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ons are of everlasting strength.

We will hope by well-doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, and allay all evil suspicion of our designs. But should opposition increase, sooner will we part with all that we hold dear in life, and with life itself, than relinquish the privilege of labouring without hindrance, in our Lord's vineyard; of pursuing our efforts to glorify God, and bless mankind, in the way pointed out in the Bible.

Opposition is altogether unreasonable.

Express its true character, and it amounts to this:-'You shall not, if you can be prevented, carry the truths of the gospel to the heathen. You shall not turn them from their base and foul idolatry to the living God. You shall not convert them from their impure and bloody rites, to the pure and spiritual worship of the Holy One. Their licentiousness, their dark fanaticism, their human sacrifices, and all their hopelessness shall continue. The morality, the doctrine, the hope of the gospel shall not be made known to them. They shall never hear the voice of mercy, nor see the light of life. But the unabated curse shall rest on them, and they shall wither and die under it forever.' deemer of men! why should the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against thee, the Lord's Anointed? What spirit possesses the enemies of thy cause-the cause of truth; of love; of heaven?

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But let us pause a moment, to look at the subject a little more minutely. See one of our villages-not that one, where an infidel lawyer and physician have stationed themselves, to live on the vices, and (the

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proper fruits of vice,) the diseases of their fellow-men; where gambling, and the tricks of gamblers, are made to supply the place of knowledge and industry; and where ardent spirit brings in its legion of devils to possess and to destroy. Alas! the faithful missionary is needed there, as much as in the islands of the sea! But turn from this odious place, to that, where the people, appreciating the value of religion, have chosen for themselves, a pious, learned, and faithful minister, to teach them and their children the doctrine of Christ and the way to heaven; where grandsires, just on the verge of heaven, repeat old Simeon's song, and then look on children, and on children's children, following in the same path to the Mount Zion above; where fathers hold forth the word of life by a holy example, before their families; and mothers enforce the lesson by all the sweetness of female piety; where the young are strong to do good, and find-their pleasures in the fulfilment of their duty; and where lisping infancy is taught to sing hosannas to the Son of David. O, what a scene of loveliness! Here are the charities of domestic, and the kindness of social life. Here peace descends like the dew of Hermon: and love, like the holy oil, which consecrated God's high priest, diffuses its blessedness through the whole society. Here are heard the inspiring notes of hope, and the higher strains of heavenly joy-Nor need we wonder; for heaven is here begun on earth. Now contrast this scene, with the ignorance, the tyranny, the licentiousness, the cruelty, the debasement, the brutality of heathenism!-Well; it is the object of the missionary enterprise, to shed light into all those

dark habitations of cruelty; to pour through those sinks of sin the purifying waters of salvation; to awaken love in the hearts of the cruel, and hope in the bosoms of the wretched; and to give the bread of life to the perishing, and salvation to the lost. And must this work of love, in this land of light have to encounter the fierce and steady opposition of determined enemies!-Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!

But the work must be done-and it will be done. God has said it. The church has heard his voice; and is girding on her armor of heavenly proof; and is going forth in the name and the spirit of her Redeemer; and the Lord goes before her. Every mountain shall be levelled, and every valley shall be exalted; the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God: and all kindreds and tribes of men on earth, and the ransomed in heaven, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty elders, and the cherubim and seraphim, that stand in presence of the divine glory, in strains,

"Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices uttering joy,"

shall celebrate the everlasting triumphs of Truth and Love.

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