the prophet, We have laboured in vain, and spent our strength for nought.

To encourage our perseverance, amidst obstacles so great and formidable, obstacles rooted in the nature, and strengthened by the eircumstances of mankind, we have need to remember the assurance in our text, addressed to us, as it was addressed to the Israelites of old, The Lord your GoD, which goeth before you, He shall fight for you. The assistance He has promised, will crown our persevering efforts with success; the weapons He has provided, if used with discretion, will ensure us the victory. We must not despair if our reward is not immediate, nor the effect of our exertions, in a moment, striking and visible. The seed we have sown, may be germinating in the soil of many hearts, and its growth, though internal, silent, unostentatious, may be sure and effectual. The kingdom of GoD cometh not with observation;

neither shall they say, Lo here! or lo there! for behold, the kingdom of GOD is within you. Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain; be ye also patient.

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But there are also difficulties, peculiar to this society, and to those which are founded on the same basis of christian charity. The want of a zeal for proselytism is a difficulty, which all do not feel, but which, undoubtedly, in some measure, checks our ardour, and prevents the success of our labours. Building our faith only upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; receiving, as our religion, the bible itself, and not the creeds, confessions, and expositions of fallible men; embracing, in the arms of christian

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fellowship, all, of every name and sect and party, who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, we want a powerful motive to zealous exertion, which stimulates the efforts of many christians...

Still, however, my brethren, we have a motive for zealous and persevering exertion, much more exalted, and which ought to operate with much greater effect,-the hope of converting men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unio GOD.

What worthier object can engage our attention, what nobler motive can rouse our activity, excite our diligence, and warm our zeal, than that of imparting to our fellow men the heavenly light, the holy doctrines, the divine precepts, the soothing consolations, the cheering encouragements of the gospel? To convince the unbelieving, to confirm the wavering, to instruct the ignorant,

to warn the guilty; to comfort the afflicted, to soothe the dying, these are the noble ob

jects for which this society was instituted, and which it has steadily and undeviatingly pursued. With such objects in view, my friends, can we be cold, inactive, slothful? Can we be backward and wavering, when engaged in such a work, or faint-hearted and desponding, when we have the promise of divine assistance, and the encouraging assurance that he, who converteth a sinner from the error of his ways, shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins?

There is still another obstacle to our success, which I would gladly forbear to mention, but which.cannot, which ought not to be concealed. It is the direct opposition, we meet with; not, my hearers, from the infidel, the profligate, and profane; not from those who cast off fear, and restrain prayer before GOD; but from those who profess to be dis

ciples of Jesus, the meek and lowly Jesus, whose spirit was a spirit of peace, and whose precepts breathe the warmest and most diffusive benevolence. Our sentiments are misrepresented, our motives misinterpreted, and even our characters traduced and vilified, by those who have faith and zeal, indeed, but it is a faith without charity, and a zeal without knowledge.

Do they forget that we have as much at stake as they have; that we have the same motives for candid, diligent, humble enquiry; for a sincere and explicit declaration of the whole counsel of GOD; for pure and upright intention; for fervent and persevering prayer; for devout and holy conduct? Do they forget that we may have faith enough to remove mountains, and zeal enough to become martyrs for the truth, and yet, if we have not charity, we are nothing, we are as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal? Do they forget