They will all appear, therefore, but as borrowed and diminished lights, too destitute of energy and warmth to give that light and comfort which are necessary to dispel the sinner's fears, subdue the powers of guilty darkness, or draw us nearer to the realms of light and glory.

The more distinctly, then, we comprehend what has been and ever must be, the miserable state of the human mind, when alienated from God, and living in contempt or ignorance of His counsels, the more we must feel it to be our duty as the depositaries of the divine oracles, and stewards of Christ's spiritual household, to endeavour that the light which has shone forth on our hearts may reach its saving effects on the hearts of others also. The faith of the Gospel is a lively and operative quality, exerting itself in an active conformity to the laws of our great Lord and Master, who, throughout the whole of His Ministry, was employed in seeking and saving a lost and perishing world.

Though many among us are still unthankful, undutiful, proud and unholy, yet considered as a people, what people are so highly favoured and so understanding a people as Christian nations are in general? What people so civilized, so compassionate, so free to do good as those people are, who have been most exemplary as Christians in seeking and following the counsels of God's spirit? Wherever the: spirit of the gospel is most cherished, there will every virtue the more prosper and flourish, and eve

ry evil passion of hatred and strife, dishonesty and falsehood be the most subdued.

We have a promise of spiritual light and comfort, comparing the outpourings of the spirit to heavenly rain and dew. "Give ear O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O Earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass; implying the renewing powers of the Holy Ghost, His refreshing influences to comfort, strengthen, and ripen for the season of ingathering of the fruits, the general harvest of the world. And again "I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses." The spirit shall go with the call, to bless all who embrace it, and the blessing shall never die away, or fail while there is a dry and thirsty soul ready to receive it.

The Gospel shall go on and prosper: even the most barren and unpromising countries shall be made to rejoice in the Lord, shall have some green pastures and sweet choice places and refreshings to flee unto, where all may drink and preserve their souls from death. Can any of us, then, doubt the sufficiency of the same spirit to keep us alive unto the Lord as plants of God's watering? Can we hear of all these spiritual gifts and blessings in Christ, and

*Duet. xxxii. 1, 2.

† Isaiah, xliv. 3, 4.

not rejoice in faith that they are the inheritance of us and our children? Can these blessings and promises be believed and not thirsted after? Can we know where such heavenly water is, and be heedless about seeking it? Living in a land where our Bibles are open to us, in a land where we have the advantage of being instructed in the religion of the Son of God, can we be indifferent to the drought upon all the earth beside? Has the Gospel been preached to us and attended with its own light and demonstration, will not our obligation be the greater to recommend it to the world, and to make an effort for the salvation of thousands who are perishing for the "lack of knowledge?" Can we be told of the insufficiency of the means of instruction which at present exist without emotions of compassion? Can we hear the loud call upon our Church for more effectual aid, without sympathy? Can we listen to the urgent demands for additional Missionaries without wishing that the funds of "the Society for the propagation of the Gospel" were more equal to the exigencies of the case? We know how to appreciate episcopal jurisdiction in our own Island; and can it be of less value among those Christians who emigrated from our own shores? Is it not important that the congregations in our vast dominions on the other side of the Atlantie should be trained up in the principles of the Gospel, which would otherwise be as sheep without a shepherd?

Our motives for sending that gospel to others which we have ourselves received are indeed most urgent. We are all debtors, debtors unto all men, to the Jews and the Gentiles, to the poor and uninstructed in our own country, and to the unenlightened heathens abroad. On whatever heathen nations we cast our eyes, we see them in the language of St. Paul, "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, having their understanding darkened, without Christ and without God in the world."* To these we are bound by every tie of duty to transmit the light of Christianity. Let us call to mind the state of the ancient Britons. What race of men has been more barbarous or more devoted to Idolatry? In such a state we should have been found to this day, had not a Missionary landed on our shore, and brought to us the glad tidings of salvation. If angels had been sent on this errand of propagating the gospel, they would have gloried in the work; but it is work given to poor simple worms, to go and plant the standard of the Gospel in heathen lands, to have compassion on the ignorant and those that are out of of the way, to announce "deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. †" Shall we not, then, rise up to this glorious work?

*Ephes. iv. 18.

† Luke, iv. 18.

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Shall we not stand forward to "the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty ?*" Mayou may be ready to say, what can I do? To this I answer, you can all do something towards forwarding this work. In assisting the efforts of these Societies in whose behalf we are assembled this day, all the Members of the established Church may manifest their zeal and securely gratify their desire of enlarging the kingdom of their Redeemer.

The Ministers of God's Word and Sacraments will not hear these things with indifference, pledged as they are by a solemn vow to the cause of God and His Church. The lay members of the Church will also, doubtless, feel their responsibilities in this momentous crisis of their fate, and give their patronage and support to these sister institutions.

By engaging to co-operate with these two venerable Societies, we connect ourselves with the goodly fellowship of the prophets, with the noble army of martyrs, with the glorious company of the apostles, through whom the "Scriptures were given by the inspiration of God, and are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works.†"

As a Minister of the established Church, I cannot but feel concerned for her safety at this moment of

* Judges, v. 23.

† 2 Tim. iii. 16.