of his Holy Spirit on the minds of some of the hearers, but also enabled the Apostles to perform several miracles. Elymas, the sorcerer, was punished with temporary blindness, and the man at Lystra, who had been lame from his infancy, was restored to the perfect use of his limbs.

It does not appear in what language these two Missionaries usually spoke; whether in Greek, or in the dialects peculiar to the several provinces of the empire through which they passed, but there is every reason to believe that they could make themselves understood in any of the languages or dialects wherever they came.

After rehearsing the proceedings of this first Mission, to the assembled church at Antioch, Barnabas and Paul abode a long time, it is supposed about two years, in Syria, defending the proceedings of the late Mission against bigoted Jewish brethren, who taught that the Mosaic rites were essential to salvation. With these people the Missionaries had "no small dissention and disputation." At Phenice and Samaria, however, as they went south to Jerusalem, and declared the conversion of the Gentiles, they "caused great joy to all the brethren."

At Jerusalem the church received them, and heard their report; but still opinions were divided: some Pharisees who believed, insisted that the law of Moses must be observed by the Gentile converts, and there was "much disputing" at their meeting. Finally, the argument suggested by Peter, that since the Almighty put no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, but "purified the hearts" of both by the faith of the Gospel, it was not for them to impose the yoke of a ritual on the necks of the new disciples, which Heaven had not imposed. Barnabas and Paul supported this argument, by declaring the wonders which God had already wrought among the Gentiles, without any Mosaic rites; and James concurred in, and confirmed the same sentiment, by a reference to prophesies concerning the Gentiles. He gave it as his " sentence," or fixed opinion, that the Gentiles who had turned to God, should not be "troubled" with any Mosaic rites, but only be required to

abstain from idolatry and vice. This motion was carried by the Apostles and Elders, with the whole church. A letter was written, couched in the terms employed by James, and sent back to Antioch by Judas and Silas, together with Barnabas and Paul. When the multitude of believers at Antioch heard the epistle from Jerusalem read to them, they rejoiced for the consolation afforded to their minds by it. The deputies from Jerusalem, Judas and Silas, delivered exhortations calculated to confirm the faith of the disciples, and so closed the proceedings which arose out of the Mission undertaken and accomplished by Barnabas and Paul.

From the Sacred Scriptures we may derive general principles, which will apply to all cases; but not particular precepts for every possible case. Nor, unless we be in exactly the same circumstances as the examples recorded in Scripture, would our exact imitation of them be always right. That human means, such as preaching and teaching, should be employed for the diffusion of our holy Religion, is what I would call a general principle, fairly derived from the Bible: but since modern Missionaries have not such an express call by the Holy Spirit as Barnabas and Saul had, since they have not the gift of tongues, and since they have not the power of working miracles, they cannot be exact imitators of those two divinely appointed Missionaries. Although at the present day we hope ministers and missionaries are moved by the Holy Ghost to undertake the work, we cannot attain to certainty on that subject, with respect to any individual. When, indeed, we see the fruits of the Spirit, the work of the Lord, prospering in the hands of his servants, and men converted and purified by the Gospel, then we know that God is working with them, and may fairly infer, that these servants were called to the work, when the churches recommended them to the grace of God and sent them forth.

Barnabas and Paul rehearsed to the church all that God had done with them. In this great work the Lord himself is the prime mover, the principal agent; he is the Head, the

Captain, the King; men are the servants, or instruments by which he works: but still they are moral instruments; they should zealously co-operate, they should be active workers together with God, and him they must always acknowledge. And those servants that honour him, he will honour. A zealous use of suitable means, and a humble reliance on divine aid must always go together. To sit still, and do nothing, but wait till Heaven shall miraculously convert the nations, which some persons recommend, is a course as unscriptural and irrational, as to be all bustle and activity, in the use of means, without any regard to the Supreme Agent. As if man-unaided man, could overcome the God of this world, and conquer Satan's kingdom. How futile such an attempt! and how impious to presume to take Heaven's work out of Heaven's hand! Man, unaided, can effect no good, but the Almighty, without means, can accomplish his purposes; still he is pleased in carrying on the renovation of the world, to employ human means; and he is infinitely wise, and this arrangement must be infinitely good; it is, therefore, ours to be unwearied and abounding in the work of the Lord, employing, as experience may suggest, the most appropriate means.

The Spiritual Church I consider a theocracy, adumbrated by the theocracy of the Jewish nation. Jehovah is king. The kingdom is spiritual; the omniscient God, the Father of Spirits, is the sovereign Ruler. He requires no vicegerent on earth; and there is none. The churches on earth, like the tribes of Israel, or the provinces of an empire, are equal amongst themselves, and amenable only to their Divine Head.

But whilst maintaining this fundamental principle, these several tribes, or provinces, or churches, may have laws and regulations for the preservation of peace and order amongst themselves, without at all infringing upon, or casting off the supreme rule of their Divine Sovereign. Of the power and supremacy of God our Saviour we would never lose sight.

Since the time when Barnabas and Paul rehearsed to the

church at Antioch the result of their two year's mission in Asia Minor, how manifold have been the labours, the afflictions, the persecutions, the schisms, the heresies, the corruptions, the declensions, and the revivals of the churches; and how varied the circumstances, and the characters of those whom God has employed to extend the spiritual kingdom of the Redeemer. "To the Messiah are given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; that all people, and nations, and languages, should serve him." This the prophet declared in these very words more than five centuries before the Saviour's advent; and now, in our days (eighteen centuries subsequent), do we see the prophesy partly fulfilled, which is a pledge of its complete accomplishment at some future day.

Acting on the principles which have just now been recognized, and in the faith of the divine promises, the London Missionary Society, seventeen years ago, recommended the person who now addresses you,* by prayer and the laying on of hands, to the grace of God, and sent him forth to the work to be fulfilled; and through God's mercy he stands here this day to "rehearse" to this assembled church all that God has done with him. The Divine Providence has led him by a way that he knew not, and in paths which could not be by us foreseen. After so explicit a recognition of the divine rule and government of the world and the church as has just now been made, it will not be necessary to refer to it in every step of our rehearsal; for we desire to acknowledge God in all our ways, and magnify his gracious Providence, although we may not in words always refer to it.

Barnabas and Saul were separated to the work by an express injunction from Heaven; Acts, xiii. 2. "The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work

* Jan. 8th, 1807, ordained in Dr. Nichols's Chapel.

whereunto I have called them;" but the Missionary of whom we now speak had no such call. Gratitude to the Saviour, to whom the written word led his mind, and a desire to promulgate the salvation which is in Jesus, induced him to offer his services to the church. Some letters of Vanderkemp, recorded in the Evangelical Magazine nearly twenty years ago, decided him to say, in reply to enquiries for Missionaries, "here am I, send me." He would readily have gone to Africa with the unfortunate traveller, Mungo Park, and Anderson, his brother-in-law, as a Missionary, in the settlement the formation of which Park contemplated. Park and Anderson soon finished their mortal career. Finally, China was suggested to him as the sphere of his labours, and he acquiesced.

In the first apostolic Mission, Barnabas and Saul were united, and they had Mark for their minister, or helper, or servant, in whatever they might require. But the first Protestant Chinese Missionary went quite alone. Barnabas and Saul did not leave their own empire, they travelled not more than two thousand miles, and were absent but two years.

China is seventeen thousand miles from England, through some stormy seas and under scorching suns; it is a land in which foreigners, and above all, European foreigners, are interdicted; but Providence conducted him thither in safety, and provided for him a residence and temporal support.

The prophet Ezekiel, who lived about the time of the Chinese Confucius, received his commission from Heaven in these words, "Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them, for thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel." And such is now, (after innumerable difficulties have been overcome by former labourers,) the situation of ministers in England; to them the churches say, "go with the Bible, and thousands of good books to assist you; and speak in your mother tongue, and to your own people, a people prepared by many ad