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which you may take? Is there not a fearful probability against you, if you defer it for one hour? Are you sure that God will not, within this very hour, strike the blow that will at once dissolve your connexion with time?—or, what is still more awful, "depart from you" for ever? Dismiss encouragement, then, from procrastination, for any purpose; and while you are making up your decision whether you will repent Now, bear in mind that it may be your last decision on the subject-may be the turning point in the history of your being, and seal your eternal destination! I appeal to your conscience then, is there any other than one course that is SAFE ?—viz. IMMEDIATE compliance with the terms of mercy ?

2. The subject to which our attention has been called shows us the proper answer to be given to the momentous inquiry, WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

If the view which has now been presented be founded in truth, that individual assumes a fearful responsibility, who attempts to guide inquiring sinners in the way to heaven. Let the attention of the sinner be turned off from the single point of God's claim, and his duty, as a subject on hand, to be attended to now, as the turning point in his history; to any thing else in the universe that can be made a substitute for that compliance, or an excuse for deferring it a single moment-and so long, at least, he will not come to the point of repentance and submission. On this subject, while so much simplicity and directness characterizes the answer which the Bible gives to the important inquiry, “What must I do?" it is amazing, that such a widely different course should have been pursued by any real friend of God!-by any real Christian!

Brethren, have we not cause for solicitude, lest the blood of some souls shall be found in our skirts, in consequence of the loose instruction given them at the most interesting moment of their existence, when the Spirit of God had brought them to the most solemn inquiry which they ever made? Were they encouraged to substitute any thing for immediate repentance, and an unconditional surrender of themselves into the hands of that God whom they had offended? that instruction may have exerted

an influence to occasion the loss of souls for eternity! The Bible is a plain, a safe guide. Shall it not be followed?

3. But I remark, once more, and finally, that every impenitent sinner has cause for the deepest solicitude.

He will not perish because he could not have been saved. The provisions of grace are abundant, and are offered freely to all; not a single sinner therefore need perish. He cannot plead ignorance in excuse, if he has had his being in a Christian land. Especially the individuals whom I now address, have known their duty,--they have been urged again and again to make their peace with God without delay, and comply with the terms of mercy; they have been assured to-day that "the wrath of God abideth on them," and cannot be averted by any external religious services, while their hearts are not right in the sight of God; while they refuse to repent of sin, and give their Maker the supreme affection of their hearts. If what has been exhibited be the truth, your condition is fearfully alarming. There is but one way in which peace or safety can be obtained; and every moment's delay is jeoparding the interests of your precious souls. God now commands you to repent. Will you do it? Will you do it as the first thing?--will you do it Now? O, decide the question in view of that day, when I shall meet you again, before the eternal Judge. DECIDE IT Now; or God may take the decision out of your hands; for

"MERCY knows th' appointed bound,

And turns to vengeance there!"

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Preached in New-York, October 3, 1832, before the American Board of Foreign Missions.

BY WILLIAM ALLEN, D. D.

President of Bowdoin College, Maine.

FREEDOM CONFERRED ONLY BY THE GOSPEL.

JOHN viii. 36.—If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

In this world truth and error are struggling for victory. The field of contest is the human intellect. The prize contended for is man, immortal man; and it is his destiny either to be bound for ever in the chains of error, or to be led forth in eternal freedom and glory by the hand of truth. From the earliest times, this conflict has been going on; the war is still waging; nor will it cease, until delusion shall loose its hold of the human mind, and the kingdom of truth and righteousness be established throughout the earth. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, coming from heaven, brought the truth to men in order to liberate them from the miserable bondage of sin. It is implied in his instructions, connected with the text, that all other supposed methods of freeing men from the servitude of error and iniquity are ineffectual. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. The point here set before us is, that THE GOSPEL IS THE

ONLY POWER WHICH CAN DISINTHRALL ENSLAVED MAN, AND BESTOW UPON HIM THE FREEDOM OF HOLINESS AND JOY.

I. In attempting to establish this position, I shall first consider the inadequacy of the other influences which have been supposed to have an important bearing on the welfare of the world.

1. The power of civilization is feeble in the contest with moral and natural evil. Although the contrast is very striking between a barbarous and civilized state, and although the descriptions which have been given of the Arcadian simplicity and innocence of the children of nature, have been found to be mere romance; yet the blessings of civilization are often very limited, and fail to remove the evils by which the family of man are afflicted. In the result of civilization, we may see the deep spirit of revenge and the secret blow of retaliation yielding to the power of law. Many domestic and social virtues VOL. VII.-5

may spring up. Many conveniences and luxuries, before untasted, may be enjoyed. But civilization has not the effect of removing the most cruel superstition and degrading idolatry. The most refined of the nations of antiquity were worshippers of gods of every name and form, often with rites of indescribable turpitude. The very governments themselves, which had been established, supported idolatry, and bound the people to it by chains which could be broken only by the power of God. Even now there are nations highly civilized where yet the people are the wretched thralls of superstition and the most deplorable idolatry.

Besides this, there have prevailed and still prevail among civilized states very gross and flagrant vices, and sometimes enormous crimes are tolerated. The government established is perhaps a grinding tyranny, and although the subject may be shielded against injuries from a fellow-subject, yet all may be in the power of a proud master, accustomed to indulge his passions without restraint and without fear. What can be more wonderful than to see civilized nations punishing with merited death the midnight assassin or solitary murderer, and yet eagerly and for slight occasions arraying themselves for battle,-rushing upon each other with hideous shouts, with the ferocity of wild beasts and the malignity of devils, and in the shock falling together by thousands in miserable death? What can be more astonishing than this, excepting that the civilized survivors agree to obliterate from their minds the thought of murder, and speak only of noble bearing, and heroic resistance, and glorious victory? Yet such has been the custom of civilized nations in all ages.

2. The progress of mechanical ingenuity is incompetent to secure the happiness of the human family. Never has the power of mind over matter been so wonderfully displayed as in the present age. The elements are now made to perform, with the greatest rapidity, the work which was formerly done by the slow and tedious labor of human hands. The superintendence of one, with the aid of water and fire, now brings out results which formerly required the toil of thousands. Millions of little wheels, apparently self-moved, are spinning the threads, which by shuttles, seemingly thrown by invisible hands, are woven into the finest webs. The old method of travelling by the fleetness of horses is going out of repute, and three or four times the former speed is now gained by the power of steam. Whether the same power will unyoke our oxen from the plough, we are not yet able to determine. Many, however, are cherishing high hopes of the improvement of the human race, from the progress of mechanical philosophy. It has been thought, that human hands will be so freed from the necessity of labor, that ample leisure will be furnished to the great mass of mankind for intellectual culture, and thus that a new aspect will be given to the condition of the world. Will these hopes be realized?

The accumulation and general diffusion of wealth in the community will indeed release many hands from labor; but the leisure enjoyed may be abused to purposes of luxurious and criminal indulgence, and will be, without the restraint of moral and religious principle. Besides, there are very obvious limits to this anticipated release from manual industry. Almost all the hundreds of millions, who are nourished on the earth, are dependent for their food on the careful, toiling hand of agriculture. The ground must be cultivated; the seeds cast into the furrow; the fruits of harvest gathered. Mechanical improvements will not repeal the sentence passed upon man,-Cursed is the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also

and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.

Were it possible to release all men from the necessity of labor, would there be any reason to hope that the amount of happiness would be increased? In the present state of society, who is the most virtuous, and who partakes most fully of earthly felicity--the man of wealth and leisure, or the industrious husbandman? Should we survey the manners of the idle masters of slaves in the tropical climates, could we think that they are as uncontaminated, pure, and virtuous, as the hardy cultivators of the soil where slavery is unknown?

It may well be doubted whether, with the present relative power of virtue and vice in the world, there would be any moral advantage in the diminution of the necessity of labor. If the man of leisure is likely to suffer his faculties to rust in indolence; or if, when excited to action, his course is likely to be ungoverned and disastrous, it were better for him and for the community that he should be subjected to constant and innocent toil. If, however, while mechanical philosophy shall create leisure for men, they shall be taught to live for objects for which only life is of any value, then the influence of mechanism, or of labor-saving inventions and improvements will be favorable to the world. But in mere leisure, by reason of the easy supply of physical wants,-in leisure unguided and unemployed in wise mental and moral pursuits, there is no promise of good.

3. The influence of General Education and the prevalence of Free Institutions through the earth, however important, will not alone secure the happiness of man. Never perhaps was there so great confidence as at the present moment in the power of education. When the unthinking people shall be roused to thought, and their wild, uninstructed children shall be trained up in various useful branches of learning, then, it has been supposed, the golden age will come. There are doubtless important effects which would result from the general diffusion of knowledge. Men, now ground to the dust, if they become enlightened and discern their natural rights, and perceive how they have been despoiled of them, will cast off the yoke of debasing servitude. Old and flagrant abuses will no longer be tolerated. Could all the inhabitants of Europe be made intelligent, and have before them in distinct vision the miserable degradation to which they are reduced, not by any necessity of nature, but by the sensuality, the vanity, the pride, the ambition of their rulers, and particularly by the spirit of war, which. in the last fifty years has expended five thousand millions of dollars, and which annually extorts from them five hundred millions of dollars for the support of the pageantry and murder of several millions of soldiers; think you that they would approve of a system which overwhelms them with the most oppressive taxes? Think you that half a million of intelligent, undeluded, unenslaved men would, at the call of a demon-spirit, march into the wilds of Russia to perish by cold, and famine, and the avenging sword? Could the beams of knowledge be poured upon the mind of the Turk, would he any longer, cheerfully and as a matter of duty, yield his neck to the sultan's scimitar; or would he not be likely to strike for liberty? But oppression is only one of the evils to which the family of man is subjected; and such is the condition of the world, that sometimes submission to injustice is a matter of prudence, and resistance often aggravates the misery which it aims to remove.

In countries already free, useful knowledge may easily be diffused among the people, and great improvements may be made in the methods of education; but

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