in its branches; to a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, which should gradually extend, should at length fill the whole earth, and remain for ever. Although the gospel had long been partial in its spread, Palestine being the only country enlightened with its glory, and the posterity of Abraham the exclusive recipients of its blessings; yet now "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, the kings of Tarshish, and of the Isles shall bring presents the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts; yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in. all the world, for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come."

*If by the end here mentioned, with Bishops Newton, Hurd, and other judicious commentators, we understand the overthrow of Jerusalem, there cannot possibly be a more luminous argument. for the authority of prophecy, nor a more encouraging argument for us to persevere in our undertaking. The prediction, in its varied parts, received an accomplishment, no less minute than if it had been a literal history of events which had already occur. red. "It appears, indeed," observes the former of these writers,. "from the history of the church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem, the gospel was preached not only in lesser Asia, and Greece and Italy, the great theatres of action then in the world but was likewise propagated as far northward as Scythia, as far southward as Ethiopia, as far eastward as Parthia and India, as far westward as Spain and Britain. How improbable, and to all human appearance, impossible was it that a few poor fishermen, and such inferior, illiterate persons, should propagate and estab lish a new religion in so short a space of time, throughout the world; doubtless it was not man's work, but God's; and from the same divine Spirit proceeded both the prophecy and the completion."-Dissert. on proph. vol. i. page 409, 410, Correspond

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III. Our obligation to attempt the more general propagation of the Gospel was our third inquiry, and now invites our attention. I might mention the explicit command of the great God our Saviour: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; teach all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Does not this command as properly belong to us; is it not as absolutely binding on us, as on the apostles, whose ears heard it audibly from the lips of their present Lord? I might observe, that it receives an additional obligation from the awful solemnity of his immediate departure. No sooner had Zion's King instructed his disciples in the things that concerned the future interests of his church, and issued the royal mandate, "preach the gospel to every creature," than lo! he is parted from them making the cherub his car and the cloud his pavilion, he ascends on high, and enters his glory, to return no more" until the restitution of all things!" I might add, as another circumstance heightening our obligation to activity in promoting the exten

ently with this, Bishop Hurd eloquently remarks, "Against all appearance the success followed. In less than half a century the sound of the gospel went into all lands, and within three centuries from the death of Christ, christianity ascended the imperial throne, and had the utmost parts of the earth for her possession." -Lect. on Proph. vol. i. page 199. Contemplating success so unexpected and astonishing, Zion may ardently exclaim, What hath the Lord wrought she may triumphantly add, What is he not still able to effect! Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings he cun yet ordain strength, for the boundless diffusion of his Gospel Jehovah hasten it in his time!

sion of his gospel, the constraining influence of redeeming love. "We know the grace of the Lord Jesus, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich." The degradation and the sufferings of the Son of God in the room of his people impose on them an eternal obligation for zeal in his cause. He has thereby set us an example that we should follow his footsteps. Can we contemplate the immensity of his grace, in veiling the grandeur of the God in the meanness of the man; the obscurity of his birth, that the arbiter of worlds was born in a manger; the poverty of his life, that the heir of all things had not where to lay his head; the mingled ignominy and agony of his cross; can we contemplate these, unawed with astonishment, uninflamed with gratitude and love?" Behold what manner of love is this !" What finite mind can survey its infinite dimensions!

"Where roll my thoughts

To rest from wonders! Other wonders rise, "And strike where'er they roll; my soul is caught: "Heaven's sovereign blessings, clustering from the cross, "Rush on her in a throng and close her round,

"The pris'ner of amaze,"

"What heart of stone but glows at thoughts like these?"

The very earth, that felt the pangs of dissolution, and shook to her centre; the rocks that were rent; the graves that were opened; the dead who arose; the sun who veiled himself in darkness, rebuke our insensibility and sloth. But we shall confine our

attention to the two following considerations, obligating us to disinterested zeal in this cause:

1. A concern for the glory of God. True it is, his operations, both in creation and providence, illustriously display his infinite perfections: "The heavens declare the glory of God," and the firmament sheweth his handy work; day unto-day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge:" Every object around us is instamped legi bly with the characters of divinity: all the varied orders of being, whether animate.or inanimate, from the minutest reptile crawling upon the earth, to that blazing orb which rolls majestic along the heavens, proclaim the wisdom, the benignity and grandeur of their Great Creator. These have afforded to every nation under heaven, convincing proofs of the divine existence and perfections. Contemplating the sun which sheds light and fertility on the earth, the moon that with her milder radiance gilds the evening gloom, or the comet ranging stupendous through the trackless void, the savage wanderer of the woods, no less than the lettered inhabitant of the village, have acknowledg ed their Author to be Divine. Yet, it is reserved for the gospel to exhibit the most illustrious, the most astonishing display."The Lord God hath magnified his word above all his name." On the page of inspiration his holiness, his justice, his grace and condescension, perfections which his

other works revealed obscurely, are legibly and luminously inscribed. Here he is revealed as "the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious:" as the God of love, of peace, of patience and consolation: as a "Father to the fatherless, and merciful even to our unrighteousness," through the atonement of his Son. "Here that immaculate purity which cannot look upon sin, and that astonishing love which cannot behold the ruin of a sinner, are awfully displayed: the majesty of the divine government is sustained, and the rigor of the law fulfilled : justice is satisfied, mercy, without restraint and without measure, flows upon our guilty world." In the gospel exclusively, is brought to human view that mystery of condescension and grace, "God manifested in the flesh;"" the express image of Jehovah made of no reputation." This, my brethren, may justly be pronouuced the glory that excelleth. A God invested with our feeble nature; sustaining, by imputation, our transgressions; expiring as a sacrifice for our sins, is a subject into which "angels desire to look; a subject, which to angels themselves, must remain for ever unexplored. But, alas! my brethren, are there not myriads of our race, by whom the attributes of God as illustrated in the gospel, are unadmired, unknown? Nations, countless as the stars of heaven, inhabit this globe, who have "neither heard his fame nor seen his glory." "They are become vain in their

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