several other friends, on the authority of testimony which he assigned, and held to be unquestionable, that those Missionaries had the command of what might truly be called (speaking in relative proportion to such a concern) an immense capital and income. I could give you the sums in figures, but forbear, purely in consideration of their extravagance. Suffice it to say, that the amount was most palpably and enormously beyond any alleged or conceivable necessities of such an establishment. Entirely confident in this belief, he thought, of course, that an application to the Society for aid was a most unreasonable claim; whereas, the fact was, as Dr. Marshman represented, and as Dr. Carey soon after confirmed, that it was made from the pressure of pecuniary difficulty, which was forcing the brethren at Serampore to the alternative of either obtaining assistance in this country, or abandoning several of their missionary stations. Had Mr. Hall been aware of the real state of the case, he would not have written a single sentence of that letter. It was unfortunate that he should have been so credulous to delusive representations. Again appealing to your justice for the insertion of this note of explanation somewhere in the concluding volume, I remain, My dear Sir, Yours, with the greatest regard, SERMONS. I. THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE. ISAIAH xxxi. 3.-The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit.* [PREACHED AT CAMBRIDGE, APRIL 14, 1822, AND AT BRISTOL IN AUGUST, 1824.] AMONG the sins to which the ancient Israelites were addicted, one of the most prevailing was, a disposition, in seasons of invasion or calamity, to place confidence in the power of surrounding nations, and to seek the assistance of their sovereigns instead of trusting in the living God. By this they frequently incurred divine chastisement, and in some instances even divine dereliction. Egypt, being the largest monarchy in their immediate neighbourhood, was frequently their refuge in times of distress and difficulty. Their guilt in thus departing from God was greatly aggravated, on account of the intimate relation to them which he sustained as their king and sovereign, by virtue * Printed from the Notes of Joshua Wilson, Esq. See Vol. V. pp. 7-13, for Mr. Hall's brief notes of the same sermon. |