the ocean, and to the mountains' top, and shew him the hand of God as displayed in the creatures, animate and inanimate, which every where he beholds; and raise his eyes to heaven, to contemplate the sun, and the moon, and the stars, their magnitude and motions, and light and glory.' But, since man is a guilty creature, justly deserving God's wrath and curse-if you carry not to him a knowledge of the salvation which is in Jesus Christ, you have still left him without that which is essential to his happiness; without that which is essential to the transformation of his character. You leave him still in spiritual darkness; you leave him Satan's captive; the slave of selfish or malignant passions-in his heart an enemy to God; and consequently still justly under the curse.

The knowledge of Christ's mediatorial work; the fellowship of his sufferings; the efficacy of his atoning sacrifices when he died for us on the accursed tree; the triumph of his resurrection; the glory of his ascension; and the proclamation of mercy from the Redeemer's throne in heaven, to all kindreds and peoples and tongues, and all classes of rebels and offenders-soften and melt man's previously hard and impenitent heart; and accompanied by the influences of God's Holy Spirit, bring him with weeping and supplication to confess his guilt; to renounce his sins; to renew his allegiance; and commence a career of loyal and affectionate devotedness to God his Saviour, whose love he desires to imitate; whose precepts he studies to obey; whose beneficent spirit he cherishes-inducing him to care not only for his own things, but also for the things of others; and to seek not only his own salvation and happiness, but the salvation and happiness of all mankind; and this leads him to desire, from motives of the purest and most heavenly benevolence, that all the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.

My brethren, are not these the feelings and motives which have brought you together from different parts of the British Isles this morning? Is it not a wish to promulgate to the ends of the earth the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, that fills every breast? and that wish arises from a

conviction that the excellency of this knowledge so far exceeds every other attainment, or distinction, or good, that the acquisition of these, and the omission of this, could not be denominated a gain; but a mighty loss. Yea, doubtless! and ye count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have then set before us distinctly the object of this assembly; it is not any subject of amusement for the ima gination; or merely intellectual gratification; nothing that concerns personal aggrandizement, or family distinction, or party superiority, or national glory;-but an object of greater interest to every regenerated soul than all these united; an object of infinitely greater magnitude than the merely temporal concerns of the whole world; an object that elevates the mind far above, and keeps it clear of, the attractions and antipathies that name or sect, or climate or colour, or tribe or nation, induce. The benignity of the deity, and the love of Christ, bear us along with them, and constrain us to rise superior to self, and to the transitory good that temporalities confer, and the momentary evils that destitution of these can inflict; in order that we may convey to every child of our heavenly Father's world; to every human creature, the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I will here quote to you, in confirmation of this statement the words of the preacher to whom I have already alluded.

"If a man," says he, "by a vast and imperious mind, and a heart as large as the sand upon the sea-shore (as it is said of Solomon) could command all the knowledge of nature and of art, of words and things; could attain to a mastery in all languages, and sound the depths of all arts and sciences; measure the earth and the heavens, and tell the stars; declare their orders and motions; could discourse of the interests of all states; the intrigues of all courts, the reason of all civil laws and constitutions; and could give an account of the history of all ages; could speak of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall; and of beasts also, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes, and yet should in the mean

time be destitute of the knowledge of God and Christ, and his duty; all this would be but an impertinent vanity and a mere glittering kind of ignorance; and such a man would but be undone with all this knowledge, and with a great deal of wisdom go down to hell."*

But, I would remark, in the second place, the state of the world is greatly diversified; and the intellectual and social condition of the several tribes and nations of men, is greatly varied. If in imagination we go forth from this land, west, and north, and south, and east, we shall find all degrees of intellect, from the ignorant savage who knows not the use of letters, up to the highly cultivated mind, which has been in the possession of literature and of books for nearly forty centuries, and which has possessed the art of printing at least seven hundred years. Where history and poetry occupy the leisure of the affluent; and books, such as they are, may be seen in the hands of the poorest of the people.

And the external condition of the various tribes of men to whom the gospel has not yet been conveyed, is not less dissimilar than their intellectual character. Some are destitute of the useful arts which clothe and lodge human beings; whilst others have possessed for ages garments of the richest stuffs and most curious workmanship, and dwell in luxurious mansions and gorgeous palaces. But still, notwithstanding the literature, and the civilization, and the arts which populous pagan nations possess, these things have not induced them to cast away their dumb idols; any more than the boasted simplicity, and nature, and rudeness of the uncivilized and unlettered tribes of men.

And again, the political institutions of the several nations yet unchristianized differ materially. Some are more open and accessible to what is foreign than others. These varieties of character and condition, will appear necessary to be attended to, when the adaptation of agents, and of means, for promulgating the gospel, is the subject of enquiry.

It may here be expected of the preacher that he should say something of the character and condition of the people * Tillotson, i. 1.

on the eastern verge of the Asiatic Continent;-amongst whom he has spent so many years of his life, and who are still ignorant of God and of his Christ.

To that people the God of heaven has given an extensive territory, containing large portions of fertile, salubrious, and delightful country; and they possess a knowledge of the useful arts, to a degree which supplies all the necessaries, and most of the luxuries of life. In these respects they require nothing from Europe. They possess also ancient and modern literature in great abundance; and an unlicensed press, and cheap books suited to their taste. With poetry, and music, and elegant compositions; and native ancient classics, and copious histories of their own part of the world; and antiquities, and topographical illustrations; and dramatic compositions, and delineations of men and manners in works of fiction; and tales of battles and of murders; and the tortuous stratagems of protracted and bloody civil wars. With all these, and with mythological legends for the superstitious, the Chinese, and kindred nations, are by the press most abundantly supplied. Nor is their literature destitute of theories of nature; and descriptions of her various productions; and the processes of the pharmacopolist, and the history and practice of medicine.

There is also a large portion of the gentry of China devoted to letters, in order to qualify themselves to fill with intelligence and wisdom the offices of magistracy; and such learning as government has deemed proper for that end, is encouraged and rewarded, either by honorary rank or by actual office.

With Magistrates thus formed, they govern, according to laws written, printed and published amongst the people. And every poor man's house is his castle, which no inferior officer can legally enter without a special warrant from the governor of a province. Throughout the whole of that vast empire there is a system of social order and regularity, in the intercourse of individuals and families, sanctioned either by law or by the etiquette of established usage, which is not exceeded by any nation under heaven.

What then do the Chinese require from Europe?-Not the arts of reading and printing; not merely general education; not what is so much harped on by some philanthropists-civilization :-they require that only which St. Paul deemed supremely excellent, and which it is the sole object of the Missionary Society to communicate-They require, the knowledge of Christ. For with all their antiquity, and their literature, and their arts and refinement, they are still infatuated idolaters; they are still given up to what Heaven regards as abominable idolatries and to vile affections, working that which is unseemly. Not liking to retain God in their knowledge, they worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator; they are haters of the true God, are filled with all unrighteousness, fornication and wickedness. With all their civilization, still envy and malice, deceit and falsehood to a boundless extent, pride and boasting a selfish ungenerous, scarcely honest prudence, and a cold metaphysical inhumanity, are the preva lent characteristics of the people of China.

Their well known backwardness to assist persons in imminent danger of losing their lives by drowning or otherwise; the cruel treatment of domestic slaves and concubines in families;-the tortures both of men and women before conviction, in public courts; and the murder of female infants, connived at, contrary to law; are the proofs I offer of the truth of the latter part of my accusation. Their principles are defective, and hence their vicious practice.

The philosophy of their celebrated ancient sage Confucius, acknowledges no future state of existence; and concerning the duties of man to his Maker presents a complete blank. It presents nothing beyond the grave to the fears or hopes of the human mind, but the praise or censure of posterity. Present expediency is the chief motive of action. Of the great and glorious God who is infinitely above, and distinct from the heavens and the earth, the teaching of Confucius makes no mention: it rises not superior to an obscure recognition of some principle of order in nature, which when violated induces present evil. There