pointed inequalities of worldly condition, and has decreed that "the poor shall never cease out of the land1." But he has declared that he is no respecter of persons, and that "whoever feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." We, as a nation, are in danger, or I would rather say, we have been in danger of disregarding this plain Christian principle. We cannot deny, that many among us have looked upon our poorer brethren with a feeling, which only a heathen man would venture openly to acknowledge; treating them as inferior beings, whom it was sufficient to feed and clothe, but who did not need to be instructed in the way in which they should go, nor to be provided with the bread of life. Can we contemplate the rapidly increasing and ill-educated population of our native land, without confessing, that for these many years we have been sowing the wind; and is it due to our own wisdom or deserts, that we have not long ago reaped the whirlwind? The evil is even now on the increase; but we trust that steps have been taken to cope with it in time to prevent it from overwhelming us. A better state of things, however, cannot be brought about suddenly, nor without a combined, a sustained, a vigorous effort. No light pretexts, 1 Deut. xv. 11. 2 Acts x. 35. no lesser differences of opinion, must tempt us to impede the work, nor even to stand aloof from it. It must be done; the people must be taught. In his early prime, while he is yet pliant for good or for evil, the young child must be taken, and trained up in the way he is to go. We have already seen enough to convince us, that this duty cannot be neglected with impunity. A general feeling exists throughout the country, as we are assured by the Royal Letter in behalf of which I address you, "a general belief exists, strengthened by late events in other nations, that it is only by providing a sound religious education for the growing masses of the population, that the social and religious institutions of these kingdoms can be preserved." We are this day called upon to give a sign that we participate in this general feeling. And how can we do otherwise? We who are at this fountainhead of learning, whether we stand here by the well, or whether we have come up hither to draw the waters, we cannot but desire to dispense among our poorer brethren those blessings which we value so highly for ourselves. Let us then not go hence, without doing something to shew the strength of God to this generation, and his power to all them that are yet for to come1. 1 Psalm lxxi. 18. REVIEW OF THE CAUSES CONTRIBUTING TO THE OCCASIONED BY THE CALUMNIES OF THE HEA- 1 PETER II. 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. HE rapid propagation of the Christian THE Church in the first centuries of its existence, is a subject which affords us edification in different ways, according to the several aspects in which it is viewed. At one time we contemplate it as a general fact or result; and considering how the Gospel went forth from its small beginnings in Jewry, and overcame the world, we acknowledge that herein we trace the handiwork of God, and behold one of the wonders, nay, the greatest of all the wonders which he hath done for the children of men. A new impulse was then given to the spirits of men, a new light was let in upon their hearts; a change was wrought as marvellous, as if the Almighty Creator had taken this planet in his hands, and caused it to revolve about another axis, or round another sun. Again, we endeavour to analyze this event, for the purpose of discerning the causes, which, humanly speaking, conspired to produce it. And then we find a union of such elements, as could neither have been fabricated nor put together by human ingenuity or forethought. And we say that in this combination we find a proof of divine contrivance and arrangement, at least as strong as any which is furnished by the phenomena of the natural creation. Keeping in view this double mode of treating the subject, I commenced my present course of lectures by dwelling on the success of the Gospel as a substantive proof of its divine origin; and I then proceeded to consider the means, the machinery, if we may use such a phrase, by which that result was accomplished. Very much of this machinery must ever escape our notice, being either hidden altogether from our eyes, or so complicated as to be understood only by him who planned it. For all things in heaven and earth are working together to promote his ends. We have been content to observe those instruments which were most directly and obviously concerned in making his Revelation known to mankind; first the miracles, by which the Revelation was attended and ac credited; then the prophecies which it fulfilled; thirdly, the doctrine which it inculcated, a doctrine adapted to the wants and capabilities of human nature, and producing in the lives of those who received it a visible and living proof of its divine excellence. Thus the Church of Christ, though not arrayed in earthly pomp and circumstance, was a King's daughter, and was not only all glorious within, but also wore a clothing which was of wrought gold. The Gospel was recommended to the world at once by its intrinsic worth, and by the external tokens which it bore of its heavenly parentage. I have endeavoured however to account for the progress of the Gospel, not merely by shewing that there were certain causes capable of producing that effect, but by tracing, as far as possible, the actual operation of those causes, and by ascertaining their real influence. For this purpose I have not relied on Christian testimony alone, but have appealed to the still more valuable admissions of pagan writers. And enough I trust has been said to shew that the Gospel was advanced by the causes which I have mentioned. It owed its triumph to none of those delusions which have sometimes arisen and rapidly overspread the earth, like the pestilence or the locust-flight. H. H. L. 8 |