belong to the heathen, or to the christian world.

Our duty then, my brethren, in regard to the Gentiles in this age, is to do what was done in the first age; to assert the truth of revelation by oral preaching, or by writings sent among them; praying that God would do honour to his own word by the witness of the Spirit; and depending on "the author and finisher of our faith," for a blessing on the work which He hath commanded.

But those who disbelieve the doctrine of the atonement, and of the influences of the Holy Spirit, will never be solicitous to communicate Christianity to heathen nations; and, for this obvious reason, they have no motives. Survey the whole body of men, now employed in the four quarters of the globe,

in promoting the Gospel of Christ, whether societies or individuals, and whether by preaching, by writing, by pecuniary contribution, or by personal exertion, and you will find that they ALL, or nearly all, believe in the doctrines of divine grace, and of atonement by "the blood of the Lamb." For these are the doctrines which engage the heart and affections; and, when men have felt their power and consolation, then have they found MOTIVES for diffusing them. When we shall have learned to consider the Gospel as "the UNSEARCHABLE RICHES, and the INESTIMABLE GIFT, then shall we earnestly desire to impart it to others.

Thus much of the consequences of disbelieving the spiritual doctrine of Christ. We further observed, that many persons disbelieve also his divine predictions.

Our Saviour foretold that, the city of Jerusalem should be destroyed on account

of its sin, before the generation, which then lived, had passed away. And he warned mankind that this judgment on Jerusalem would be a type of the judgment of the world at the last day; and that, therefore, if the first event should come to pass, they might believe in the certain accomplishment of the second. He further referred them to a former great event in the history of the world, (as if to establish the fact by analogy) which was a type of both the subsequent events; namely, the judgment of the FLOOD. "For, as it was," said he, "in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the

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days of the Son of Man." As if he had said, the scene which the world saw ONCE, it shall see AGAIN. "As it was, so shall it

BE. Now, my brethren, let us look

round, and survey our Christian community, and inquire whether there be any tokens of a general belief in this prediction of our Saviour? At the time our Lord uttered it,

N

1

he added the following sentence;

"heaven

" and earth shall pass away, but my words "shall not pass away." But even this "solemn declaration makes no impression on many. In regard to them, "his words "have passed away." They are regarded as "a voice, and nothing more.

VI. Let us then impress on your minds, once more the solemn admonition, to believe the words of Christ, and to prépare for those events which "must shortly come to "pass." There are many persons who sincerely desire to establish their principles, and to secure for themselves the consolations and support of an unshaken faith, against the day of trial. But they find they make but little progress in the great work, as the years revolve. Being occupied by the business, or fascinated by the pleasures of life, they perceive that they cannot fix their thoughts on the scenes of the world

to come. Holy scripture, they find, cannot be read with interest by a man of the world. By this, indeed, its divine original is proved. In the midst of dissipation, they can peruse the most solemn pages of Pagan antiquity; but they dare not read the Bible. And, after some years have passed in this manner, (the sacred volume being all the while unread, and never meeting their view in the societies to which they belong) they begin, at length, to doubt whether there shall be a day of retribution at all. They once read that "the blood of the Lamb"

was shed, to "deliver them from the wrath "to come.' But they now begin to doubt whether there shall be a "wrath to

"come.'

How, then, is such an one to be delivered from the fatal error into which he is falling? and which will certainly destroy