cision, to resist conviction, to pervert arguments which prove unwelcome truths, and even to forget them; and to treasure up for use those which favor conclusions which we love. The demonstrations of Euclid, if their result had been the doctrine of the Trinity, the total depravity of man, the necessity of regeneration, and future eternal punishments; would have produced as much diversity of opinion, and brought upon his positions as much contempt, and upon his book as much critical violence, as has been experienced by the Bible.

Erroneous opinions are criminal, because they falsify the divine character, and destroy the moral influence of the divine law; because they are always voluntary, the result of criminal negligence to obtain correct knowledge, or of a criminal resistance of evidence, or perversion of the understanding through the depravity of the heart; and because the belief of error is always associated with moral and criminal affections. It is never a mere act of the understanding; the heart decides, and is never neutral. If a truth be rejected, it is also hated; if an error be embraced, it is also loved. It is because men have no pleasure in the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness, that they are given over to believe a lie; and are punished for believing it, with everlasting destruction. The propagation of error is criminal, of course, because it is destructive to the souls of men; annihilating the influence of the divine moral government, and the means by which God is accustomed to renew the soul, and without which he does not ordinarily exert his sanctifying power.

9. In the view of what has been said, how momentous is the responsibility of ministers of the Gospel; and how aggravated the destruction of those, who keep back the truth, or inculcate falsehood. It is, as if a man, not content with his own destruction by famine, should extend the desolation by withholding nutrition from all around him ; .or not content with poisoning himself, should cast poison into all the foun

tains, putting in motion around him the waters of death. If there be a place in the world of despair, of tenfold darkness, where the wrath of the Almighty glows with augmented fury, and whence, through eternity, are heard the loudest wailings, ascending with the smoke of their torment :-in that place I shall expect to dwell, and there, my brethren, to lift up my cry with yours, should we believe lies, and propagate deceits, and avert from our people the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit. And if there be a class of men, upon whom the fiercest malignity of the damned will be turned, and upon whose heads universal imprecations will mingle with the wrath of the Lamb, it will doubtless, my brethren, be ourselves; if, as blind guides, we lead to perdition our deluded hearers.

The present occasion requires that a more particular application of this discourse be made to the Pastor Elect, and to the Missionaries, who are about to be ordained to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles.

ADDRESS TO THE PASTOR ELECT.

My dear Brother,

With the consequences of unfaithfulness in view, you are about to take the pastoral care of this church and congregation. Their salvation, according to the laws of the human mind and the constituted mode of divine operation, is to be promoted or hindered by the instructions which you give, and the pastoral duties which you perform or neglect. But be not dismayed. The reward of fidelity is as glorious, as the punishment of treachery is dreadful; and with the Bible in your hand, and Jesus Christ with you always, you are thoroughly furnished, and can do all things. Your duty is plain. It is to explain and enforce the laws of the divine moral government, contained in the Bible. Receive then, my brother, that holy book with implicit confidence, as including your commission, and all you have to say.-Read it daily as a part of your devotion, and study it as a part of

your profession.-But remember that yours is the office of an expositor of that divine book, and not of a legislator to revise and modify its sacred pages. Be not wise in your own conceit; and dare not to be wise above what is written. Bring to your aid, for the exposition of the Scriptures, the resources of human learning; but bring with these, a heart humbled with a sense of its own deceitfulness and depravity, and filled with strong desires and groanings that cannot be uttered, for the illumination and guidance of the Spirit; remembering that ignorance and unsanctified knowledge alike puff up, and subject to condemnation.

That you may understand the Scriptures, examine them for yourself. Receive no opinions upon trust; and allow no man to dictate what you shall believe. But do not use this your liberty as a cloak for rejecting the truth, and adopting licentious opinions. Dare to think for yourself; and what you think, dare to preach; knowing that divine wisdom has revealed no superfluous truths, and that all Scripture is profitable.

Dare to think for yourself; but do not imagine that independence can compensate for indolence, or ignorance, or heresy, or hatred of the truth; or that, to be independent, you must of course despise antiquity, and differ from the vast majority of the wise, and great, and good.

Dare to think for yourself. Let no creed bind you because it is reputed orthodox, until you perceive its agreement with the Scriptures. But then, though every where spoken against, adopt it; remembering that the Bible may be epitomized and its meaning retained, and your reverence for creeds be only reverence for the Bible.

Dare to think for yourself; and do not imagine that the faithful avowal of truths to which the hearts of men are opposed, demands less courage, than the promulgation of errors grateful to the feelings of human depravity. ·

Dare to think for yourself, but give to others the same liberty; and never raise the pusillanimous cry of intolerance, because others will not think your opinions to be harmless, or as correct and salutary as their own.

Explain to your people the moral law, as demanding love to God with all the heart; and their entire depravity, as destitute of this holy love; and their danger, as exposed justly to eternal punishment. Explain to them the nature of repentance, as the sorrow for sin which is inspired by love to God; and the nature of faith, as that confidence in the Saviour which is the result of holy love. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, and the love of Christ, set before them the sorer punishment of which he shall be thought worthy, who shall tread under foot the Son of God. When you have explained to your people the great duties of holy love, repentance for sin, and faith in the Redeemer; and have set before them the motives, which God has revealed; urge them with all possible importunity to an immediate compliance. Address them as free agents, without excuse for the least deviation from the perfect law of God, or for one moment's delay of repentance and faith. By the terrors of the Lord exhort, and by the mercies of God, intreat them instantly to be reconciled to God. Say unto them with reiterated importunity-" Thus saith the Lord," whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; and wash your hands of their blood, and throw on them the tremendous responsibility of self-destruction, if they will die.

Admit no excuse for impenitence, and no plea in mitigation of guilt: no decree of God as having any influence to constrain them to sin, or render immediate repentance impossible no doctrine of election or reprobation, as excluding them from heaven against their wills, and driving them reluctantly to hell no doctrine of total depravity, as destroying free agency, and rendering transgression involuntary and unavoidable: no doctrine of regeneration by the special agency of the Holy Spirit, as implying any inability in the sinner to love, and repent, and believe, which does not consist wholly in his refusal to obey the Most High. The searcher of hearts perceives in these doctrines, no reason for modifying his demands of perfect, immediate, and constant obedience, or for

mitigating in any degree the penalty of disobedience, or for relaxing the peremptoriness of command, or the earnestness of entreaty.

But, my brother, whatever may be your attainments in human science, your might in the Scriptures, your popularity as a preacher, or your estimation in the affections of your people; let it all be counted loss, in comparison with their actual conversion to God. Set your heart upon the great blessing of a revival of religion. Desire it speedily and constantly. Pray for it without ceasing, and stir up the members of your church to concentrate, on this point, the whole importunity of the prayer of faith. And live, and preach, and pray, and act in such a manner, as shall lay the best foundation to expect the blessing.

ADDRESS TO THE MISSIONARIES.

My beloved Brethren,

If the Bible contain the Laws of the Most High God, for the restoration of man from sin to holiness; then it is not a superfluous labour to translate the Scriptures into the various languages of the nations, nor a superfluous charity to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the heathen.

There are not a few, who seem to regard the heathen as not accountable for their depravity of heart, or criminal for their idolatry, and scarcely for their immoralities; or as subjected to inconvenience by their superstitions. They are the guileless children of our common father, all affectionately striving to please him in ways, different indeed from those of christian worship, but equally sincere, and equally well pleasing to God, and equally benign in their influence to make men happy on earth, and to prepare them for heaven. What need then of all this sympathy for the heathen, and of so much exertion and expense to relieve those, whose circumstances, for time and eternity, are as eligible as ours? Why should their reverence for the religion of their ancestors be weakened, and their "elegant mythology" be stigmatized,