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addressed exclusively to the apostles of our Lord, or to those who sit in the apostles' seat; but binding upon the consciences of all, and each, of those who profess to believe upon Him, or hope to share the merits of His finished work? Have you enforced it upon every one, from the greatest to the least, that to him Christ speaks continually, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ?"*

Have you done this, duly, perseveringly, habitually? That is, have you exerted yourself in private, whenever you had opportunity, to impress this most necessary truth upon all your people of every grade? Have you done so in your public ministrations, not only by an OCcasional discourse directed immediately to this point, but introducing it frequently. Have you given it a place a place among the most. necessary and cardinal points of Christian practice, numbering it amongst the fruits which the love of God shed abroad in the heart will surely and invariably produce, and showing that the careless, nay, the presumptuous neglect of this

*We are not all called to preach, in the literal sense, any more than to go forth "into all the world;" but we are, each one of 15, minister and people, old and young, male and female, rich and poor, bound by the spirit of our Lord's command, bound in every way which is open to us to "be fellow-helpers to the truth," bringing "forward on their journey," and receiving such as are called to preach unto the Gentiles. 3 John 8.

It would have been easy to have adduced passages from the Scriptures to show this, but the reader will perceive that the universality of the obligation, to bear each our share in the work of Missions, is rather assumed than proved in these pages.

duty, which is so common among us, is in reality a repetition of the daring reply of Cain, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Have you shown your people that as God has ordained that the poor shall be always with us, in order that the springs of our benevolence may never lack a channel into which they may discharge their streams, so (for surely this is one true view of the wondrously mysterious fact) He has permitted a moral famine, a famine of the bread of life, to oppress hundreds of millions of immortal beings, that there may be room enough for the fullest. expansion of the highest aspirations of the renewed soul; even the inextinguishable desire that the same Saviour, whom that soul has found "precious" to itself, may be believed in, worshipped, and loved, by all our perishing fellow-creatures?

When God gives a plain command, it is ours to yield a ready and an unquestioning obedience; and yet what command is there, the reasonableness and the benefits of which God has not condescended to unfold? Such compassion for our infirmities He has wonderfully displayed with respect to the injunction I have just quoted; it is plain, so that he that runs may read it, yet it is enforced upon us by so many arguments, and we are invited to obey it by so many inducements, that there is no one subject in the whole round of Christian ethics which admits of more diversified treatment, or affords a wider field for the pulpit or the platform. I pass by all but one particular branch of the subject, my

desire is to impart to you a full and clear view of the blessings which we may expect to descend upon our own flocks and upon ourselves, if we strive adequately to fulfil this great and plain, but too long neglected duty. Did we but set forth, as we ought, those truths, did we but enforce, as we should, those responsibilities on which I have just now touched, it is my strong and deeply-rooted conviction, that we should find. ourselves in possession of a weapon, of whose weight and edge and temper we had no previous conception; a weapon especially adapted to piercing through that discouraging listlessness and coldness of spirit, of which we so much complain.

And is not this conviction based upon a firm. foundation? The command is plain, our responsibility undeniable; and no obedience is without its reward. This principle is true in general; and clear, beyond all question, is its applicability inhis particular instance. The Bible says, "he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will He pay him again;” and if this be true of the meatthat perisheth, or of the gold that groweth dim, how much more, if that which is bestowed be the true wealth and the means of growing rich unto eternity! Surely it cannot be, when a blessing is pronounced upon the gift of a "cup of cold. water only," that he, who is constrained by the love of Him who for his sake became poor, and denies himself that he may impart to others the means whereby they may obtain the living.

water, should in any wise lose his reward; a reward not of pardon, as for a meritorious work performed, but a large increase of those blessings which minister to solid peace, and enduring joy.

And now, perhaps, you will be ready to acknowledge that in almost any other parish the minister ought, even for his own people's sake, to make some exertion on behalf of the great work of fulfilling Christ's last command. In your case, however, you are ready to say, it is impossible, the weapon here recommended is not placed within your reach. In fact, the difficulties with which you are beset, though you would gladly exclude them, press into your mind. Let me speak of one or two of them.

Your thoughts recur to the ignorance of your flock as regards the commonest matters, and you fancy it impossible that they should ever realize the existence of such a state of things as is taken for granted in the most ordinary relations of Missionary enterprize. But I would remind you, that to dispel this very ignorance, to familiarize their minds with these very facts, is to raise them in the scale of intellectual and moral beings, and to loosen the bands of that narrow selfishness, with which they have been hitherto confined, and which helps to harden the soul against the attacks of spiritual truth.

You instance the deep poverty of most of your people, and give this as a reason why you cannot adopt the plan. But I am not recommending the bare collection of money. From the mere

habit of giving, some (not unmixed) good may accrue; but the blessing I contemplate must flow from a far higher source, and be built on a far more adequate foundation, I mean, the infusion and vigorous growth of a true Missionary spirit. And this may pervade the heart of the poor and of the rich, with equal power and with similarly blessed effects. As regards money, however, they are few who can give absolutely nothing, and as few are those who will not give something, if they be but fired with the spirit of love for the souls of perishing idolaters. And what if they have but "two mites" to give? let them bestow them in a right spirit and from a pure motive, and they shall have praise of Him who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. Nay more, if they have nothing whatever of this world's goods, they can bestow their effectual fervent prayers, and these we know avail much; yea, so much that it may be truly said, not only that he who prays the most, is the richest benefactor to those for whom he prays, but also, that he lays up for himself the richest store of blessings.

The case of many of those who could give, awakens a different and a very painful recollection in your mind. Their backwardness, their manifest vexation, when the subject of giving is brought before them, and the niggardly response with which they meet your most touching and affectionate appeals, makes you dread the recurring periods, when you are compelled to call for donations to parochial schools, or to collect the sums required for the due celebra

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