This vision contains, in emblem, a representation of the promised recovery of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. This, however, is not all that it contains. Between the captive state of Judah and the fallen state of man there is a manifest analogy. The DRY BONES which are a striking emblem of the former, are a no less striking emblem of the latter. And the miracle of cloathing these dry bones with flesh, and inspiring them with life, may be considered as the figure of another miracle, more astonishing, equally above the reach of man, and "decisively evincive of the agency of God."—I mean the miracle of a moral resurrection. Notwithstanding the life and vigour of the intellectual powers of man, revelation asserts, and experience confirms the melancholy assertion, that with respect to his moral powers he is dead in trespasses and sins.

The situation of the prophet prophesying over dry bones, resembles that of the evangelist calling on the spiritually dead to hear and live. And if in the former instance there was encouragement for the prophet to prophesy, in the latter, there is no less encouragement for the evangelist to preach. Success then depended, and now depends, not on the will of man but of God. And his arm is not shortened that it can not save, nor is his ear heavy that it can not hear.

Behold, christians, the ground of our hope for sinners, and, beholding it, be steadfast, unmoveable,

ALWAYS ABOUNDING IN THE WORK OF THE LORD,

forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain the Lord.

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By abounding in the work of the Lord may understood an acquiescence in the divine government, and a constant and cordial co-operation with the Divine Being, in accomplishing its objects; one of which, and an illustrious one too, is the establishment of the UNIVERSAL REIGN OF THE MESSIAH ON THE EARTH.

To induce your co-operation, particularly with respect to those pagan tribes who are within the reach of your exertion, shall be the object of the present meditation. And, O may God, in whose hands are the hearts of all men, give efficacy to the motives which may be presented!

In entering on this discourse, I might show, were it necessary, that the influence of Christianity, on the temporal as well as eternal interests of mankind, is more benign than Paganism.But it is not necessary. You know by experience the benignity of the one, and were it possible to describe but half the malignity of the other, there is not a wretch in Christendom, who, affected at the contrast, would not exclaim, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage. Waving further remarks on the benignity of the Messiah's reign on the earth, let me direct your attention to,

ITS CERTAINTY.

The kingdoms of this world will assuredly become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.

Had Ezekiel entertained but a trembling hope, that the dry bones which spread the valley before him might possibly be reanimated, the force of humanity alone would have impelled him to prophesy over them. I look on yonder wilderness, the abode of wretched Pagans. This to me is a valley of dry bones. But I do not ask, "can they live?" I know they can. Yes! O my God, I know it because thou hast spoken it.-Do you enquire where God hath spoken this? You shall hear. ·

Thus saith the Lord, The wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them: and the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose. Princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall soon stretch forth her hands unto God. He shall judge among the nations, and they shall beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Delightful prospect! Then shall the bow of war be unbent, and the arrow of death loosed from its string. Then shall the huntsman, attracted by the sound of salvation, relinquish the pleasures of the chase, and the hoary warrior, touched by sovereign grace, shall lose his wonted cruelty; and turning from conquest with the benignity of heaven on his countenance, consecrate to charity the

spoils he had taken, and, bowing, lay his tomahawk and scalping-knife as a trophy at the foot of Jesus. For saith the Lord, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the gentiles that thou mayest be my sal

vation unto the ends of the earth.

I repeat, christians, in your hearing, these declarations of God, and by repeating them I furnish

you

with evidence more incontestable that the end for which you labour will not ultimately be defeated, than I could furnish to the husbandman, from the analogy of nature and the experience of ages, that the end for which he labours will not.

The husbandman, however encouraged by the uncertain prospect of success, sows his seed and waits, in hope, the reward of harvest. The reward for which he waits may fail: but your reward cannot-There must be a harvest of souls—a harvest immense and universal. The veracity of God is pledged to this effect. This pledge secures unalterably the event. The seasons may be interrupted in their course, the figtree may cease to blossom, and the fruit of the olive fail-the flocks may be cut off from the fold and no herd remain in the, stall-nay the earth itself may dissolve and the heavens, wrapped in flames, pass away; but the purpose of God cannot fail-his promise unaccomplished cannot pass away. Resting the cer

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tainty of the Messiah's reign on the testimony of God, direct your attention to,

ITS PERPETUITY.

The homage which Jesus Christ is ultimately to receive from all nations, will not, like that paid him when entering Jerusalem, expire on the lips of those who offer it.

Man, the being of a day, is prone to consider the thoughts of Gel as his own thoughts, and the ways of God as his own ways. To the narrow sphere in which he moves, and to the short duration in which he exists, he confines his attention, and if all that inspiration promises is not instantly accomplished, he becomes impatient of delay and yields to infidelity. But the divine plan, whatever the thoughts of mortals may be concerning it, has dimensions, a length and breadth which cannot be measured; and to that eternal being who formed this plan, however incomprehensible the position may be to mortals, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

A want of attention to these truths, a predisposition to reduce the designs of Providence to humble human limits, has been to the enemies of revelation a pregnant source of objection, and to the friends of revelation a source of error and calamity.

It was a prevalent opinion, even among the immediate disciples of Jesus, that the dispensation of grace was then closing and that the end of all things sublunary was, literally, at hand. Happy