sons to every creature-for going forth with it to every haunt and every habitation where immortal beings are to be found—— for not merely carrying it beyond the limits of Christendom, but for filling up with instruction the many blank, and vacant, and still unoccupied places, teeming with population, that, even within these limits have not been overtaken. What shall we be told, that if there is a man under heaven, whom the Gospel has not yet reached, it is but obedience to a last and solemn commandment, when the missionary travels even to the farthest verge of our horizon, that he may bear it to his door-shall we be told of the thousands who are beside us, that, though their souls are perishing for lack of knowledge, we might, without one care or one effort abandon them? Are we to give up as desperate, the Christian reformation of our land, when we read of those mighty achievements, and those heavenly outpourings, by which even the veriest wilds of heathenism have been fertilized--or, with such an instrument to work by as that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which in the hands of the Spirit of God hath wrought its miracles on the men of all ages, shall we forbear, as a hopeless enterprise, the evangelizing of our own homes, the eternal salvation of our own families? "Be of good cheer," says the Spirit to the apostle, "I have much people for thee in this city ;" and that, a city, too, the most profligate and abandoned that ever flourished on the face of our world. And still the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. Neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. It is open as ever to the cry of your intercessions-and on these, we would devolve our cause. We entreat the fellowship of our prayers. We know, that all human exertion, and eloquence, and wisdom are vain without them that, lacking that influence, which is gotten down by supplications from on high, sermons are but high-sounding cymbals, and churches but naked architecturethat mere pains are of no avail, and that it only lies within the compass of pains and prayers, to do any thing. And we, indeed, have great reason for encouragement, when we think of the subject of our message. When we are bidden Gospel-it is to pro

in the text to preach, it is to preach the

claim good news in the hearing of the people-it is to sound

forth the glad tidings of great joy--it is to tell even the chief of sinners, that God is now willing to treat him as a sinner no longer; that he invites him to all the honours of righteousness; and that in virtue of a blood which cleanseth from all sin, and of an obedience, to the rewards of which he is freely and fully invited, there is not a guilty creature in our world, who may not draw nigh. Should he who preaches within these walls, turn out the faithful and the energetic expounder of this word of salvation-should the blessing of God be upon his ways, and that demonstration which cometh from on high, accompany his words-should he, filled with zeal in the high cause of your immortality, be instant among you in season, and out of seasonand devoted to the work of his sacred ministry, he make it his single aim to gather in a harvest of unperishable spirits, that by him as an instrument of grace, have been rescued from hell, and raised to a blissful eternity-should this be indeed the high walk of his unremitting toil, and his unwearied perseverance--. then, such is the power of the divine testimony, when urged out of the fulness of a believer's heart, and made to fall with the impression of his undoubted sincerity on those whom he addresses; that for ourselves we shall have no fear of a good and a glorious issue to this undertaking; and, therefore, as Paul often cast the success of his labours on the prayers of them for whom he laboured, would I again entreat that your supplications do ascend to the throne of grace for him who is to minister amongst you in word and in doctrine-that he may, indeed, be a pastor according to God's own heart, who shall feed a people here with knowledge and with spiritual understanding-that the travail of his soul may be blest to the conversion of many sons and daughters unto righteousness-that he may prove a comfort to all your hearts, and a great public benefit to all your families.

SERMON XV.

ON THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND

CONSIDERATION.

ISAIAH 1. 3..

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Ir would appear, from this verse, that the children of Israel neither knew nor considered--but still there is a distinction suggested by it between these two things. And in the book of the prophet Malachi, we have a similar distinction, when the Lord says to the priests, "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart." It is, in fact, possible for a man to do one of these things, and not to do the other. He may know the truth, and yet he may not consider it. He may hear, and yet not lay to heart. Nay, he may have heard of a particular doctrine so often as to have got it by heart, without ever laying it to heart. And this, we hold, to be the just and the applicable complaint that may be uttered of many professing Christians in our day.

And thus it is, that we may gather the difference which there is between knowledge and wisdom. The one is a speculative acquirement. The other is a practical faculty or habit.. By the latter, we turn to its right and profitable use the former. Thus it is, that there may be great folly along with great scholarship; and, on the other hand, may an unlettered mind be illustrious in wisdom. You have, perhaps, seen when there was great wealth, and yet, from the want of judicious management, great want of comfort in a family; and what stands in fine and beautiful contrast with this, you may have witnessed the union

of very humble means, with such a skill and consideration in the guidance of them, as to have yielded a respectable appearance, and a decent hospitality, and the sufficiency of a full and regular provision. And so, with the treasures of intellect, the acquisitions of the mind, whereof one may be rich, being pos sessed of most ample materials in all knowledge and information, and yet have an ill-conditioned mind notwithstanding; and another destitute of all but the most common and elementary truths, may yet, by a wise application of them, have attained to the true light and harmony of the soul, and be in sound preparation both for the duties of time, and for the delights of eternity.

All have so learned to number their days as to know the extreme limit of human life upon earth; yet all have not so learned to number their days as to apply their hearts unto wisdom. They are aware of their latter end, but they consider not their latter end.

I. This distinction between knowledge and wisdom, is abun dantly realized even on the field of earthly and of sensible experience. The man of dissipation may have his eyes open to the ruin of character and of fortune that awaits him, yet the tyranny of his evil desires constrains him to a perseverance in the ways of wretchedness. The man of indolence may foresee the coming bankruptcy that will ensue on the slovenly manage. ment of his affairs, yet there is a lethargy within that weighs him down to fatal inactivity. The man of prone and headlong irritation, may be able to discern the accumulating mischief that he raises against himself in the hostility of those who are around him, and may even look forward to the time when, de. serted dy the friendship of all, he shall live a néglected outcast from all human companionship; yet, continue as before to be hurried away by the onward violence that seizes him. In all these instances, there is no want of knowledge in possession. But there is a want of knowledge in use, or knowledge in ap. plication. The unhappy man has the truth of the matter in his head. But he does not lay it with the authority of a com. mander upon his practice. The present urgency carries it over all thought of the future consequences. He has received the truth, but he does not give heed unto the truth. He does