tribe? Did ever a planet fall from its orbit because of the number of the bright hosts which are rolling majestically beneath his throne? And shall a single immortal spirit languish in sin, and fall at length from its glorious destiny, because God has peopled the earth with so many of those candidates for his everlasting favor? We may, in our unbelieving apprehensions, looking upon the feebleness with which the word is preached, and the lukewarm devotion which accompanies the administration of the ordinances, we may ask in relation to the best means of grace, "Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude ?" But let us never forget that the power and love of GoD are adequate to the utmost wants of his creatures. Accompanied with his blessing, a single discourse conveys instruction to