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Is this age of book-making, whon so many publications are issuing from the Press, it may be fairly presumed, that their Authors are influenced by the operation of different motives. One writes po doubt to improve his finances ; a second to dis- play his talents, and a third to benefit his fellow men. If me writer of the following discourse be not greatly mistaken, hw only motive in now obtruding himself on the notice of the pub- lic is to subserve the interesting cause of missions ; which he has been induced thus to attempt by the advice of several of his friends ; amongst whom, he feels much pleasure in mentioning the Rbv. W. Black. Should the following pages, therefore, contribute in anr degree to the fartherance of the missionary cause, the author wfll never regret their publication whatever the world^s opinion may be of them. Halifax, March 1st, 1830. \l taking C^ flood, 1 i' corrupt ,v ' cqnclusi >t ** the ft "'. guage, 1 A SERMON, &c. I- X, Zephamar, FF. 11. The Lord will famish all the gods of the earth • AND MEN SHALL WORSHIP HIM, EVERY ONE FROM HIS PLACE, rVEN ALL THE ISLES OF THE HEATHEN. It is a melancholy fact, that the largest portion of our species, pay divine homage to others than the " only true God." At what period this evil had its origin, cannot now be ascertained with precision. Maimonides and others, have supposed that it existed amongst' the Antediluvians ; but the arguments adduced in support of this opinion,' are more plausible than convincing, and possess ingenuity rather than force. Not long howe- ver after the deluge, idolatry made its appearance. Some have even conjectured that the Tower of Babe» was built for idolatrous purposes ; but, as that under- taking was commenced only a hundred years after the flood, we can hardly conceive either the increase or corruption of mankind to be such, as to warrant this conclusion. But after men were scattered abroad upon " the face of the earth," and no longer of one lan- guage, nor under the control of their pious progenitor! great changes tvouIcI doubtless very soon take place in ill I 4 J the opinions of some of the tribes, respecting the object of religious worship. We may venture to suppose,' that the respective wanderers would for a while, re- tain in tolerable purity, their notions of the Deity as received from Noah; but as the human mind in cir- cumstances much more favourable to speculation than theirs could have been, dwells not lonj on notions purely intellectual, they would soon associate ideas with them, more in unison with their degenerate na- ture. Man is so accustomed to sensible objects, and to the ideas of space, extension and figure, which they are continually impressing upon his imagination, that he finds it extremely difficult to entertain conceptions of any Being, without assigning to him a form and a place. Soon after the people's dispersion from Babel, this feature of the human mind began to unfold itself, in giving locality and form to the object of religious wor- ship ; for we are assured by Joshua, that in the third ;md fourth centuries after the flood, Terah the father of Abraham was an idolator ; and as the evil was then very prevalent, the probability is, that it had existed some time. As the people multiplied upon the earth, f^nd diverged from their common centre, their know- ledge of the Deity became more limitted and indistinct, ^ntil, like the prodigal, they " spent all,'''' and " darkness fs'overed the earth, and gross darkness the hearts of the people." Then did the vortex of idolatry loudly roar ; ^nd as age after age rolled away, it engulphed millions of immortal souls : and for many ages has it drawn with- \ 5 iu its fenrful ciMiep, not fewer than two-thirds of the human ramily. Appnllitir,^ consldGration ! And shall this siato of things remain wilhoiit mnlioration ? Shall six hundred minions cf our fellow men, every thirty year^, pars out of time into eternity, « without God, and wirho.u hope-'? Shall '- the god.-i of the earth" con- tinur: to .:surp the throne of Jehovah, without mo- lestation? and sluiH they triumph forever ? No: our tiiKt annoijnces the heart-cheerinjj news, that » the Lord will f.inish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.'" In these words we have the character of Idolatry im- plied^ (md its ovcrthrnni predicted. First, the character of Idolatry implied. 1. The te^t implies, that one trait in the character of IdoUiry is Polytheism. It does not say the god, hut "gods of the earth"— a certain implication that idola- try recognises a plurality of gods. From every accredited source or information, it would appear that the Sun was the f: s,,ohject of idol- atrous worship- and certainly to men who had lost a correct knowledge of the Deity, the place fittest for his hahitation would undoubtedly appear to he the Sun ; not only the most glorious and beautiful object in the universe, but from which they were sensible of receiv- ing the blessings of light and heat, and which experience taught them, was the source of vegetation. ' Divine homage was soon after presented to other heavenly bodies; for man having once forsaken the true God, his " foolish heart" became more and more darkened, and led him into the fatal and perplexing labyrinth of polytheism. This is clear from what Job said when exculpating himself from the charge of idolatry : " if" said he " 1 beheld the Sun when he shineJ, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand ; this were iniquity to have been punished by the judge ; for I should have denied the God above." Here is an un- equivocal intimation that the worship of the heavenly host, prevailed at the very early period in which Job lived. ISor did man stop here ; but in process of time he presented worship to gods supposed to govern above (he moon ;— to demons whose jurisdiction was io the air below ; — to heroes, or the souls of dead men,who were thought to preside over terrestrial affairs; — and even to evil demons from fear of the mischief they might com- mit. Lamentable as was this state of things, much mere distressing followed : man " changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corrupti- ble man ; and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creep- ing things." Thus did " the gods of the earth" multiply in number beyond calculation ; and amongst every peo- ple did they usurp the throne of the true God, save amongst the Hebrews, and sometimeg even amongst them. According to the vulgar notion, there were gods that presided over every district, nation, city and town: as also over every fountain, river and grove : and the cerebrated Athens was so full of statues dedicated to deities, that it was said by a satirist to be much easier to fir^l a god than a man in that city. The multitmle of heathen divinities became so prodigious, that Hesiod computed thirty thousand to be hovering above the earth in the air; and Varro enumerated not fewer than three hundred Jupiters. Happy should I be, were it in my power to say, that modern idolatry was of better character ; but alas! it is net; for into whatever direction of the Pagan world we turn our eyes they are met with « gods many." The objects of worship 5n Tartary, the Philippine Islandg^ and amongst many of the savages of Africa, are not only " the sun, moon and stars, but the four elements and serpents. At Tonquin, the several quarters of the earth are deified ; and In Guinea, birds, fishes and even moun- tains, and almost every where evil spirits." In China a multitude of imaginary spirits are worshipped, which, "are supposed to preside over the seasons of the year, over mountains and rivers, and even the door and hearth of the house,and to influence all the conceras of men." In Hindostan the polytheism is of the grossest kind-^ «ot fewer than three hundred and thirty millions of deUies of various characters, receive the adoraUons of their deluded and wretched votaries. 2. The text implies that another feature in the ch^ racter of idolat ry , is sensuality. Ita gods are the " gods of the earth,'' and prqperly so called, not merely in s opposition to the God of Heaven^ but from their earthly and sensual nature. If we look into the pagan calendar of the Andents, we shall meet with gods and goddesses of ihe hi£!:hest repute, of ioipure principles and immoral habits. For instance, Saturn is said to have been a murderer — Ju- piter, an adulterer — Bacchus, a drunkard — Venus, a prostitute, and Mercur}', a thief: besides, the histories oi Neptune, Mars, Dianna, and many oih(?r3 highly reverenced by the people, were full of impure adven- tures all calculated to corrapt and demoralize their re- spective worshippers. The consequence was, that the votaries of- these earthly gods imbibed their spirit as a virtue, and became earthly, sensual and devilish :" and to such a length was this carried, that fanes were erected to the most vicious passions, and a wor- ship of unmixed crime, was presented therein. Some of the Temples of the ancient Pagans were filled with the^ grossest abominations, from the very thought of which our minds cannot but revolt : and in many ql'theii sacred festivals the flood-gates of vice were thrown wide open; and vice, intemperance and licenciousness, burst- itig forth like a mighty deluge, swept away every vir- tuous principle, and left nothing but misery behind. , That such is the sensualizing spirit of idolatry, is fully proved by those prohibitory commands which the Israelites were to observe in the land of Canaan. In those commands every species of immorality, of which and '• torian, hetore tration chiipte moruls. master Mofl( are of posed h the eas by the marks o prominc as mere certain, influenci ancients, the sam( so that t by the g wickediji are " fu nity ;"— God, des| and disob standing, Jmplacabl 9 which humin nuturo i:^ cupable, is dislinctlv marko,! ; an.i - in all these things" nccoidin.^ fr> (!,« sacred hiJ torian, were '• the nations defile-l" which God ca.t out before his peoplo. And ^houM we want fnrther illus- tration on the subifct? we nned refer only to the first chapter of the Komans, where a picture of heathen moruls, as correct as it is humiliating, is drawn by a masterly hand. Modern idolatry hrrathos no f)urer spirit ; for its gods are of the same vicious character. Indeed it is sup- posed by a celebrate.l oriental scholar, tha' 'he gods of the ea.t are the sumo radically as tho.«e worshipped by the ancients; audit must be admitted, that the marks of resemblance are so numerous, and some so prominent, that fhey appear loo striking to he regarded as mere casualties : but be this as it may, one thing is - certain, the gods of Asia, in point of contaminating influence, arc not a whit behind the gods of the ancients. They breathe the same spirit, they sanction the same crimes, and they receive a similar worship ; so that their votaries like the ancient pagans described by the great Apostle, are " filled with unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousnew and maliciousness r'--they are " full of envy, murder, debate, deceit and malig- nity;"— they are ''whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, hoaHter.-, inventors of evil thm-g, and disobedient to parents ;"-~thcv are '' without nndpr' • stand; ng, covenant brunkers, without natural affe implacable, unmerciful. ction, ! i Huch was the mora! picture 10 ofthe heathen world eighteen hundred years ago, as irawn by the penci! of inspiration ; and which is still a very striking likeness of heathen morals: for if the tes- timony of missionaries and others who hare lived in hea- then lands be credited, it will appear that in all these things are the nations still defiled, who live without God in the world. Nor can it be otherwise whilst they worship such earthly gods : " Gods partial, changeful, passionate, unjust ; Whose attributes are rage, revenge and lust." 3. The text implies, that another feature in the cha- racter of idolatry is costly sacrifices. The famishing of which the text speaks reYers to this; it being a popular notion amongst the heathen, that their gods actually fe*? on the fumes and spirituous exhalations of the sacrifices presented to their idols, and that they were relished with a zest in proportion to the worth of those sacrifices: consequently they feasted their gods not only with he- catombs of inferior animals, hut occasionally with human victims, as being more valuable — thus rendering homi- cide a religious act, and thereby destroying those ge- nerous feelings which nature has implanted in the human breast. History ir forms us, that " the Ethiopeans were requir- ed by their laws to sacrifice boys to the sun, and girls to the moon. Among the Bhoenicians it was customary in times of public calamity, for magistrates to offer up ID sacrifice to the avenging demons the dearest of their 11 ago, as is still a the tes- in hea- ill these lOutGod 1st they the cha- ishiog of popular lally f<^*? lacrifices relished acrifices: with he- h human Dg homi- hose ge- I in the e requir- and girls ustomary offer up of their offspring. The, Scythians sacriticed every hundredth man of their prisoners to the god Mars;" and on one memorable occasion three hundred human victims bled upon their altars. The Egyptians sivjilftred rpH-haired men at the tomb of Osiris, and three men every day to preserve the good- will of Juno. The several states of Greece on their entering on war, were accustomed to supplicate the protection of their gods by human vie. tims; and the refined Athenians presented to tlie-ri the annual sacrifice of a man. The Romans, we are told, sacrificed children to their goddess Mania, during the first ages of their republic ; but in later periods they stained the tombs of their patricians with the blood of numerous gladiators, to appe:(se the manes of the dead. It is also" particularly mentioned of Augustus^ that alter the taking of Perusia, he sacrificed on the ides of March three hundred Senators and Knights to the divinity ofJu- lias Caesar." The Carthaginians practised the same un- natural custom, and in a case of public emergency sacri- ficed two hundred children of noble blood, beside thVee hundred of their citizens, who volunteered their lives to render their gods propitious to their country. The Gauls equally cruel in their worship, were accustomed in time of danger to set up a wicker image of gigantic size, and in the texture of which to entwine about an hundred victims, and consume the whole as an cflering to their gods. The Germans^ though less sanguinary in their offerings than the Gauls did nevertl.c!o?s slain their altars with human blood : as it was found necessary 12 so late as the eighth century tQ pass a law amongst them, nrohiliiling Hit; sale of shives for sacritice. The .Stcec/es sometimes sacriiiced their princes; aiul it is re- corded of one of their kings, that during a dangcrons illness, he offered up to Woden his nine sons to obtain the prolongation of his life. In short, the Persians, Arabs, Danes, Russians, and indeed, all the ancient na- tions of which we have any correct idea, attended to the same horrid and abominable custom. When America was discovered the same evil was found to prevail amongst its population to a most ap- paling extent. The Charaibees in 'he West Indies on the death of a renowned warrior, offered some of his captive slaves in sacritice. The Peruvians devoted two hundred children every year for the health of the Inca; and according to the Statements of the most re- putable Spanish historians, " Montezuma, the last reign- ing monarch of the Mexicans, annually offered up twentv thousand human victims to his favourite god." The Otaketians, we are told by Capt. Cook, offered bad men to their deities, and subsequent travellers have ascer- tained that nearly one third of their children were sacrificed. But alas! the horrid practice every where prevailed in pagan countries under some form or other. Modern idolatry is of no better character. The gods of the earth are still feasted with costly offerings. Human victims still smoke on their unhallowed altars! 13 and " the dark places of Uio earth" are still « f.,lj of the baM(n(ion3 of cr.ielfy." \n nearly all heathen lands with which xvn ar.> acquainted human sacrifices are ofierod ; h,it nnder various forms and modifications. In no place however is the custom so appaling as in India, where about two thousand widows annually iail victims to idolatry, either hy hu'rnin? or irihumation ; and hundreds more of our species perish in its sacred rivers and under the wheels of Jughernant's car, as sacrifices to its relentless gods. Such, U the character of Idolatry as implied in our text;~a character which it is impos?ihle to contemplate, without a poignancy of mind better felt than expressed! Secondly, the overthrow of idolatry predibted. " The Lord will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place,' even all the isles of the heathen." The text you per- ceive, foretells, in figurative language, that the gods of the earth shall he left without a sacrifice, and that the whole system of idolatry, with all its darkness, impurity and blood, shall he blotted from the world amidst the glories of the Saviour's reign. I. The prediction mentions the Jluthor of this over throw. » The Lord :--ihe living .nd true God, who is above every other god :-//« c. ^j,, f.^j^,, ^„ ^^^ of the earth." If thi. work were assigned to man, and to man exclusively, without any resources for dependence 14 than his own, well might he shrink from the magnitude of the work and hopelessly exclaim, " how can this thing be ?" But, though the work belongs to Jehovah, and cannot be performed by any power less than omni- potent; yet if we may judge from the general proce- dure of the Deity, and from certain declarations of his sacred word, the achievement will not be effected independently of means. And by what means shnll it be effected? Not by the influence of philosophy as some have vainly asserted. Were it even possible to make every man a philosopher, and every philosopher a So- crates, '• the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations" would not be "destroyed;" for Socrates himself was evidently under the "covering" and the "vail" ; and was so far ftom desiring to "famish the gods of the earth," that, in dying circumstances, he directed a fowl to be offer- ed to the god /Esculapius. Never were the heathen deities more numerous, or iheir altars more plentifully supplied, than when philosophy shone with its brightest splendour throughout Greece and Rome ; and if the observant Origen could say, that he " knew but of one Phoedo, and of one Polemon throughout all Greece, who were ever made better by their philosophy," it is vain, to expect the annihilation of idolatry by means of its operations. Neither shall the work be accompxiSuSd by means of the sword, as some have been pleased to affirm ; for 1 o he that useth the sword here^ shall perish hy the sword. 1 vvouKl not be understood, however, as saying that war will not he made the indirect means of leading to this overthrow ; because the Lord in the plenitude of his wisdom, may in this matter, as he does in many others, bring good out of evil and cause '-the wraih of -man praise him :^' but were we to employ such means to rescue the world from the grasp of idolatry, and in the overflowing of our zeal, consume in one general con- flagration its temples, altars and gods ; be assured, that phoenix-like they would spring again from their ashes ; and the expedition in every respect would be as unpro- pitious as were the crusades. By what means then, is this overthrow to be effected ? The Apostle replies, "iy the foolishness of preaching?^ Philosophy may refine the votaries of heathenism, and the concussions of war throw down its polluted and san* guinary altars: but it is the prerogative of a preached gospel, to '•'' turn men from dumb idols to serve the living God." Eighteen hundred years ago the experi' ment was first made ; and though it was made by a few illiterate, and despised fishermen ; and under circum- stances the most discouraging, it succeeded contrary to the expectations of unbelieving Jews and mocking Gen- tiles ; because it was made at the mandate, and in the strength of the Lord of^ hosts. The foolish things of the world confounded the wise ; the week things of the world set at nought the things that were mighty ; and the preaching of the Cross was '^ the power of God 16 unto salvation." Many were "turned fromdarknosa to light, and from the power of Satan to (lod :'' — the temples of the heathen were comparatively forsaken ; and the '• gods of the earth," famishinj::^ from the want of victims, fell from their ancient and polluted thrones. Since that period Jehovah has employed the same means in the destrnction of idolatry ; :»nd as " it hath pleased him thus to act, he will continue those means in operation, until all the purposes of his mercy relative to this world, shall receive their consummation: let it not however be forgotten, that "neither is he that planleth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." 2. The prediction specifies the extent of this over- throw : " The Lord will famish all the gods of the earth." When we consider the many formidable barriers oppos- ed to the accomplishment of this object, the <2:reatness 'of the undertaking seems to overleap the bounds of our conception, whilst scepticism laughs at the project as the aberration of a disordered mind. But what sav the atonement of Jesus ; the promise of the Father ; the word of prophecy ; the ministry of the gospel ; the oper- ations of providence; and the prayers of the pious? Has not the atoning Sacrifice made provision for it, seeing that Jesus " by the grace of God tasted death for every man" ? Does not the promise of the Father to the Son, assure him that he shall have " the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possessiou"? Does aot the word of prophecy, de- 17 clare, that the kingdom of Christ, which likn '• a stono cut oat of the monntinns without hands,"' ?hril! hrenk in pieces every opposing power, and '^ filJ iho whol.i> earth" ? Does not the ministry of the gogpr !, prncoed on principles of universal henevolence, and depi^n to make known to " every creature," the " unsaarchahle riches of Christ"? Are not the operations of providence at the present day, preparing the \r.\y among the na- tions for the spread of truth, and the general downfall of error? And do not the prayers of the failhlul, which God himself has taught and inspired, rise continually as incense before him, for the downfall of idolatry, and the coming of Christ's universal kingdom ? Then woe to idolatry ! it must fall— it cannot withstand such dcsifn^. or preserve its devotees from being overcome hy such an efficient influence. Its victims, must cease to smoke upon its altars^ and all its earth«y and sensual gods in- evitably perish. We have received more than an earnest of this <»'ene- ral overthrow, in what has already been accomplished. Where is the Moloch, and Baal, and Ashtarolh,and other ' celebrated pagan deities mentioned in the Holy Scrip-* lures? Where is Woden, and Thor, and Fri^a, the divinities to whom our own ancestors paid their adora- tions, and served with sanguinary rites ? And where is Jupiter, and Apollo, and Diapna, and Vulcan, and hun- dreds more famous in history, as the deiiies of Greece/ . and Rome ? Som« of them »i-e in circunjstanccs mora 18 humiliating: than those of JJajon, when he lost " his head and hands" before the ark, and had '• only the stump" remaining. Others are exhibited in natural museums, and mij^sionary establishments, as trophies of the glorious gospel ; and not one of them has a temple, pr an altar, or a professed worshipper in any of those places where they formerly usurped the throne of God, and led captive millions of immortal souls — No : the Lord has famished them from the land, over which they once held an unmolested reign : and on the sites of many of their temples, now staml cathedrals aad churches, dedicated to the worship of the great God. The work having been thus so successfully com- menced, and having gone on for centuries with tri- umph, we fearlessly assert, that it will never cease its operations, until it has washed the blood from every pagan altar, razed every heathen temple to its founda- tion, and famished not only Brahma, Budhu and Jag- hernaught— deities of so much notoriety in the eastern world, but the whole fraternity of the " gods of the earth ;" for the least vistage of idolatry, is a blot too foul to remain amidst the splendours of EmmanuePs sway. 3. The prediction foretells the happy remit of this overthrow. "Men shall worgbip him, every one from his place, even all the isles ©f the heathen." He is the proper object of religious worship, and " all the ends of the earth shall remember the Lord, and all the kindreds amongst the nations shall worship before 19 him." To ivorship God, imjjlies a knowledge of his character, consecration to his service, trust in his mercy and obedience to his laws : and though the heathen at present are tar from such a worship, being ignorant of the true God and the devotees of an impur* antJ cruel superstition ; yet, when their eyes shall be opened by the gospel of Jesus, which is to be preach- ed to every creature, they will turn them with dis^-ust from ^' abominable idolatries," and hasten to the altar of Jehovah, weepn^g «>s they go, crj/ing, God be merciful to us sinners! The Lord will hear their pray- er, receive the living sacrifice, l)lot out their transgres- sions and " call them by a new n«me," Th%'erv phice inccfise -sha!? b« offered unto my name," isailh Ihc Lord, •• from the 20 ri-iing (»l the sun even unto the going down of Ihe same.'* 'It litis been ti^pvoscJ, that by the '^ IflPi of the hea- thun" mentioned in our text, the British IsJee are to be uniierstood. Thai ever they shonld become the wor- shippersi ol" Jehovah was more improbable at the time of this prediction, than the conversion of the most de- graded portion of the human family is at the present period. These heathen isles, hi/wever, h;ive been not only converted to Christianity, but have become the glory oflhe religious world ; and thus given as a pledge of the complete fullilmcnt of every part of this animat- io prophecy. What a glorious period then, does our le.xt warrant us to expect ! to anticipate which, without the most pleasurable feelings, would be an apathy of mind highly reprehensible — a period when the world, purged from its abominations, shall become one vast and holy temple of spiritual worshippers, whose praises bursting from every point, shall roll like thunder through the hallowed place. In bringing these remarks to a close, permit me to observe, that the necessity of missionary exertions is fairly infered from this subject. An attempt has heen made to bring before you millions of your fellow beings, whose circ«ms':rnoe& are those of a wretchedness which nothing but mii; r'nn- operations can effectually re- lieve. Pause tl:v:'i . ^a ?r2/3 upon them 1 and let their tears, and sighs, \n>i I >oil touch :r :. finest syn)pnthies of 21 your hearts. Brethren! they are bone of your bonff and Hesh of your flesh ; tuul will you restrain your hovrels of compassion from them ? ShHil they remain in the grossest darkness, whilst yen have ^'a lamp unto your feet and a lij^ht unto your path"? Shall they con- tinue cutting' (heir Hcsh, destroying their children and performing piLMimagps In hope of salvation- thus ''spending thoir money for that which is not bread, and their labour for th^t which salislieth not;" whilst yon po==ses.s capabilities of shewing them that which is good, and of guiding their fcpt into the way of peace ? Where then 16 your love to the Saviour, who bids you, in con- junction with his Church, go and teach all nations, and to give as freely as you have freely received ? " The glorious gospel of the ble.i^ed God is committed to your trust," and He, '^ who will have all men to be saved," directs you to preach it to every creature; and will you pervert the trust thus invested in you ; and prove un- faithful stewards of the '• manifold grace of God" ? Je- su8 claims your obedience and man your sympathy, and that on the most equitable grounds; and have you the audacity to resist the claims of both God and man ? Yourseiious attjution, your flowing tears whilst lam speaking, and your former liberality to the cause of missions, all say No. But should there be an individual present possessing this world's goods, but whose sordid mind refuses to contribute of his substance ia aid of any measure for the salvation of D.lllions of immortal fieuls,— I envy not his feelings— I covet not his circum- 09 Stances ; but earnestly pray to be delivered from sucn a state of mind, lest the blood of others should be re- quired at my hands. The Missionary cause which you are this evening invited to support, contemplates as you fully know, the melioration of perishing millions of your o\vn specie* ; and identifies itself with the blood of Christ ; the songs of Angels; the salvnlion of a ruined world; and with every ennobling and generous feeliiig of the human heart. Need 1 then press upon you " the necessity of ^ coming forward with your prayers, your inlluence, your faith and your pecuniary means, in aid of this glorious cause ? Shall I beseech you for GoiPs sake^ who gave his Son to die for you? or for the heathen's sake, who are children of the same family with your- selves ? or for your own sakes, that you may escape thie corse which came upon Meroz, for not going up " to the help of the Lord against the mighty" ? I do beseech you, — and beseech you to aid this blessed cause now' for souls are perishing! — perishing by hun- dreds ! — perishing whilst I am speaking ! Ifit be true that men die In the proportion of one to every moment, three thousand six hundred souls have passed out of time in — the course of the last hour; and it is more than proba- ble, that two thonsand five hundred of these had no knowledge of the true God, before their exii^ What; two thousand five hundred of the heathen gone into Eternity, since we assembied here ! Wen of hviwA help: ♦ontribute of your substance ; — send forth your mis* sionaries;- offeropyour prayers ;-exert ail your io- fluencei-display all your energies; and in the name of ibe Lord of Hosti, determine to « save souls frow death." The certainty of Missionary success, is another infer- ence which may be drawn from the subject. Other undertakings may fall, and be productive of nothing but loss, disappointment and shame; but the cause of missions, being the cause of God, must succeed and ultimately triumph in every part of our globe. It may be discountenanced by the lukewarm professors of re- ligion ; opposed by the men of the world, and assailed by all the strength and subtilty of the angel of dark- ness; but it cannoi be overthrown; for He, who has all power in heaven and in earth, has pledged himself in the words of our text, m well as in many other parts o^ the inspired volume, that it shall meet with the most glorious success. Let this then be your encou- ragement, and let it animate your spirits in every sea- son of trial which you may meet with in the prosecu- tion of this good work. Remember the missionary cause, like the British drummer, has « never learned to beat a retreat." Its motto is, ^^ onward r Its author cries ^^ onward r'> and the watchword is "onwarrf.'" through every part of the missionary host. In the ni»«e oj-the God of missions then, determine to proceed,aod let nothing induce you to become " weary in well doing," knowing that « in due time you shall reap if y»u faint 24 not." The "signaof .he t,mes"snaybe "discerned" bv »n almost superficial observer, and nre-oflhe n,ost en- curajmff oharac.er to the friend, of mMo^s ; as .hey .nd,ca.e .he approach of ,ha, halcyon period, „hen the Angel deicendingfron. heaven,, hall lighten the ear.h «.th h.s glory, and cry „i.b a strong and migh.y voice, Babylon , he g„a. is falten, 1. fallen! Babylon .he great .s alien!" and when n,«m.„des of Angelic be-ngs shall respond, « Hallelujah ! .he Lord God Om- nipotent reigneth !"— AMEN. S^j :erned" hy e most en- 3 ; as they when the the earth hty voice, by Ion the '^ Angelic God Oio- ,♦*< .•». .''. > «- -i r -».' V b*:?" •'"•'-'- '« 'aVu 0« »>.'. IT: .*S( ##^^# r n t) 4 r:i . . i\ i i / •'). li**'- I'U^je M, 10. u] Bah ( i. (ubi aich'' road to h, •,, "■ into*" read in. ,. '' cauu"' toadmakc. '■ tlio Au>!o.-h''reRd \i "f' r'<< 11 tucU P!0"'t'XHioi •ta; iOiOt/l ■'f'ia 'v'o.-t3'i' 1^^ :''.^<'''i*«'t«*^ ?*<,'*.,'. ^^;i«i'>^## *y* "H* ^^ **-*' a"-*! ** \-. ^■»*- ###i!^##4i-^#