sin, forgives it for ever; and, therefore, I believe Christians have greatly robbed themselves of happiness in not distinguishing between GoD's chastisements and GoD's fierce anger. GoD has cast their iniquities into the depths of the sea, and, therefore, he will never remember their sins against them in the way of punishment, angry punishment, and he will never withdraw his loving-kindness from any soul that he has loved. Oh, it would be a melancholy truth if he did, if it was but for one day in the Christian's life, one hour in the Christian's sojourning here on earth. The patience of GOD would be exhausted if it was not bound up with his own faithfulness, and united with his very nature in which there is no shadow of turning. So far we find that Christ is the bestower, as well as the preacher and procurer of this peace. Now, LASTLY, we observe from this verse, THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS THE CONFIRMER OF THIS PEACE. It is expressly said here, "And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of GOD to be the judge of quick and dead." At first sight it might seem that the view of Christ's coming as the judge of quick and dead was not connected with peace, but was connected with terror. But, beloved, remember, that a Christian's peace is only begun in time, and the introduction of Christ here coming as the judge is to show to us, that the peace he makes known to us in his Gospel is a peace which is suited to the most awful and trying day, and to the eter nal period which lies before us. It is to assure us that peace which he gives in believing will never receive its completion and perfection, until we see Christ coming himself the Prince of Peace; and it is lastly, to show us that there is a time coming when Christ will openly and mani festly decide the controversy between his church and the world. Here their peace is a secret peace, and the world's is an open triumph. Here they have a peace within, which the world knows nothing of, and which, in their wicked blasphemy, they mock, but in the day of his coming Christ will decide the controversy, and he will show that all the happiness that the world has ever possessed-all the possessions that the proud Pharisee has ever laid up for himself-all that has been derived from false religion, from pleasure, from sin, from any method in which Satan deceives his children, that it was a peace that must perish in the light of Whereas, the GoD's countenance. peace which He has given by the secret influence of his Spirit, the peace conveyed to the view of faith, and in the believing contemplation of his own mercy, that is the peace that will shine specially and peculiarly when the Lord, the Prince of Peace, shall come; and when he comes, not only to thus decide, but to give it in richer and more abundant measure. While below, the Christian's peace is interrupted, it is at a very low ebb. Temptation is very strong, the billows are very high, every thing seems to threaten destruction to his peace. He is obliged to cry out, "O my God, my soul is cast down within me." And his only answer to his soul is this, "Hope thou in GoD, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my GOD." Now, it is to this full measure of peace that the church is looking forward in the view of Christ's second coming. Until he comes they must be in the warfare-until he comes there is no promise of perfect individual victory-until he comes there is no promise of the Church's victoryuntil he comes there is no promise that Satan shall be bruised under our feet; for until that period their lan guage must be, individually, "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burthened-we who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body." Now, it is at Christ's coming that he bestows this rich, this abundant, this uninterrupted peace. There are, and may be, moments when the Christian enjoys a foretaste of glory, but then it is often interrupted, and from temptations and trials it does not come to its full measure. But in that day they shall be delivered from every temptation; they shall be delivered from the fowler's snare-they shall have fought and won the day, and in the presence of their victorious Prince of Peace they shall enjoy full and un interrupted peace. But there is another reason why they look forward to Christ's second coming thus to enjoy peace, and it is this, in the sympathy of their nature they shall see the world of peace. We therefore read, in the eleventh chapter of the prophet Isaiah, that "his rest shall be glorious." And in connexion with that rest you observe it is a period of unparalleled peace. Then we find that the whole of the creation rejoices in the joy of his people-then we find that all the venom and malice that sin has introduced into our world, and the curse it has introduced, is done away for ever. "And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf, also, shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain." Now, mark the reason, "for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." They are one and other literal, so that if we were in any wise to diminish the full and resplendent picture which the prophet gives of the world's peace, we might take away the resplendent picture which the prophet gives of the world's knowledge of GOD. One is as simply set out as the other; and as heretofore sin had entered its venom, and placed its poison in the whole animal creation, then, and not till then, shall the whole of this world, which was once God's peculiar restingplace, enjoy a perfect peace, because then shall "the knowledge of the LORD cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." Oh, my friends, if this be the case, how would it befit the church of Christ to long for the blessed day when He shall come to whom belongs the kingdom; and when he shall come out from within the veil where he is now ministering, like the high priest of old, stretching out his arms of mercy, to bless his church, and bless his ancient people, and bless the world with the blessing of his peace. In the forty-second verse it is said, that he shall judge the quick and the dead;" and from this it appears that the Lord will first judge his people and then judge his enemies, and that his judgment on the quick" shall be for their peculiar glory, and for their eternal happiness; and the judgment on the "dead" shall be that in which the former shall participate, "for know ye not that we shall judge angels ;" and all that Christ shall have of the Father according to his promise, "Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance;" all this shall be shared with the saints, and all this will be communicated to the saints, and in this world's peace, and in this world's enjoyment, the saints shall have a very rich enjoyment, and a very blessed inheritance, for they shall see Christ crowned with glory, GoD the Father acknowledged throughout his world, and the whole of creation delivered from the malice of Satan, and the wretchedness of sin. Now, my brethren, these are blessed subjects, and the heads of them only have I thrown out for your consideration. But let me remark to you, that, individually, we are all bound to see whether we have the peace of Christ. And if we have individually Christ as our anointed preacher, Christ as the gracious procurer of our peace, Christ, as the bestower of our peace, and Christ as the expected confirmer of our peace for all eternity, it comes home to every Christian, shall we not endeavour to communicate something of that peace to the sons of men? I said, in the commencement, that the sermon of Peter was the best missionary sermon; and if I did not believe our dear Moravian brethren preached the same doctrine, I could not, conscientiously, recommend you to support them; but it is because I believe they have peculiarly exhibited Christ as the peace of his church, and that in great simplicity, and that to people who wanted peace, that I urge you this night again to the blessed work. You are most likely aware that the Moravian church is a very ancient church, and that during the dark ages, perhaps some of the very first dark ages, they were a church separated from all the domination of ecclesiastical tyranny; that amidst all the persecution which God's people suffered in the time when Rome had all her power, there was a little band in the Moravian church testifying against its errors, and for Christ. You are, perhaps, aware, that the Moravian church continued after the slaughter of one of its best and noblest martyrs; and that when Huss was killed, and Jerome had suffered at the stake, they left behind them a name and followers, who were bold in their generation, and before the era of the Reformation dawned upon us, testified once more for Christ. You are, perhaps, aware, that when they were reduced to misery, and to a very small number, they were permitted to form a settlement on the Continent; and from that little settlement they sent forth their missionaries as the very first missionaries of the world. So that we may call them the leaders of the missionary world, the first, since there has been a revival of the missionary spirit in the church of Christ, to take their lives in their right hand, and to lay them down for Christ. You are, perhaps, aware, that their missionaries under GOD have been more blessed than any other church according to their number and their several abilities. We read, for instance, that the Moravian church, as it exists at present, has got forty different stations, two hundred missionaries, and forty-one thousand converts. Now this you will remember, as I mentioned before, came from a little band, and a very despised band of (To be continued.) London: Published for the Proprietors, by T. GRIFFITHS, Wellington Street, Strand and Sold by all Booksellers in Town and Country. Printed by Lowndes and White, Crane Court, Fleet Street. providence of GoD, that that ship, on which we may say their very exist for the course of sixty years, been interrupted in its voyage, but has always reached its final destination. This, I think, in itself is a proof of God's peculiar regard for those dear brethren who have such a truly missionary spirit, and who have gone through so many labours. those settling in one place on the Con- a very remarkable fact in the good tinent; so that, in fact, we might have supposed that the Moravians would have thought of any thing but mis-ence depends, that that ship has never, sionary work. When they sent out their missionaries to the West Indies, to South America, to South Africa, to North America, to the coasts of Lapland and Greenland, when they sent them out, I say, what was the blessing of God? The blessing was beyond any thing we know, except in the apostolic days, considering their number and their opportunities. You must remember that the Moravian missionaries do not go out as other missionaries go, supported by an income, supported by an annual sum, but they actually go out as missionaries of the first ages, without any annual income whatever, and that they are only supported in the necessaries of life, which are sent to or communicated to them in the countries in which they live; and so remarkably is this the case, that I may mention it to some perhaps who are not aware of the fact, that there is a ship annually loaded with provisions and various necessary articles, sent out from this country to the Moravian brethren, and that for a number of years this ship has gone out, and never as yet has it been interrupted in its voyage. We find here in one account that they depend for provisions on this country, whence a vessel has conveyed them for sixty years without one failure. Now, it is VOL. II. If I was in one view to bring before you the grounds of my appeal to you this night, I would briefly mention the following. First, they have given a peculiar testimony to Christ; I mean that they did so in a dark age, when others had yielded to tyranny, oppression, superstition, and idolatry. Secondly, they have gone through lengthened trials. You have only to read Crantz's History of Greenland to see what the Moravian brethren have gone through in their various trials there; how they have often, when they could not procure a habitation, been satisfied to hide themselves, if I may so speak, in the caves; and when they were asked by the prince of one country where they would reside, as it was impossible to give them wood to build a house with, their reply was, "We will make a habitation for ourselves-we will dig holes in the earth." Now, there is another reason, and I may, in the Third place, mention their abundant labours. They have not only Y of a Greenland winter, in the midst of the severest and bitterest cold, that it was a very paradise to their souls, that they were so filled with the love of Christ, and so full of his blessed work that their souls were warm, while their bodies were enduring the most intense cold. gone through trials, but they have | soul, when they could say in the midst gone through most abundant labours. We find, for instance, that their labours have been exceedingly blessed not only in Greenland, but they have also been blessed in South Africa to a wonderful extent. With regard to the coast of Labrador we find, in the settlement there established, three hundred Esquimaux are gathered together, their barbarous spirits tamed, and their hearts cheered by faith in a crucified and sympathising Saviour. A fourth settlement has been determined on eighty miles further north. They have now four settlements, containing 2700 Greenlanders, gathered from among their heathen and degraded countrymen, for whose welfare the brethren have inhabited these frozen regions for seventy-seven years. In the last settlement that commenced, two male missionaries and one female had to dwell in a hut of sods during two Greenland winters. You are all aware that the cold in Greenland is beyond every thing we have experienced in our country, yet here they were exposing their lives in huts built merely of sods. We find on their arrival they give the following account. "Our people grow in grace, and the love and knowledge of their Saviour. Twenty-eight have been admitted to the Lord's Supper, and not less than one hundred have been received into the congregation. The joy we experience in beholding the Lord and his Spirit on their hearts, the love and confidence we enjoy, make this dreary and frozen region a paradise to our souls. We do not feel the privations to which persons living in this country must necessarily submit. Our solitary dwellings appear places of rest in the Lord; and the rough and piercing cold of the climate does not chill the warmth of our affections." What a blessed testimony this is to the power of GoD in the Oh, brethren, what a word of rebuke to us, who in the midst of privileges the richest, and means the most abundant, find often every thing but warmth at our souls, nay our souls, as it were, seized with a Greenland coldness. We find that this account is peculiarly satisfactory as to the receiving of persons to the sacrament, because they are particularly cautious in so doing. The brethren are cautious in the admission of converts to baptism, and still more so to the Lord's Supper; yet still, so greatly have their faithful labours been blessed, that they number more than fourteen thousand communicants, above onethird of the whole of their congregation, and one thousand eight hundred and forty not yet communicants. Of the congregation above enumerated, more than twenty-seven thousand are subjects of Great Britain. Now this fact imposes peculiar claim on the persons of this country-they are persons under British government. They have gone to those countries where England has often extended its triumph and the sword of its conqueror, but brought no balm for perishing souls, and never thought of wielding the warfare of GOD with the sword of the Spirit. But these poor missionaries have had twenty-seven thousand in the British dominions in foreign parts. This, I say, has a very strong claim on every one here to-night, that they should come forward to the help of this blessed work. I may mention with regard to the labours of the Moravians, that they |