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conversion, from dead works to serve the living God in holiness and righteousness. This I may call the outer wall-the grand outline of a minister's commission. Then, looking upon the world, it must be confessed that, to a great degree, it is still ́ lying in wickedness ;' and, looking upon the Church, we see it feeble in many parts, shattered and torn in others, and dead in others. "What is to be done?' immediately suggests itself. This is my field. I must labour, but I cannot give life; I cannot revive the work where languishing or dead; or by reasoning, argument, or persuasion heal the divisions which the enemy's tares have caused. Neither can I sit down in silent lamentation. Then, this is what God has put it into my heart to do:Every morning I commune long and earnestly with him in prayer; I wait at the throne of grace to get my spirit more deeply imbedded in the Rock of eternal Truth; I tell him all I feel, all I desire, for we must come to him as to a Father, and the promise that Whatsoever we ask in the name of his Son shall be given,' is a source of never-failing comfort and support. Thus by wrestling with him in prayer for his Church in reliance on that promise, I find that he both blesses my own soul, and makes me a blessing to others. I am thus enabled to come forth under a renewed sense of his faithfulness to his Word, in glorifying his Son Jesus, by answering the prayers presented in his name, and find that by his Spirit he makes his word, "a true and lively word" both to myself and to my people. This is all I do. By striving to get my heart to feel the greatness and difficulty of my work, and the real state of the Church and of the world, a minister's workreligion-death-judgment and eternity are seen as real and important realities, and every power of the soul is taken into the work. And to God be all the praise, for it is he that

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prospers my work. Whatever we may do it is 'He alone who can give the increase.""

"This is all plain, reasonable, and Scriptural," said he who came enquiring, "and, by the grace of God, I will take the same course. We must come to the Head if we would be blessed. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,' is a command which will never lose its force while the Church is in a militant state; and the annexed promise, they shall prosper that love thee,' it is equally our privilege to take to ourselves."

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Was there ever a time when the Church stood not in need of praying ministers? They have to contend with the invisible powers of darkness, and to spread the shield of protection over their flock. The enemy of souls has lost none of his vigilance, none of his hatred, none of his subtlety. Where he cannot lead into gross and open sin, he will blind and benumb, by which means the work of grace will be as effectually checked, as if the Spirit's exhortations to repent and believe were treated with scornful blasphemy. A minister's post is ever to be on the watch-tower of humble, but fervent prayer, for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, and for its preservation from every opponent, spiritual invasion from the prince of darkness. They may sow the seed by their public and private ministrations, but man's three-fold foe-the world, the flesh, and the devil-will soon choke it, or destroy it, or take it away, unless the Spirit of the living God fix it in the heart, and promote its growth. Many a faithful labourer in the Lord's vineyard mourns over the devastation which this insidious foe causes amongst those of his cure, and knows not how it is that all his efforts become ineffectual to any real change. Let him try more prayer-more intercession with the Head of the Church. It is his own Church, and they shall prosper that love it.

BRITAIN'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR MISSIONARY EXERTION.

ALL are bound to communicate of that spiritual store which they have received without any desert of their own, to those who, without any peculiar fault of theirs, are destitute of it. All are bound to let that light which has fallen upon themselves from on high shine before men, especially where darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. But there are some obligations in this respect which are peculiar to our own country, and to the age we live in. How marvellous is the dominion which this country possesses over so large a part of the surface of the globe; over regions separated from it by such vast distances; over so many millions of men utterly foreign to ourselves in blood, language, manners, and religion! What an immense power for good or evil is hereby given to us! Let us only cast a glance at a map of the world, and consider for a moment the countries comprised within the dependencies of the British empire. In one hemisphere the vast territories which stretch to the shores of the Arctic sea; in the other the great continent of Australia, only separated by the waters of the southern ocean from the opposite pole; and again, on one side India, with its millions of idolaters, and on the other the western islands, peopled chiefly by our enfranchised slaves. Such an empire as this was never before given to any nation since the world began. And this empire has been assigned by Providence to a nation which professes the name of Christ, which has been indebted to his religion, not only for higher blessings, but for the moral strength which enabled it to achieve such mighty conquests. And can we think that there was no special design in such a dispensation of Providence? or that we shall not be called to account for the use we have made, nationally and individually, of these extraordinary means? Must we not fear that if they are suffered to lie idle in our hands for the highest interests of mankind; if they are only applied to the gratification of our

pride, or avarice, or luxury, the day may come when judgment shall go forth upon our land, and its sentence shall be written in characters of flame: "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting?"

And then, again, let us consider the age in which we live. What is it that distinguishes this age from every former period in the history of the world? It is, more than anything else, the prodigious progress that has been made in the establishment of a rapid and easy communication between distant parts of the globe. The inventions of modern times have in a manner brought the opposite extremities of the earth nearer to one another, by shortening, to an extent which would once have seemed incredible, the time that is necessary for passing from one to the other. And here again let us observe, that in these inventions, and in the constant application and improvement of them, this Christian nation has borne the foremost part. What is the tendency of the great changes wrought by these discoveries changes to which, surprising as they already are, we can fix no limit? It is to promote the mutual intercourse of all the inhabitants of the earth, to bring them all more and more into the condition of one great family, to enlarge and strengthen the influence which the more civilized and enlightened have over those who most need education and instruction, while they give increased facility for the dispensing of these blessings. And with these wonderful engines at our command shall we effect, shall we at least attempt, nothing for the cause of Christ? Shall every valley be exalted, and every mountain and hill be made low, and the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain? and shall we, notwithstanding, fail to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight in the desert a highway for our God?

But while the duty-which it is

impossible to deny-may be acknowledged in the abstract, as belonging in a general sense to the Church of Christ, an objection may be raised to the application which I have been making of it to ourselves. It may be asked whether we ourselves, or the Church in our own land, is in so luminous a state as to be fitted to impart light to others. The Lord has indeed arisen upon us, and his glory has in a measure been seen upon us; but has it spread far enough among our own dwellings? Has it not suf

fered a partial eclipse? Are there not many dark corners, and even large and populous tracts, to which it has not penetrated? Are there not among our own countrymen, thousands, and tens of thousands, sitting in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, and in the shadow of death-the gross darkness of trespasses and sins, whom the dayspring from on high has not yet visited? Is not the duty which we owe to them the most pressing, the most sacred of all? Is it not the first in importance, and therefore entitled both to our most earnest and our earliest attention? Is there not a want of churches and schools, of pastors and teachers, at home? and, until this want is supplied, are we justified in applying any portion of our means to relieve cases of spiritual destitution not more urgent in themselves, and in which we at least are not equally concerned?

I have endeavoured to state this objection fairly and in its full force, and I am far from considering it as an empty cavil. It is one sufficiently specious to strike many minds welldisposed towards the cause of religion as a very serious difficulty, to make them hesitate about lending their sanction to missionary enterprises, and to induce them to dole out their contributions toward them with an unsteady and parsimonious hand. Yet it is an objection to which Scripture, reason, and experience furnish an abundance of satisfactory answers. I have already mentioned the declared will of God, the express command of our Lord. If this command does not apply to us, what nation on the face of the earth ever was, or ever can be, bound by it ?. If

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we are not content with the limits of our own shores; if emigration, conquest, and commerce have planted a part of our people in foreign lands, how can we pretend that their inhabitants, though connected with us closely enough to be subservient to our interest, to minister to our wants, our avarice, or our ambition, though entitled to protection and to friendly treatment from us, are yet, so far as religion is concerned, utterly strangers to us, and have no claim either on our justice or our benevolence?

If the first heralds of the Gospel→→→ if those who received the commission to make disciples of all nations, or those whom they first converted to the faith of Christ, had acted upon the principle which is thus pleaded as a bar to missionary exertions; if they had waited until the heavenly truth which they laboured to propagate, had thoroughly penetrated, leavened, and sanctified that portion of the Gentile world into which it was first introduced, before they attempted to diffuse it more widely, what would have been our condition now? Should we have been deliberating whether it is our duty to let our light shine upon others? Would a single ray have fallen upon ourselves? Should we not all at this moment be covered with darkness as gross as that in which the most flourishing, powerful, and civilised nations of the heathen world were once given up to, the devices and desires of their foolish hearts and reprobate minds? But it was not so that the primitive evangelists prosecuted their work, and executed their divine commission. They went forth to sow the Gospel seed, and they scattered it far and wide, not stopping to see what har vest it would yield in the soil where it first fell. They passed onward from city to city with their message of salvation, leaving many behind them in every place who had not heard the word, or had not received it, or had not experienced its power, or in whom it had been choked again with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and had brought no fruit to perfection. That was the way, happily for us, that they understood their Master's parting injunction

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Let us be content to follow their example, without aspiring to be wiser or more faithful than they. Well will it be for us, if we are able to give as good an account of our stewardship, and so employ the talents entrusted to us, that we may be judged worthy to have authority over many cities!

We ought not to need any stronger motives to stimulate our efforts in the missionary cause; nor have we any right to expect clearer directions for our guidance. But still it must be satisfactory and cheering to believe that whatever is done for the propagation of the Gospel abroad has a tendency to promote its success at home; and this is a truth which, though at first sight, as I have already observed, it may seem difficult to comprehend-so that this difficulty forms the substance of the objection I am now combating will, on a nearer view of the subject, force itself irresistibly on our minds. Our Lord's promise, that he would be with those who should teach and baptize in his name always, even unto the end of the world, is a sufficient assurance of the fact; for in every age those who adhere to his instructions, and walk in the steps of his apostles, must be entitled to a share of the promised blessing. And, whatever may be the force of the promise in other respects, it must be especially applicable to his own cause as a ground for believing that he will not suffer what is done for it in one quarter to injure it in another. And when we remember that whoever may plant, and whoever may water, it is He alone who giveth the increase, we may very safely and cheerfully leave the matter in his hands. But in this case we are not confined to a difficult exercise of faith as the sole foundation of our hopes. We are permitted to see something of the manner in which the promise is fulfilled-of the form in which the blessing descends; we are enabled in some degree to perceive that it is not an altogether miraculous incident depending on an immediate divine interposition, but rather a dispensation of Providence, falling within the sphere and order of natural causes and effects. It is evident that in

whatever cause men are engaged, whatever strengthens their attachment to it, and their confidence in its success, must in the same degree tend to promote it. And, whatever part of Christ's Church be the scene of our labours, we cannot but be encouraged and animated to redoubled efforts in its behalf, by every new impression we receive of the excellence of his religion, by every additional proof of its power, by every fresh assurance of its ultimate triumph. But the light in which we have been long walking attracts but little of our attention. The blessings with which we are surrounded, and have become familiar, but slightly affect our feelings. It is the temporary privation that most endears them to us: it is in their absence that we form the truest estimate of their value. This is what renders it so important that we should often carry our thoughts back to the first introduction of Christianity, and to the changes which it wrought in the heathen world. This it is that should lead us to prize every opportunity afforded to us by the modern history of missionary enterprizes, of observing the contrast between the light of the Gospel and the darkness which still covers so many parts of the earth. Now it is true that, even in our own land, that light is not so universally diffused as to have reached every corner. There are, even among us, many "dark places full of the habitations of cruelty;" dwellings in which the sound of prayer is never heard, in which the book of God's word is never opened, into which the spirit of Christian faith and love has never found entrance, and which are the haunts of all impure, malignant, and ungodly passions and tempers. But still, happily for us, it is impossible that in this Christian country we should ever have the means of contemplating the contrast between Gospel light and heathen darkness as it is exhibited in lands on which, after a long night of ignorance and superstition, the beams of divine truth are now for the first time beginning to fall. With us, if the light is chequered, the darkness also is broken, and is nowhere so gross and entire as in

regions on which the glory of the Lord has not yet risen at all. Even here the depravity of the human heart sometimes breaks out into foul and hideous excesses. But still it is always in some degree restrained by the influence of institutions, laws, usages, and public opinion, which are more or less moulded and animated by the spirit of Christianity. We do not see it in its native deformity and its full energy, as it shows itself where it is neither softened by religion nor controlled by fear or shame; where, on the contrary, some of its worst enormities are sanctioned and legalised by the State, and hallowed by a licentious superstition. It is only where this is the case that we can witness a repetition of the great moral miracles of the Gospel, such as changed the face of the world and the character of society in the first ages of Christianity.

And, if any doubt were left in our minds as to the connexion between the success of the Gospel abroad and at home, we might safely appeal to experience for the decision of the question. If we inquire who the persons are that display the most lively interest in its propagation among the

heathen, they will certainly be found the same as those who make the most active exertions to speed its course, and increase its efficacy in their own country and neighbourhood. Or, if

we ask at what times the Church shows the greatest degree of zeal and alacrity for missionary enterprises, they will prove to be the periods in which she is most vigorously prosecuting her work within her domestic pale. Such is the character of our own day in this respect. Never was our Church more awake to a sense of her duty as the teacher of the nations; never did she make more strenuous efforts to discharge it; and at no other period of her history has she ever been more earnestly intent on the nurture of her own family, or more diligently and successfully employed in providing for their spiritual wants. It was indeed the activity excited by her growing consciousness of this responsibility that afforded an occasion and an incentive to the great undertaking by which she is now endeavouring to extend the advantages of her government and discipline, together with her doctrine and ritual, to her colonial churches.

BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S.

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