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attain only a dwarfish growth: while in a free state, where liberty of thought is allowed to all, the faculties and virtues have room for exercise, they flourish as in a climate congenial with their nature; and such, on the whole, is eminently the condition of this favoured and distinguished country.

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"The wisdom of God"

But the difference between the most moral and the most flagitious of natural characters, is less than the difference that subsists between the subjects of Jesus Christ, and the children of this world; because the latter is the difference between the spiritually dead and living. is discovered to those only who believe in Jesus Christ; all others sit in darkness: for, "after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." We see this verified in all the history of nations. Without pretending to determine how far human reason may proceed alone, it may be safely affirmed that the least instructed portion of every country in which christianity is professed, possess far juster views of the leading truths of religion,-such as the character of God, the nature of sin, the obligation of virtue, the eternal world, than ever were entertained by the most inquiring pagans. The great abstractions of the gospel were never touched by man,-they remained shut up in the bosom of Deity; and there they must have remained for ever, had not He disclosed them by Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. They surpass the natural mind in its widest excursions, its profoundest researches, its sublimest

elevations. Yet these are the vital essential principles of the soul, these are the germs of all excellence and happiness, these, wherever they are known, are found to have a purifying and an exalting influence upon mankind,-these effectually tend to moralize and beautify society. The gospel empire possesses in itself interminable energies, and tendencies to benefit its subjects. No other reason can be assigned why our country and Europe should differ so greatly from the ancient nations, and should so far excel the most cultivated among them, regarded in a moral estimate; no other reason than this, that the light of Jesus Christ has shone upon us like a finer Sun-the "Sun of Righteousness." All those elysian images of prophecy, which paint with so much beauty the latter days of the world, are nothing, in their substantial fulfilment, but the impress of Jesus Christ on the minds and manners of mankind, the image of Christianity embodied in society, earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord," and righteousness dwelling in the new-created universe.

"the

5. The fifth and last requisite of a well-constituted government is stability: this is the crown of all its other advantages. Nothing can be wanting to such a reign but that it should last; and this is what the text emphatically expresses,-" Thy throne shall be established for ever:" as the Psalmist says of the Messiah, "He shall reign as long as the sun and moon endure." In this the kingdom of David was an emblem, however faint, of that which would be erected by Jesus Christ; wonderfully preserved as was the throne of Judah, while the

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greatest monarchies were marked by perpetual vicissitudes the kings of Israel were ever changing in their line, while the descendants of David maintained a direct succession. No Roman emperor, with the exception of Vespasian, was followed by his proper successor, during a hundred and fifty years from the time of Julius Cæsar: they passed and chased one another like shadows. Here, meanwhile, the house of Judah," was a preternatural stability, destined as an image (though an imperfect image) of the fixed, indestructible empire, of Jesus Christ. His throne has never been shaken for a moment; He has appeared without a rival in the field. Who has ever dared to question His pretensions? who has dared to challenge a comparison with Him in prophecies, in miracles, in virtues, in doctrines? Not a doubt has been entertained among competent judges, of his being the true Messiah: all the servants of God have been ready, in reference to His dominion, to adopt the well-known exclamation of an excellent man, "Esto perpetua!"* Of His kingdom let there be no end. We may truly say, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the world stand up, and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and his Messiah; but He shall break their bonds asunder, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." There has appeared on earth no other universal interest than this;-none which has bound all hearts together as the heart of one man. In minor points

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The last words of Paul Sarpi, expressive of his wish for the immortal glory of his country, to whose cause he died a martyr.

we may follow a thousand different paths; but when the question is, whether JESUS CHRIST shall reign,— whether the kingdom of JESUS CHRIST shall be extended, we are ready to forget all our distinctions, we are all united,-we are all one man. Not that the stability of His kingdom depends merely on human exertions: God has staked his character and all his perfections upon its establishment; He has pledged his word and oath for its success :-"The jealousy of the Lord of Hosts will do this, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

Nothing but the extension of this empire is necessary to change the wilderness into a paradise, and exalt the condition of earth into a resemblance of heaven. And we have reason to hope the destined period is not remote: our children's children may live to witness the cessation of wars under the sceptre of the Prince of Peace;-to witness the expectation of eternity and heaven diffused among all the partakers of our nature. Lend your helping hand to the promotion of such an object. Convert base riches," the mammon of unrighteousness,” into the means of imparting spiritual treasure, the instrument of conveying "an exceeding and eternal weight of glory,"—into a link, an important link, in the chain that connects earth with heaven. You are not called out to endure the burden and heat of the day; you are permitted, while sitting under your vine and fig-tree, to assist, in a way at once easy and effectual, the diffusion of the privileges and immunities of this heavenly kingdom over the whole world; the recovery of a vast neglected

portion of our race to the happy condition of those who are the subjects of Jesus Christ.

XV.

THE ENLARGEMENT OF CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE.*

[PREACHED FOR THE BAPTIST MISSION, AT BROADMEAD, BRISTOL, AUGUST 6, 1824.]

2 Cor. vi. 13.—Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.

THE Corinthian church was early infested by false teachers, who opposed themselves to the apostle Paul, and, forming their own sects and factions, endeavoured to substitute their corruptions of the faith for his pure and divine doctrine. To the cure of this disease he had addressed himself in a former, and he pursued the same design in this epistle. In doing this, he found himself compelled, though the humblest of men, to remind the Corinthians of the extraordinary evidences he had given of the most devoted zeal in the cause of Christ, while he adverted to his manifold sacrifices and exertions. In the context he speaks in the affectionate language of a parent appealing to his children: "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is

* Printed from the Notes of the Rev. Thomas Grinfield.

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