a The dignity

a

the land as was appointed to these men, is disinterested, is a philosophical, is a sage, is divine manner of life. Socrates, the wisest man of antiquity, of whom it may be said, that of all the Heathen he was the man most after God's own heart, and who, from his pure soul struck out conceptions which were like morning stars in the darkness, heralds of the dawn, not only saw the high dignity of such a life, but had the resolution to fulfil in Athens, in the heart of polished Athens, this very way of life which Christ appointed to his missionary servants. And he was so blessed in his deed, that, though he lost his natural life (least valuable of spiritual possessions!) he founded a school of master minds, which wielded the longest lived empire, and hold to this day the highest place, among the uninspired sons of men. Socrates foresaw what the Spirit of wisdom appointed. For verily, the twelve apostles and seventy missionaries were each a Socrates in his kind; and greater than a Socrates for Socrates, went about in quest of wisdom, and complained that he could not find it, because it is not of the earth; but they had found it, being supplied with it from heaven. Nay, further, I will make bold to say, that if our wisdom were Christian or even Socratic, it would prefer no other way of life. It is our folly, our earthliness which binds us to the fardels of this world. The spirit of man spurneth them by its proper nature, and effecteth emancipation from their bondage, in

of it.

The probable for

proportion as it is conformed to that Spirit of Truth which possessed these twelve most honoured of the sons of men.

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Now, bad as the world is, wild as is its ambitune of it. tion, heartless as is its vanity, proud as its riches are, and mad as they are all, ambition, vanity and riches, I cannot but please myself with the imagination that there is no clime so barbarous, or, (which I believe the more dangerous extreme,) there is no region so polished, as not to possess a gleaning of worthy spirits to welcome these travellers between heaven and earth. For there is no visible thing about them to create hatred; the men come in the name of peace: there is no visible thing to excite jealousy; the men are possessed of nothing, and coveting nothing: there is no visible thing to excite envy, for the men call nothing but their life their own, and even of that they are not careful; and they meddle with no earthly concern, and have no earthly end, and walk in innocency, and live in simplicity, and cleave to no sect or party of men, and know no country, and intend no interests; and their tidings are all from heaven, and their discourse all of immortality, and their debate ever holden with the immortal soul, and the end of their ministration is the salvation of mankind; and it is virtue which they commend, and peace which they promote, and charity toward all which they enforce; and a blessing goeth with them, and health cometh to the house where they abide, and the son of

2

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

*

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.

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ORATION II.

THE PERPETUITY OF THIS MISSIONARY CON

STITUTION, proved

I. From the Document itself.

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,.