nations perishing in ignorance and guilt, by our gratitude to Christ, by our own spiritual welfare and by the dignity of our office, let us seek the effusion of the Spirit on the Christian church. And while before God in prayer, let us remember, that, in interceding for the church we are interceding for the world; for it is only through the instrumentality of his people, that he purposes to save the world. Christians! realize in thought the responsibility of your office. Think! you go to God as the earthly representatives of mankind, as intercessors for the world. You pass to the throne of grace, through multitudes-myriads of human beings. Do you not hear them, as you go, imploring a place in your supplications? Do you not see all Africa assembled in your path, urging you to go to God for them, to describe their want, to ask for them the blessings of the reign of Christ? And before you have done pleading for Africa, China comes with its untold myriads, entreating you to intercede for them. And while you are pleading for China, India comes with its tale of lamentation and woe, and entreats you to speak for it; and can you refrain? And when you grow faint, they all combine their entreaties together, that you cry to God for them louder still, that you call in help-more intercessors and more, till all the church be prostrate in prayer. And when you move to quit the throne of grace, they all entreat you not to leave them unrepresented before God. "O if there be a God," they say, "and if prayer can reach him, do not leave us thus, or we perish; our only hope is in the God you worship, the Saviour you proclaim; pray that his saving health may be extended to us." Let Christians realize their office thus, and remember that, in asking for the salvation of the world, they are asking the consummation of the glory of Christ, and then pray till the world is given into their hands. Meantime the whole creation prays; "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now;" it contains within itself principles and powers repressed by the curse of sin, but panting and straining to regain their

freedom, and to fulfil their destiny; and its prayer shall be heard.

But O there is an infinite power slumbering in the arm of God, waiting to be awoke by the prayers of the church for the renovation of the world. And the time shall come, when the efficacy of prayer shall be tried on a scale before unknown, when the voice of the church shall incessantly cry, "Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord." And the time shall come, when that prayer shall be heard and those supplications be answered. "Behold," saith he, "I make all things new." At this moment, that new creation stands complete in his prescient view. There are its fields of living green, its trees of life and all its crystal streams; there are "the nations of them that are saved, rejoicing before him." His church prayed for him continually; and now and for ever "daily shall he be prais ed."5 "His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed. And blessed be his glorious name for ever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and

EPISTLE TO THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA:

A SERMON

DELIVERED AT CLAYLAND'S CHAPEL, CLAPHAM ROADS, ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF THE CHAPEL, LONDON, JUNE 29, 1837.

And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, these things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive, I know thy works, and tribulation and poverty, (but thou art rich,) and 1 know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of satan. Fear none of those things, which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. REVELATIONS ii. 8-11.

THIS, as the superscription informs us, is one of the seven epistles addressed by the Supreme Head of the church, through the medium of his servant John, to the churches in Asia. The structure of this epistle, like that of all the rest, is beautifully compact; and the distribution of its parts natural and comprehensive. After opening with an inscription, which points out the particular church for which it is intended, and the divine authority from whom it is sent, it is found to contain a commendation of whatever in that church was praiseworthy, a rebuke of whatever was reprehensible, and a variety of counsels calculated to arouse the slumbering, to encourage perseverance and to animate hope, and concluding with a call to universal attention and obedience, and a promise to the triumphant Christian of distinguished honour in the world above.

But a similarity of structure is not the only thing these epistles have in common; for, while the blessed Saviour, who indites them, shows that his knowledge of each church is specific-while he is even exquisitely discriminate and minute in his remarks upon each-they are all characterized and pervaded by the same general principles; and the call on every one, to "hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," makes it evident that these general principles were intended for universal application to the churches of Jesus Christ, in all subsequent ages. We have selected the text, with a view of making it the basis of a few remarks on some of these general principles.

I. And, first, the Saviour would teach us, that his churches are objects of his supreme regard.

More than half a century had now elapsed, since he had" ascended up far above all heaven;" and during that period, whether he made himself visible to the martyr Stephen, or called to the persecuting Saul of Tarsus, or graciously deigned any other manifestation-he showed, on each occasion, that the interests of his church were always present to his mind. And now that he once more comes forth, to shut up the vision and complete the canon of Scripture, what is his burden still, but the welfare of his church? Behold him; he has once more emerged from the depths of his everlasting dwelling place; and he is "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breast with a golden girdle; his head and his hair are white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes are as a flame of fire; his feet are like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters; in his right hand are seven stars, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance is as the sun shining in his strength." Listen to him; he once more breaks the silence of eternity; he calls the world-the universe-to an audience; "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." And what do we hear? The destruction of Jerusalem itself was at

that moment impending. Do we hear a prediction of its ruin? All the governments of the world were at that time in a crisis. Do the divine disclosures we receive relate to their destinies? No; topics like these, though they are all engrossing to the world, are passed over by Him, as comparatively insignificant. Every syllable he utters relates entirely to the welfare of his church, "which he hath purchased with his own blood."

The affairs of the world, indeed, are under his superintendence; but always with an especial view to the prosperity of his church. While he extends his sceptre and dispatches his messengers to every part of the earth, he represents himself as "walking in the midst" of the churches, and holding their "stars in his right hand." The church is his mystical body; and he is present as its vital Head, living through all its members. It is the theatre of his grace, in which he is making experiments of mercy on human hearts, and effecting transformations so amazing that angels look on with astonishment and joy. It is the sacred school, in which he is training up a number of those who were "heirs of wrath," and preparing them to take part in the business and pleasures of heaven. Every thing in his church is sprinkled with his blood and inscribed with his name. He has formed it "for himself," to "show forth his praise." "His eye and his heart are there continually.' And the consideration of its supreme value in his account should induce every individual church, and every individual member, in all things to consult his will, to watch and follow his movements, and to rely on his superintendence and all-sufficiency.

II. A second truth implied in the text, is that Christ possesses the most accurate acquaintance with the state of his churches and of all their individual members.

Each of these epistles is commenced with the declaration, “I know thy works ;" and to prove this, the Saviour lays before each church a sketch of its history and its faith. He knows the number of those, who