testifies, that it has been astonishingly efficacious-k; will be still more efficacious. The word of the Lord does not grow old and decay; but is ever new and powerful. Its accomplishment is gradual, sometimes slow, but always sure. To him, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years, the things which he has foretold or determined, are as certain as though actually accomplished.

Do you then begin to cast your eye over the world, and ask; How can those benighted places be illuminated? How can those depraved wretches be converted? How can the deaf hear, and the dumb sing?-My friends, this is the very design of the gospel. These are the very effects which it is fitted to produce.

Do you still hesitate, and yield to fear, thinking, with gloom and discouragement, that although eighteen centuries of the Christian Era have passed away, the greater part of the world is yet in Mahometan or pagan darkness; thinking, too, how few ministers we have even for ourselves; how difficult it is to instruct even a small number of heathens, and to guard them from apostasy, when they become proselytes; how difficult to civilize savages; how little all past exertions have effected; and that we are not to look for mirac-ulous operations. Is this the state of your minds? And when you hear God, by the mouth of a prophet, declaring; "From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the heathen;" do you again despondingly inquire; "how can this great work be done? Such unbelief is a dishonor to God.-Do you say, we must keep the ground, which our relig ion has already gained?-The best way to do this is,

to gain more. Do you say, we have but few ministers for our own country?-Multiply them, then, by giving part to the heathen. "He that watereth shall be watered also himself."

Why should you ask how this great work of converting the nations can be done? I might ask you, how could the earth and all its inhabitants be created? How could the heavens be stretched out as a curtain over your heads? What power is it that sustains the world, and causes all its motions and changes? Do you talk of POWER? The GOD who forms a blade of grass, and begets a drop of dew, can as easily convert a soul? And he who converts one soul, can as easily convert a nation.-Every day, in the midst of heathen lands, God exerts a power sufficient to save the universe. Who gives to the pagans life and breath, reason and conscience? Who causes their sun to shine, and their ground to yield its fruits?-Say no more, then; how can the great work of converting the nations be done? IT IS ONLY FOR GOD TO SPEAK THE WORD. He can cause all Asia to bow to his grace, as easily as he can shake the leaves of the forest.And as to miraculous operations, we will only ask of God to repeat among the heathen the same miracle that was wrought in christianizing your ancestors; the same that was wrought in bringing to the foot of the cross every believer who sees the light of heaven.

My hearers, I must not detain you. But I cannot forbear to hint at THE OPERATIONS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE AT THE PRESENT TIME. The events of these last days are highly animating to the hopes of Christians. The Lord has given the word, and great has been the company of the publishers. A large number of ministers of different denominations, moved by the

love of souls, have labored in the gospel where Christ had not been named. The multiplication of Bible Societies in Great Britain and America, the liberality and zeal they have displayed, and the success which has crowned their unconfined operations, have exceeded the most sanguine hopes; and we are now reaching forward to the blessed time when the various nations of the Eastern world, and the Islands of the sea, will read in their own tongues the words of eternal life.-I mention, as another favorable sign of the present times, that facilities for the pious education of youth and for the general diffusion of Christian knowledge are greatly increased. Another most delightful omen is the effusion of the Holy Spirit, and the consequent revival of religion in several of our Colleges, and in a great number of our churches and Societies in different parts. At the same time the attention of christians is roused, in an unparalleled degree, to the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom.

My feelings also constrain me to speak of it as a circumstance highly encouraging, that among the friends of evangelical religion greater love and harmony have begun to appear. Christians of different denominations Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Moravians, new divinity men, and old divinty men, have all been more or less disposed to attach too much importance to the points in which they differ from each other. They have had party spirit. They have had narrow prejudices. They have often been more forward to proselyte to their own sect, than to Christ; to set up themselves, than to do justice to others. They have had contention, and strife, and evil speaking among them. They have injured the truth by discussing the important subjects of disagreement without due meekness and candor, and by

laying out too much strength on those which are unimportant. These things I say honestly, and in the fear of God. Christians have wanted some grand object to seize their hearts and engage all their powers;— some great and common cause in the promotion of which they might be effectually purified from error and find a grave for all their jealousies and animosities; and in which the eternal truths of Revelation might be maintained with unyielding firmness, and propagated with augmented and unconquerable zeal.The SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL and THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD Constitute the very object wanted, the common cause which ought to unite, and has already begun to unite the affections, prayers, and labors of the great family of christians. This harmonizing spirit among the followers of Christ forebodes good to Zion. O may it increase, and diffuse its happy influence, till christians of every name shall be so completely occupied with the Redeemer's cause, as to forget their own.

Even the civil revolutions and convulsions, and the desolating wars of the present day, need not dishearten. For they are not only suited to withdraw our affections from the perishable things of this world, and fix them on the immoveable kingdom of God; but are themselves presages of the church's prosperity. The Lord shook all nations just before the Desire of all nations came. He has arisen now to shake ter:ibly the carth; and we expect the spiritual coming of Christ, and the millennial glory of the church, will soon follow.

All the passing events of the civil and religious world, in connexion with prophecy, indicate the approach of better days. In many instances this favorable tendency of things is obvious; and where it is not, we should be equally strong in faith. God loves the church;

and will make all things contribute to its welfare. At all times he keeps a steady eye upon the kingdom of grace. In all his works, this is the object most dear to him. Compared to this, the interests of earthly kingdoms are nothing. He will build up nations or cast them down, cause convulsions and wars, or give tranquillity, as he sees will be most conducive to the extension and final glory of the church.

Dear brethren, can you pursue a more excellent object than the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of the world? 1 have endeavored to excite you to this pursuit by a variety of motives, derived from the worth of immortal souls, and the plenteousness of the provision which Christ has made for their salvation; from the express command of our Lord; from the example of those who first received it, and of others who followed them; from the peculiar design of christianity, and its adaptedness to be a universal religion; from the spirit of prophecy; and from, the operations of divine Providence at the present day.. Are you not persuaded by these motives, and others which will readily occur to you, to give yourselves to this great work? Are you not resolved to do every thing, to part with every thing, to submit to every thing, to forward this glorious design of filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord? Yes, I trust many of you say—we are persuaded; we are resolved. We feel that we are not our own. Lord, what wilt thou have us to do? We will no longer live to ourselves, but to him who died for us, and rose again. Lord, make use of our talents, our substance, our labors, our sufferings for the welfare of thy church; for the salvation of those who are perishing in sin.-If we forget thee Oh Jerusalem, let our right hand forget her cunning.