sionaries for that station; and, having done this, she departed. But her coadjutor, Dr. Haweis, survived, and four years afterwards, according to the manuscripts of Greatheed, he "took a very active part in the formation of the London Missionary Society, chiefly in order to accomplish that object;" while Lewis and Bicknel came forward to fulfil the engagement they had given to the Countess, and became the first men in the first mission of the new Society. Gentlemen! these are facts which honourably and intimately connect you with the work of missions generally, and with the missions to the South Seas in particular. This honour, however, allow me to remind you, involves a high responsibility. In whatever appertains to Christian missions, your College ought to take the lead of all the academic establishments in England. Things little, local, narrow-minded, harmonise but ill with the origin and the primary object of your Institution, and still worse with the apostolic spirit of its illustrious founder. Hitherto, neither the College nor the community of the Countess have fulfilled their high destiny. The ministry of that body have, till lately, moved in fetters; and hence a lamentable imbecility has characterised the whole of its operations. The position both of ministers and people has been a false one; it has been equally incongruous with reason and with Scripture, and the result has been the evident, the inevitable superinduction of a deadly paralysis over the entire denomination. In devising their property, the Countess and Whitefield both committed the same error on the same grounds-to avoid the Mortmain Act; and the error, in both cases, has been attended with consequences equally injurious to spiritual vitality, to moral vigour, to Gospel diffusion, and to ecclesiastical expansion. The Wills, in the respective cases, clothing the quasi Proprietors with powers limited only by their own pleasure, they uniformly acted as even the best of men, so circumstanced, are but too prone to act. A deed, it is true, so framed that the trust was not expressed but implied, might have been so administered as to leave nothing to be complained of -nothing to be desired; for while such a deed would have provided nothing, it would have permitted every thing that the soundest principle, the most enlightened experience, and the most enlarged liberality could have suggested or demanded. The misfortune is, that the deed of the Countess was not so administered. Justly, indeed, does the recent able biographer of her Ladyship exclaim, "Had the Connexion been wisely managed from the period of the decease of the Countess, how extensive and flourishing would it have become by this time!" Is it not just cause for bitter lamentation, that the mismanagement of man should mar the work of God? How affecting are the words of the Countess in her Will! "The grand view," says she, "and desire of my life hath been the good of all mankind, by the spread and promotion of the Gospel of the Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, both abroad and at home; and I have the most earnest desire and hope, in my latest moments, before and above all things, that the same may be promoted by all possible means." In regard to her trustees also, she avowed, with the solemnity of death upon her lips, that she relied " on the Almighty power and good grace of Jesus Christ to dispose their hearts in all things, which may tend most to His honour and glory, and the real good of mankind, by spreading and promoting His glorious and precious Gospel, as well abroad as at home." Behold, in these testamentary terms, the prominence and priority which are given to missionary enterprise both at home and abroad, and the obviously paramount anxiety which the noble Peeress felt about foreign missions! Turning from her Ladyship's Will to the history of her Connexion and to the last Report of the College, we find sad proofs of the disappointment of these devout wishes and generous expectations. How small the number of her community; and, for the most part, how feeble the larger proportion of its congregations, as compared with what might by this time have been realised! How insignificant, above all, the band of missionaries that have issued from the College of this noble and most apostolic personage! But, Gentlemen, let us be of good courage: "the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever." The set time to favour your Zion is at length come. The winter is over and gone, and everything appertaining to your Connexion is now putting on the aspect of a genial spring. new and healthful element of popularity is infused into the whole administration of your affairs; caprice has given place to reason, and bondage to freedom; light and A liberality to darkness and penury; union and satisfaction to discord and disappointment. How cheering it was, at the last anniversary, to hear the noble and liberal sentiments to which your trustee and chairman, Mr. Challis, gave utterance! How emphatically, in the midst of the great assembly, he advocated the most liberal administration of the affairs of the Connexion as essential to its prosperity! How prompt and cordial were his assurances, that, whatever is required by the spirit of the Gospel and by the spirit of the age, should henceforth characterise that administration! This is the first grand and indispensable step towards your renovation. But, Gentlemen, after reforming the government, everything, under God, depends upon the professorships of your College. Now there are on this head equal grounds for congratulation. The arrangements made for your tuition are such, that you need not envy the students of any kindred institution. 66 Gentlemen! such is your position; and I leave you to say whether that position does not involve the most solemn responsibility. The genius of the lovely spot in which your lot is cast, is the genius of missions. Other English Institutions have been created specially with a view to supply the necessities of existing religious communities, but yours was created for the express purpose of spreading the knowledge of Christ among destitute and perishing men. The words already quoted from your founder's Will, show that she had in her bequests an especial view to home and foreign missions, particularly to the latter. How emphatically she reiterates the word-Abroad! Gentlemen! her mind is unchanged. Her prayer is still, 'Thy kingdom come!" If she has one desire respecting her College, it is that it may be, and continue to be, the College of missions. From her seat in bliss she thus speaks to all whom it doth or may concern: "Let no man be appointed to act as a trustee of my estates, whose spiritual stature is not such as to enable him with facility to overstep all the barriers of sect and party, and to traverse the entire realm of Christian love through all its regions, and whose zeal in the cause of home and foreign missions is not an all-engrossing passion! To supply existing congregations, though a legitimate, is but a subordinate object of my College; its great end is to furnish men of zeal and energy to break up new ground at home, and to supply, from age to age, hosts of apostolic men to go far hence among the Gentiles. Nor any be appointed professors in my college, who are not like-minded, whose charity does not comprehend the globe, with all its millions! I wish them to understand that they are the professors, not of a denomination, but of the Church general, and that, while it is their privilege to supply ministers for all evangelical bodies, it is their duty to supply missionaries for all nations. I have, therefore, to request that they will, above all things, familiarise the subject of missions to their own minds, and make it a principal element in their academic prelections. Should they even so impress the minds of each successive class of students with the claims of the heathen, that they shall, to a man, all prefer the foreign service; so far from deeming it a misfortune, I shall consider it a consummation of unparalelled glory! I will exceedingly rejoice to behold my College become exclusively a College for missions. Let the whole of the home and foreign missionary societies send thither their students to be trained for the work of evangelists! Oh! let them go and welcome, and enjoy to the full all the blessings which it imparts!" let own? Such, gentlemen, is unquestionably the view of the glorified spirit of your founder; such also, thanks be to God, is now that of your trustees and tutors; what is your Do endeavour to realize the honour and obligation of your academic position! As you walk amid the shady groves of your Institution, or repose and meditate in their lovely bowers, far from the hum of cities and the distractions of public life, think on her, who, at every turn, may be surveying you unseen! Let your spirit commune with her's on a Saviour's love and a world's ruin! Muse till the fires of evangelical compassion burn within you! Fill your minds with the whole literature of missions, and warm your hearts with its pure and holy flame; then, in the strength of the Lord God, go forth as burning and shining lights to animate and enlighten the cold and benighted counties of your native land, and all the nations of our wretched world! Accept, Gentlemen, these counsels of your sincere friend, as a token of deep interest in your welfare. London, July 2, 1841. J. CAMPBELL. A SERMON, BY THE REV. WILLIAM JAY. PREACHED AT ARGYLE CHAPEL, BATH, ON SUNDAY MORNING, JAN. 12, 1840, On behalf of the Sick Man's Friend Society. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."-2 Cor. viii. 9. My brethren, the Gospel is not a sys-, as ye abound in every thing, in faith and tem of opinions, but a collection of facts. utterance, and knowledge, and in all diNow facts have this peculiar advantage ligence, and in your love to us, see that to recommend them when they have ye abound in this grace also. I speak not once taken place, they are unalterable. by commandment, but by occasion of the Men may deny them, they may misrepre- forwardness of others, and to prove the sent them, they may abuse them; but sincerity of your love." But he has they remain in themselves for ever and something to adduce, more Divine and for ever the same, and God Himself animating than the example of the Macedonian believers. He leads them from the less to the greater, from the servants to their Lord, from the stars to the Sun of Righteousness. "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." cannot alter them. Upon such a foundation are the faith and hope and confidence of believers reposed; and therefore when the apostle would encourage them against the fears of condemnation, he refers, not to a number of reasonings, but to a number of facts, and says, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." The facts announced in the Gospel, not only open the sublimest sources of consolation, but they furnish also the most powerful motives to holiness and good works. We have an instance of this in our text. The Macedonians, having received the Gospel, displayed the benevolence which will always flow from it, when it is not received in vain. "In a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." "For to their power," says the apostle, "I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves; praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God." Struck with this noble example, the apostle urges the Corinthians to follow it; "insomuch that he desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in them the same grace also." 66 Therefore, Your attention must this morning be called to five things. First, the Saviour's greatness: "He was rich." Secondly, His humiliation : "He became poor." Thirdly, the design of it: "that ye through His poverty might be rich." Fourthly, the principle of it: His "grace." Fifthly, your knowledge of it: 'ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." 66 The words of the text attracted my notice at the late festival; and they would have been very appropriate but I remembered this occasion of benevolence, and I knew they would enable me to adhere to my practice, which is, commonly, to preach no charity sermons unless sermons founded in the charity of God our Saviour towards us, and in our charity, for His sake, towards others. We hope these reflections, therefore, will prepare your minds for the application which will be made at the close of the discourse to your well known generosity, on behalf of one of the most excellent charities I am acquainted with—the Sick Man's Friend Society. here is a contrast between His riches and His poverty. And it is well known, that the one preceded the other; He was rich before He became poor. Had it been said that He who was poor became rich, some seeming countenance might have been given to the scheme of those, who deny, that He had any being before He was born of the Virgin Mary. No one can deny, that He who was poor became rich, for He was "received up into glory;" angels, principalities and powers being made subject unto Him, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. But the apostle tells us, that "He who was rich" before he was poor-"He who was rich became poor.' Discarding His pre-existence, what sufferable sense can be imposed on the apostle's language? A man cannot pass from one situation or condition into another before he exists: and where there is no previous dignity, there can be no condescension. The enemies of the present truth, will not allow that He was rich before His entrance into our world; for, according to them, He had no being; and they cannot allow that he was poor after He departed from this world, for He "ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things;" and therefore, accordingly, He was "rich," and "became poor," here on earth. How, pray, was this? Was He ever otherwise than poor whilst He was here? Hear their explanation. He was endued with miraculous powers: He could work miracles; He could heal the sick with a touch; He could raise the dead with a word; the elements were under His controul. He was rich. But He waived these prerogatives of the Son of God. He paid the tax of the temple, though it was His Father's house; He never employed His powers for His own relief; and especially He never exerted His authority to rescue Himself from the hands of His adversaries, but yielded Himself up to injustice, suffering, and death. He became poor.' | rebuked the winds and the waves, and there was a great calm." If He pays the temple tax, He orders a fish to furnish the means of doing it. If in the garden He yielded to the apprehension of His enemies, He first makes them fall backward to the ground. He there heals the ear of Malchus by a touch, and replaces the member. And with regard to his death, in this sense he was never so rich before. Every thing, all creatures, seem to bear homage to Him. He is “crucified through weakness,” but the earth shakes, the rocks burst asunder, the veil of the temple is rent in twain, the graves are opened, the dead arise, the sun hides his face in darkness, the dying thief addresses Him in prayer, the centurion watching exclaims, " Truly this man was the Son of God" and "all the people that came together to that sight smote their breasts and returned." Hence Rousseau, after having compared, or rather contrasted the death of Socrates and the death of Christ, eloquently exclaims, "In a word, if the death of Socrates be the death of a sage, the death of Jesus is the death of a God." We say, then, His incarnation. tures the same? that He existed before And say not the ScripSearch the Scriptures. "What if ye What said He Himself? should see the Son of man ascending up where He was before ?" "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world." "Before Abraham was, I am." Moses "esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." Micah said of Him who was to be born in Bethlehem-"Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made." Thus we not only find Him existing, but existing divinely too. How rich was He in the nature and the claims of Deity! How we are lost in the thought of eter I never like the construction of a pas-nity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omnissage, which requires a long, roundabout paraphrase, in order to give it birth; which would never enter the mind of a common reader. Besides, this is false, and contradicts itself. In this sensetheir sense-He was rich when He was poor. If He slept in the storm, wearied nature requiring repose, "He arose and cience! How rich must He be, who possessed all these! And He possessed them, if there be truth or meaning in the Scriptures. How rich was He, whose dominion was universal, and whose possessions were boundless! He could say, "Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills; the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof." | circumstances attending His birth. Born How rich must He be, who could pro- in a stable, and laid in a manger, He duce all these, and uphold them all by could boast none of the honours of illusthe word of His power! "The eyes of trious birth; for though He was descended all wait upon Him, and He giveth them from a royal line, that was now reduced their meat in due season; He openeth and impoverished, and His mother acHis hand, and satisfieth the desire of knowledges "the low estate of His every living thing." Then "in Him were handmaiden." Nor was He exempted hid all the treasures of wisdom and know- from the weaknesses of infancy: He totledge." What accomplished beings have tered before He could walk; He lisped we had in our world! How wealthy are before he could speak; He passed from some in mind! What amazing intellec- ignorance to knowledge. Luke tells us, tual stores they possess! Think of New- that He "increased in wisdom and stature ton, Boyle, Locke, Jones, and others. and in favour with God and man." He Take a common almanack: see the exten- was not rich in literature or education. He had no tuition; He was brought up at no university, and was not trained at the feet of any Gamaliel. Therefore the people exclaimed, "Whence hath this Man wisdom, seeing He was never taught?" to come. siveness and the certainty of astronomical science; see the punctilious elucidation of every lunar and solar eclipse for ages Take all the wisdom of all the men who ever lived on earth; and add to this all the intelligence of all the angels in heaven; and remember, that all these in their aggregate, are no more to His infinite understanding, than a drop to the ocean, or a beam to the sun, and that all has been derived from Him. From His greatness, let us passII. To His HUMILIATION. "He who was rich, became poor." You are not to suppose from hence, that He ceased to be what He had been, or divested Himself of the prerogatives of Deity this was impossible. But He veiled them. And the first degree, therefore, of His humiliation was, His assuming our nature. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." It would have been a low stoop in Him, if He had taken upon Him the nature of angels: but He stooped much lower-" He took not on Him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham." "Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." "In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest:" and it was so. The next degree of His humiliation, was the manner in which He became incarnate. Though man absolutely is nothing, yet he has often a relative and comparative importance. Take a nobleman, a hero, a philosopher, a king: here you find humanity raised above its ordinary level. "I said, Ye are gods." But now observe, Jesus appeared in no worldly grandeur. Nothing could be more obscure, abased, abject, than the VOL. XIII. He ❤ He was poor in accommodation. was a stranger to the elegancies and the ease of thousands. He was sometimes destitute of accommodation; He said Himself, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." He was poor in reputation; He was a worm, and no man." He was called " a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners," a Samaritan, a madman, a heathen, an enemy of Cæsar, a blasphemer of Moses. He was poor in sympathy. The feelings of persons struggling with hardships, or under sorrow, are often relieved when they excite commiseration and notice: but though it is natu ral for the sufferer to exclaim, "Pity me, pity me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me," He had none of the esteem of mankind. "I looked," said He in His agony, "for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." Where is the multitude He fed on the grass? Where are the blind, whose eyes He opened? . Where are Martha, Mary and Lazarus? Will none come forward on this occasion? His disciples, where are you all? They have" forsaken Him and fled." Angels, who ministered to Him in the wilderness, where are you? Almighty God, where art Thou? "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" |