conversion he must act his part. While God calls he must listen and obey; while the Spirit strives he must yield. There must be his concurrence, his voluntary submission, and active co-operation. He must be a co-worker with God, or he never can be saved. It is on this ground that men are summoned to repent and believe, and their final ruin is grounded on their own obstinacy and folly-" Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life."

Another agency in the conversion of the soul is the church of God. The church itself consists of a number of converted persons united together in religious fellowship; and while the church exists partly for its own edification and growth in holiness, one great object of its organization is the conversion of others. Everything points to this object. Look at the benevolent sympathies and affections which experimental religion inspires in the heart. Compassion for the state of sinners, zeal for the divine glory in their conversion, and an allabsorbing desire for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, are among the first fruits of the Spirit; they are co-existent with vital Christianity, and they never languish or decline until experimental religion is on the wane. While personal piety is vigorous, these benevolent affections reign in the soul, and urge it to appropriate action. The affection which a mother feels for her child, is not more spontaneous and natural than the yearnings of a genuine Christian for the conversion of souls. What is this holy yearning, this divine sympathy, but the voice of the Spirit prompting us to fulfil the task assigned us in the economy of grace? It makes our own consciousness attest that we live for the salvation of others as well as for ourselves. This duty is dictated by plain and positive command. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." "Ye are the light of the world." "Ye are the salt of the earth." "Freely ye have received, freely give." "Occupy till I come." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." These are a few, out of a multitude of positive injunctions, requiring believers to put forth their powers for the salvation of perishing souls, and involving in terrible guilt and condemnation the indolent, the careless, and the selfish, who neglect the great object of their existence.

This duty is urged by the example of our Lord, who came to seek and to save that which was lost; who went about doing good; and whose active life was constantly employed in seeking the salvation of men. Herein he hath left us an example that we should tread in his steps; for he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself so to walk as he also walked.

This duty is urged by the example of the primitive church. Soon as the Holy Spirit was poured out, the multitude of believers were actuated by one fervent desire; they were carried out in active labours and self-sacrificing zeal for the conversion of souls. They seemed to exist for this. Property was surrendered, time was occupied, prayers were offered, and exertion put forth for the salvation of men; and life itself was not deemed too dear to be surrendered for its accomplishment. For a time all the energies of the church were concentrated on this great object; and, as the result, thousands were converted in a day, and the Lord daily added unto the church such as were saved. When Zion travailed, she brought forth children, and believers were the more added to the Lord. Multitudes

of both men and women, and a great company of the priests, were obedient unto the faith. The Spirit mightily co-operated with the church, and the conjunction proved how the efforts of man coincided with the purposes of God.

Now, from the reasons adduced, it is evident that the conversion of sinners is the proper work of the church, and aggression and increase present the normal state, the pattern condition of the church. Therefore, if a Christian community is not aggressive, and does not augment its numbers by conversions, it does not conform to this pattern. It may resemble some benevolent secular organization, but it certainly does not bear affinity to the normal character of the primitive church, as set forth in the Acts of the Apostles. It may have good laws, sound doctrines, and liberal principles, but it does not express and embody the divine sympathies and affections which genuine Christianity inspires; it does not conform to the plain precepts and injunctions of the Scriptures; it does not tread in the footsteps of Jesus Christ; it does not act in concert with the dictates and influences of the Holy Spirit; it does not, therefore, answer the great end of its existence. Christ has given that church a work to do, but she basely neglects it; Christ has honoured her with a commission to save souls, but through apathy and indifference she allows them to perish. In proportion as this state characterizes any religious denomination, it is a reproach to the Christian name!

It is not enough for a church to plead that, though not increasing in number, it has peace, and that believers are edified. We demand, What is meant by peace ? Is it that stillness and inaction which some call peace? If so, such a peace is a symptom of disease, not an indication of prosperity; a cause for affliction and grief, not for self-gratulation. It is a symptom of incipient death. Activity, energy, aggression, and not stillness, are the true signs of spiritual life. But if by peace be meant harmony of sentiment and united affections, we reply, these heavenly fruits flourish best amid active and zealous co-operation. United prayer and labour quicken and invigorate the pulsations of brotherly love. If by the edification of the church be meant building it up, we reply, building up means adding to; and for a church to be built up, it must have constant accessions, just as an architectural structure is raised by adding one course of masonry to another, till the top stone is brought on with shoutings thereto. But if by edification be meant instruction, comfort, and personal improvement, we reply, these results are best attained in connection with aggressive action and frequent conversion. Indeed, without both aggression and progression, neither peace nor edification, in their proper sense, can long be experienced in any church. Even a class-meeting becomes formal and lifeless without the accession of new members; and a church soon becomes dead and worldly without the addition of converted souls. Its vitality and health can only be preserved by the infusion of new blood; the spirituality of old members is fostered, and their powers quickened, by the simplicity, and fervour, and love of new-born souls. The cries of penitents for mercy, and the exultant joys of new-born souls, make sweet music in the songs of Zion, and harmoniously blend with the chorus of mature experience, and the sober praises of venerable age. This variety is God's order, and it is necessary to impart a

joyous animation to the church of God. Therefore, where means of usefulness are afforded, they must be zealously employed to secure conversion, or religion will decline; growth in grace, in a religious community, can only keep pace with laborious, self-denying, and prayerful efforts for the conversion of men. If we would save our own souls, we must be concerned for the salvation of others.

In speaking of the duties of the church, let us not lose sight of ourselves in a vague idea of general obligations. Let us isolate ourselves from the mass; let us stand out in our own individuality, and each realize his personal responsibility. Let us remember the church is composed of separate persons, and if duties apply to the mass, a distinct obligation presses upon every individual. Any energy in the mass is made up of individual effort; any good effected by a community is done by its separate members, each employing his own talents, and labouring in his own sphere. It is not in the mass but individually we shall be judged at the last day, and individually we ought now to feel our own responsibility and discharge our own duty. For every man shall bear his own burden; and every one shall give account of himself to God.

Say not this labour is the work of ministers; it is yours as well as theirs. Ministers have, indeed, a large share in the work, and a large share in the responsibility too. They are fully devoted to the cause of salvation; they are separated from the secular that they may be consecrated to the spiritual. The conversion of souls and the general good of the church is their business; and he whose conscience is quickened to apprehend and feel the importance of his sacred calling, will shrink from no labour he is able to perform. He will search out the careless, the neglected, and the forsaken of our race; he will visit the sick and the distressed; he will study that he may enrich his mind with knowledge adapted to expound and apply the truths of God; he will preach, exhort, and admonish with all longsuffering and doctrine; he will identify himself with all the interests of Zion, and be tremblingly alive to her highest weal; he will watch for souls as one that must give account to God; he will agonize in prayer for the salvation of men, and will never be satisfied without the fruit of his labour. He will be no more content to labour without souls being saved than a farmer would be content to plough and sow, and then reap no harvest in its season. But while this is the work of the minister, it is yours also to labour in every possible way for the same object. You are a Christian; you are redeemed by the blood of Christ; you are pardoned by the mercy of God; you are received into the fellowship of saints; and you are under the common obligation of all to work for God, and for the souls of men. You are converted yourself, and you are bound, by that fact, to seek the conversion of others. You cannot transfer your duties to another; you cannot buy off your obligation with a gift; you can find no substitute for your personal responsibilities; you cannot excuse yourself on account of wealth and station; your duties are your own; your gifts and labours belong to your Master, and both must be forthcoming at his bidding. You can no more throw off your responsibilities than you can obliterate your own consciousness, or transfer your identity to another man.

Do not deceive yourself with the idea that you are not competent

for the work. You are competent for the work in some department. If you have not five talents, you have two; or if not two, you have one, and that one must not be hidden in a napkin, or buried in the earth, but faithfully employed till the Master come. You have a capacity to learn a trade, or pursue a business, or, it may be, to acquire wealth, and you have, doubtless, ability to save a soul. You mistake the nature of your work, and underrate your powers. It requires not eminent ability, or public position, or commanding influence, to be an agent in human salvation. You have the truth; you have the promised help of the Spirit; you can remonstrate with an ungodly neighbour; you can invite the negligent to the sanctuary; you can distribute a few tracts; you can teach in the Sabbath-school; you can reprove sin; you can read a chapter, or quote a passage of scripture, or breathe a prayer; and in any one of these efforts you shall not labour in vain. The simplest means have often produced the sublimest effects. Many a time the tender voice of a child has broken the heart of a profligate, and brought the daring infidel to his knees; and you have the promise of that God who cannot lie, that he will bless your well-meant efforts with success. Instead of wasting your time in idle lamentations that you have not more talents, zealously and faithfully use those you have, and God will approve your labours and crown them with his blessing.

Since, then, it is evident that the conversion of souls is the prerogative of the Church of God, and the duty is binding upon every member thereof, there ought not to be one individual unemployed; not one seeking exemption from the sacred toil. Besides it is as much our honour as our duty to be engaged in the work of saving souls. Then let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, each and all throw their redeemed and sanctified energies into this great and important duty. Every member of the Church should be penetrated with the conviction that the conversion of souls is his business is one of the greatest objects of his existence, one which he is bound to promote with an undecaying purpose until the hour when God shall summon him to his glorious reward.

III. Let us contemplate the transcendently blessed results. "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." In this blessed consummation there is a moral glory before which the most magnificent achievements of the world fade into insignificance.

1. It includes salvation from spiritual death. Already the state of every unconverted soul is one of death. He is dead to God, dead to his own eternal interests, and dead in trespasses and sins. A moral stupor, an awful insensibility pervades him, but, in conversion, he is rescued from this state. His noble faculties are quickened; he experiences a resurrection unto life. The understanding, the conscience, the affections, and all the moral powers, are excited towards God and eternal realities. He is inspired with the elements of a new existence; and of such a one it is said "The dead is alive, and the lost is found."

2. It is a salvation from eternal death. This death is not annihilation the cessation of consciousness and being. Yet were this alone the punishment of a lost soul, it would be a catastrophe sufficiently awful, one would think, to rouse the most torpid and selfish to a

course of earnest and self-denying effort to prevent its occurrence. When a man is suddenly dispossessed of his property, and passes at once from affluence to utter destitution, he becomes an object of general commiseration; but what is the loss of property compared with the loss of the soul's existence! When a human being is suddenly destroyed by accident or disease, a deep and powerful sensation is felt by all that knew him. If a man were about to be enveloped in the flames of his dwelling, the people of a whole neighbourhood would be roused for his deliverance. Yet this is only to rescue from a temporal death, and what is the loss of this transient existence compared with the eternal loss of the soul by annihilation. For a spirit, endowed with capacities for boundless and everlasting bliss, to perish for ever, to cease to think, to feel, to be, to drop into nothing, would be indeed an infinitely more dreadful catastrophe. If then the loss of property or temporal life be deemed so great a calamity, that the most strenuous and costly efforts would be promptly employed to avert it, ought there not in reason to be far greater anxiety to rescue a soul from annihilation, even if that involved the total curse and consequences of sin? But such a deliverance falls infinitely short of what is intended by our text. For,

3. It is a salvation from actual and eternal misery. The soul, as we have already seen, is immortal. This truth applies to the wicked as well as the righteous; and the future existence of the unconverted will be nothing better than a living death. It is represented in our text by the ghastly image of death, because that expresses these two awful ideas-a privation of all that could render existence desirable; and a state of suffering resembling the throes and anguish of a man in the hour of nature's dissolution. It involves a privation of all the pleasures of sense, of the joys of religion, of the felicities of heaven, of all that the soul is fitted to enjoy, and, as the last and most awful privation, there is the loss of hope and of every opportunity of salvation. It involves the misery arising from perpetual banishment from God, combined with a harrowing consciousness of his frown, the poignant stings of remorse, and the agonies of despair-a state of existence infinitely worse than total annihilation. Here a man may despatch himself by suicide from a state of temporal suffering, but there is no suicide of the soul; no escape by the hand of violence from the torture of an avenging conscience and the wrath of God. For 66 men shall seek death and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." Great God, what a spectacle is before us! A soul lost for ever! A soul doomed to bear thy frown to all eternity! Its existence perpetuated to be an everlasting monument of thy displeasure, -to realize without hope and without end thy dreadful indignation! Well might the solemn question be asked by one of the most gifted minds, "If it be lawful to realize such a thought, what would be the funeral obsequies of a lost soul? Where shall we find the tears fit to be wept at such a spectacle? or could we realize the calamity to its full extent, what token of commiseration and concern would be deemed equal to the occasion? Would it suffice for the sun to veil his light and the moon her brightness; to cover the ocean with mourning and the heavens with sackcloth? or were the whole fabric of nature to become animated and vocal, would it be possible for her to utter a groan too deep or a cry too piercing to express the magnitude and ex