ness and death in their most complicated forms be ever in your eye, and constitute a part of your plan; and your holy courage will be of the right temperature for the warfare upon which you are entering.

Permit me to recommend to you, in the next place, A HIGH CONCEPTION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OBJECT, to which you are devoted. No man ever acted greatly in difficult circumstances whose soul was not filled with elevated impressions of the cause which he served. This nerves the arm of the warrior; this, sanctified by the spirit of Christianity, inspires the resolution of the martyr. It was the joy which was set before him, which animated even our suffering Lord. Rise then, brethren, to the dignity of your calling. If there be any true magnanimity in man, it is that which leads him to think and act and suffer greatly in so good a cause. Conceive only aright of this, and you will learn to look down with indifference on all the pursuits. you have relinquished. The Missionary treads the highest walk of human effort. He unites the most heroic with the most tender qualities of our nature. Contemplate, then, the unutterable value of immortal souls; view the lost and perishing state of the heathen world; consider the brief and uncertain and degrading nature of

all earthly things; be penetrated with a lively conception of the glories of an eternal state; remember the majesty and grace of the God whom you serve; call to mind the infinite condescension of the Redeemer, whose cross you go forth to proclaim; think frequently of the mighty operation of that Holy Spirit on whose aid you rely; bear in mind the promises of the future glory of the church by which you are animated; look forward to the consequences of that eternal bliss which you may be the means of communicating; and you will learn, with the Apostle, to esteem it the highest distinction that God could confer on you, that this grace should be given unto you to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

But to these elevated views, you will, I am assured, perceive the necessity of uniting UNFEIGNED HUMILITY AND LOVE. Your sacred undertaking will only be retarded by forwardness and impetuosity. The spirit of a teacher often does as much as his matter. Benevolence is an universal language understood every where. Humility and love are the characteristics of Christianity. They are the parents of every other grace. Be ye then clothed with humility; and Put on, above all things, charity which is the bond of perfectness'. These will tend to

I 1 Pet. v. 5. Col. iii. 14.

9 Ephes. iii. 8.

produce in your whole conduct, that mutual submission without which there can only be confusion and every evil work2. These will lead you to condescend one to another; to be willing to do any service, however menial, which may forward your great design; to let go strife, before it be meddled with3; to guard against the risings of unholy tempers; to abhor flattery and self-conceit; to avoid a positive and dogmatical spirit; to cultivate the most tender sympathy towards others; to aim at healing any wound which may be inflicted; and, in a word, to follow the steps of our divine Lord, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again: when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. On the contrary, pride hardens the heart, separates from the love of God and man, indisposes for bearing the cross, makes way for every possible temptation, magnifies the slightest incident into an occasion of coldness or indignation, and is utterly ruinous to every feeling and duty of a true Missionary.

For the strengthening of these graces in your minds, suffer me to remind you of the supreme importance of THE LOVE OF CHRIST, as the ruling motive of your conduct. There is

2 James, iii. 16. 3 Prov. xvii. 14.

4 1 Pet. ii. 23.

no principle that can animate you in the habitual discharge of the duties of your important work, but the love, the constraining love of a dying Saviour. May the Spirit of God fill your hearts with this holy affection! That month, that week, that day, which passes over you without affecting views of the Cross of Christ, is not only a period of time lost to your high efforts, but positively injurious to all your capacities for real service. The incarnation and death of Immanuel, God with us, is the most stupendous theme that men or angels can contemplate. His infinite condescension, his inconceivable sufferings, his unutterable agony, his ignominious death; the love he has borne to man, the work he has undertaken, the atonement he has made, the everlasting righteousness which he has brought in, the reconciliation founded on his mediation and death; the mysteries of his redemption, the depths of his mercy, the glories of his power; these, these are the topics which transform and support the soul. These bring the captive in delightful bonds to his Saviour's feet. These lead man beyond himself. These make him count all things but loss for the excellency of such a knowledge; these inspire him with a restless anxiety that Christ may be magnified in his body, whe

$ 2 Cor. v. 14.

6 Dan. ix. 24.

7 Phil. iii. 8.

ther by life or by death. All that ever has been done, or ever will be done with effect, in the cause of missions, has flowed from this pure and exalted source.

Will you pardon me, however, if I proceed to notice the necessity of PURSUING OUT ALL THE

GREAT PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION INTO THE MOST MINUTE PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES. The warmest emotions are chiefly valuable in this view. If they agitate the mind merely, and are not made to bear on all the parts of your spirit and conduct, they will soon lose their purity and force. In no manner are we more subject to be deceived, than in being seduced to rely on those high principles and affections which fill the mind, without a scrupulous solicitude to trace them out into that silent and unostentatious practice of the innumerable minor points of morals, which make up the far larger portion of our lives, and in fact stamp our real characters. The Love of Christ, for example, which we have just noticed, must be brought into the detail of our duties, and be employed as the inspiring motive of our most ordinary actions. The principle of Faith should be exercised in the constantly recurring occasions where a distrust of God's word or providence or grace may enfeeble or retard our efforts. The doctrine of obedi

s Phil. i. 20.