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shall I attempt to speak unless the Spirit of God assist me, and in vain shall you attempt to hear unless the Great Spirit himself give you the hearing ear and the good heart. Let us all pray, then, for one another, that the light of the Great Spirit of truth may come into our hearts, and enable us, with seriousness and much profit, to meditate on those great and important subjects that relate to the saving of our souls. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." We have here, then,

First, THE CHARACTERS SPOKEN OF" the pure in heart." We are led to see, when we read these words, that the text presupposes that man is not "pure in heart" naturally, otherwise, our Saviour would not have said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." No; man in the state of nature is unholy, impure in heart; the word of Christ does not dwell in him--from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot he is altogether polluted and sinful-out of his heart proceeds all manner of wickedness, all manner of evil thoughts. This is the actual state of all who are living in their sins-their hearts are unholy, their lives are unholy, their actions are unholy; they travel in the broad way that leadeth to everlasting destruction. We are led to believe this important truth from what we see with our eyes of the depravity of man, as well as from what we know of our own selves; when in the state of nature, unregenerate, out of Christ, we were wicked and sinful, and walking in the wrong way, in the path of sin and vice. All who walk in the crooked way, my dear friends, are travelling to that dreadful place where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever and ever. But it is not necessary for me to dwell on this part of the subject; I leave it with you to meditate upon.

I proceed, then, to notice the character of the "pure in heart." In the first place, it may be necessary for me to say, that it is possible for us sinful creatures to be made pure in heart, by the power of the Spirit of God. It is possible for us to be saved from our sins, to be washed in the blood of Christ, and to be cleansed from all unrighteousness. We find it recorded in this good book, that "without holiness" of heart, 66 no man shall see God;" and it is also said, "This is the will of God-even our sanctification," that we should have the Spirit of God.

The manner and way in which a man is sanctified and made pure in heart, you all are perfectly acquainted with. You all know, that in order to be pure in heart, a man must feel the pardon of his sins, he must be convinced of the error of his ways-by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he must experience these blessings. Happy will it be, if all now in this place hearing me, will seek and find them, to the joy of their hearts.

Our Lord himself describes the pure in heart in this chapter. The pure in heart are those who are poor in spirit-those who feel that

they are poor sinners, that they need the mercy of God, that they need the help of God to lead them in the right way; and this seems the first step towards having a clean heart, to be poor in spirit. And the next thing that is necessary, is to seek after this important blessing -to be meek and lowly in heart, to enjoy that mind which was in Christ Jesus our blessed Redeemer. The pure in heart, then, are those who have forsaken their crooked ways-who have forsaken their evil ways, and have laid hold on the good way, through the Lord Jesus Christ. The pure in heart are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness they are the merciful, loving one another, desiring to help one another in the good way-they are the peace-makers, who desire to promote peace and good-will among the children of men. Such are the pure in heart. In short, my Christian brothers and sisters, the pure in heart are those that love God with all their hearts, and their neighbors as themselves. This is the sum and substance of what is included in the character-love to God and love to one another. Without this, all is darkness and error.

I might tell you, my dear friends, that the poor Indians are in a state of nature-they are unholy, they know not God, their hearts are darkened, their minds are darkened, they know not the Great Spirit, they go on in the crooked way, their works are sinful, their hearts are polluted, the God of this world hath blinded their minds, and they worship things that are no gods; they worship the sun, the moon, and the stars-they believe in incantations, and are cruel to those that they imagine have hurt them by their witchcraft-they are unholy in heart and in life.

And this is the case also, even in this country, with those who have not the love of God shed abroad in their hearts. Not only is it the character of the Indians, that they are far away from God, but all— whether in America, in the islands of the sea, in Asia, in Europe, in England, or Ireland-who have not the spirit of Christ, are in a bad way; the love of God is not in them-they are none of his-they belong to another, even to the spirit of darkness that worketh in them.

Allow me, my Christian friends, to notice, in the second place, in what sense the characters thus described see God-"Blessed are the pure in heart," says our Saviour, "for they shall see God." The pure in heart see God, in the first place, in the works of creation. Those who love God, who have the spirit of God dwelling in them, see God in the works of creation; for when they open their eyes upon the world, upon the sun, the moon, the stars, the cattle on the hills, the fowls of the air, they are led to contemplate the Great Spirit who made them all. The pure in heart see God in the works of creation -they are led to believe that this world came into being not by chance, as some men would make us believe, they are led to believe that man cannot make any thing which he sees, he is led to believe that man lives and moves by the Great Spirit-that it is God that helps

him to raise his head, that helps him to walk-he sees that it was God that made him and all the nations of the earth.

I pity the infidel who denies the being of a God, because I think if any rational man were to open his eyes and look around him, he would be convinced that there was some superior Being, that exists, and who made all things that he beholds. Even the Indians-my poor countrymen-believe in the existence of a Great Spirit, simply by the works of creation, although they do not see him in the sense in which the pure in heart see him. They have confused notions of the Great Spirit, but they believe that there is a Great Spirit who has made all things. How they are to worship that Great Spirit they know not, because they have not the Bible, this good book; they have no missionaries, no ministers to tell them how they ought to worship him, how they ought to believe in him and keep his commandments.

Again: My dear brethren, the pure in heart see God in his providences. All who love God see him in the providential care he exercises over his people. They see that it is God who provides them with the clothing they wear-they see that it is God who feeds them with the food they eat they see that it is God who preserves their lives, and saves them from sudden destruction. They see God also in his cross providences-in afflictions and in trials-very often the pure in heart see God even in the loss of their dear and near friends and relatives; for instance, a father loses his beloved child, but he sees it is designed for his good, and he sees God even in his afflictions. The pure in heart see God in the many deliverances which they experience. We are in a world of danger, exposed to innumerable casualties-dangers encompass us on the right hand and the left, our lives are continually in hazard; but the Great Spirit safely leads us through them all, and guides us in the way we should go. Thus the pure in heart see God in all his providences.

Again: My dear brethren, the pure in heart see God in the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here they see God manifest in the flesh. Although we have gone away from our Father by our wicked ways, yet he has "so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life." This Saviour came down from heaven and brought salvation with him; and the pure in heart see God in a spiritual point of view, in the redemption thus purchased for us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The pure in heart, moreover, see God in all the doctrines and ordinances of our Saviour Jesus Christ. They see God in all these things -in the amazing love of God to the children of men, in the humanity of his Son, in his divinity, in his sufferings, in his death, and in all the doctrines and ordinances that he has instituted, in the preaching of the word every man that loves God, when he hears the preacher, the good mis

sionary preaching and exhibiting the Lord Jesus Christ upon the pole of the gospel, sees God exhibited in a spiritual point of view before his eyes. The pure in heart see God in the ordinances of baptism and the holy communion, when they sit down at the table of the Lord, and partake of the broken body and drink of his shed blood in remembrance of the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But more than this-the pure in heart see God in the triumphant death of the saints of God. How often, my Christian brothers and sisters, have you been made to rejoice when you have been called to behold your friends or acquaintances, at the hour of death, rejoicing in the God of their salvation-dying in the triumph of faith, and going home to their Father's house rejoicing. The pure in heart see God in that way.

But, lastly, the pure in heart shall see God in glory-see him in our Father's house, where they shall behold him as he is, without any veil, without looking through any cloud-they shall see Jesus as he is -they shall behold all the good people, their friends who have gone up into heaven-Englishmen, Welshmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen,—they shall meet the converted Indians, my countrymen, who have loved the Lord Jesus Christ-they shall see the poor Africans who have died in faith and washed themselves white in the blood of the Lamb. "Blessed," then, 66 are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

They are blessed, my Christian friends, because they enjoy the love of God on earth; their peace is made with God they walk in the Spirit, his light shines into their hearts-they follow after the will of God, they enjoy the peace of God-this love is shed abroad in their hearts. And they are blessed, because they shall be eternally happy in glory. Oh, that we all, my Christian friends, may enjoy these great and precious blessings, and be enabled to rejoice in the Great Spirit who has brought these things within our reach!

Having made these few remarks with respect to this great and important subject, which our Saviour himself has delivered to us, allow me to give you a short account of the great work which the Lord is doing for the American Indians from whom I come. These poor Indians, my Christian friends, are in a state of nature-they know not God-they get drunk and do a great many wicked things-they know not where their souls are going, they know not the Saviour, they know not the way to heaven-they are in the crooked way. But I am happy to tell you, that some eight or nine years ago, the Lord visited us in the woods he sent missionaries among us, and we heard this good word; the Lord applied it by his good Spirit to our hearts, showed us that we were sinners, that we needed mercy; we then called upon this Great Spirit to give us mercy-he heard our prayer-he answered our cry-he understood the language of our hearts, although we called upon him in the Chippeway tongue-he took away our old wicked hearts,

and gave us new hearts; and before I left my country, there were more than twelve hundred who were walking in the good path and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Some of these have already died happy in the Lord, and have gone home to glory. We have witnessed with our own eyes, and heard with our own ears, the testimony which some of them have given on their death-beds: they were going, they said, to be with Christ-to see him as he is, and to dwell with the Great Spirit forever and ever.

And I am also glad to tell you, that, since the Lord hath visited us in mercy, we are now collecting together into settlements and villages; that in these villages we have small chapels, where we meet to worship the Great Spirit; we have our class-meetings and our prayer-meetings -the missionaries preach to us, and the Great Spirit himself condescends to come down and to bless us; for he is every where presentin the woods of Canada, in this country, over the great waters, in all places; wherever I be I may pray to him, and he will hear and answer me. And I may also tell you, that we now commence tilling the ground, planting corn and potatoes, and begin to enjoy the comforts of this life. So we have found there, that "godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come; and that when we "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," all other things are given to us. When you give a man Jesus, you give along with him every other good blessing.

I rejoice, my Christian brothers and sisters, that we received the gospel from the hands of the white people, and of Englishmen. My heart is often made very glad, when I think that the Great Spirit, having blessed you with the light of Christianity, we also, through you, have been made to share in its blessings. Had you not received the gospel, had you not been Christians, had you not enjoyed the spirit of God, where would I have been, and where would my poor countrymen have been? We should have been still all in darkness, still walking in the broad and crooked way that leadeth to destruction; but blessed be God that we have received the gospel at your hands! You have not been stingy with your religion-you have been willing to impart it to others, and to bring them into the way that leads to eternal life.

You will be glad to know that it is the desire of my poor countrymen to walk after you to follow your good example-to worship your God-to call your people their people-that they may be one in Christ Jesus, that they may sit down by your side in our Father's house, where all shall unite to praise him forever and ever. O, my Christian friends, pray that this good work may still continue to go on-pray that we may be kept in the right way, adorning the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. And may God bless you and your children, and make you all the happy subjects of his saving power, for Christ's sake. Amen.

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