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lose sight of these examples; let us nobly emulate them, and prove to the world that we deem the christian cause worthy of our warmest affection, and of our most liberal support.

5. This prayer implies dependence on Divine influence. We have been exhorting you to pray. And what is prayer, but an expression of dependence? You are aware that the performance of this duty cannot act as a charm on the benighted world; that it is of no avail otherwise than as it engages the energy of the Deity to execute his own plans. We have exhorted you to generosity; but you know that all the abundance of the earth and sea, the largest pecuniary efforts, cannot ensure the conversion of a single soul. Prayer for the object will indicate a proper disposition, and liberality will be some proof of our sincerity; but these means derive all their efficiency from the attendant influence of the Holy Spirit. Though the apostles were endued with miraculous powers, and furnished, in an extraordinary degree, with gifts and graces that fitted them for the task of evangelizing mankind, yet they placed their whole reliance on the Divine blessing. They declared that the weapons which they used were mighty through God; that Paul might plant, and Apollos water, but that God gave the increase;

that all things were of God, who had given to them his Holy Spirit. They affirmed, that all those who believed had received the word in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; that they had been washed and sanctified by the Spirit of God; and that no one could call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. It was on Divine influence that they constantly depended for success; and, under its operations, they saw the prejudices of the Jew, the hostility of the Greek, and the ignorance of the barbarian, yielding to the evidence and force of celestial truth. Men are now, as they were then, at "enmity against God;" proud, self-willed; "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;" and are as disinclined to receive the humbling doctrines of the gospel as at any former period;

consequently, if any permanent good be effected by the exertions of Christian Missionaries, it must be traced to the same Almighty energy which subdued and regenerated the murderous Jews by the preaching of Peter, and the licentious Corinthians by the labours of Paul.

To a man who is unable to discern the connexion between Divine influence and human agency these observations might seem to reduce the doctrine of means to a mere nullity; such a conclusion, however, would indicate an

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entire destitution of scriptural knowledge, the result of gross inattention to those dispensations by which the Eternal Sovereign conducts the affairs of the universe. Dependence on the Spirit of God strictly accords with the employment of means. To argue the case were unne cessary; it is agreeable to the reason of things, and is supported by a train of facts coeval with the history of the church., Instead of being opposed to means, this Divine exercise affords the highest encouragement to use them; for the christian philanthropist feels that he is engaged in a work in which the Deity himself condescends to operate; a work, which, while it is carried forward by the instrumentality of men, shall afford the most brilliant display of the all-sufficiency of God. "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us; unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

DISCOURSE IV.

MATTHEW, Vi. 10.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

HAVING Considered, in the preceding discourse, the nature of the Divine kingdom, and the believer's prayer for its advancement, I am now to insist on a subject which is intimately connected with it; the affectionate and universal obedience of mankind to the will of God.

From the moment in which man apostatized from his Creator, he lost sight of the reasonableness of those commands which required his obedience, as well as of their suitableness to promote his happiness. The yoke which previously to his defection was easy and delightful, he impiously burst asunder, and declared

himself resolutely hostile to his Divine Benefactor. This principle has spread its contagion through the whole world, so that, since the fall, no individual of the human race has, without supernatural influence, been disposed to revere the Divine authority; — "They are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one." Now, the design of the Supreme Being, in erecting a kingdom in this world, is, to bring back his fallen creatures to their allegiance; and, consequently, to establish his dominion over their hearts; that his will, which all intelligent agents are under eternal obligation to obey, may be done in earth, as it is done in heaven.

In treating on this subject, I shall attempt to show,

I. What we are to understand, in this place, by the will of God.

II. That God justly requires man to do his will.

III. That his will ought to be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

I. Let us endeavour to explain the meaning of the term,-"Thy will."