institutions. Had the Gospel assumed any other ground than this, it would have been fatal to its prospects as designed for a universal religion. If any one form had been selected and approved, and others condemned, it would have converted the message of heaven into a political proclamation, and all nations, except those whose institutions might have received its approval, would have armed themselves against its approach. It would have been met and repelled with the same spirit with which men are accustomed to meet and repel invading fleets and armies.

That the Gospel is friendly to the rights of man and the liberties of the world, is a proposition too obvious to need proof. The influence of this system, wherever it is cordially received, is felt upon every great interest of society-upon the people and upon the government. It will show itself upon the legislation of a country-upon the character and the execution of its laws-and in various ways, and by pervading and controlling influences peculiar to itself, destroy oppression, and diffuse and protect equal rights among men. It makes good citizens and good rulers, without interfering directly either with the form or administration of government.

It was owing to this characteristic of the Gospel that the first heralds of the cross gained access with their message to every country, notwithstanding the peculiar jealousies of the age respecting

international communication; and though often accused of treason, they were never convicted of the charge. And it was on this principle that, without an attack upon any political institution, they introduced a train of moral causes which have greatly modified and well nigh revolutionized the governments of the civilized world. And it is on the same principle that modern missionaries might be permitted to go every where, and freely and fully proclaim their message, without any alarm on the part of existing governments. Indeed, this is the prevailing temper of the reigning powers of the earth at this moment. And in those cases where christian missions are excluded by the laws of the land, their enactments are either founded on ignorance of the real objects of the enterprise, or, as is more generally the fact, are designed to protect some false system of religion, which has become publicly wedded to the state, and which, every one must know, would inevitably fall before the powers of the Gospel.

REMARKS.

1. The religion of the Bible must be true. It cannot be the product of the human mind. Its adaptation to the complicated circumstancesto the wants, the sins, and the miseries of the whole world, and that, too, through every period

of its existence, is peculiar to itself, and has a parallel in no other system. This one property of the Gospel would require a greater compass of thought and stretch of ingenuity, a more intimate knowledge of facts, a clearer perception of causes and effects, and final results-of existing evils and their infallible remedies, than belong to the finite mind. You have only to compare the religion of the Bible with other systems, and you discern the difference between God's work and man's. one undertakes only to provide for what is limited to time and place; the other, dispensing with ages and localities, takes a broad sweep, like the mind of its Author, and actually provides for what always exists, and is every where to be found.

The

There is not an individual religion of paganism among the nameless varieties that fill the world; not a speculation of ancient or modern philosophy; not a thought in the vedas or shasters of the Hindoos; not a disclosure in the koran, the pretended revelation of Mohammed; not a system of error, or any part of a system, in any age or country, but might be the production of the human intellect and heart, and would ever be likely to be, in the same existing circumstances. But I ask, who but God could make the Bible? I speak now only of its adaptedness to the purpose for which it was intended. What eye but that which surveys the world at a glance, and beholds all nations, with their multifarious ills and complicated wants,

as they are, and reads with intuitive certainty the moral pulsation of every heart, could see far enough, and wide enough, and deep enough, for such a work? What but the all-comprehensive mind could devise a religious system, humble in its grandeur and majestic in its simplicity, which should be equally applicable to men in every nation and every age: which has power to reclaim the heart and control the life; to disarm the world of its enmity against God; to restore the wanderer; raise the disconsolate; and light up a smile on the pale cheek of death? Surely this is no common undertaking? There is but one Being who ever thought of doing it; and the volume that reveals this purpose has, written deeply and indelibly upon its sacred page, the signature of God.

2. The Gospel will finally prevail.

This might be inferred with great certainty from the fact, or the admission, that God is its author. If he constructed the scheme, it was with some object in view; for some great and worthy purpose. The sins, and tears, and death-groans of our world had gone up to heaven, and God had fixed his heart on man's redemption. For this he formed the plan, sent his Son, accepted the sacrifice of his blood, and made, in his name, proclamation of pardon and peace to this great family of rebels. And shall not this plan go into full effect? Will the great Architect leave his noble edifice

half finished? "God is not man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent. Hath he said it, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" Hear his own declaration; "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all nations: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." His purpose is clearly expressed, and every jot and tittle shall be accomplished.

For the renovation of this world, we are not to forget that God has adopted a system of agencies suited to the object to be accomplished. The Gospel is not a dead letter, but "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." It embodies in itself the most effective moral influences which operate any where in the vast empire of God. It was contrived for a world in the ruins of sin, and it is the master-piece of Jehovah-the concentration of all that is wise and magnificent in heaven. It is just what the dying millions of our world need. It can reach and save them. Its appeals are such as human minds and hearts can comprehend and feel. It comes home to "the business and bosoms" of men with a conviction and pathos with which no other system is armed. Every blow it strikes in our world, is felt upon some interest, and tells upon its final destiny. And securing, as it does, in the hands of a faithful ministry and a praying church, the presence and power of the Spirit of God, it will go forth in its