angels attended him at his birth, and the heavenly host sang in celebration of that event,*"Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men," he nevertheless condescended to make a manger his cradle, to dwell in the family of a poor carpenter; and although governor of all worlds, to put off his glory, and sojourn for thirty years in the abode of his poor and despised mother.

It was from among the poor and uninstructed that he chose his disciples. Peter and Andrew, James and John, were poor fishermen, the sons of fishermen, and Matthew was a collector of taxes. The attendants upon his ministry were generally from among the poor; for although,

in some few instances, we find the chief among the Jews, as Nicodemus and others, came to him, anxious to learn from him of his doctrine; yet it was but seldom that the chief priests and scribes came together, excepting for the purpose of catching him in his talk, that they might have

*Luke ii. 14.

grounds whereon to accuse him to their governor, and condemn him to death. It was these poor and uninstructed Galileans, on whom the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and who spake with tongues, so that Jews assembled from every nation under heaven heard them speak in their own language in which they were born the wonderful works of God. It was by these humble instruments that the Christian religion was first propagated, which went on conquering and to conquer, until the corruptions of the Romish Church on the one side, and the delusions of the false prophet on the other, darkened the brightness of that religion which God had sent his Son and Spirit to come down upon earth to propagate and extend. But these corruptions were predicted in the book of the Revelation, and only afford an additional proof that the Bible is verily and indeed the Word of God.

The same book, which is thus proved to be inspired by the events that have actually taken place, with no less authority de

clares,*"that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." The means which are chosen for the accomplishment of this prophecy are for the most part natural. We cannot now expect that the Spirit will descend upon us as in the day of Pentecost, and enable us to speak in the various languages of the earth; but the ministers of the gospel ever carry with them the promise made by the Saviour himself to his apostles just before his ascension, t" Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world!" and they may with confidence hope that the Holy Spirit will carry home the word spoken, and influence the hearts of their hearers, without which influence a Paul might plant, and Apollos water in vain.

But the ministers of the gospel cannot effectually aid in this grand cause, unless they have an opportunity of addressing the language with which all are acquainted to the people--and the opportunity cannot be given unless a place be prepared in which + Matt. xxviii. 20.

* Isaiah xi. 9.

their address

may be made. The bulk of every population must consist of the poor, and therefore it is in the highest degree necessary that means should be adopted for the gospel to be preached to the poor, in order that the great design which God had in view in the salvation of mankind may be accomplished. It therefore becomes an imperative duty upon every man who desires that the knowledge of the Lord should cover the earth, to assist in providing means for the poor to hear the gospel.

The zeal of the first converts led them to form churches in almost every town of the Roman empire and the then known world; and no sooner had Christianity overspread the world, and the government itself become Christian, when means were adopted not only for its universal preaching, but for the universal continuance of that preaching by the institution of funds for supporting it; pious kings and pious. men, in our own as well as in other countries, apportioned a certain part of the

land, and the produce of that land, for the support of the ministers, the repair of the edifices of the church, and for promoting the temporal and spiritual welfare of the poor of the districts in which the churches were built. The possessors of the land in those early periods of our history, as well as their successors after them, held their lands with a perfect understanding that these claims were attached to them; and it was not until a few years since that the spirit of liberalism and infidelity, goaded on by avarice, have become so strong, that any decided steps have been taken in opposition to these claims.

It is then upon this principle that the Church is established. A provision has been made an ample provision, had not the hands of rapacity and violence directed it from its religious to secular purposes— for the ministers of the gospel, for the preaching of the gospel to the poor, and for the building and repairing of those buildings in which that gospel can be heard. And this, my brethren, is the glory of our