mael would raise their hands against the sons of Isaac, but unite with us in grafting in again the children of promise, whom the thunders of Almighty wrath had severed as unfruitful branches from his ancient, holy, long-loved olive-tree. But this glorious and blessed consummation is a fardistant prospect, and is likely to continue so till a return is made to primitive truth and order.

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During the three hundred years which succeeded the ascension of our blessed Lord, many great empires and kingdoms became the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ and upwards of three centuries have elapsed since the Reformation, and no nations have either been converted from heathenism, or have renounced the errors of Rome. Yet, humanly speaking, the facilities for both have been wonderfully increased. The art of printing has produced a vast circulation of the holy Scriptures. The possession of a great tract of India by the British has opened a wide door for the entrance of the gospel. Colonies have been formed in many quarters of the world by Christians. Numerous societies for the propagation of the gospel are in active operation; enormous sums of money are annually raised and professedly expended on foreign missions. Many, what are called gratifying reports are made of the progress

of Christianity.

But what nations have actually

been converted? Not India: not China: not Persia: not Turkey: not Egypt. I do not mean to deny that any people have embraced the faith, but that no national conversions have been effected similar to those of the three first ages, even though that most powerful auxiliary, the press, has been employed in the great and good cause. The same observations may be applied to countries prostrated under the influence of the Tridentine creed. Here and there a few solitary Protestant congregations may be found, but the grain of mustard seed has not become a great tree, neither hath the leaven leavened the whole lump. Italy, Austria, Spain, Portugal, France, and many other nations, have not thrown off the Roman yoke. Is it urged, that the overwhelming influence of the Papacy and Romish tyranny have smothered the Reformation? To this I answer, that before the conversion of Constantine almost all the Roman emperors and their subordinate officers persecuted the Christians to the utmost of their power; yet, in spite of all these efforts to extinguish the truth, Christianity ultimately triumphed. These are facts hard to be controverted. The gospel is the same now as ever, and it cannot, one would think, be the will of

God that its extension should be arrested, or that an erroneous faith should so long prevail. We learn from the parable that he gave talents to all his servants, to some more and to others less, and that no one was without one at least. The right employment of these talents he left to them, and the neglect he punished. The cause, then, methinks, of this spiritual paralysis which hath seized upon the members of the church and hath cramped its energies, must in part be ascribed to the neglect of the talents by those to whom they were committed, and in part to the malice of the devil, who hath sown the tares of heresy and schism in the Lord's field. Though the supineness of the one and the errors of the other are without excuse, yet it ought to be looked upon as an instance of Divine favour and love, that under existing circumstances, a pause has taken place in what is commonly called the conversion of the heathen; for it is of little benefit to have rooted up error, except truth be planted in its stead; to abjure Roman fallacy and to adopt Socinian heresy; to abandon Mahometanism without embracing Christianity. For what shall it profit a man to be healed of one dangerous disease, if he fall into another; or to be cured entirely of every kind of malady except nourishment be administered to recruit his

wasted frame, and to sustain the vital spark? It matters not, if he dies, whether fever, consumption, or starvation has produced death. Suppose that

the labours of all the missionaries of the various sectaries among the heathen were crowned with success, what then? Why people would indeed be drawn out from idolatry, but would sink into the slough of schism, and be inoculated with the virus of dissent; and thus the disease under which we unhappily labour at home, would more widely be diffused. Again, were free access given to sectarians into Popish countries, this would not be to extend the catholic faith, but to propagate all manner of divisions. I humbly conceive then, that in whatever light we view the violation of unity, whether as regards the heathen or the corrupted branches of the christian church, to it must be attributed the stagnation of the pure stream of gospel truth. The Holy Scriptures are not corrupted, but christianity is. God is the author of order, yet confusion abounds. He therefore who blasted the felicity of paradise must have gained the mastery over the posterity of Adam, and again have marred and destroyed the unity which the second Adam restored to the children of men. Seeing then, that it hath pleased the All-wise Ruler of human affairs to retain many kingdoms of the earth still in

heathen and Roman errors, we must believe that He hath thus ordered all things for the best. He hath granted to some nations emancipation from the yoke of Rome. He hath seen that liberty turned into licentiousness, and the light which radiated from the Bible, when liberated from the papal prison house, again almost put out, or at least mixed and corrupted by the artificial lights of fallible men: when these lesser lights have paled their lustre before the true light which came down from heaven, when the divisions of the church in Britain are healed, and her purity and catholicity restored, then shall she successfully speak peace to the heathen; then shall she effectually convince of their sins the people who now own the authority of the Roman bishop. She hath already done much in evangelizing the world, and scions from her ancient stock are lifted up in various quarters of the globe as ensigns for the nations, whereto witness that branch flourishing in America. Her noble liturgy translated into almost every known language, is gradually gaining upon the hearts and affections of people dwelling in the uttermost regions of the earth; and even now the Greek and the Arab join with us in worshipping God in the same form of sound words. Who that hath any love of God abiding in him will refuse to wish her prosperity?

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