successfully into the work of the Lord; and it is a spirit that can never die, while the promises of God stand firmer than the everlasting hills, though even now it confessedly languishes, and leaves to weak faith a large inheritance of doubts and fears; but, it shall revive again, and urge onward thousands among successive generations to deeds of noble daring on the broad field of conflict between Michael the Prince, and the Devil and his angels. The young men of our colleges and higher seminaries shall again catch the fire that burned so brightly on their altars a few years since; and other young men and maidens, old men and children, shall encourage their aspirations, praise the name of the Lord, and partake of the rewards of the wise, who turn many to righteousness; and when it is said of the fathers still living, as of those now dead, "Where are they?"-their mantles will have fallen upon their children, who shall arise to perfect "the work of the Lord," and exult in the world's redemption from sin's dominion.

3. "The time has come" for the house of the Lord to be enlarged into a dwelling place of all nations.

So the signs of the times declare. The world is thrown open to the eye of Christendom as never before. The facilities of intercommunication between evangelized and unevangelized lands are not only increased, but well-nigh perfected; so that, indirectly, the influence of Christianity already permeates the earth, through the extending sway of

Christian governments, which, by whatever motives actuated, guarantee protection to men of every language who shall either declare or receive the words of eternal life. Then, the commercial spirit of the age, combined with governmental enterprise, and "bringing to light the hidden things of darkness," is multiplying and strengthening the ligaments that bind in harmony the interests of the antipodes, and at the same time extends, wherever it goes, a portion of the moral influence pervading Christian + lands. Science, too, extends her boundaries, and not only, like her Author, "weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance," and comprehends the adjustments of creative wisdom throughout the broad expanse of the solar system, but condescends to the humbler task of exploding the absurd theories that have long cramped the intellect of India; dispelling the ignorance that with incubus effect has settled down upon the bosom of Africa ; dissipating the airy fancies of "the Celestials"; extinguishing the bloody orgies of demons incarnate, and turning into shame "the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent."

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Beyond and better than all this-the church herself goes forth in the strength of the Lord, to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; " her voice is already heard, though faintly, in the most distant lands, and among the most barbarous nations; at her approach darkness recedes, and the "True

Light" shines with increasing splendor; behind her, the desert has already become a fruitful field, and the dry land, springs of water; at her touch the synagogues of Satan are transformed into temples of the living God, and worshipers of devils prostrate themselves in her presence before "the King eternal."

Indeed, the church combines in her constitution the elements of indestructible vitality and irrepressible energy. She outlives the most flourishing kingdoms of the world, and triumphs over their downfall. Egypt, famed for skill in science, arts and arms-Tyre, pre-eminent for commerce, opulence and strength-Assyrian Nineveh, the home of elegance, luxury and pride-Babylon, the Chaldees' excellency, mistress and arbiter of nations-all, like the Carthaginians and Romans, the Greeks and Saracens of later days, though they "caused their terror in the land of the living, have gone down to their graves, set in the sides of the pit, and there rest upon their swords," beneath the outstretched arm of Zion. And still she lives, to witness the overthrow of every antagonistic power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, Pagan or Mohammedan. Meek in her spirit, firm in her purpose, simple in her confidence and ever onward in her movements, neither marshaled armies, persecution's fires, philosophy's pretensions, nor Satan's stratagems, are aught but briars and thorns before the devouring flame; from conquering she goes on to conquer, till all the crowns of earth are laid at Jesus' feet, when heaven pours forth the triumphal song—“The kingdoms of

the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ."

"Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years
The pillar of the eternal plan appears,
The raving storm and dashing wave defies,
Built by that Architect who built the skies."

Scarce a single generation has passed away, since Zion's duty to the sin-enslaved nations began to be seriously discussed under the shade of the haystack, and within the walls of a seminary; nor was it then the dream of the most sanguine, that at this hour, twelve hundred stations, wide apart as the East from the West, on heathen ground, would be occupied by three thousand missionaries and their assistants,― that native schools and colleges would be sending forth hundreds of educated heathen to spread the illumination of human and divine science over illimitable tracts of darkness,—that the press would be scattering its myriads of healing leaves along the pathway of every herald of salvation,-that thirty millions of Bibles would be revealing the counsels of heaven to men in two hundred different languages, that heathen children by hundreds of thousands would be found on their way to Jesus for his blessing, and that willing converts to Christ would be numbered by fifties of thousands.

Less was this moral revolution contemplated, as lying in the purpose of Providence then, than the wondrous increase of our country's population and territory since, or, than the speed with which steamships traverse oceans, locomotives measure distances, and lightnings convey intelligence from land to land.

But God is accomplishing great things in his providence among the kingdoms of the earth, in their domestic institutions and civil relations, scattering the proud in their imaginations, putting down kings from their thrones, making darkness his secret place, and his pavilion round about him dark waters and thick clouds of the sky,' drying up rivers, spanning oceans, opening to the light the long-hid treasures of the earth, and preparing the way for the return of his ransomed ones to their rest by quickly successive revolutions in the political world, and by new and rapid developments of the laws and energies of universal nature.

Full of grandeur now, is the object before us,to bring the world into subjection to Christ, diffusing peace and joy through all its habitations,—to defeat hell's dark designs, and restore a fallen race to Emanuel's arms, and then to fill heaven with rapturous hosannas, by the union of all human voices with the multitudes about the throne, till as the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty thunderings, they shall echo through the universe the joyous anthem, “Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,-and the kingdom, and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, are given to the people of the saints of the Most High."

Thus, dear brethren, may we ever sacrifice selfindulgence to duty, surmount difficulty by steadfastness, make sure the promised reward by fidelity unto the death; and then, weak and unworthy as we are, shall we rise to the holy city, the Jerusalem that is