the benighted soul of man. It alone can guide his feet into those ways of peace, which will conduct him to that world where are pleasures for evermore. How pitiable thenhow awful is the condition of those, to whom the records of God has not been sent. And yet this is the state of by far the greater part of the human race. Not less than six hundred millions of our fellow men, possessed of immortal souls, destined to exist for ever, are still destitute of this guide to eternal happiness. And what is their condition? They are plunged in the grossest darkness. They are sunk under the most degrading superstitions. Their religion is, almost universally, a compound of cruelty and of the blackest and most disgusting immoralities. It demands of them the most dreadful self-inflicted tortures-it urges them on to be the destroyers of each other.

But we, through the blessing of God, know the joyful sound of the gospel-we have free access to the word of God-we are invited to draw water with joy from that fountain of life, and to drink freely and abundantly. "God hath not "dealt so with any nation, neither have the "heathen knowledge of his laws." But could they perceive their own misery and danger, they would in plaintive accents exclaim to us

"Come over, and help us." And is it not our duty to endeavour to help them? St. John says, "Whoso hath this world's good and seeth his "brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels "of compassion from him, how dwelleth the "love of God in him?" And if the refusal of temporal relief to a brother in distress, be a proof of the absence of the love of God in the heart, surely our neglect of the spiritual misery of our fellow men, must no less strongly impeach our christian character. We are taught to believe that the gifts of Providence are not given us for ourselves alone, but for the benefit of others also: and if this be true with regard to the comforts of this life, it certainly is not less true with respect to those which extend beyond the grave. Not merely those in our own land who have not the bible, but those also in the most remote regions of the world, have a claim upon us. By giving us his oracles, God has made us their debtors; and if we refuse to discharge the debt, we must expect that our cruelty to them, will be awfully visited upon ourselves. What then are we to do in their behalf; are we to pity them? Certainly they claim our pity; but if we do no more, it will be found that our love

for them is in word and in tongue, not in deed and in truth. Are we to pray for them? Yes, most certainly; but prayer without exertion is only mockery. The dissemination of the word of God, is an object which calls for the most vigorous, and most united exertions of all christians. It is one which can only do pure and unmixed good; and if at the last great day it shall be found that one poor sinner has been converted from the error of his ways,-one soul rescued from eternal death, that, surely, will abundantly recompense us for any labour or self-denial which we may undergo in so blessed, so glorious a

cause.

But we have the promise of God himself for our encouragement. He has promised that the religion of Jesus shall everywhere prevail; that the gospel shall triumph over all opposition; that "the kingdoms of the world shall "become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his "Christ."1 And while we are labouring and denying ourselves for the promotion of this object, we may rejoice in the conviction that, we are "workers together with God" in his great design of saving the souls of men. We may trust that our labour shall not be in vain in

* Rev. xi, 15.
C

the Lord; but that we shall be the instruments of preparing the way for that glorious consummation, when all people, nations and languages, shall join in one triumphant song of praise; saying, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God "Omnipotent reigneth," "and he shall reign "for ever and ever."1

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Rev. xix, 6; xi, 15

SERMON II.

THE IMAGE OF GOD EFFACED BY SIN.

GENESIS i, 27.

So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him.

IT is a natural and very reasonable inquiry, which can hardly fail to arise in the mind of every one, whence do the sin and misery which we see in the world originate? Was man always so prone to evil as he now is? was he always liable to the same troubles which now afflict him?

The bible offers a satisfactory answer to such inquiries. But it is an answer of a most painful kind; for it teaches us that man was once free from sin, exempt from affliction, and possessed of the favour of his Maker; but that he sinned and departed from his God, lost the divine image, and exposed himself to misery,