ed services of his people. Already has he denounced as enemies, all who will not labor and suffer for him. He that is not for me, is against me: and whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I came to send peace on earth; (that is, that the progress of truth will be without resistance and persecution;) I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come, (that is, the effect of my coming will be, as the gospel prevails,) to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother; and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me: and he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it. These statutes are not repealed. And if the laws of Christian discipleship could bind men to give up every relative, and even life itself, for Christ and his Gospel, no excuse, surely, will screen from condemnation those who flinch and temporize, where the sacrifices required are comparatively trivial. If such as would not lay down their life for Christ, can not be accepted-what will become of those, in Christian lands, who will not lay down their substance, nor risk their reputation, nor lift a finger, to advance his cause?

Is there a Christian here, who cannot, for the year to come, double the amount of his charities? Is there one who will not now purpose in his heart to do it? Brethren, the time is short in which we here have opportunity to express our boundless obligations to

the Saviour. The fashion of the world passeth away. Next year, our tongue may be employed in celestial praises; and our substance be in other hands. What remains then, but that this day we dedicate ourselves, and our all, anew, to Him, who washed us in his blood? The tone of feeling which we cherish to-day, may, by a holy sympathy, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, be propagated through this great city— through this powerful nation-and through the world. The augmented religious enterprise, to which we pledge ourselves this day, may tell quickly in the very heart of Satan's empire; and cause light to spring up in retreats of deepest darkness.

If any man, however, is smitten with fear, let him retreat. If any man is faint-hearted, let him draw back. If any man tremble at his proportion of the charges for evangelizing the whole world, let him depart. If any man is alarmed at the noise which precedes the last conflict, let him hide himself, with his talent, in the earth! But let all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and wait for his appearing and glory— give themselves anew to his service; and break the earthen vessel; and lift up their light; and shout, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon: and the victory, and more than the victory, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High God. And a great voice out of heaven shall be heard, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

NATIONAL PREACHER.

Go....Teach all Nations....Matt: xxviii. 19.

2 COR. X. 4.-The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.

A CONTEST is going on in this world, between holiness and sin; religion and infidelity. The earth is a revolted province of Jehovah's empire, and bears many unequivocal marks of his displeasure. Yet he has not abandoned it to all the ruinous consequences of this unnatural rebellion : nor has he dealt with our race according to the demands of unmitigated justice. He is a father, as well as a sovereign; and has adopted measures of grace to bring back his disobedient children to allegiance and love.

But man-and this shows the foulness of his revolt in the darkest colours- man has slighted this mercy, and even set himself in opposition to the "Lord's Anointed."

66

The pride of the human heart rejects the offer of salvation, as a free gift: an unpurchased heaven" is scorned by creatures who have no and can bring no price to their offended Creator.

money,

The pride of human reason is offended with that truth which reason alone could not discover, and refuses to submit to the wisdom of the omniscient God. Man, in the blindness of his self-sufficiency, will not receive the testimony of the Holy One; but demands a religion which he can demonstrate by his own ingenuity.

The worldliness and sensuality of man rejects and opposes a religion which places happiness in purity of heart, in love to God, and commu

nion with him; which requires forgiveness, where the false honour of the world enjoins revenge; bumility, where the world talks of dignity; mortification and self-denial, where the world permits indulgence.

These, and such as these, are the strong holds of which the Apostle speaks; the high things which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, and which it is the object of all, who are engaged in this warfare, to pull down, and bring into captivity, and completely to subdue to the obedience of Christ.

But with what weapons girded, are the soldiers of the cross to go forth to the assault of these fortresses? And how are they to accomplish their great work? "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal." When men, in the proud spirit of the world, undertake to subdue their enemies, the first thought ordinarily is, to employ force. They love to see their adversaries quailing, and bowing down under their superior strength. But not so do the servants of Jesus Christ, when engaged in his work.

The.men of the world endeavour, also, by authority, to bring the understanding and the will of their fellow-men into subserviency to their wishes. And nothing is more grateful to the human heart, than to gratify its desires, and to execute its devices, by commanding the obedience of others. But Christ does not permit his ministers so to fulfil his purposes.

When force and authority fail, corrupt men next resort to stratagem ; and endeavour to overreach by cunning, those whom they can neither subdue by force, nor overawe by authority. Or, when all these mea sures fail, they employ the bait which tempts avarice; and bribery ac complishes what neither power, nor authority, nor policy could effect.

These are the arts to which ambitious and wicked men have recourse, and for the successful practice of which, they receive the applause of the world. But all these are carnal weapons; and religion rejects their use with holy indignation.

True, indeed, men who have worn the garb, and borne the title of Christ's ambassadors, in utter disregard of "the great Master's law," have been forward to adopt the forbidden measures of worldly policy. and even to seek alliance with the adversary, for the purpose of obtaining carnal weapons, wherewith to maintain their unholy warfare. The arms of the soldier, the authority of the king, and the wiles of the statesman, have been employed by ambitious clergymen, to accomplish their selfish designs. Heaven has seen with horror, and hell with joy, the misnamed and misbelieving heralds of the Prince of peace, propagating a pretended Christianity by the dungeon and the sword, by five and