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of God. And who can tell but in the wise arrangements of that Providence with which our heavenly Father governs this world, he has permitted our heavy trials to overtake us, not merely that slavery might be destroyed, but that the Christian Church might be convinced, that, though the colour of his skin were black, the Negro would do well to grace the triumphal car of Immanuel when he goes forth to bring home Africa to himself. However imperfectly, these people speak your own language, some of them still retain a knowledge of their own; and you know with what facility we catch the idiom of our mother tongue when we return to the land that gave us birth. Here you behold men of untiring energy: the sun may shine upon them in Africa, but it will not hurt them; it is their home: the moon may shed its sickening beams, but it will produce no baneful influence on them; their constitutions enured to a tropical climate, are not affected by it. Burning with intense desire to promote the glory of God, we trust that numbers of them will soon be found, ready and willing to sail up the mighty streams of their native land, there unfurl the banner of that cross, and compensate Africa for the wrongs inflicted upon its ill-used tribes.

It is when we connect the results of the Emancipation Bill with the promise of our heavenly Father, that "Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God"—that frequently in the school of affliction he prepares some of his most polished arrows; it is when we view these things that our hearts rejoice; that our spirits rise up in holy gratitude to him, that the year of jubilee has at length arrived, and the bondage of the slave is over.

There are, too, collateral circumstances that tend to elucidate this point. Oh that some devoted man may be found, that some one would give himself with all the energy of his soul, and with all the capability of his mind, to this important subject. A short time since a slave ship was wrecked on the coast of Jamaica, and from that ship about one hundred and fifty captives were released. They found a refuge-where? They found it in a Baptist Chapel, in one of those houses of God which the infuriated whites had not destroyed: they entered at one door slaves, they emerged from the other as free as you. They had just come from Africa; they still know their native tongue in which they were born. We have some who have left the same country forty years, who know the English language pretty correctly. Now if some devoted men would give themselves to the object of learning their language, through the medium of those who have left their country, and who still retain a knowledge of our language, might we not hope the first step would be made, of carrying the Gospel to a land of so much interest, a land of so much darkness and cruelty, the land emphatically of death, that shall one day bloom with all the verdure of heaven?

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Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God." If we do not engage in the plan some others will. And there are, not only in Jamaica, but there are those in Africa, who have made the same joyful and happy effort. The geographical problem has been solved by one who has fallen a victim to the persecutions of the diabolical slave-owners-the discovery of the river Niger; that discovery which has been just made in time for Africans to go back. One recently returned from that embassy assured me, that three hundred and fifty miles up that river, there is a town, occupying a space almost as large as Liverpool, untrod by European foot, except his own that there, being confined by

sickness for three months, he lost not a single article, though they were extremely poor; that they worship one God, but to them he is an unknown God; they know not how to serve him; they know not that he sent his Son to die for them. Ignorantly they raise their voices unto him; but no idols yet pollute their tents. Oh, if in a few years ten or twenty of our black converts should go there-if plying up that mighty stream, they may be permitted to plant the banner of the cross in that large city, and there tell of Him who died, of Him who stretched out his hand unto them; and to assure them that he is no respecter of persons; then should we say, while we gratefully adore, “He has done all things well." Though secret things belong to him, though his designs stretch over a large compass, he is too wise to err, he is too good to be unkind. If, fellow Christians, when the last stain is washed by the returning tide-if when the last moan that the captive has uttered has retired with the breeze, there shall come a voice from the Isles of the West, speaking better things than the blood of Abel-there come those who proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison-door to them that are bound-if there are found there those who shall tell of Him who, though he was rich, yet for Africa's sake became poor, that they through his poverty might become rich; then shall we say indeed, Africa is compensated for all the wrongs that have been heaped so unjustly upon her.

Then, my dear brethren, may I urge upon you the necessity of making this the frequent subject of your prayers? May I urge upon you the duty of bearing them frequently at the footstool of divine grace, pouring out your hearts unto God that men may be raised up; that in the selection of them we may be guided by infinite wisdom, and directed by untiring love; that men of untiring energy and singularly devoted minds shall proclaim the truth as it is in Jesus, and proclaim His love who died that man might live, to those who now sit in the region and in the very shadow of death.

"Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God." Delightful truth! Now she stretches out her hand unto the devil: now she stretches out her hands, and those hands are bound by those who wear the human shape, but have infernal hearts; now she stretches out her hands to every one who lives to prey: but there is a time coming when she shall exhibit a far different picture; when she shall bloom in all the verdure of holiness, and exhibit all the loveliness of that Christianity which is destined alike to bless the swarthy African and the enlightened European.

Leaving for a moment, fellow Christians, this subject, may I direct your attention to our mission there? As I shall not have another opportunity of doing so, I have chosen this, or I would have directed your attention to a far different subject: but the individual who now addresses you, in company with a highly esteemed brother, will leave, in the course of three or four days at most, their native country. May I then, on behalf of him, and on behalf of my ownself, on behalf of our wives and little ones, find an interest in your fervent prayers? The scene that will soon be presented to our eyes will be of another description: there are many there who know not God, and obey not the voice of his Son; there are unreasonable and wicked men there, who have not faith; and the circumstances in which your missionaries will be placed will be peculiarly interesting they will need much self-devotion, they will need much

untiring, energetic zeal. You know, fellow Christians, where alone this can come down; from Him who hitherto has guided us by his counsel, and who eventually, we trust, shall receive us into glory. Pray for us, then, we most earnestly entreat you; lift up your supplications to your Heavenly Father. The next time you meet to pray for the prosperity of the Gospel, we shall be on the mighty ocean. Oh, then, let us have an interest in your prayers, that in carrying forward this design, nearest and dearest to our hearts on earth-I mean the evangelization of Africa-that men may be raised up who will go forth for the purpose of teaching them the knowledge of Him who died that they might live. And your Heavenly Father will hear you; he heard you two years ago, when the clouds were thick, when the storm was violent, when you knew not which way to look, when men's hearts failed them for fear, when the thick clouds of adversity were over us; then you united together, then you besieged heaven with your prayers; and your Father heard you, and your Father answered you, and your Father blessed you: "He stayed the rough wind in the day of his East wind:" he suffered not one hair of the head to fall to the earth of any of his servants; he protected them in every danger, he secured them in every distress, he cheered them in every perplexity; he made darkness light around them, and crooked things straight: these things he did. Still, fellow Christians, we need your prayers, we need your supplications. Oh, if there is one thing we require on earth more than the approbation of God as missionaries, it is this; it is the prayers of the humble, and the sincere, and the devoted followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, I beseech you, remember us in your supplications, that we may be faithful to death; that whatever the future difficulties in which we are placed, that whatever the future trials, whether in prosperity or whether in adversity, supported by our Heavenly Father, we may still maintain the unequal fight against the Prince of the power of the air, or those earthly emissaries he may employ for the purpose of carrying forward his malignant designs.

I have thought, perhaps, you would like to hear some of the latest intelligence which I have received from the Island of Jamaica; and I will close this address by directing your attention for a moment or two to the accounts from the different places there. Many of my fellow Christians, and some perhaps in this congregation, were afraid, that when Satan came in like a flood our converts would make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. I am happy to say, that the same power that has been protecting us has been protecting them also. In my brother Burchell's church, a thousand have been re-examined, one by one: they have all been found faithful; they have not made shipwreck of faith; they have met again at the table of the Lord, and are rejoicing in the goodness of their God. Not that they could meet altogether; their chapel being demolished, they had only a house. Three hundred came in, and partook of the feast we call the Lord's Supper, and five hundred remained outside: when they had received it three hundred others came, and they partook of the feast, and retired: two hundred others were then on the outside in the sun, patiently waiting, and then they came in, and heard of Him who died that they might live. With respect to the station I formerly occupied, and which in all probability I shall again occupy in two months from this time, the latest intelligence is this; that every Sabbath there are nearly four hundred outside the shed

which has been erected, unable to get admission: and many Christian friends are obliged to stop at home, in order that the poor slaves (not slaves now) who have come from the country, may hear on the Lord's day what they cannot hear in the week, of salvation through the blood of Christ. This will heighten your joy that money has been afforded by the unexampled benevolence of the Christian Church, to erect those chapels in which they shall have plenty of room to hear of Him who died that they might live. Other stations are equally prosperous; our heavenly Father is indeed preventing us by his mercy. When I look at the state of things, I am overcome with his kindness, and scarcely know how to express the feelings of thanksgiving that rise in my mind unto Him who has protected the people, and has secured them in the hour of trial, and who is thus fitting them for future usefulness in his Church. They love Christ as well as we love him; they serve him as faithfully; they love to tell of his goodness and of his loving-kindness: and I hope to see the day, when numbers shall be found in their native country, giving a useful lesson to Satan and all his emissaries, that vain are all their attempts to obstruct the trophies of the Redeemer's kingdom; that all their attempts to overthrow the Redeemer's kingdom upon earth shall recoil on their own heads.

men.

Then, fellow Christians, pray for us, that this may be the case. Pray for your fellow Christians there: pray that God would raise up those men that are needed; and that, if it be necessary, they should be accompanied by those who are most acquainted with missionary enterprise, that he would fit and qualify such And if you will pray that he would fit and qualify him who addresses you, that he would give him the honour of taking them to Africa, then you would render him a service indeed. I should be happy (but I esteem it too great an honour for God to confer upon me) if after my chapel is erected, I might be permitted to sail up the mighty Niger, there take a canoe full of pious devoted labourers, live with them there till they have planted the standard of the cross there, and then return to my beloved people, and celebrate with them all the goodness of God.

Finally, brethren, farewell. "Pray for us, that the word of God may have free course, and be glorified;" and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for all men have not faith. May God in his infinite mercy command his blessing! May he bless you as a church; may he bless you in your minister, and make his word effectual to the conversion of those who have not hitherto loved God, and the establishment of the Christian faith, until you meet your pastor in heaven, and celebrate the praises of Him, who though he by adversity proved us, guides us still to his own right hand!

210

THE NATURE AND CONSEQUENCES OF SIN.

REV. T. J. JUDKIN, A.M.

SOMERS CHAPEL, SOMERS TOWN, AUGUST 17, 1834.

"Stand in awe, and sin not."-PSALM, iv. 4.

MAN is an accountable creature to his God. The soul is an imperishable thing. The glories of heaven, and the terrors of hell, are not the visions of a dark fancy, but impending realities. A great day is coming when the blast of the trumpet shall awaken the dead, and we shall all appear at the judgment bar of Christ, to be tried by his pure and searching law, and abide the issue of that scrutiny in eternal sorrow or eternal joy. Life, the period assigned for preparation, is unquestionably short, and may become much shorter by some sudden and mysterious approach of the angel of death.

These things are of common assent, are matters of popular belief and popular confession: they are upon the lips of all Christians, whatever be the variety of their distinction; upon the lips, I should say, with almost an excluding emphasis, for, while the lips speak, the heart is often an infidel to what the lips utter. The heart, as the great mover and instigator of the actions, fights with the words of the mouth, gives but too often a standing lie to its confessions, is a recreant from the law, the word, and the testimony, and an apostate from the faith. The great multitude live as though they were not accountable beings; as though the soul perishes with the perishing body; as though the eyes of God were shut, and regarded not; as though heaven and hell were the fables of the enthusiast, and the coming judgment a solemn mockery, invented only to frighten weak minds. With a consistency so perversely unfixed, and the passions so inveterately fixed, their minds follow the law of a degraded nature having eyes they see not; having ears they hear not; having hearts they will not understand. And it is from such a state of delusion, that amongst a thousand other passages and appeals in the word of God, my text would recall to a holy, to a wise, and to a happy practice, under the influence of the blessed Spirit. "Stand in awe, and sin not."

In uttering the word "sin," how few are there amongst men, even though seriously minded, who connect with it sentiments and feelings corresponding to its own true force and signification! How few whose sensibilities are even awakened by the recurrence of the word, even though these sensibilities are always ready to melt and to sympathize at the mention of ordinary ills. And yet this is a word pregnant with all the terrible calamities which flesh is heir to: this is a word that unparadised our world, and is daily raining down curses upon ourselves and children: this is a word which makes even a most merciful and

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