praises of the living God will silence for ever the awful shouts of the mad worshippers of Juggernaut, the Hindoo Moloch; and, instead of human victims and human tortures, the offerings of broken hearts and contrite spirits, be every where made to the Father of mercies. The gross impositions of the Brahmins; the senseless rites of the Mahometans; the blasphemous worship of the Grand Lama, will all be annihilated by pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father. Instead of the washings in the Ganges for purification, the blood of Jesus Christ will be applied to the heart for cleansing. The deluded Pagan torturing himself, according to the rites of his religion, to obtain peace, hearing the grace of Jesus Christ, will cast his former faith to the winds, and with transport exclaim, This is what my soul desires'. Blessed with peace in believing, and joy in the Holy Ghost, the grace of the Gospel will spread its benign influence over his domestic and public relations; whilst the whole aspect of

t Mr. Thomas, one of the first Baptist Missionaries, relates a circumstance of this kind. Bapt. Per. Acc. vol. i. p. 29.

society throughout that extensive region, will be changed.

In contemplating these triumphs of religion, whose heart, does not burn with desire to behold them? They are triumphs unaccompanied with sorrow; pure, unmingled happiness is their constant companion. If we are in the least instrumental in promoting them, we shall partake in the happiness which they will impart unto others.

My hearers, is it necessary for me to dilate more on this theme, so congenial to benevolent feelings-so gratifying to the heart which pants to be useful? You enjoy the Bible in your own tongue-thanks to the providence of God! Our ancestors have bequeathed it to us as a precious legacy, sealed with their blood. Do we love the legacy? We will ardently desire that others may enjoy it with us. It is sufficient for the happiness of the whole world! Will you not then contribute your proportion, in promoting the great object of translating the Scriptures into the languages of Asia? Will you not join with other Christians in your exertions to repair the loss which the Missionaries have sustained by fire?

God can supply that loss without

you, but he calls on you to be workers with him. He honours you by the call; for in so doing he calls you his stewards. Think of the pleasure you will give the Missionaries by your benevolence. They will bless God on your behalf! Think of the happiness you will enjoy, if you hear that through your means the Bible has been made known and blessed to the Heathen sitting in darkness. They will also join with the Missionaries in blessing God on your behalf. But, above all, think how exquisite will be your joy, if through grace, you are enabled to triumph over death, and before the throne of God meet with those who through your instrumentality have been supplied with the Word of life, and unite with them in praising and serving God! AMEN.

SERMON IX.

THE DUTY OF SEEKING THE LORD, ENFORCED FROM

HIS POWER IN THE NATURAL WORLD.

AMOS V. 8.

Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.

No

o subject of consideration is calculated so completely to humble the pride of man, as the nature of God. It has a length and a breadth, a height and a depth, which utterly exceed the utmost comprehension of the mightiest intellect. The imagination herself, with all her creative powers, and in spite of the boundless range of her excursive flights, must confess, when God is the object of con39

VOL. I.

templation, in words used in a different connexion originally, but applicable in this,

Here forlorn and lost I tread,

With fainting steps and slow;
Where wilds, immeasurably spread,
Seem length'ning as I go."

We may speculate on other subjects with some success, but on this, speculation is vain. It merely discovers our poverty of comprehension, and the circumscribed limits to which our reason is necessarily confined. All that we can do, and therefore all which true wisdom teaches us to do, is to restrict our inquiries concerning God within the precise bounds he himself has prescribed in his word. Our duty and our privilege are, simply to receive all that which he has revealed of himself, without attempting to penetrate into that which he has concealed. He is infinite! What then can finite minds comprehend of Him?

We have reason to thank Him that he has made so much of himself known in creation, in providence, and in the Word of his grace, as is necessary for our pre

a Goldsmith's Hermit.