thering of souls to him-"The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few."

There are two important periods in the views which the Scriptures give us of the establishment and extension of the kingdom of Jesus Christ: the one when it was a stone cut out of the mountain without hands; the other when it became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth: the one, when it was announced, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and the other, when it shall be declared, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ." In many circumstances connected with these two remarkable periods, there are many points of similarity. It is, indeed, often difficult to know to which period the words of prophecy refer-whether to the first triumphs of Christianity, or to its final and universal extension. Sometimes, probably, the words may be used in a primary and sometimes in a secondary sense-referring, in the first instance to their partial accomplishment at the first conquests of Christianity; and in the second instance, to their complete fulfilment, when the kingdom of Christ shall become universal. For instance, it was declared by prophecy to the father of the faithful, that in him, "all nations -all families of the earth should be blessed." This received a partial fulfilment when the Saviour came, and the Gospel was first preached to the Gentiles: its complete fulfilment is reserved to the period when "all nations shall serve him." The dying patriarch, with a fine prophetical spirit, declared, that the people should be gathered to the Messiah. And Isaiah, in somewhat similar terms, speaks of the Gentiles flocking to him, over whom he should reign. This was fulfilled partially, when first the standard of the cross was erected; but its complete fulfilment will not take place, till the knowledge of God shall become universal. That memorable prophecy of Joel, respecting the communication of the Divine Spirit, received its accomplishment also, when, at the day of Pentecost, the effusion of the Divine Spirit produced such astonishing effects. And yet it is impossible to read this prophecy in Joel, with all its attendant circumstances, without being fully convinced, that its complete fulfilment is still in reserve.

Without indulging in any fanciful analogies, any Christian mind may, we conceive, discern many striking points of similarity between the introduction of the Gospel dispensation, and the introduction of the latter-day glory; so that the very same terms may be applied, in a certain sense, to both. By the first introduction of Christianity, and the publication of the Gospel, one complete series of prophecies was fulfilled, respecting the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. By the wise establishment of his kingdom, its more complete and universal extension, another series of prophecies will emerge from their obscurity; and the Revelation of John will become as intelligible to the Church of God, as the fifty-third chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah. The first dispensation, or the first introduction of the Christian economy, was marked by the destruction of a system which had corrupted the revelation of God, made vain the commandments of God through human tradition, and opposed the greatest obstacle to the progress of the Gospel; and the second, and more extended triumphs of Christianity, we are assured, will be marked by the destruction of a system that has equaily corrupted Christianity itself: which power the Lord will destroy with the spirit of his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming. The first period

was marked by the shaking of the nations, which, while thus fulfing the ancient predictions, paved the way for the spread of the Gospel. And though in the prophecy, statements which refer to the future are still in a considerable measure obscure, yet we know that great commotions are yet to be expected, before the Gospel shall take its final and universal spread. The first period was marked by the calling of the Gentiles, when the middle wall of partition was broken down, and all declared to be one. The latter dispensation of divine grace, which shall extend further the kingdom of Christ, will be distinguished by the calling of the Jews, when there shall be one fold under one Shepherd. The first period was marked by the missionary spirit: they went forth every where preaching the word: and the latter period is significantly exhibited to us by the symbol of an angel flying through the expanse of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to all people, and tongues, and kindreds. But there is this important difference between the two periods, that the state of glory and of blessedness of the latter period, are to be far more extensive and universal. The wide world is to share its blessings: it is to be perpetuated through a long succession of ages; so that though the ingathering of souls to Christ, at the first conquests of Christianity, may have been called a "harvest" with propriety, with reference to what went before, it is but as the first-fruits compared with what we yet expect. After the first establishment of Christianity, a series of most disastrous circumstances attended it; "and except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we had been as Sodom, and had become like unto Gomorrah." But the latter period is not only to be universal, and not only to embrace the blessings of the former-all nations, and people, and tongues, and kindred; but it is to extend through a long period of successive ages.

I venture to think, then, brethren, that the words which I have taken, may not be inapplicable to the present time; that we are arrived, in the lapse of time, at such a period, and at such a position in the circumstances of the church and the world, as justify the application of these words in a very peculiar and emphatic manner to the present time: "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest."

May I, then, entreat your patient and candid attention, while I shall endeavour, as briefly as possible, to notice, in the first place, that after all that has yet been done, the great harvest remains to be gathered in. Secondly; that a concurrence of circumstances seems to indicate, that the time of this great harvest is at hand. And, thirdly, that this should be met by corresponding sentiments and conduct on the part of the Church of God.

In the first place, then, Christian brethren, THE GREAT HARVEST REMAINS

YET TO BE GATHERED IN.

From what we are permitted to know of the councils of heaven respecting the redemption of man, we are led to infer, that the plans and purposes of 'Almighty goodness and grace have yet received but a very partial accomplishment; and that the purposes of God embrace the salvation of man to an extent that has never yet been realized, as we conceive; revealed with a clearness which we cannot mistake, with a certainty which we ought not to doubt. We mast not conceive of the plan of redemption as a remedial measure, adopted mere.v after the catastrophe of man's fall and ruin. Before the Eternal Mind

all the consequences of man's apostacy stood, with all the ruin in which the human race would be involved: before the creation of the world or man's existence, he saw, and for wise ends permitted, the temporary triumph of evil. But an eternal decree passed, that its power and prevalence should be limited; and the language of this decree, fixing its limits, was, " Hitherto shalt thou go, but no further." God designed, from the dilapidated ruins and shattered fragments of a fallen world, to erect to himself a temple, vast and magnificent in which the glory of God should shine, and the praises of God be sung, the top-stone of which should be brought forth with shouting, crying, "Grace, grace, unto it." He therefore laid its foundations wide and deep, and marked out for its dimensions an ample space, proportioned to the glory of the Divine Architect himself. He saw the dismal prospect of the wide-spread desolation, over which the blight of sin had passed, on which the curse of transgression had rested: and he determined that the wilderness and the solitary place should be glad; that the desert should rejoice and blossom as the rose; that the renovated creation should be covered with verdure, and that the earth should yield her increase. The Divine plans, so far as they are revealed, assure us, that this should not be the case merely with one single favoured spot, surrounded by a waste-howling wilderness, but that it should extend to all lands; that the light of truth should not merely gild the tops of the highest immense, but it should be revealed, so that all flesh should see it, and the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God; that the living waters which went forth from himself should unite their streams, till they should at length fall into a vast expanse of ocean, covering the whole earth.

The gracious intentions of God, as announced to us by the holy seers of antiquity, present to us a bright and glorious prospect. They looked through all the intervening ages of gloom, and misery, and woe, and saw better and brighter days rising upon the world, when there should be "one Lord in all the earth, and his name one;" when there should be one fold under one Shepherd, and all should acknowledge the Redeemer's sway. In such terms are the intentions of God announced, as lead us to conclude, that as yet they have been but very partially accomplished. Hitherto men have been found walking in the broad road: the course of this world has been from God, and not to God: departure from God has been the rule, return to God has been the exception. Vice and misery have spread like the inundation of a flood; while peace, truth, and righteousness, have been like streamlets, fertilizing some favoured spot of land. We may look around through all the present nations of the world, and read the record of their past history, and see that while nation has been opposing nation, generation after generation have had no hope, and lived without God in the world. And who, upon reviewing either the present state of the world, or the records of past history, can for a moment imagine, that all the vast plans of God respecting the salvation of man have been fulfilled?-who but must conclude, that the harvest still remains to be gathered in?

On any great question, Christian brethren, which involves any important interest, it is satisfactory to have evidence of various kinds. When proof of one kind only is possessed, suspicion is apt to intrude into the mind, that we may possibly have made a mistake favourable to our own wishes and inclinations. Will you, therefore, allow me further to state some circumstances,

which concur in shewing that we have not mistaken the announcements of the divine plan, or the tenor of the prophecies of God, when we consider that the great harvest still remains to be gathered in.

The means which God has employed in the salvation of man lead us to the same conclusion. The expedient to which Infinite Wisdom and Goodness had recourse, is one indeed of a most extraordinary kind: it is unfolded with a grandeur which no words can express, which no thoughts can reach. It possesses a solemn majesty, which, when we contemplate it properly, overawes the spirit. "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh." That the effulgence of the divine glory should assume humanity; that He who was with God, and who was God, should be made flesh and dwell among us; that He who could say, "All that the Father hath is mine," should take upon himself our infirmities and bear our sorrows, is a miracle of miracles; is a wonder altogether unique: there is nothing like it in all the universe of God; there is nothing equal to it in all the works of God. It unites infinite extremes; it concentrates in ore person all the attributes of the Deity, and all the properties of humanity; it brings down heaven to earth, it raises up earth to heaven. While it invests human nature with the perfection of God, it exhibits in one person all the might and the majesty of the Eternal with the weakness of human nature.

But, great as this wonder appears, it still seems to increase as the Saviour advances to that important crisis which was to finish his work. It was not to be completed merely by the exhibition and the view of his character, by the energy of his power: there was a work before him which, when he contemplated, even the Saviour shuddered, and was induced to say, " If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." The darkest shadows passed over him; the waves of tribulation rolled over his head. He stands at the bar of man charged with blasphemy, with treason-condemned to die the death of a felon-is led to a public execution-hangs upon the cross, and expires amidst the hisses and the scorns of men, the exultation of demons, and under the stroke of that sword which nothing but Omnipotence could wield, which smote the sacred victim until he exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

The temporary obscuration of all his glory, however, passed away when the third morning arose, and he was confessed" the Son of God with power." He ascends into heaven; he is placed on the throne of universal empire; the keys of hell and of death are placed within his hand: he has a name given him above every name that can be named; angels, principalities, and powers, pay their highest honours to him; the elders, the saints, and the angels of God, are ascribing glory, and honour, and blessing to him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.

Now, Christian friends, we see the wisdom of man always proportioning the means to the end, the expenditure to the purchase, the effort to the object. And this is the case, so far as we can understand the works and ways of God, so far as they come under our observation. And can any one suppose that all that has yet transpired is adequate to so vast an expenditure of means for the salvation of man, an expenditure of means possessed of such infinite grandeur? It was announced as the condition of the covenant of peace, that if he should make his soul a sacrifice for sin, he should "see of the travail of his soul, and should be satisfied." This was the joy set before him," for which he

endured the cross and despised the shame:" and in the contemplation of this he says, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." And he therefore sent forth his disciples to " go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." And will the Redeemer receive ample indemnification for all his sorrows-will his gracious and merciful heart feel the full recompense of all that he endured, by a small minority, by a fragment of the human race? Will he "be satisfied," or will any thing reach to the terms that are here expressed, of his joy and satisfaction, short of the salvation of an inconceivably greater number than has ever yet been brought to the knowledge of the truth? He was manifested for the express purpose of destroying the works of the devil. Till this be accomplished-as long as idolatry reigns over a very considerable portion of the globe, as long as imposture and delusion enslave the minds of men, as long as Christianity itself has its beauty disfigured, and its power neutralized, by the superstitions with which many have connected it— can any thing be adequate to this expense of means, short of that salvation, the extension of that salvation we have already noticed, which shall embrace all nations, and all tongues, and kindreds, and fill the whole earth with the divine glory?

Once more: the magnitude of that scale on which the divine wisdom n proceeded in the preparatory process for introducing this great salvation to the world, perfectly concurs with the extent of the plan announced, the predictions that are given, and the means that are employed. In all the works of God, we see that he accomplishes his great and important objects, not by sudden strokes, but by a series of preparatory and introductory movements The summer does not burst upon us at once in all its glories; nor vegetation at once reach to all its luxuriance. The corn must first unfold its latent organization, hidden from our sight beneath the ground: and the grain that is sown for the future harvest has a considerable process to undergo before the harvest is brought forth; it must germinate and put forth the bade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. And so we perceive, that in the way of divine providence, to accomplish any great event, we can generally notice a preparatory process which introduces the great event, and makes preparation for it. So it was in the exaltation of Joseph in Egypt: so it was in the release of the Jews from Babylon: and so you may observe in many of those circumstances of the Jewish history, which are recorded in the Book of God.

In general we may see, in all the works of nature, that those preparatory processes are generally proportioned to the great result in which they are to terminate that whenever these processes are many and complicated, and spread over a considerable extent of time, some great result is generally contemplated, and in some extraordinary event they generally terminate. We see in nature, that the simplest organization generally arrives in the shortest period to its maturity. Who then can view all the preparatory processes which have evidently attended the introduction of the salvation of God into this world, and which are preparing it for the further extension of the great salvation, without forming the most magnificent expectations, and anticipating the greatest results which the world shall see, far beyond any that has y been realized?

That all that took place before the coming of Christ, was preparatory, will