uprightness and truth. How unusual and how marvellous phecy, in the distance of future ages, no more uncertainty, would it seem, were you walking in the meadow, and upon a no more fears, no more guile, no more discord, no more darksudden to behold the low and prickly thorn shoot into a state-noss-hostile natures feeling mutual tenderness, and the worst ly fir, and the rough briar flourish like the smooth green passions reformed and tamed-the wolf with the lamb, and myrtle! or were you traversing the forest, and upon a sudden the leopard with the little kid, lying on the same pastureto behold the leopard shed his spots, and the ferocious tiger the lion and the ox feeding at the same stall. On yonder become harmless like the lamb! and how unusual and mar-shores, where the temples of idolatry stood, and where stocks vellous, were you to behold an Ethiopian instantaneously and stones were the objects of religious worship, we behold whiten, and some black countenance, upon an Indian wilder- a new temple over the ruins of the old, and these stones are ness, be instantaneously suffused with a crimson blush! But converted into pillars of that temple, and these stocks into how much more marvellous shall be the transformation made beams. From yonder isles of the sea, where a blind and crimby the Gospel upon the once benighted Gentiles, when fero-inal superstition reigned absolute-where silly and shameful cious tempers shall become mild, barbarous feelings humane, ceremonies usurped the throne of God and of the Lambrevengeful spirits compassionate, the robber honest, the hypo- where the boisterous clamours of outrage and excess recrite sincere, and the savage a cultivated citizen; and when sounded, and blood ran like water,-we must listen to the still Christian ministers shall look around upon the once benight-small voice of rational and spiritual worship, to the joyful ed Gentiles as now in a state of light-upon Gentile coun-melody of devotion, to the raptures of enlightened, purified, tries as now turning from the service of idols to serve the and sublimed hearts. It is just as if we had been with Moses living God-upon Gentile congregations as now sanctifying upon the mount of Nebo, and, far beyond the rocky bounda the Sabbath-upon Gentile families as now raising the morn-ries of the waste howling wilderness, surveyed the land of ing and evening voice of supplication, thankfulness, and Canaan, with its green fields and forests, and its mellow praise; and shall find abundant reason to address these new grapes, and its flowing and sweet streams; nay, just as if we sprung churches in the words of the Apostle Paul to the once had been with Christ upon the Mount of Transfiguration, and, idolatrous Corinthians, "Such"-even so vile, and filthy, instead of his lowly attire, surveyed snow-white and shining and stubborn, and apparently hopeless-" were some of you, garments around his person, and the fulness of the Godhead but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, over each limb and each feature, which hitherto were void of in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our comely form. For there shall no more be any darkness, or God !" any groping and stumbling, when the language of our text The language of our text conveys to us this important pro- has it fulfilment,-"I will also give thee for a light to the phecy, that Jesus Christ shall be given unto the end of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of earth, as a salvation from sorrow and from misery; and that the earth."

a great and blessed era is fast approaching, when the sacred And if it should here be inquired, what is our evidence in sentiments of Christianity, taking possession of the mind with support of this universal Christian illumination, and how are the light of spiritual joy, shall soothe and allay the miseries we to be satisfied and assured, that the Gospel shall be given of the Gentile nations, whether it be the afflictions of savage unto the Gentiles as a light and a salvation? it is competent for and malignant nature, or the bewildering terrors of going into us to occupy a very large field of matter highly useful and the grave without any hope of happiness beyond it-by its important, and to bring forward arguments from the superlagracious influence on the heart, shall sweeten the temper and tive excellence of the Gospel itself, and its infinite superiority soften the manners-by uniting man to man, and the whole over every other moral and religious system; from its being human race unto the Father of Mercies, shall quicken into calculated to work well, not within a certain circumscribed exercise those kindly feelings and endearments, which make and limited sphere of operation, but among people of all naprivate life contented and public life useful-while order, and tions and conditions; from the decree of Heaven, which has truth, and justice, and benevolence, shall water the barren been notified in the sacred Scriptures, respecting its universal soil, and hang the blossoms of spring around the former hab- spread, taken into connection with the prophecies already unitations of cruelty. The political misunderstandings which sealed, and with the success already visible; from the aspect may take place shall be abjusted by wise and solemn arbitra-of the times, and the counsels and intentions of Providence, tion, and not by soldiers set in battle array to build the thrones as gradually unfolding; from the intercession of Jesus Christ, of tyrants on the fallen carcasses of brave men. For it was at the right hand of the Majesty on high, for inheritance unto the song of the inspired Prophet, and, in hopes of soon behold-the uttermost parts of the earth, which is always and is altoing the event, that song let us sing,-"They shall beat their gether efficacious; from his unlimited and irresistible control swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-of men, of societies, of events, of kings and subjects, of war hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither and peace, of calamity and prosperity; and from his injunc shall they learn war any more." The sword which was wont tion upon the first ministers of the New Testament, and which to pierce the heart, shall open the furrows of the field, and still is, and shall continue to be, binding with regard unto cover the valleys with corn; the murdering spear which has each successive ministry till the end of all things, to carry often thinned whole ranks of heroes, shall be used to top the the Gospel to the remotest countries of the globe, and to inbranches of the fruit-bearing vine; the treacherous shall not struct the various individuals composing the whole human lie in wait for blood, nor the dagger assassinate, but the race. We make it for our remark, that, on topics such as hand of friendship shall be stretched towards the widow and these, we might expatiate with much pleasure to ourselves, the orphan, that the orphan be relieved, and the solitary and, it is trusted, with no small advantage to you; but it is widow rejoice. But besides, while there is universal peace only permitted us to crave the farther indulgence of your atamong the nations, and universal love among men, there shall tention unto the evidence from what the Gospel has already at the same time be a universal spiritual joy within the breast: done, and from what the Gospel can do, and from what the for hope shall enter into that within the veil, and faith be the Gospel will do.

evidence and assurance of things not seen-fear shall be When Christianity was first made known, such were its quieted, uncertainty subside, and the darkness of sorrow and external circumstances and appearance, that there was no of misery pass away. And, oh! but man's faith and man's probability of its surviving beyond its original ministers and hope, however weak this vessel may seem when amid the friends. Its temper and genins were opposite to the most floods of death, shall at last go triumphantly into the landing-favourite maxims, and to the most general customs among place of bliss, whatever be the storms that are roaring on the men; its original ministers were men whose natural talents, waters, and though the waves of temptation may sometimes whose country and extraction, whose character, and whose break in upon the soul! occupations, were the objects of scorn and contempt, and not When taking a view of these nations as in a state of dark- of respect or of reverence; the opposition with which it met ness, we find that the Gentiles are under the moral darkness was universal, and was unrelenting; for the great and the of ignorance and error, of guilt and depravity, of sorrow and vulgar, the mighty and ignoble, Jewish doctors and Greek of misery. But when illustrating this prophecy, that the sages, circumcision and uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, Gospel shall be given unto the Gentiles as a light, we bond and free, though impelled by different motives, were find that Jesus Christ shall be given unto the end of the filled with one and the same spirit of rancorous envy, some earth as a salvation from ignorance and error, from guilt against the creed which it contained, others against the morals and depravity, from sorrow and from misery; and that the which it imposed, and others rather against its members and sacred sentiments of the Gospel shall take possession of followers than against the belief which it enjoined; while, at the mind with the light of truth, of holiness, and of spiritual the same time, it was not in alliance with any one single joy. kingdom or commonwealth, but was unsheltered, unprotected, What a spectacle do we behold, through the glass of pro-and exposed on every side to hatred and persecution. An

infidel, during the first century, might have found abundant nothing of its importance by its having been so frequently matter for ridicule in the idea of the continuance and success, urged upon your minds; and, whatever be its want of novelty, and the future unbounded spread, of a sect, at whose head we would endeavour, on the present occasion, to rouse your stood twelve illiterate fishermen. It would just have been better principles and your sympathies in behalf of that imas if you had told him, that grapes should be gathered from mense multitude of our fellow-creatures, who are involved in these thorns, and figs from these thistles-that a bush should the moral darkness of ignorance and error, of guilt and debe burning, and yet not be consumed-that these withered pravity, of sorrow and of misery.

and dry bones should live. But as we have now the advan- According to what has been the observance of that last and tage of reasoning upon the matter of fact itself, which no that solemn charge from our Saviour unto his apostles, that argument can invalidate, nor ridicule weaken, so from the they should go and preach the Gospel to every creature,— matter of fact we shall find, that Christian principles and the according to the manner in which that command has been Christian ministry have surmounted opposition, conquered executed, in the same proportion have the Gentile nations the combined force of malice and sophistry, and, without the been enlightened, and in the same proportion have ignorance help of power, or guile, or gold-nay, with the weight of all and error, guilt and depravity, sorrow and misery, vanished these in the opposite scale-have constrained men and na- away. The Gospel has never failed of success, when this tions to lay aside unbelief and prejudice, and yield obedience command and charge of our Saviour have been observed and to the triumphs of the Cross. Now, we are not to be charged performed; for if its advancement has at any time been broken, with the weakness of credulity, or with the mere fondness of we must look for the cause of this interruption, not in the party and of system, when we infer from the matter of fact Gospel itself, but among Christians who have nothing of that now before us, that the same Almighty strength which fixed zeal and ardour, and unction, for which the primitive ages Christianity within the heart of unwilling and unbelieving were so famous.

nations, and fixed it in spite of captious philosophy, and With grief and shame we must lament that there has been armies of soldiers, both can and will fix it in nations equally so much apathy and so much indifference about the state of unwilling and equally unbelieving, and furnish it with stability, the Gentiles; that, knowing the wretched condition of our till time shall be no more. And when we give ourselves to poor fellow-creatures, and being in possession ourselves of reflect, how unpromising were the circumstances under which the means of salvation, we have continued to keep back these it was at first introduced-how gradually, and yet how con- means, and to suffer generation after generation to go into stantly and steadily, it has been going forward-how closely eternity without letting them see how it might be rendered it is interwoven with the civil and political institutions of an eternity of happiness; and that, owing to our criminal nevarious great countries, and that to overturn religion would, glect, myriads are without Christ and without hope, unto in these countries, be tantamount to the doing away with the whom the Gospel might have been communicated as a light. very form of government itself,—we may with confidence For so long had the Gentiles been under n:oral darkness, and assert, that its march will be more rapid and more glorions so little had been done for them, that it seemed as if Christhan ever, its enemies fewer and feebler, its victories more tians were of opinion, that the Gentiles were ignorant, denumerous and more splendid. For that it shall yet reach praved, and miserable, by some fatal necessity-that the farther, is neither so wonderful nor improbable, as it once was matter could not be otherwise-that it as much belonged unto that it should reach so far. these nations to be in want of the light of the Gospel, as it belongs unto the northern regions, during half of the year, to be in want of the light of the sun.

But there is not merely evidence from what the Gospel has already done, there is evidence from what the Gospel is able to do; for its ability and influence are not impaired by the Viewing ourselves under a national capacity, we have been lapse of time, nor by the accidents of fortune: and however it admirably qualified for this great service,-so wide our conmay alter somewhat in its outward form and figure-though it quests, so vast and important our commerce, so boundless and may shift its place of residence-though it may set as to one so glorious our fame. But our enterprises and our schemes country, that it may rise upon another-though its beams may have not been set on foot with a view towards missionary be sometimes bright, and sometimes obscure,-yet in itself it labour, but they have been set on foot by the avaricious with is, like its great author and finisher, the same yesterday, to-day, a view towards money, by the warlike with a view towards and for ever. For enlightening the most benighted, for sancti- celebrity, by the wily statesman with a view towards infying the most depraved, for civilizing the most savage, it has creased opulence and power; and, instead of making known always been successful, and successful it has the ability to the Gospel unto the Gentiles, their gold and silver have been be; and the same Gospel which has been the means of con- seized by the mercenary, their territories impoverished and verting men of all nations, languages, and complexions, is laid waste by the rapacious, their companions and sweet able to work these moral miracles still. friends taken captive by men of violence, they themselves

But look at the volume of the book, and search the oracles made slaves, and the steps of Europeans tracked through of prophecy; for there we find laid before us what the Gospel their countries and their towns from the footmarks of cruelty will assuredly do what the Gospel we hope and trust, is just and bloodshed; while, when they shall hear about missionaupon the point of doing. It is written in the Psalms, "I shall ries coming out of Europe, they must feel inclined to say, give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost along with Nathanael in the Scriptures, "Can there any good parts of the earth for thy possession." It is written in the thing come out of Nazareth?"

Prophets, "I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, When the once benighted Gentiles shall have beheld the keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters light and glory of the Saviour, may we not suppose that they from the ends of the earth." It is written in the Revelation, might thus address us,-Why did you not bring us the Gospel "The seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in before now? You tell us that, in your favoured island, it has heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the been known for many hundred years-you tell us, that in kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign every age thousands have lived and have died happy with its for ever and ever." Vast continents and fruitful islands shall comforts, and why were you so negligent, why so inhuman, bring tribute to his glory-empires shall be his footstool, and as to keep it from our sight, while successive generations the mightiest monarchs prepare the way for his kingdom- have been under the midnight darkness of idolatry? We may opposing powers and potentates shall melt at his glance-and say, with the brothers of Joseph, "We are verily guilty con before the grand drama be finished, the whole earth shall be cerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul one resplendent blaze of moral noontide, when the language when he besought us, and we would not hear." We have of our text has its fulfilment, "I will also give thee for a light not bestirred ourselves to put them in possession of the means to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the of salvation. end of the earth." But a missionary spirit has at length made its appearance.

If we should cast our eyes towards the foregoing remarks, The eighteenth century is coming near to its close; and though we shall be much encouraged while carrying on with our ef- it is just going out with a stormy tempest of war and revoluforts under the character of a Missionary Society. "I will tion, yet let us fondly hope, that, notwithstanding these tremenalso give thee," says the Father to the Son, according to the dous phenomena, the close of the eighteenth century shall be language of our text, "for a light to the Gentiles, that thou marked, in the annals of future history, as the commencement mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." And from of a bright and a blessed era, when the language of our text predictions recorded, from promises bestowed, from what the first began to be realized, "I will also give thee for a light to Gospel has done, from what it can do, from what it will do, the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end oh! what may we not expect? of the earth." Though the subject upon which we address you, my Christian friends, cannot now be said to be new, yet it has lost

Blessed is the hand which feeds the hungry, and clothes the naked, and takes care of the helpless, and sets the prison

ers free-which erects an asylum for the indigent blind, and work on which you have entered-entered, as we believe, with the warm beams of charity refreshes and gladdens the with an honest mind, and, as we all know, with the voice and sightless eyeballs: but more blessed still is the hand which the consent of the congregation,-a charge with regard to your lets in the light of the glorious Gospel upon the benighted own religion, with regard to your deportment in the world, understanding and upon the bewildered soul! and with regard to your ministerial duties.

Such of you as may be in easy or in affluent circumstances, And first, with regard to your own religion, let me exhort give largely, and without ostentation: such of you as may be you to look upon godliness as the leading object of your life, poor, and have only a mite to give, give the mite cheerfully, and as that which ought to be your constant occupation; and and you shall not want your reward. And along with your in representing the redemption which has been accomplished prayers and contributions, endeavour to stir up missionaries, by Christ, to make the representation from your own experiwho may carry abroad the Gospel for "a light to the Gen- mental knowledge of his character and of his blessings, and tiles," and for a "salvation unto the end of the earth." When from your own union with him in mysterious membership, you meet with any of your acquaintances who shall appear and in spiritual contemplation. For if we find, in one of the to be eminently Christian, and to be of an apostolic bearing Epistles, that the minister is condemned who shall speak of and courage, admonish them to be missionaries; and as many Christ in a language unknown to his hearers, we conceive of you as can admit of it, be missionaries yourselves. For if that it is much more useless, and much more criminal, for a he is not deemed to act a foolish part who forsakes his friends minister to speak of Christ in a language unknown to himand quiet home, encounters the hair-breadth escapes of the self. And, therefore, let your religion be active, be energetic, swollen sea, scorches his frame beneath a sultry climate, and be ardent. Make it your aim and object to live in the exerwastes more than half his days beside the rude and low-cise of godliness, in the belief of the doctrines of the Gospel, minded natives, in order to hoard a small treasure of the gold and in the remembrance of its encouragements-and in buildwhich perishes,-oh! what nobler inducements and motives ing upon its moral code a fair fabric of justice, and truth, and has the missionary to visit foreign lands, when he seeks not uprightness, and charity-not contented with your existing for gold, when he works not for wealth, but seeks, and works, attainment in holiness, but aspiring after that finished holiand struggles, for the salvation of souls! But supposing ness which waits upon genuine and undefiled religion. And for a moment, that the various modes and shapes of human in order to this, unceasingly converse with God and with wretchedness by which life may be afflicted, or even cut off, yourself in the attitude of devotion, attending to supplication were brought together, at one and the same instant, before and abounding in thankfulness-since secret devotion is the your sight-that upon your one hand there was lean and very language of godliness, and is an essential means of hunger-bitten famine, while upon your other there was naked confirming its growth, and its influence, and its force. To and cold beggary—that you could behold numerous families be much with God, refines our nature, and guards us from turned adrift, without so much as another morsel of bread, by wrath, and from malice, and from every wild impulse and the flames of wasting conflagration-that you could behold one unhallowed affection; and by your being much with God, poor shipwrecked sailor, after every fellow-passenger was in you will instruct with authority, and you will rouse every the watery grave, still grasping some thin, unsteady plank, but faculty within you, under the overwhelming sense of your yet apparently exhausted, and just about to sink beneath the responsibility for souls. waves, such a heart-rending spectacle, in which there would But, secondly, with regard to your deportment in the world, be one universal and sad assemblage of the worst forms of let me exhort you to incorporate with your every action human wretchedness, would only be a faint shadow of that" whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, scene of moral wretchedness and darkness on which the mis- whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsionary must turn his eye, and which must continue to im-soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good plore your compassion, and help, and strenuous efforts, till report." And especially, let unimpeachable honesty, let the language of our text be accomplished, "I will also give undaunted zeal, let prudence, benevolence, and condescending thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my sal- humility, adorn, and support, and exalt your character. vation unto the end of the earth." A great light shall in due As honesty is the foundation of character-the character time find its way among the Gentiles, which, being again that has it arising upon the rock with unshaken firmness, and reflected back on the European nations, shall more and more the character that has it not tottering upon the sand, and increase, till every dark corner be enlightened, and the whole never approached but with apprehension and with dismayearth be filled with Jehovah's glory: and then shall the lan- let me exhort you, in all your commerce with man, to be guage of our text be prophecy no more; but, in real and sober fact, the Gospel shall be given "for a light to the Gentiles," and Jesus Christ for "salvation unto the end of the earth."

THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A MINISTER STATED.

rigidly honest, and to be careful that your honesty should be seen, so that your character may have stability and strength, may advance in honour as you advance in years, and may be surrounded with veneration and with confidence, wherever it is known.

To unimpeachable honesty, let me exhort you to add undaunted zeal in managing your office, and that for the vindication of the truth, for the counteracting of heresy, for the reproving of them that do evil, and for the casting out of them that reject reproof—a zeal which is according to knowledge, which is tempered by love towards God and towards man, which is measured by the case that calls it forth, and which is regulated and guided by discretion-firm, but not Allow me to congratulate and to sympathize with you, my boisterous-kindled into ardour, but not consumed with inreverend brother, in that, through the grace of God, you have temperance and excited by opposition, but not rendering been set apart as a minister and as a ruler in the Church of evil for evil.

A Charge to the Rev. Mr. M'Laurin, upon his ordination at

Christ.

Coldingham.

That you may occasion none offence, nor throw a stumblingThe office to which you have been ordained, the employ-block before the ignorant and the weak, let me exhort you to ment to which you have devoted all your future life, is ardu-use prudence-not that low and selfish craftiness which goes ous, and is important, and is sacred. We have witnessed current for prudence, which skulks beneath every subterfuge, your having received this trust; we have attended to the and only works by machinations, and by stratagems-but that solemn vows under which you have come, to do all your avoidance of wicked and even of careless companions, that ministerial duties without exception, and to go forward in abstinence from slander and evil-speaking, that uniform deyour ministerial course, with zeal, with integrity, and with corum of manners, that keeping up of an unblemished fame, fortitude; and anxious to remove from you the fears and the and all that system of honourable ways and means by which embarrassments which may be upon your mind, and to in- the Christian faith is carried forward in credit and estimation terest in your behalf the great Shepherd who has committed using that prudence which Paul adopted, when he became the flock into your hands-the great Bishop who superintends all things to all men that he might gain some, and which our and supports the Christian ministry,-to Him who bestows Saviour recommended, when he counselled his disciples to every good gift, we have offered up our united supplications, be wise as serpents, no less than harmless as doves. that the grace of faithfulness may be yours, with soundness To the cultivation of benevolence let me exhort you to give of understanding, and gladness of heart, and approbation earnest heed, in conformity to the example of your Master, hereafter from your Lord and your Judge. who went about doing good-thus attesting your love for

Bear with me for a little in concluding these services, by Christ by your generosity towards all mankind, and by your addressing to you an exhortation and charge suitable to the unconfined benevolence, in relieving want, in helping unob

trusive indigence, in comforting the mourner, and in lifting With regard to your ministerial duties, let me exhort you, up your voice against oppression wherever it may appear. in conducting the services of the Sanctuary, to be deliberate, Let me exhort you to be clothed with humility and with a to be solemn, to be full of your subject, and sedulously to meek and quiet temper-not elated beyond measure with abstain, like Paul of old, from the "enticing words of man's whatsoever talents you may have, or with whatsoever hon-wisdom." And while solid learning, judicious argument, ours you may enjoy, and neither excited to anger, nor thrown and a thinking and philosophical spirit, accompanied with into gloom, by the vexations, the indignities, and the haughty, discreet and manful eloquence, may do much to illustrate senseless scorn, with which at times it may be your lot to Christianity, and to ennoble its outward form, it must also meet, and always enduring injuries from man with mildness, be added, that luxuriant language, needless reasonings, vague and chastisements from God with resignation. and fanciful speculations, long researches in history, and inWith regard to your deportment towards your fellow-min-dulgence in criticism, without either solidity or object, do isters, at least towards those of them whose own deportment much to obscure Christianity, and to lay its honours in the and bearing are exemplary, let me exhort you to be respect- dust. If your religion be experimental, your eloquence will ful in conversation, compliant in business, cordial in your emanate from the Bible; and, glowing with love to God, and manners, and open and ingenuous in the communication of with martyr-like devotedness to his cause, your whole soul your opinions and of your feelings. In your dealings with will come forth into your discourses with a simplicity and a your brethren, let there be no selfishness, nor meanness, nor greatness which art cannot borrow, which nature did not give, artifice. Never be it said, that you have traduced their repu- which the Lord whom you serve can alone bestow. tation, or that you have taken from their usefulness, by the With regard to your ministerial duties,-since you are circulating of invidious reports. If they should be old, then bound to excite and to cherish among your congregation a treat them with reverence-if, like yourself, in the meridian sense of their being lost and helpless, along with a conviction of life, then treat them with fraternal regard. And whatever of the all-sufficiency of Christ, by his righteousness and by may be their habits and tempers, and even their failings, ex-his Spirit, to save them unto the uttermost since it is becuse there can be none for your attempting to cover them yond the strength of the most zealous minister, beyond the with ridicule, to rise on their ruins, and to shine in their graces of composition, beyond the charms of eloquence, to eclipse. awaken this sense and this conviction-and since it only is With regard to your deportment, let me exhort you to do the influence of God that can emancipate a heart enslaved to nothing that is beneath your office, and nothing that opposes sin, that can ransom it from bondage, and endue it with the it. As it is written, Let your light so shine before men," liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,”—let me exthat they may see your good works, and glorify your Father hort you to sustain and to feed your ministry with the oil of which is in heaven," be an example to your friends and to fervent supplication; and let your soul be ever upon the the world, in word and in conversation, in faith and in virtue, wing to Heaven, for a blessing upon your labours, so that in charity and in spirituality of mind. your congregation may grow up around you in holy living, But, thirdly, with regard to your ministerial duties, let me and so that you and your congregation may offer up your exhort you, notwithstanding the numerous assaults against accounts to the Almighty Judge with joy, and not with grief; our most holy faith, and notwithstanding the reproach that is and rest assured, that your supplications shall not fall to the sometimes heaped upon it, not to be ashamed of the Gospel ground. In being a minister of Christ, you have not an of Christ, for it is built upon the Prophets and upon the Egyptian taskmaster, demanding bricks, and yet not furnishApostles, while Jesus Christ himself is the chief corner ing straw. Uuto him who has the honour to be a minister stone. It is built upon the Prophets, who foretold the ap- of the Word-the high, the ineffable honour, for of our office pearance of the Messiah so clearly and so minutely, and we will boast-unto him it is said, "My grace is sufficient what would be his condition and his achievements, and what for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Sufthe benefits resulting from his advent, that any impostor lay- ficient it has been in the ages that are gone, when his sering claim to the title should be foiled in the attempt, and the vants were in the waters of affliction, in the rivers of temptatrue Messiah have his vouchers and credentials sent before tion and of abounding iniquity, in the fires of suffering, and him. It is built upon the Apostles, who exhibited the fulfil-in the flames of martyrdom-and sufficient it shall be, in this ment of the prophecies which concerned the Messiah in the age of comparative tranquillity, when we sit beneath our vine, actions of Christ, who embodied into their speeches and their and watch our flocks, without any one to make us afraid. letters the words of eternal life which the Messiah had ut- With regard to your ministerial duties, let me exhort you tered, who spread over the then known habitable globe the to be resolute and to be consistent, to be unceasing in your joyful sound which the Messiah had committed to their care, labours, and instant in season and out of season, for the saland whose miracles and whose sufferings for Christ evinced vation of souls. With the salvation of every soul under your their having had their commission from above, and mani-ministry, your own salvation is essentially connected; and if, fested beyond contradiction their sincere and firm belief in among the souls before you, even one soul should go to ruin the Messiah whom they declared. By Jesus Christ himself, through your indiference or your neglect-life for life, and who is the corner stone, it is fastened and consolidated, main-soul for soul, we are not warranted to consider you as safe. tained in unity and supplied with strength; and, unshapely For it was said to Ezekiel, and it is said to you and to us all, as it may seem unto the carnal mind, yet, through Christ, it "Son of Man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of shall be the house for all nations, the temple for all worship-Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them pers, the salvation of all ends of the earth, and falsehood and warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt superstition shall be made to cease. surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to

With regard to your ministerial duties, let me exhort you warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the to be deeply, to be overwhelmingly, impressed with the ne-same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will cessity and the advantageousness of a constant believing I require at thine hand."

meditation upon the Scriptures, which have been fashioned And finally, my reverend brother, this charge is delivered by inspiration, that the man of God might be thoroughly fur- to you in the sight of God, who at this very moment is gazing nished for his work. Diligently search, carefully examine, on your heart, and who hereafter will judge you according to correctly apprehend, and then faithfully and boldly explain, your deeds; it is delivered to you before Christ, whose comthe sentiments of this Sacred Book. Let it be your constant mandment it is, that you consecrate to his service your time companion-let it be your library of knowledge. Go to it and your abilities; and it is delivered to you in the hearing for guidance, refer to it for authority, and carry your appeals of this assembly, who are enjoined to be witnesses that we to no other tribunal. Value it as a treasure, defend it as a have laid before you an exhortation concerning your own intrust, and study it as a magazine of vitally important and dividual godliness, concerning your deportment in the world, eternally interesting facts. Standing on the firm basis of and concerning your ministerial duties, and that if you fail in revelation, shun not to make known the whole counsel of your avocations, we are guiltless of your blood. And in orGod-to advance every doctrine, however unpalatable, and to der that you should not come short in your ministerial avocaenforce every duty, however harsh-to censure the very ap- tions, oh! may the blessing of Almighty God, and the grace pearance of evil, and to rebuke the transgressor, let him be of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you; and may the operathe noblest in the land. Standing on the firm basis of reve-tions of the Holy Spirit encourage you to unremitting labours, lation, invest every truth with its due weight, assign to every and hold you up amid toils and amid trials! And if your truth its distinguishing station in the Christian creed, incul-work should be done, and your warfare be ended, when the cate every truth at the requisite season, and lay open every trumpet shall sound, shall it not sound in your ears as the truth in its connexion with the person and with the atonement signal of victory? and when the dead shall be raised, shall of Christ. not your body be raised incorruptible, and forthwith be asso

ciated with a soul that is immortal; while you, my reverend the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though brother, in body and in soul, receive the blessed sentence, the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faith-shake with the swelling thereof." But what is the ground ful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, on which the Church erects her towering confidence? It is enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ?" on the ground of her relation to God: she is the city of the

And in fine, the words which were addressed to Joshua at Most High-the residence of the Eternal, who is engaged to his ordination, I address to you at yours, and these are the be, and in the time of need will appear as, her protector and words: "This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy avenger. "God is in the midst of her," says our text: "she mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that shall not be moved: God shall keep her, and that right early." thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written A meditation on this interesting and reviving topic, which therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and cannot be deemed improper at any period for the considerathen thou shalt have good success.” tion of the Church's guides when they are assembled in their

And in addressing myself to you, the members of this con-judicial character, receives, in my opinion, a vast accession gregation, now that the relation between your minister and of weight and importance from the incidental circumstances you is firmly settled, give me leave to observe, that you have of the present time: it seems, methinks, peculiarly seasonable knowingly consented to this relation, and that you have know-ror us, at this critical juncture, when looking back on what ingly undertaken the responsibility of cementing that relation, has been suffered by our people in common with their fellow by continued attachment to your minister, and by continued subjects, and forwards to what we may be supposed to fear. concord among yourselves. And let me exhort you-seeing When we behold, on the one hand, the miseries produced by you shall be called to an account for your conduct towards a calamitous war, and on the other the probable prolongation your minister and towards one another, and seeing, as we of its horrors, or, if these should cease by the terminating of hope and trust, that your minister has come among you in hostilities, the probable springing up of the seeds of national answer to your intercessions at the throne of grace-to re-discontent, originating in real or in imaginary grievancesceive him with gladness in the Lord, to love, to reverence, when turning our attention to what we see and feel, we may and to esteem him. Assist him, and strengthen his hands, dread that every wind which blows, that every post which by educating all who are under your care in the exercises of arrives, is freighted to us with tidings of local insurrections religion. Let devotion in your closets be observed-let wor-and of universal disaster, schemes overturned, property lost, ship with your families be regularly and conscientiously kept territories invaded, friends massacred, brave hearts falling in up-be unfailing in your attendance upon the ordinances of the battles of Europe-when it occurs to our minds that the the church-remember the Sabbath, and curb every tendency great principles of honesty, honour, and holiness, have lost towards the violating of its hallowed rest: and thus, in sur-their influence and credit-and when vices of the utmost magrounding your households with the light and with the beau-nitude and of extensive spread call aloud for vengeance,-it ties of holiness, you will be fellow-workers with your pastor seems, we say, peculiarly seasonable to recollect, that the on earth, and, what is still more, fellow-workers with your counsels of princes, the animosities of kingdoms, the tumults Pastor, your Priest, your Saviour who is in Heaven. of the people, the combinations of fleets and armies, and all

And let it weigh upon your minds, that in being stationed the infernal fiends of devastation are still under His control as your minister, he is entitled to an unlimited freedom in who regards the best interests of his Church with infinite admonishing and in rebuking you, and in standing boldly for- tenderness-who, under the sorest and saddest calamities, ward to expose the sins that beset you, the hypocrisy or the furnishes an asylum for believers in the consolatory doctrine carnality with which you may be tainted. And considering which our text and similar Scriptures bring to view," God that your own welfare may hinge on his unshrinking and is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved," intimating, faithful management, and considering that if he does not act that the presence of Jehovah in the midst of Zion is ground faithfully, or if he suffers any sin to lie upon you unexposed, of confidence to her citizens in the prospect or at the approach it may cost him his soul, let me exhort you to put your com- of the most shaken times.

mission into his hands, authorizing him to speak to you what- We shall, very briefly, advert to some of those many charever the Lord may command; and do not weaken and do not acters of excellences which are ascribed in Sacred Scripture grieve his spirit by your negligence and carelessness under to that illustrious person who is here said to be resident in his ministry, but by your faith unshaken, your love unfeign- the Church; secondly, we shall speak of his presence; and ed, and your blameless, harmonious demeanour, be his epistles thirdly, we shall demonstrate how his presence in the Church is ground of confidence and joy to her members in the prospect or at the approach of the most shaken times.

of commendation unto the church of Christ.

May our reverend brother never have reason to regret, on account of your inattention or your unkindness, that he has chosen this congregation in preference to several others, which would have been glad to have received him. May you animate and urge him on by your constant attendance on his ministrations, and by your improvement under them; and God grant that you may never afflict his soul by ruining your own! And to conclude with an apostolic benediction, "May the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever

and ever!"

SERMON II.

The security of the Church in its relation to God.* God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.-Psalm xlvi.

Of the many characters of excellence which are ascribed in Sacred Scripture to that illustrious person who is here said to be resident in the Church, let us only enumerate his unity, his holiness, his greatness, and his grace.

it.

He is one.

In this perfection he glories, as distinguishing him from, and exalting him above, every being. Both the Old and the New Testament abound with expressions of "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." And again, "There be gods many and lords many, but to us"— Christians no less than Jews-"there is but one God." But though a unity or oneness of essence is expressed in these and similar passages, yet the plurality of persons is necessa rily implied. These two are consistent, and are alike clearly revealed: the unity and simplicity of essence does not destroy the trinity of persons, nor does the plurality of persons infer the multiplicity or division of the essence; for we find it stated in a verse which several critics reject, but which we have not heard reasons enough to discredit, "There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost-and these three are one." the unity of the Godhead, in opposition to the multiplicity of gods among the Gentiles, was a principal part of orthodox testimony respect5.ing the Divine nature before the coming of Jesus Christ; and, since that event, a principal part of orthodox testimony respecting the Divine nature is a trinity of persons in this one Godhead, in opposition to the Jews and the followers of Socinus, who league together in denying this fundamental article of belief.

The preceding verses of this Psalm express the language of exaltation and of triumph. The Church declares her full and firm confidence of protection and safety amid all the tumults and confusions of the earth, the raging of nations, the fall of empires, and the dissolution of the world: "Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though

* Preached at the opening of the Synod in Edinburgh, 1795.

Holiness is joined, in many passages of Scripture, with the unity and simplicity of his essence, and belongs to each of the persons-all of them are necessarily and are unchangeably holy. Angels celebrate and believing men give thanks at the remembrance of the holiness of each: it is the glory, the