substitution of one set of religious rites for another; but while it removes all that is impious in idolatry, it displaces all that is odious and abominable in vice. It presents the first table of the law, and says, "Thou shall love God with all thy soul;" and then holds up the second, and commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Wherever the Gospel of Christ is permitted to govern society, it banishes all that can afflict, and introduces whatever can comfort, the human race. All the crimes and the curses of society flee before it, while all the blessings of earth follow in its train: it not only brings learning, and arts, and sciences, with all that can adorn the mind and embellish life, but, as its chief benefit, it establishes the reign of charity. This it has done to a considerable extent in many places already; and even its enemies have acknowledged it. And he that would see what religion can do, has done, and will yet do, in exalting benevolence on the ruins of cruelty, and in establishing the reign of mercy,-let him contemplate, as he may do, through the medium of missionary reports, the once wild and savage Esquimaux, converted into peaceful, harmless, and benevolent followers of the meek and lowly Jesus; or the once murderous Otaheitans, who revelled in the blood of human sacrifices, and slaughtered without remorse their own children, now exhibiting a character remarkable for its clemency and gentleness; or the once marauding tribes of South Africa, casting away their poisoned arrows, and their assagays, and exhibiting a moral transformation as great and striking, as if the lions, that prowled around their tents, were changed by miracles into lambs. And are these the triumphs of that religion, of which the many branches, and the multiplied duties, are summed up in that one wordLOVE?

Friends of humanity! by all the love you bear to God or man, I conjure you to labour to the uttermost in extending the religion you profess. Estimate, if you can, the deep guilt of neglecting the cause of Christian missions. None of you have done what you could have done, or what you ought to do, in this most sacred, most

important cause. I ask, what proportion of your property ought to be put in requisition for promoting the universal reign of charity? Is a tenth, or a fifth, or a third, enough for that cause, the object of which is to teach all men that dwell on the earth to love God supremely, and each other as themselves?-enough to be given for the purpose of cementing the whole human family together in a union of affection?-enough to give to a cause, which, when it is completely victorious,—and completely victorious it will be,-will banish pride, and malice, and envy, and revenge, from the abodes of man? How can you live in splendour-how can you enjoy your luxuries-how can you dwell with delight upon your accumulating hoards of wealth,--while all this is wanting to extend the influence of religion?-Alas! alas! because you have so little of it in your own soul. Christian benevolence, were it felt in its full force, would lead to self-denial, to economy, to simple habits, to personal, sacrifices, in order that you may have more to spare for the great object of Christian missions.

But in addition to your property, and your influence, give to the cause of missions your private, sincere, fervent, believing, and constant prayers. It is only by the power of the Divine, Omnipotent Spirit, that the kingdom of Christ can be established in this selfish world. Read the chapter which we have considered, compare with it the present state of mankind,--and then say if aught but the same power which called the chaos out of nothing, and raised this fair and beautiful world out of chaos, can effect a transformation so astonishing and sublime as would be affected, if this region of dark and vengeful passions were converted into an abode of holy, and mild, and benevolent affections. Beseech Jehovah daily, that he would arise and plead his own cause; for surely love must be eminently the cause of him who is infinite in goodness, and delighteth in mercy. Give him no rest till, in answer to believing and earnest prayer, he shall 66 say, Behold, I create new heavens, and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in

that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and whilst they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."

CHAPTER XIX.

IMPROVEMENT, BY WAY OF EXAMINATION AND HUMILIATION.

SELF-EXAMINATION is the duty of every Christian, not merely that he may ascertain whether his faith be genuine, but whether it be sufficiently operative. It ought not to be a frequent and undecided question with any one," Am I in reality a child of God?" but it should be a constantly recurring inquiry, "Is there any one branch of religious obligation, which, through the deceitfulness of the human heart, I do not feel? or, through a criminal heedlessness, I habitually neglect ?" The object of self-examination, with a believer, is to supply those defects in his graces, and to put away those remains of his corruptions, which, though they may not prove that he has no piety, prove that he has less than he ought to have. For this purpose, he should often bring his actions and his motives to the standard, and try his whole profession; as well what he does that he should not do, as what he does not that he should do. If we are to exhort one another daily, lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, we surely ought to examine ourselves daily, for the same reason. Our guilty self-love is perpetually attempting to throw a veil over the sinful infirmities of our nature-to hide their criminality from our view; and thus to keep us in

a state of false peace, by keeping us in ignorance. Against this deceitfulness of our heart, we can only be guarded by a frequent and close examination of our whole selves.

A frequent examination of our hearts and conduct is necessary, because of the multitude of our daily sins, which are often so minute as to escape the observation of a careless and superficial glance, and so numerous as to be forgotten from one day to another; and so, they either come not into notice, or pass out of recollection and therefore they should be summed up every evening, and repented of, and forgiven, before we compose ourselves to sleep,—that nightly returning harbinger, and monitor, and image, of approaching death. The advantages of frequent examination are so many and so great, as to recommend the practice strongly to all who are deeply anxious about the welfare of their souls; by this means we shall not only detect many sins which would otherwise be lost in our attention to greater ones, but we shall more easily destroy them, and more speedily revive our languishing graces; just as a wound may with greater facility be cured while it is yet fresh and bleeding, and an extinguished taper, while yet it retains a strong sympathy for light, may be rekindled, either by the near contact of a neighbouring flame, or by the timely application of a little well directed breath. "Sins are apt to cluster and combine, when either we are in love with small sins, or when they proceed, from a careless and incurious spirit, into frequency and continuance; but we may easily keep them asunder by our daily prayers, and our nightly examinations, and our severe sentences: "for he that despiseth little things," said the son of Sirach, "shall perish by little and little." A frequent examination of our actions will tend to keep the conscience clear, so that the least fresh spot will be more easily seen; and so tender, that the least new pressure will be felt; for that which comes upon an already blotted page is scarcely discerned, and that which is added to an already great accumulation is hardly seen or felt. This, also, is the best way to