and to subdue its corruptions and sins, its only instrument was the gospel: they were to go forth in his name, and to preach the gospel to every creature, and they had no reason to be ashamed of their simple apparatus, for it was the power of God unto salvation from sin. For her distinguished enterprise, the church has also at her command, the influences of the Holy Spirit. The church of God is strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. When the sins of the world are in their strongest forms of power, the standard of Divine influences shall be raised in avowed hostility against their pretensions and their dominion. When they ravage the world "as a flood," turbid, impetuous and devastating, rushing onward with a furious violence, becoming formidable and alarming by character and number, receiving contribution of aid from various streams and sources, and when scoffs and clamours, sneers and threatenings, become "like the voice of many waters," Christians have, in the influences of the Holy Spirit, means and provisions, weapons and ammunitions, resources and energies, sufficient to face the world and to conquer it. 4. Man, as an accountable agent, is bound, by the highest sanctions and motives, to prevent sin. His relationship to God is the ground of his obligation. God is his Father, his Maker, his Owner, and his Lord. Every sin is an attack on the character and feelings of his Father, an injury to the works of his Maker, a robbery of his Supreme Proprietor, and treason against the throne of his Ruler. All the cords of these relations bind him to prevent sin. The threatenings of the law of God sanction these obligations. It thunders awful and tremendous execrations and curses as the portion of the abetter of sin. To connive at sin, or to tolerate its intrusion, is an evil to the offender himself, and it will be a hell to him for ever. On the other hand, heaven will be the reward of the toil and labor of Christians, in their fidelity for God, and opposition to sin. The language of Christ to his followers is very thrilling and animating: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne." In the estimation of men, to sit upon a throne would justify any efforts, and compensate any sufferings; much more should the prospect of sitting with Christ upon his throne animate Christians to noble daring and heroic deeds against sin. They have the noblest inducements to rouse them to the contest; the exceeding sinfulness of sin, detested of the good, and abominated by God; the fact, that God has shown himself on their side; the prompt readiness with which he will yield them assistance; and the promise of a certain victory and a glorious triumph. The Holy Spirit assures us, that when our conflicts against sin are ended, "the rest shall be glorious;" the field of blood shall be exchanged for Paradise, "dressed in living green;" for the tents of the warrior shall be the mansions of our heavenly Father's house; for the clarion of battle, the harp of peace and joy; for the shout of war, the songs of the redeemed; for the sword of offence, the palm of victory; and for the helmet, the crown of glory. The moral landscape, of the world subdued to Christ, shall present a scene far surpassing the most brilliant visions of enchantment. The redeeming conquerors of the world "shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before them into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands; instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." 5. The co-operation of the universe is on the side of efforts for the prevention of sin. In the universe all things are working together for good. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; for the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God, (for the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same,) in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God." It has been already noticed, in a previous section of this work, that nothing has been formed, in the structure of the world, for the purpose of producing evil. The design and the tendency of everything in existence is to produce good, and to prevent evil. The whole aspect and operation of Divine Providence are against the intrusion of sin. Good government in the regulation of families, in the discipline of churches, and in the policy of nations, is in hostility to sin. The judgments of God are abroad in the earth, that he may withdraw and prevent man from his purpose of sinning. God lavishes his mercies on the earth, to lead man to repentance for sins already committed, and to prevent further trangression. The examples of good men form a cloud of witnesses condemning the world for its sin, and approving of the works of faith undertaken for its conversion. The conversions which are daily taking place in this world, are decided and loud testimonies against sin, and supply the church of Christ with accessions of helpers to the truth, and of valiant opponents to the inroads of sin. The blood that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel speaks against sin. In the atonement of Christ the whole universe gave an expression of its abhorrence of sin: the mind, the will, the government, and every attribute of God condemned sin in the suffering flesh of his incarnate Son. The exhibition of the atonement, as a fact, and a doctrine, that is, the preaching of Christ crucified, is the power of God and the wisdom of God to save the world from sin, and to bring all men to oppose and to subdue it. The saints in heaven, enriched and adorned as the conquerors of sin, are described as having “overcome by the blood of the Lamb;" they were saved themselves from the dominion of sin, and they delivered others from it, by the Divine efficiency of the doctrine of the atonement. With such an array and promise of co-operation, let the churches of Christ buckle on their harness for the conflict, resist the devil, fight the good fight of faith, and overcome evil with good. The Holy Spirit, who has called and mustered them to the struggle, "will abide with them forever." The present state of the world is favorable to the holy movements of Christians. All reason and all conscience are against sin. Sin is universally found to be, on the whole, inconvenient, unprofitable, dishonorable, and pernicious. It affects the sinner's character, his estate, his relations, his health, and his life. He who commits sin is like a man who has fallen among the wheels of a machinery; he is caught amongst the cogs and spindles of a moral mechanism, and is injured and crushed by the tendencies and operations of its forces. There is, therefore, even in the concessions of the world itself, territory enough for the church to occupy with its forces, advantageous heights, on which it can take its position, and attack the strong-holds of sin without the risk of a retreat. "Who shall harm you if you be followers of that which is good?" 6. There are on record many instances in which good men have succeeded in preventing sin. Except in miraculous judgments and inflictions, we have no instance of God preventing sin, without employing the agency of good men. From the parables, instructions, and examples of our blessed Lord, it is evident that, in his estimation, his religion would be most effectually promulgated by the influence of man upon man. Since this is the way in which sin is most extensively promulgated, this is the best way also to check its incursions. Every man who is doing good, is preventing evil: every man who promotes holiness opposes sin. The eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the martyrology of men, who resisted unto blood, striving against sin; who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens. The onset of their faith against sin obtained for them a good report, and so illustrious were their victories, that God was not ashamed to be called their God. Enoch and Noah condemned the world; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prevented the progress of the sin of idolatry; Moses delivered the Israelites from the sins of Egyptian heathenism; the messages of the prophets often saved the Jews from doing evil; and the ministry of Christ and his apostles shed upon the Gentile world preventing grace as well as saving mercy. The parent who disciplines his child, the teacher who prunes the character of his pupils, the Christian who withstands fashionable wickedness, the legislator who subdues national vices, and the church that converts a district, and the churches which convert a nation, from the error of their way, are instances of men succeeding in the prevention of sin. The office of the Holy Spirit is to convince the world of sin, in order that the commission of sin might not be continued. The office of the church is the same: the design of the gospel is to save and prevent men from sinning. A man is not saved from covetousness, unless he be, by gospel motives, prevented from coveting; nor from pride unless he be prevented from being proud: nor will the world be saved from heathenism, unless heathen sins are prevented. § II. - The Salvation of the World the grand Object of the Church. "TO SAVE A SOUL FROM DEATH "is represented, by the Holy Spirit, as an achievement so illustrious as to be its own reward. To save, on honorable grounds, the life of a condemned criminal, is its own reward; and so is the restoration of life, in the case of suspended animation. To WILBERFORCE the emancipation of the slave, and to WASHINGTON the salvation of his country, were both labor and reward: to both these illustrious men, their work itself was their most brilliant and lasting recompense. This is not only noble but divine, for God himself has no glory but his pure complacency in the works of his mind. Compared with the delight of God in the productions of his goodness and skill, the splendid orbs, that gem his robe of majesty, are shining trifles, and the symphonies of the stars of the morning, are jarring sounds. His work is his glory. To the Christian, his work is his reward: "He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death.” If the salvation of one soul be invested with such dignity and glory, what must be the grandeur of the Christian enterprise, "to save a world from death?" The world has forfeited its life; its reprieve has been procured by the atonement of Christ; and the church is entrusted with the delivery of the reprieve into the hands of a world under condemnation—a commission which would have conferred distinction upon angelic intelligences. The salvation of the world is an object worthy of the dignity and the majesty of the Holy Spirit. It is by the success of this measure that the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. A church in union with the Holy Spirit must identify this object, as its ultimate and distinguished mark, the prize of its high calling in Christ Jesus. The aim of the church should be identical with the object of the Holy Spirit. The Christian church was not formed, for the mere purpose of promoting the refinements of civilization in the world; but to save the world from sin, and from its condemned state. Christ did not redeem a peculiar people, that they might introduce barbarous hordes and savage tribes into the blandishments of civil society; or instruct nations in the use of the spade and the plough; or give letters to their languages, and grammars for their dialects; or supply them with schools and arts and sciences; but simply that they might save them from their sins. These advantages, so highly extolled by worldly institutions, spring up along the track of the Christian church, as flowers which bloom by the way, to mark her course of benevolence. It is memorable that Christian societies have, in their religious missions, done more to disseminate and nourish civil blessings, than any class or community of people on the earth; these they have produced, without making them the end and specific design of their hallowed movements, and redeeming charity. When we see what the Christian church has done for the islands of the |