obedient servant of the Master whom Paul served. Yea, why did Paul himself become a herald of this salvation, but because a light, brighter than the noon-day sun, shone upon his eyes, and a power, more wondrous than the burning lustre of that sun, had affected his heart, divested him of pride, and laid him where a man ought to be laid, at the footstool of everlasting mercy? Then, brethren, if the wants of the world are what they were in the apostles' days, if man is still the poor, guilty, perishing 'creature that he was then, the Gospel is now what it was then in God's purpose, and in God's design, and in God's execution, in the way of peace, of pardon, of endless blessedness; and all that the Gospel did in those days for heathens such as these, it is reserved for the Gospel in our days to accomplish.

And, my brethren, what facilities has God opened to the manifestation of this his Gospel, through the various missionary societies, and through the peculiar construction of those societies, their branches, and their penny associations! There are now opportunities, even in the most distant villages of our land, for persons, who would otherwise feel cut off from all participation in a work like this, to contribute and promote it. You can imagine, in former times, many a humble, heaven-taught soul, with the pages of the Bible before him, thinking of the heathen lands, and of the ignorance of many a fellow-creature; and if the wish came into the heart, that such an one, in poverty, and unknown to others, could contribute, there was no channel opened. But now the channels are so open, that the very penny of the poor, the penny of the child, finds its way to its proper destination, is not lost, is not misspent. And thus He, who said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," has wrested the former monopoly of benevolence from the hands of the wealthy, and opened this commerce of love to the poorest and the meanest of the disciples of Christ. There is something, my brethren, beautiful in the structure of our societies, which open those channels through which the little rills of mercy may flow, obedient to God's bidding, to irrigate the parched wilderness of this world.

And, my brethren, what abundant success has God granted! He has not left us to do his work, without encouraging us by marking the success of it. He might, to try our faith, have long refrained from giving any trophy of his grace to our missionary efforts. He might have tried the faith of persons, as indeed he has—and perhaps it is one of the most beautiful specimens of strong faith on record,

that a female missionary to the Burman empire was ready to say that, if she and her husband could do no other, by a long life, than prepare the way for another to come after and to reap the trophies of the Gospel, she would be well content. God, at last, be it recollected, does not say, "Well done, good and successful servant," but, “Well done, good and faithful servant." But he has not left us to these trials. Surely he has granted, in every part of the world where our missionary stations have been planted, that kind of success which we might have anticipated. He has given, I think, as large a measure of success as, under the circumstances of the present condition of the world, we might have expected. And we have to bless him for that measure of success, which has attended these heralds of salvation. Yes, my brethren, I might surely turn to the shores of the Pacific, to New Zealand, to India, and ask, whether there are not there trophies to the power of the cross, whether the arm of the Lord has not there been laid bare, whether the teaching of the Spirit has not been effectual, whether the conversion of many a heart does not still attest the Gospel to be, what the apostle Paul knew it to be and saw it to be, "the power of God unto salvation?"

And, therefore, with the command of Christ before us, with the blessing of God before us, with the wants of the world before us, with the peculiar facilities to missions before us, which the providence of God has opened to us, shall we not contribute yet more liberally, and pray more earnestly, and enter into the success of these efforts more keenly and anxiously? Shall we not see Christ before us, waiting to look upon the finished consummation of his love, the travail of his soul, in which he shall be satisfied? Shall we not think of Him, as prophetically he was presented to us tonight, as crying upon the cross "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Shall we not think of Him, as seated at his Father's right hand, having received all power in heaven and in earth, and therefore having commissioned his disciples to go forth? Shall we not think of Him, as looking down with the eye of the Advocate and the Intercessor, yearning with that same unfatigued tenderness which he manifested when on earth? Shall we not see Him thus before us? Shall we not hear Him, saying to the Apostle, whom he received back again into his blessed fellowship, though he had denied him, and giving him, as the privilege of restored love and communion, the command, "Feed my sheep," "Feed my lambs?" Shall we, men and brethren, think of these things-shall we recollect our own mercies, mercies so dearly bought, mercies that reach to the utmost

necessities of our souls-shall we, in the perception, in the recollec. tion of these things, be slack to do God's work? Shall we give niggardly? Rather let us give in the spirit of generous love, in the spirit of ardent gratitude. Shall we not ask ourselves, whether we have come up to that measure of charity which God looks for at our hands, and bless him for the opportunity of doing his work while it 's day? for to us "the night cometh, when no man can work."

YIELDING OURSELVES UNTO GOD.

HON. AND REV. B. W. NOEL, A.M.

ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW, JANUARY 1, 1837.

"But yield yourselves unto God."-ROMANS, vi. 13.

AT the close of another of those brief years into which our transitory life is divided, it is natural that we ask ourselves what we have been believing and what we have been doing during the past year; and also what it is our purpose, through the divine help, to believe and to do for the future. We look upon the map of our lives, as it were, and trace our past course, in order that we may be improved by all that has been wrong, and warned by every mistake into which we may have fallen; and that we may be led to inquire what is the course we are about to pursue-whether it is probable we shall be improved rapidly, or whether we should fall again and again into those errors through which we have already passed.

Perhaps we could have selected no passage more suitable to assist us in determining what, by God's help, we may do during the year on which we this day enter, than that which I have read. It is a divine command, of the largest extent, and the most imperative obligation, and which, if obeyed, will determine the whole course of our existence: "Yield yourselves unto God." It is a divine direction given to us from the beginning of the year to the end of the year: shall we obey it or not? It should be frequently. presented to our thoughts as the very direction given for our future course has it been already done; or, if not, shall we do it now? "Yield yourselves unto God."

It is requisite, in order that we may fulfil any command of God, that we fully understand its meaning: and in an expression, whose force obviously depends on the meaning of the word yield, it will be well to examine a few instances where this word is used in other places of Scripture.

We find, for instance, in Luke, ii. 22, this word is employed: "When the days of her purification according to the law of Moses

were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord.” "Present him" you have the same word employed-" yield," or "present," yourselves to the Lord. They brought him, presented him, consecrated him to the Lord, as a sacrifice to the service of God, according to his own command. You find a similar expression, containing radically the same signification, though with somewhat a different idea, in Acts, xxiii. 23, 24: "The Roman governor called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready," or present-set in order-" two hundred soldiers to go to Cæsarea, and horsemen three-score and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night: and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor." The same word is employed in Ephesians, v. 27, with precisely the same signification, preserving the radical force of the word: it is said that Christ gave himself to the church" that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing."

These passages sufficiently indicate the precise force of the word. It is to present ourselves to God as his servants, as altogether his property, wholly consecrated to him. We are to be his he calls us to yield ourselves, or present ourselves to him. There are many similar passages which will occur to your recollection, serving to illustrate this command: as for instance, when it is said, "I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God." "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living "-their ruler, their great proprietor. And again: "He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." This is the meaning of the term: he calls us not to live unto ourselves, but to him that died for us; and to present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.

In order that this command of God may be impressed on our consciences, let us consider briefly the reasons why it is our duty to yield ourselves unto God.

In the first place, my brethren, because he is absolute sovereign, and we must do his will. It is his irresistible will that governs all things; it is his infinite mind that determines all events. He has not given us the power of withdrawing ourselves from the divine government: he has placed us in our present position that we should