Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we forbad him because he followeth not with us; but Jesus said, Forbid him not, for he that is not against us is for us: Luke ix. 49, 50.

I am necessarily restrained, in a single dis course, from remarking on other means proper to be employed in this work, such as Translations of the Scriptures-dispersing useful Tracts -forming profitable Connections-and watching providential Openings, especially in countries under some civilization. These depend on a variety of circumstances, and will I doubt not be wisely regarded by this Society. I need not speak of pecuniary assistance, since the public liberality of Christians, on these occasions, is above praise.

One means, however, should never be forgotten: I mean fervent prayer to the Lord of the Harvest, that he would multiply those faithful labourers, which we now find such difficulty in procuring; that he would direct and support them in their labours; that, according to his promise, he would make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert: Isa. xliii. 19. Without the arm of our God, we have painful experience how little we can do, even in our own families; and, with it, we need not fear to prepare the way of the Lord among the Heathen.

I therefore proceed to the last consideration, namely,

III. THE MOTIVES TO ATTEMPT IT. 1. The GLORY OF GOD, surely, should stand first of these.

The Lord hath formed all things for himself. He could propose no inferior end; and this, his glory, should be our prime motive. But with this grand end he has connected the salvation of sinners; and that, by such an astonishing display of his grace in Christ Jesus, as claims the affection of our hearts as well as the acquiescence of our understandings. On this ground let us join the Universal Church, in crying Thy kingdom come; in seeking to promote this kingdom to the utmost of our power; in cherishing a holy grief and indignation, that ignorance and idolatry should cover so large a part of the earth, and that so little zeal should be felt for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ in a land partaking so largely of his benefits.

While, therefore, the enemies of God point the finger of scorn at this our attempt to declare his glory among the Heathen (Ps. xcvi. 3,) let us give glory to his name by trusting, that, at the blowing of his great trumpet, they shall come who are ready to perish (Isa. xxvii. 13.)-that, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, his name shall be great among the Gentiles (Mal. i. 19)— that He will say to the North give up, and to the South keep not back (Isa. xliii. 6,) till the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth.

2. The INFINITE WORTH OF ONE SOUL is another motive which should animate our zeal in an undertaking like this.

It has been justly observed, that a present salvation of all the individuals on the face of the globe would not be of equal moment with the eternal salvation of one soul; because there will arrive a period in eternity when that single soul will have existed as long as the lives of the former added together, and yet is still to exist. What then are the splendid projects of statesmen, warriors, or philosophers, compared with that of recovering an immortal spirit? The world's conqueror sat down and wept for another bauble; as well he might: he had no knowledge of any thing more valuable. But we know that the gain of a whole world would not compensate for the loss of one soul: Matt. xvi. 26. How noble a design, then, is that of the recovery of those who are as yet without Christ-strangers from the covenants of promise—having no hope, and without God in the world! Eph. ii. 12.

3. Our OBLIGATIONS, AS ENLIGHTENED GENTILES, should be felt.

Many of us stand special witnesses of this truth. We are experimentally assured that the Bible in our hands is the Word of Life. We have the clearest evidence, that, if any principle of divine light or life be found in our own hearts, it has been received alone through the faith of the

Son of God. But to what end and purpose has it been received?-that we should look with indifference on the far greater part of the habitable globe, lying in the grossest darkness and wretchedness?—that we should pass on, like the Priest and Levite (Luke x. 31, 32,) beholding such misery with a cruel apathy?-that the faithfulness of God, in his promise to the Heathen, should be doubted?-that Satan should be suffered to proceed, uninterruptedly, in his work of deceiving the nations? What strange revolution has taken place in the Christian World, that its first converts should be more ready to lay down their lives for the Gospel, than we to enter into a plan for its propagation? Verily the zeal of some of the dark ages of Christianity will, in this respect, put us to shame.

Found among the oaks of our ancient Druids, with our painted bodies and bloody rites, if some Christian Missionary, pitying our wretched state, had not prepared the way of the Lord among us, we had probably remained in darkness to this very day. But God hath caused a great light to shine among us. Freely we have received: let us freely give: Matt. x. 8. Let us endeavour to remove that great stumbling block to the Heathen, I mean, the conduct of those Christians in name only, who appear on their coasts merely for traffic. Let us shew them the effects of real Christianity. Let us prove, that, like its Author, it will spare

neither cost nor pains to seek and to save them that are lost-that, instead of offering violence to their persons or property, we seek not theirs but them that, for their salvation, Christians are willing to be made a spectacle to angels and to men:-that, being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it; being defamed, we intreat; and become all things to all men, that we may by all means save some: 1 Cor. iv. 9—12. ix. 22.

Thus, while the Sons of Earth (the slave traders particularly) entail an odium upon the very name of Christianity-and the Sons of Hell are endeavouring (and that with horrid strides of late) to root out the very remembrance of it from the earth, may we, as the Sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, shine as lights in the world: Phil. ii. 15.

Some, indeed, have not scrupled to ask, "What have we to do with the religion of other nations ?”—a question so strange to be proposed to a Christian Nation, that it is well if a real Christian can preserve himself so as to give an answer with meekness and fear: 1 Pet. iii. 15.

For what is the religion of the Heathen? Have we not just seen it to be a chamber of the most abominable imagery? To speak of the superstitions of the Heathen, under the term religion, is to throw dust in the eyes of the ignorant. And what is our design in these Missions? Is it not to bring immortal souls from darkness to light,