carry on the enterprise in a way at all commensurate with the grandeur of the object before us, must be derived from the same source. former assistance will be needed. Even more than Instead of occa sional drops of mercy, water must be poured upon the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. The text refers to this; and it is too well understood to require any particular explanation. Suffice it simply to say, that the chapter begins with a cheering account of the approach of a brighter day; but it goes on to tell us that, in the meantime, a season of gloom and depression would ensue, to be terminated only by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high. This would work a delightful change. Then the wilderness would become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. No language could be more appropriate to us, in the relation which we, as a Missionary Society, sustain to the conversion of the world. Large as are our resources, numerous as are the laborers we have sent forth, and strong as is the hold which this blessed cause has taken on the affections of the people, we were never more dependent on help from heaven, than at this very moment. Without special divine aid we can do nothing. God must plentifully imbue our hearts with the influences of the Spirit, that we may use the right means for effecting our object, that we may prosecute the work with proper energy, and that we may see our efforts attended with success. These are the points which I wish to illustrate and enforce. I. The Spirit of God must be with us, or we shall not use the right means for converting the world. Our undertaking is a vast one, and we are not left in uncertainty as to the way in which it is to be accomplished. That gospel, which God has given us to spread, as well as to enjoy, was made for man; and though there is in it no independent efficacy, it does possess an adaptedness to the renovation of his moral nature. No matter where you meet him, or whatever be the depth of his depravity, this is the remedy for his ruin. There is here an ordained channel through which the Spirit of God operates to change the heart, make the poor pagan a new creature, turn the desert into a goodly land, and fill a world of crime and sorrow with righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Sending the knowledge of Christ abroad through the nations, is the appointed method of saving men. We know of no other means-having thus the seal of heaven upon them for subverting the kingdom of Satan, rooting idolatry out of the earth, and restoring our race to fellowship with their Maker. The commission under which we act runs thusto turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified. To bring about this result, we are confined to a single instrumentality-the pure, unadulterated gospel-that gospel which we ourselves have received, and wherein we stand. This we are cross. pledged, as far as in us lies, to send abroad to all them that dwell on the face of the earth, assured that nothing is wanting to cause the truth to triumph everywhere, but the accompanying power of the Holy Spirit. Our great business is to teach men that they have ruined themselves by sin, to lead them to disclaim all righteousness of their own, and to bring them to a cordial trust in the blood of the We must give the heathen that very gospel which was preached on the day of Pentecost, which the Reformation carried into the heart of Germany, which was found in the caves and mountains of Scotland when she was faithful to her covenant, which our Puritan Fathers brought with them from the old world, and which glowed with divine life in the bosom of an Edwards, a Brainerd, and a Davies. This is the panoply in which we are to wage war with the powers of darkness. We have no other armor. This gospel we are to send, in simplicity and godly sincerity, to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. It must be our determination, at every stage of progress, not to know anything save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; and so long as we pursue the work in this way, we may be cheered with the conviction that an instrumentality on which God has a thousand times made his impress, will not be employed in vain. This can save a soul from death, and it can save a world from death. If we ever forget that there is a principle of vitality in the genuine gospel-the plan of salva tion, the story of the crucifixion-when thus applied, we shall find the very sinews of missionary effort all cut at once. The words that I speak unto you, said the Great Teacher, they are spirit, and they are life. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains, the fruit whereof shall shake like Lebanon. It is more faith in God's instrumentality that we need. We look at the gospel, and what is it, if left to itself, but the declaration of a fact-the narration of an event-the revelation of a doctrine? How can it change the heart of a heathen, and create new sensations, and lead to new solicitudes, and awaken new joys there, to tell him that in Christ we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace? The cause seems unequal to the effect. But when there goes, along with the statement of such facts, an unseen agency, more powerful than that which makes the mountains tremble, all difficulty is removed. The gospel is not the breath of man-it is the power of God. It is not a feeble weapon, it is the sword of the Spirit. It is not a mere tale of wonder, it is a message of life. Nothing that the world has ever seen descends so deeply into the seat of human sympathies, or works such revolutions in the character of man. The kind of duty we have to perform is obvious. We but go forth, in the persons of our missionaries, to declare, in the school, along the way-side, and at the temple of idolatry, that which we ourselves have seen, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. There is no necessity for our being told, that this is God's method for working salvation in the midst of the earth. Never can it be matter of surprise to us, that the bare reading of the story of the crucifixion, in the lonely tent of a man of God in Greenland, should be attended with such power as to strike the mind of a half-sleeping heathen at the door, and prompt him to exclaim, "Those are precious words, let me hear them again." We must forget our own conversion, before these things can appear strange. It is no part of our business to make experiments for the relief of human wo, or the removal of human guilt. We have a Saviour to speak of; whose blood we know cleanseth from all sin; we have the invitation to give: whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely; and then, to complete our resources, we have the promise, Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. This is our reliance. Thus equipped, we go out to fight God's battle among men. And sad will be the day when our compassion for sinners begins to dig for itself a channel different from that in which the Saviour's flowed, or our impatience to get the work done leads us to the use of means such as he has not authorized. All we can do all we are allowed to do-is to take our stand at the foot of the cross, and point the heathen to its bleeding victim. Our sole expedient for saving men from hell, is the atonement of Cal vary, the expiatory sacrifice of the Son of God; that |