peace resteth there, and salvation entereth.in as into the house of Zaccheus, that day they arrive. I cannot help thinking that the men were well endowed for their work, and that their work was worthy of the endowment, and that they would find in the worst of climes (as verily they did, for these same twelve planted the Gospel far and near, from India to the British Isles,) a class of men, and that the highest, to give them welcome. The ambitious I see, would spurn them, and they would be content to be spurned; the cruel, I see, would maltreat them, and they would be content to be maltreated; the hollow hearted wits and satirists would make merry with them, and they would be content to be made merry withal; and the busy bustling crowd would pass them unheeded, and they would be content all unheeded to be passed. What do these babblers say?' They seem to be setters forth of strange gods.' Great is Diana of the Ephesians.' They set up another king, one Jesus.' 'Away with them, they are not worthy to live.' I hear these sentences echoing round their path; and I see them following it fearlessly onward to the death. But do I not see a Felix trembling, and a royal Agrippa knitting his half convinced brows, and a judge of Areopagus blessing the heavenly tidings, and a Jason giving pledges for them, and a Gamaliel speaking before senates in their behalf, a Dorcas, a Lydia, and honourable women not a few, waiting upon the wants of the all-en

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during men and the thoughtful of the people are pondering the words which they speak, and the serious minded are applying their heart to the doctrine, and charity is leading them by the hand, and brotherly humanity is opening to them the gate, and affliction, comforted by their presence, is anointing them with tears of joy; and the genius of every high and heavenly faculty of the soul is sitting at their feet, well pleased to be schooled and taught by the messengers of heaven. I see they are but searching the land for the good, the noble, and the true, leaving the wretched which love the earthly garbage, to wallow in their sensualities. They are gathering each sweet and savoury plant, leaving the weeds standing for a devouring conflagration which is to come. The fire of heaven hath come down unto the earth; (for these twelve were baptized with fire;) but it loved not the earthly elements, and ran along seeking materials which had some savour of the worthy regions from whence it came, which having found, it took and enkindled, and left in a heavenly blaze each one in his place, to purify, enlighten, and enkindle the region round about.

45

ORATION ΙΙ.

THE PERPETUITY OF THIS MISSIONARY CON

STITUTION, PROVED

I. From the Document itself.

1

SUCH was the character and the commission which Messiah gave to the twelve Apostles, whom he sent forth to preach the glad tidings of his kingdom; and when he afterwards preferred other seventy to the same high office, he gave them their instructions in nearly the same terms. He never afterwards repealed these instructions; he never afterwards added to them. And when he enlarged their commission from the limits of Judea to the utmost bounds of the habitable earth, he gave them no new directions, no new promises, no new warnings or predictions, nothing further, save the assurance that he was with them to the end of the world. When these men, schooled according to this discipline, went forth afterwards in the same behalf, it is not to be imagined therefore that they would adopt other principles than those which they had already received from their Master, and practised with so much success. And if they would not, then it is not to be imagined that we ought, unless some specialty in our case can be shown of importance enough to annul these commandments of Christ,

Proved

first by the

the docu

ment

itself;

and make the example of the apostles of none effect. But as it is of great importance that this point be established beyond all doubt, we have given it a separate place in this argument, and shall now proceed as was proposed: To show that these instructions are of bearing of continual obligation, present the everlasting type of the missionary character, and are not by any human authority to be altered or abridged. To establish this most important conclusion, let us first apply ourselves to the document itself, that we may ascertain from its style and matter, whether it is meant to be local and temporary, or universal and everlasting. Now we are bold to say, that from the beginning to the ending of it, there is not a single sentence (save two afterwards to be considered), upon which the whole church of Christ hath not passed a judgment, that it was pronounced for the constant use and edification of all who put themselves in jeopardy for the sake of the spiritual kingdom. Every promise in it hath become a standing order of the church; its predictions have been fulfilled in every realm where the Gospel of Christ hath been preached; and the first preachers of the Gospel in every realm have established their hearts with the consolation which it containeth. The direction to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves,' hath always been the policy of Christ's confessors. The assurance that the Lord would put into their mouth what they should say,' hath always

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been the fountain of their eloquence. The privilege, when persecuted in one city to flee into another,' hath always been the measure of their self-preservation. The declaration that the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord,' hath been their support under every infamous accusation. The knowledge 'that the sparrows are objects of God's care, and that he numbereth the very hairs upon the heads of his servants,' hath sustained them in the utmost jeopardy and straits. The promise of Christ, to confess before his Father those who confessed him before men, to save the everlasting life of those who laid down their temporal life for his sake, to be instead of father and mother to those who preferred his cause to filial duty,' and every other sentence, of whatever kind, whether breathing sorrow or joy, foreboding ill or promising good, hath become, as it were, an armorial bearing to the soldiers of the militant church, household words in the city of our Zion, with which she traineth up her sons and her daughters to be valorous for the Lord. Can a document, then, I ask, to which the church in all ages and in all countries, hath attached an everlasting importance, and which contains within it the watch-words of every battle that hath been struck in this spiritual warfare, the last breathings of every valiant man who hath sacrificed his all for its sake, can such a document be allowed to perish? Shall any base-born generation be allowed to hide it from the eye of the