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offices of love, how we may lighten each other's burdens in the share of woe.

8thly. Our good is evil spoken of, and liable to become the object of detraction, when we disparage or make light of the missionary character itself.

of opinion so monstrous, interpretations of Scripture so extravagant, crudities of sentiment so disgusting, claims of infallibility so atrocious, simulations of inspiration so indecent and profane? If there be such a thing as religious insanity, we certainly have of late been favoured with some of its strangest contortions, the most fantastic babblings. And can we be surprised if error, if enthusiasm, if some visionary, if some absurdity, spring up in our churches abroad-weeds in the wastes so recently redeemed-demons returning to the dwelling which has been so lately emptied, swept, and garnished-the heaving of the storm only just now dispelled, the rocking of the ocean just allayed. But it would be better to turn from them, and to turn from ourselves; let us think of all the wildnesses of extravagance in the churches of Galatia and Corinth, and then say whether we ought in fact to speak harsher of those who may have gone astray under circumstances of peculiar temptation, where character could not have been well formed, principle well settled, or feeling well disciplined.

By these operations, a school has been formed in which greatness has built itself a house, with heroism of purpose, and dint of courage, and lovely and sublime enthusiasm and zeal. We love to think of such men, and we think that nothing is too great to be conceded to them, and that no honour is too vast to be devolved upon them. But is it not very possible that sometimes to such men we give a servile rank, a grudging support, a supercilious patronage? Do we not deem them too much our agents whom we may employ, whose purposes we may counteract, and whose will we may control? I know there must be law-I know there must be arrangement-I know there must be some authority, and some deference. But I remember how missionaries have sometimes been dealt with and spoken of, and then contrast this with the conduct of the generous Paul-who had such a claim to command, and who was so likely to be right he wished Apollos to proceed in a particular course, and to do a particular work; but Paul was satisfied when he found that "his will was not at all to come." My brethren, let us remember that if there be any upon earthened and fortified the sinking heart, of the worthy of a generous confidence, worthy of a large discretion, worthy of a delicate tenderness, worthy of a cordial esteem, it is these devoted men who have "hazarded their lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus." Let us, rather than dictate to them, or offer any disparagement of their characters and their motives, bow down before the men of such minds, and seek more the happiness of such hearts.

Again. Our good may be evil spoken of when we anticipate results from missionary labours untenable on scriptural ground.

There has ever been a hope of some bright reversion, and some improved order of things awaiting mankind. This has lighted up the dying eye, and strength

wisest and the best of our race. Philosophy has clung to it-poetry has almost made it its own-the pythoness spoke of it upon her tripod-and the sibyl wrote it on her mystic leaf: from Delphi these promises went forth; and men have been always taught that there is a halcyon period coming when all their wrongs shall be redressed, and the presages of virtue be realized. Christianity consecrates this hope; it seems to wind around it the best yearnings and fibres of their bosoms. Remember what the gospel is: it is complete, it is whole. Therefore anticipate nothing that will innovate upon We have deviations, we have irregu- its character, nothing that will displace Jarities, we have wild fancies, we have its present claims, or its present glories. fanatical superstitions. What age or It is its honour that it cometh not with obwhat land ever yet witnessed speculations servation; nor can we find it with any VOL. I.-13

9thly. Our good may be evil spoken of in this missionary connexion, when we adopt harsher rules respecting our distant proselytes than obtain in our churches at home.

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thrust at the cause of Christianity, that all the past has been an idle dream, and that now we care not to give substantiation to it.

observation. Therefore "if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not." Whatever is the consummation, it must be true to the principles and the promises of our religion. And there are visions, without any disputed points-visions of glory, which stretch away to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills-there are ages of peace which shall rise with the last syllable of recorded time. We wait no other arrival of the day that shall cover our earth with thorns and with briers-we want no other covenant with the stones, and with the beasts of the field-we want no other period but a world filled with trees of the Lord's right hand planting-we want no other trees of life but those whose leaves are for the healing of the nation-we want no other new heaven, no other new earth, but that in which dwelleth righteousness. Tell me, then, of such a millennium as this contained in these words, supposing them to be addressed to the world at large :"Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men."- "Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you." Mark them which walk so, and paradise is restored, and Eden is regained. Lastly, Our good may be evil spoken of Desert it you will not. You may have if we do not follow up our success.

We have made a lodgment; and there are those who have gone up to the high places of the field, and they call on us to aid them, or they must perish in the breach. There is a harvest, and it bends under its own fruitful weight; it invites the sickle; and the wind begins to moan, and the air to chill; and in a little time the summer will have passed; and where thousands of hands should gather the spoil, and thousands of voices should swell the carol, there is seen, at immense intervals, solitary labourers, standing breast high, marked by the hopeless impracticability of their work, and by the cheerless silence of their sphere of labour. We are committed to Christianity-we are committed to all who are opposed to Christianity; we declare virtually that it is not worth a final exertion if now we give way; we declare, as we thus cruelly

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Such, my brethren, is the series of practical observations which I have endeavoured to impress on your minds; endeavouring to show you, that though you are doing good, yet that that good is liable to some imputation, and that it must be so done as to avoid and to resist all such imputations. I congratulate you on the results of your former benevolence, which have reached me in a distant part. We in a distant part, our pastors and teachers, have rejoiced in your good, and in our behalf that that good could not be evil spoken of. But it is necessary to persevere; and never are we in so great danger as when we imagine all danger is escaped. Therefore, look well to your motives, look well to your plans, look well to your exertions; and especially let not the charge of any thing new be brought against you. True, the subject has again and again been canvassedmade the subject of hundreds of discourses, addresses, and epistles. Show that it was principle that made you espouse it; and show it is no want of principle characterizes you in deserting it.

suffered as other cities have suffered, as other towns still suffer; yet nevertheless remember there is something you may withdraw from self-something you may retrench from indulgence: though when I speak to such a Christian assembly, I declare that to beg I am ashamed.

I rather will make my closing appeal to those who received one in the earlier part of the exhortation-you who have long heard the gospel, and have heard it in vain-lulled into sleep by the very beseechings of mercy, as well as by the very thunders of denunciation. You have had line upon line, precept upon precept. You ask us what is the fate of the pagan: alas! we can only say "the wicked shall be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God,"—who have not liked to retain God in their knowledge, and who have not only done evil things themselves, but have had pleasure in

STATE.

If the mere conception of the re-union of good men in a future state infused a momentary rapture into the mind of Tully; if an airy speculation, for there is reason to fear it had little hold on his convictions, could inspire him with such delight, what may we be expected to feel, who are assured of such an event by the true sayings of God! How should we rejoice in the prospect of spending a blissful eternity with those whom we loved on earth, of seeing them emerge from the ruins of the tomb, and the deeper ruins of the fall, not only uninjured, but refined and perfected, "with every tear wiped from their eyes," standing before the throne of God and the Lamb. What delight will it afford to renew the sweet counsel we have taken together, to recount the toils of combat, and the labour of the way, and to approach the throne of God, in company, in order to join in the symphonies of heavenly voices, and lose ourselves amidst the splendours and fruitions of the beatific vision!

them that have done them. This is the ON THE RE-UNION OF GOOD MEN IN A FUTURE fate of every heathen who dies in unrepented and unforgiven sin. And how shall he call on Christ as a Saviour of whom he has not heard? How shall he hear without a preacher? But as to your fate-if there be any thing like a veil over his as to yours, it is written distinctly, it is written signally; and he who runneth may read. You who have no cloak for your sins-you perish like Nadab and Abihu, before the mercy-seat; you perish, like the inhabitants of Jerusalem, bathed with a Saviour's tears. You perish, but you wade through the blood of the cross in your journey to hell; and you see the form that hung upon it, and you hear the voice that spake from it; and that form shall ever haunt your eye, and that voice shall ever haunt your ear, while for eternity you are tormented with the devils and the damned. Yours is the retribution of incensed mercy, and wearied forbearance, and exasperated love. Yours is not the retribution of the Jew-yours is not the retribution of the pagan; yours is a retribution all your own: it is not even the retribution which is allotted to To that state all the pious on earth are the devil, though you share the everlast-tending; and if there is a law from whose ing fire with the devil and his angels. operation none are exempt, which irreNo there is a pang in it which you your-sistibly conveys their bodies to darkness self have inflicted; there is a peculiarity and to dust, there is another, not less cerin it which you yourself have infused. And methinks that pagans and Jews, and the devils themselves, as they see you tossing in the fire-see you sinking from gulf to gulf, and from deep to deep, will be glad to escape the agitation of your rage be glad to escape the fierce upbraidings of your voice-be glad to escape the violent, the overwhelming terrors of your eye. Like the spectators of the mystic Babylon, they will stand afar off, for fear of your torment." How shall you escape if you persecute, oppose, jeer? No, no: how shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation? May God add his blessing. Amen and amen.

tain or less powerful, which conducts their spirits to the abode of bliss, the bosom of their Father and their God. The wheels of nature are not made to roll backward; every thing presses on towards eternity; from the birth of time an impetuous current has set in, which bears all the sons of men towards that interminable ocean. Meanwhile heaven is attracting to itself whatever is congenial to its nature, is enriching itself by the spoils of earth, and collecting within its capacious bosom whatever is pure, permanent, and divine, leaving nothing for the last fire to consume but the objects and the slaves of concupiscence.-Hall.

SERMON VIII.

THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF IMPENITENCE.

BY THE REV. J. A. JAMES

OF BIRMINGHAM.

"But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”—Rom. ii. 5.

in the text, that they lay up treasure in hell. After the hardness and impenitent heart that they possess-that is, according to their hard and impenitent heart, they treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath.

You will very naturally and very justly | implied they do it)—that they lay up conclude, that, if the sermon harmonize treasure in heaven: of the wicked it is said, with the spirit of the text, the preacher does not intend to-night to trifle with your souls. God, in mercy to himself and you, forbid that he should! The man that can trifle in the situation he now occupies, and in presence of the scene by which he is now surrounded, must be as incapable of impression from objects truly sublime, as he would be forgetful of the object which brought him to the pulpit, and unmindful of his responsibility to Him that sent him there. Listen to me while I very plainly unfold and enforce the meaning of the text; and it shall be my endeavour that nothing in the mode of representation adopted on this occasion shall-stand between the truth and your consciences.

The love of money may be said to be the ruling passion of the great portion of mankind. How eager are their desires how great their efforts-how ingenious their plans-how unwearied their industry, to lay up wealth! And yet, as they brought nothing into the world, so neither will they take any thing with them when they leave it. All the fruits of their labour they must leave behind them; and, unattended by any thing but the results of their conduct, enter into the presence of the all-searching, the all-seeing God. But there is a sense in which it may be said all men are laying up treasures in eternity. Of the righteous it is said they are laying up treasure (or, at least, they are exhorted to do so, and therefore it is

This language was primarily addressed to the Jews. The apostle intended to impress them with the idea that all the interpositions of God on the behalf of their nation, through every period of its history, was designed to lead them to repentance; but, instead of complying with this design, they were wilfully ignorant of itthey were obstinately impenitent and unbelieving; and, instead of being melted to repentance by the riches of mercy, they hardened themselves by unbelief and impenitence, so as to expose themselves to the wrath of God. Viewing them in their collective capacity, as a nation, the text_received its accomplishment when the Romans came and burnt their city and temple, and carried into a miserable captivity all who survived the slaughter of the siege; and so great, so unparalleled was the misery endured by Jerusalem during that awful period, that, to quote the language of Josephus, “it seemed as if hell had been let loose to consume them with all its fires, and curse them with all its plagues." But these sufferings were only the type of that misery which, as individuals, they endure in the unseen world. It is to this more especially the

language of the text refers. It bears on the case of all-that is, of all the impenitent; and I design, under the first head of discourse, to consider the nature of impenitence; and, in the second place, the penal consequences of it.

tried by the pure and perfect law of God:
not merely some general notion, taken up
by education or from others, that we are
not quite perfect, and that matters are not
altogether with us as they should be; but
it is founded upon, and necessarily im-

In the first place, we are to consider plies, a clear view of our sinful state as
"After transgressors against God's laws-that

THE NATURE OF IMPENITENCE.

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thy hard and impenitent heart." hard heart is the same as an impenitent one, and an impenitent the same as a hard heart. Hard-heartedness in reference to religion has the same meaning as it has When in reference to other concerns. we speak of a hard-hearted man in reference to his conduct to his fellow-creatures, we speak of one that has no susceptibility to impressions of pity, no feeling for the misfortunes of others-one that is not moved by the sight of another's wo;in short, one that is without feeling for the distresses of the human race. A hard heart in reference to religion means the same thing, only the object is changed. A heart destitute of feeling in reference to religion means a mind that has no clear views of sin, a heart that has no convictions, no emotions of grief on account of its transgressions in the sight of God. There are various degrees of hard-heartedness. Some are given up to what is called total and judicial obduracy. There are no gleams of conviction in their judgment; there are no emotions of grief for their transgressions in their hearts. Others are only partially hard-hearted. In this sense of the phrase they do occasionally relent; there are moments when the mind seems to begin to perceive its awful condition in the sight of God, and when the heart begins in some measure to feel its dangers. But these seasons are transient, and give way to predominant indifference in reference to sin, and pardon, and eternal life.

thy hardness and impenitent heart;" or, we have broken them a thousand and a thousand times, in thought, word, and deed. Connected with this, where there is true penitence, there is a consciousness that we are deservedly under the wrath of God, and the curse of that law which our sins have violated. The man who is not prepared to admit that he has sinned to this extent, to such an extent as to be under the wrath of God, condemned to die, and deserving of hell-the man who is not prepared to admit his sin to this extent is not convinced of sin, and can have no penitence on account of it. Connected with this clear view of his sinful state, and that, in consequence, he is exposed to the wrath of God, and under the condemnation of the law-in connexion with, and in addition to this, wherever there is penitence there is alarm. The man is startled in his indifference, awakened to see his awful condition, and that, unless something be done, he must perish, and perish eternally. It is impossible the mind can be at ease, carelessly indifferent, without the emotion of fear, that is, in a state of penitence. Connected with this, there is an ingenuous disposition to confess sin to God, without extenuation, without excuse, without self-defence. There is no penitence where there is a disposition to palliate, and to think well of ourselves. On the contrary, penitence causes a man to smite on his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Penitence implies grief for sin, mourning over it. And again, penitence implies a disposition to forsake sin, as that which is exceedingly hateful to him by whom it is indulged. Hence you observe the meaning of the apostle's expression when he distin

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But perhaps we shall better understand this subject if we consider what is the nature of penitence; for impenitence being a negative term, we shall clearly under-guishes between sorrow and repentance: stand it if we take a view of its positive

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"Godly sorrow worketh repentance that needeth not to be repented of." That is, where there is genuine grief for sin, it will produce an entire change of

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