that weight and oppression which ignorance and viciousness lay upon the brain. And what is true of an individual is true, in its degree, of a nation; the diffusion of christian knowledge being always attended by diffusion of correct views in other departments of truth, so that, in proportion as a peasantry is christianized, you will find it more inquiring and intelligent. to trace the motions of stars, and laid open to their gaze mysteries which had heretofore baffled man's sagacity. But we believe, that, just because their lot was cast in days, and in scenes, when and where the Bible had been received as God's word, their intellect had freer play than it would otherwise have had, and their mind went to its work with greater vigor, and less impediment. We believe that he who sets himself to investigate the revolutions of planets, knowing thoroughly beforehand who made those planets and governs their motions, would be incalculably more likely to reach some great discovery, than another who starts in utter ignorance of the truths of creation, and ascribes the planets to chance, or some unintelligible agency. And it is nothing against this opinion, that some who have been eminent by scientific discoveries, have been notorious for rejection of christianity and opposition to the Bible. Let them have been even atheists-they have been atheists, not in a land of atheists, but in a land of worshippers of the one true God; and our conviction is, that, had they been atheists in a land of atheists, they would never have so signalized themselves by scientific discovery. It has been through living, as it were, in an atmosphere of truth, however they themselves have imbibed error, that they have gained that elasticity of pow And there is no cause for surprise in the fact, that intellectual benefits are conferred by the Bible. It is to be remembered that we are indebted to the Bible for all our knowledge of the early history of the world, of the creation of man, and of his first condition and actions. Remove the Bible, and we are left to conjecture and fable, and to that enfeebling of the understanding which error almost necessarily produces. Having no authentic account of the origin of all things, we should bewilder ourselves with theories which would hamper our every inquiry; and the mind, perplexed and baffled at the outset, would never expand freely in its after investigations. We should have confused apprehensions of some unknown powers on which we depended, peopling the heavens with various deities, and subjecting ourselves to the tyrannies of superstition. And it is scarcely to be disputed, that there is, in every respect, a debasing tendency in superstition; and that, if we imagined the universe around us full of ri-ers which has enabled them to rise inval and antagonist gods, in place of knowing it under the dominion of one mighty First Cause, we should enter at a vast disadvantage on the scrutiny of the wonders by which we are surrounded; the intellect being clouded by the mists of moral darkness, and all nature overcast through want of knowledge of its author. The astronomer may have been guided, however unconsciously, by the Bible, as he has pushed his discoveries across the broad fields of space. Why is it that the chief secrets of nature have been penetrated only in christian times, and in christian lands; and that men, whose names are first in the roll on which science emblazons her a chievements, have been men on whom fell the rich light of revelation? We pretend not to say that it was revelation which directly taught them how to unexplored regions. They have not been ignorant of the truths of the Bible, however they may have repudiated the Bible; and these truths have told on all their faculties, freeing them from trammels, and invigorating them for labor; so that very possibly the eminence which they have reached, and where they rest with so much pride, would have been as inaccessible to themselves as to the gifted inquirers of heathen times, had not the despised Gospel pioneered the way, and the rejected Scriptures unfettered their understandings. We are thus to the full as persuaded of the intellectual, as of the moral benefits produced by the Bible. We reckon, that, in giving the inspired volume to a nation, you give it that which shall cause its mental powers to expand, as well as that which shall rectify exist whom that Bible reveals. The blessings which result from the possession of the Scriptures are not to be computed from what appears on the surface of society. There is a quiet under-current of happiness, which is generally unobserved, but which greatly swells the amount of good to be traced to the Bible. You must go into families, and see how burdens are lightened, and afflictions miti ing disorders. And if you would account for the superiority of christian over heathen lands in what is intellectually great, in philosophy, and science, and the stretch and the grasp of knowledge, you may find the producing causes in the possession of the Scriptures-yea, and men may come with all the bravery of a boastful erudition, and demand admiration of the might of the human mind, as it seems to subjugated, by the promises of holy writ. gate the universe, counting the heavenly hosts, and tracking comets as they sweep along where the eye cannot follow; but so well assured are we that it was revelation alone whose beams warmed what was dwarfish till it sprang into this vigor, that we explain the greater mental strength which a nation may display, on the principle "chiefly that unto them have been committed the oracles of God." You must follow men into their retirements, and learn how they gather strength, from the study of the sacred volume, for discharging the various duties of life. You must be with them in their struggles with poverty, and observe how contentment is engendered by the prospect of riches which cannot fade away. You must be with them on their death-beds, and mark how the gloom of the opening grave is scattered by a hope which is "full of immortality." And you must be with them—if indeed the spirit could be accompanied in its heavenward flight-as they enter the Divine presence, and prove, by taking possession of the inheritance which the Bible offers to believers, that they But if we can thus make good the advantageousness asserted in our text, when the reference is exclusively to the present scene of being, we shall have but little difficulty when we take higher ground. Is it nothing that a people may put from them the offer of immortality, and thus bring upon them-" have not followed cunningly devised selves at last a heavier condemnation, than could have overtaken them, had they never heard the Gospel. It would be for the final advantage of the individual who dies in impenitence and infidelity, that his spirit should perish like that of the brutes; but it will not, on this account, be contended that there was no blessing in his being born a man. In like manner, it cannot be argued, that there has been nothing profitable in the possession of the Scriptures, because the gift has been abused or neglected. We can say to those who as yet have drawn no spiritual benefit from the Bible, the opportunity is not gone; the Scriptures may still be searched, and life-giving doctrines derived from their statements. And is this no advantage? Is it no advantage, that salvation is brought within reach; and does it nullify the advantage, that men will not stretch forth the hand to lay hold? And even if the mass of a nation, privileged with the Bible, have their portion at last with the unbelieving, it must not be forgotten, that there is in every age a remnant who trust in the Savior fables." The sum of happiness conferred by revelation can never be known until God shall have laid open all secrets at the judgment. We must have access to the history of every individual, from his childhood up to his entering his everlasting rest, ere we have the elements from which to compute what christianity hath done for those who receive it into the heart. And if but one or two were gathered out from a people, as a result of conveying to that people the records of revelation, there would be, we may not doubt, such an amount of conferred benefit as would sufficiently prove the advantageousness of possessing the oracles of God. It shall not be in vain that God hath sent the Bible to a nation, and caused the truths of christianity to be published within its borders. There may be what approximates to a general disregard of the Scriptures, and an universal rejection of the offers of salvation. Yet God hath his hidden ones who are delighting greatly in his testimonies. When Elijah complained that he stood alone in the service of his Maker, the answer of God was, "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." We are therefore, at the best, poor judges of the way actually made by the Gospel, and of the influence which it wields, whilst we see nothing on all sides but a spreading degeneracy. When profligacy and infidelity are at their height, there may be many a roof beneath which is offered humble prayer through a Mediator, and many an eye which weeps in secret for dishonors done to God, and many a heart which beats high with expectation of the land," where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Are we not then bound in all cases, when seeking full evidence that the Bible has been a blessing wheresoever imparted, to refer to the close of the dispensation, when Christ shall separate the tares from the wheat? Then will it be told to the universe, how a despised and overlooked company were "filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory," by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then will it be made manifest how the consolations of religion have pervaded many families, what anxieties they have soothed, what tears they have dried, what hopes they have communicated. Then will it be seen, that, over and above the intellectual and moral advantages which the Scriptures have conferred on those who never took them as their guide for eternity, spiritual advantages have been derived to others, who were stirred by their announcements from the lethargy of sin, and moved to flee for refuge to the cross of the Redeemer. Yea, and if it even came to pass that the great bulk of a people shrank away from the face of the Judge, beaten down by the consciousness that they had not trusted in him as the propitiation for their sins; yet would the few who were lifting up their heads with joy, be witnesses that revelation was the best boon which God could bestow on a land-witnesses by the wrath which the Bible had taught them to escape, witnesses by the glory it had instructed them to gain, that, in every case, and under all circumstances, it was a mighty advantage to a people, that "unto them had been committed the oracles of God." But we observed that the expression employed by the apostle, "chiefly because that unto them were committed, or intrusted the oracles of God," represents the Jews as stewards who should have dispensed the Bible, and who might themselves have been profited through conveying it to others. We are all aware that special promises are made in the Scriptures to those who shall be instrumental in turning many from darkness, and converting sinners from the error of their ways. We ordinarily apply these promises to individuals; and we expect them to be made good to the zealous minister, and the self-denying missionary. Undoubtedly the application is just; for we cannot question that those who have faithfully and successfully labored in winning souls to Christ, shall receive a portion of more than common brilliancy, when the Master comes to reckon with his servants. But we know not why these promises would not have been as applicable to communities as to individuals, had communities regarded God's oracles as a sacred deposit, and themselves as stewards who must give an account of their distribution. The earth has never yet presented the grand spectacle of what might be called a missionary nation, a people who felt that the true religion was held in trust for the benefit of the world, and who concentered their energies on the being faithful in the stewardship. It cannot be said that the Jews did this, though, in spite of their frequent rebellions and lapses into idolatry, they were the leaven which prevented the complete decomposition of the world, and the light which alone relieved the ponderous moral darkness. It cannot be said that we ourselves have done this, whatever the efforts which have of late years been made for translating the Scriptures into the various languages, and conveying them to the various districts of the globe. There has been nothing which has proached to a national recognition, and a national acting on the recognition, that God hath made this land the depository of his word, in order that we might employ those resources, which an unlimited commerce places at our disposal, in diffusing that word over the enormous wastes of paganism. It is not by the endeavors and actions ap of private individuals that the national stewardship can be faithfully discharged. A nation must act through its governors; and then only would the nation prove its sense, that the oracles of God had been deposited with it in order to distribution through the world, when its governors made the conversion of the heathen one great object for which they legislated and labored. In this manner would a christian state occupy the same position amongst nations, as an affluent christian individual amongst the parishes and hamlets of a distressed neighborhood. Just as the individual counts it his business and privilege, to communicate of his temporal abundance to the inmates of surrounding cottages, so would the state count it its business and privilege to communicate of its spiritual abundance to the ignorant in surrounding territories. And however little ground there may be for a hope that any christian state will step forward, and take to itself the missionary character, we can be sure that the absence of all national effort to disseminate revelation is of fensive in God's sight, and must sooner or later provoke retribution. The Bible is not given to a people exclusively for their own use. It is the food of the whole world, the volume from which whatever is human must draw the soul's sustenance. And no more right have a people to keep this book to themselves, whilst thousands in other lands are worn down by moral famine, than they would have to hoard the earth's fruits, if their own wants were supplied, and the cry of starving multitudes swept across the seas. Neither would the faithful discharge of the stewardship be without its reward. Our text affirms it for the advantage of a people, that there have been deposited with them the oracles of God. We may conclude, therefore, that, in acting on the principle that the oracles are held in trust for the benefit of the world, a people would secure the recompense graciously annexed to the laboring to extend the kingdom of Christ. Who indeed that remembers that we live under an economy of strict retribution, and that nations can only be dealt with as nations on this side eternity, will see cause to doubt that the earnest discharge of what we call the national stewardship, would be the best means of advancing and upholding the national greatness? Who can believe of a people circumstanced like ourselves, that, in acting as stewards of the mysteries of God, we should erect a rampart against every enemy, and secure continued progress in all that makes a kingdom mighty. There are mixed up with the dealings of commerce the grandest purposes of God towards this fallen creation. Every country might have been its own store-house of every necessary and every luxury. It might have possessed within its own confines the productions of the whole globe, and thus have had but little motive to intercourse with other states. But, by diversifying his gifts, God hath made it for the profit of the world, that there should be constant interchange of property. Thus facilities are afforded for the communication of moral as well as physical advantages; and commerce may become the great propagator of christianity. And it strikes us as a beautiful arrangement, that it may have been with the express design of providing that the true religion should spread its branches over the world, that God caused the palm-tree, and the citrontree, to grow in one land and not in another; and that, in order to bring the pearl of great price within reach of all, he may have given the gold to this district, and the diamond to that. And when the ocean is before us, dotted with vessels hastening to every quarter of the earth, or returning with the produce of far-off islands and continents, we look on a nobler spectacle than that of human ingenuity and har dihood triumphing over the elements, that wealth may be accumulated and appetite pampered-we are beholding the machinery through which God hath ordained that the sections of the hu man family should be kept knit together, and the preparations which he hath made for the diffusion of christianity, when the word shall be given, and great shall be the company of the preachers." It has not therefore been without a view to the maintenance of truth and the spread of religion, that God hath given to this land the empire of the seas, and opened to it intercourse with every section of the globe. We rather believe that we have been made great in commerce, that we might be great in the diffusion of knowledge. With our fleets on every sea, and unbounded wealth accumulated in our cities, there needs nothing but that, as a nation, we should feel our accountableness, and rapidly might the records of revelation make their way through the world. And if we were thus instrumental to the spread of the Gospel, thus faithful to our stewardship, it would not be foreign aggression, nor domestic insubordination, from which there would be danger to the land of our birth; there would be permanence in our might, because wielded in God's cause, and fixedness in our prosperity, because consecrated by piety. And as glory and greatness flowed in upon us, and the stewards of the Bible stood forth as the sovereigns of the world, other causes of the elevation might indeed be assigned by the politician and philosopher; but the true reason would be with those who should give in explanation, "Chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." I may here refer for a moment to that charitable cause for which I am directed to ask your support. It must be sufficient to remind you, intrusted as you are with the Bible, that there are hundreds of children in this town requiring to be educated in the principles of the Bible, and you will contribute liberally towards upholding the schools which now make their usual appeal to your bounty. There have been times when it was necessary to debate and demonstrate the duty of providing instruction for the children of the poor. Such times are gone. We have now no choice. He were as wise a man who should think to roll back the Atlantic, as he who would stay the advancing tide of intelligence which is pressing through the land. You cannot, if you would. And I do not believe there is one here who would lift a finger in so unrighteous an enterprise. Here, if any where, a man may glory in that general outstretching of the human mind which is characteristic of the times; and rejoice in the fact, that in knowledge, and mental developement, the lower classes are following so close on the higher, that these latter must go on with a vigorous stride, if they would not be quickly overtaken. It is not in such a seat of learning as this, that we shall find dislike to the spread of information. Knowledge is a generous and communicative thing, and jealousy at its progress is ordinarily the index of its wants. You would not, if you could, arrest the progress of education. But you may provide that the education shall be christian education. You may thus ensure that education shall be a blessing, not a curse; and save the land from being covered with that wildest and most unmanageable of all populations, a population mighty alike in intellect and ungodliness, a population that knows every thing but God, emancipated from all ignorance but that which is sure to breed the worst lawlessness, ignorance of the duties of the religion of Christ. An uneducated population may be degraded; a population educated, but not in righteousness, will be ungovernable. The one may be slaves, the other must be tyrants. १९ We have now only, in conclusion, to express an earnest hope that we may all learn, from the subject discussed, to set a higher value than ever on the Scriptures. Do we receive the Bible as the oracles of God?" The Bible is as actually a divine communication as though its words came to us in the voice of the Almighty, mysteriously syllabled, and breathed from the firmament. What awe, what reverence, what prostration of soul, would attend the persuasion that such is the Bible; so that opening it is like entering the hallowed haunt of Deity, whence unearthly lips will breathe oracular responses. There needs nothing but an abiding conviction that Scripture remains, what it was at the first, the word of the living God-not merely a written thing, but a spoken; as much a message now as when originally delivered-and the volume will be perused, as it ought to be, in humility, yet in hope, with prayer, yet with confidence. And when God is regarded as always speaking to his creatures through the volume of revelation, there will be no marvel that, practically, this volume should be influential on the moral and mental, the temporal as well as eternal, interests of man. "The voice of the Lord," saith |