might perish on the scaffold, and in full view of such a possible result, he and they pledged to each other their "lives, their fortune, and their sacred honor." The sentiments of all those men are well known, and the language eloquently attributed to one of them (John Adams), will express the feelings of patriotism founded on principle, and may express ours in the cause in which we are engaged. "I see, I see clearly, through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time when this Declaration shall be made good. We may die; die, colonists; die, slaves; die, it may be, ignominiously on the scaffold. Be it so-be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But, whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured, that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may cost blood; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate us for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. My judgment approves of this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope in this life, I am now ready here to stake on it; and live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration." Such was principle, in a cause and on an occasion the most noble that the earth has witnessed, except that in which the Church is engaged of spreading the gospel around the globe. That is more noble; that involves still higher principle, and that may demand still higher and more continued sacrifices. The youth, who gives himself to Christ, should do it prepared to brave the cold of the north, or the burning heats of the line, in carrying there the pure gospel, and with the expectation that, after many an hour of unpitied suffering, he may lie unburied in a foreign land. The father is to be ready to part with his son-the pride of his heart, and the anticipated stay of his age-the son, whose early course has been radiant as the light of a morning without clouds, and who is qualified by native endowment to adorn the bar, the bench, or the senate chamber,-to preach the gospel to savages; and is to lay his hand on him and bless him, as the ship is loosening from her moorings, expecting to see his face no more. mother is to press her much beloved daughter to her bosom for the last time, as she leaves her native land to meet the perils of the deep and the desert, and to die perhaps surrounded by strangers, and where her hand cannot soothe her dying sorrows. Youths, educated with all the care and skill that a Christian land can furnish; accustomed to the comforts and the elegances of life; with minds classical, tasteful and refined, like that of Henry Martyn, and with accomplishments that might adorn any circle, are yet to sing on many a deck, as the Missionary ship glides away: The Yes, my native land, I love thee; Can I leave you, Far in distant lands to dwell? Home! thy joys are passing lovely; Far in heathen lands to dwell? Scenes of sacred peace and pleasure! Far in heathen lands to dwell? Yes, I hasten from you gladly, Bear me on, thou restless ocean; Let the winds my canvas swell! Heaves my heart with warm emotion, Glad I bid thee, Native land! Farewell-Farewell! To engage in and prosecute a work thus stretching into future ages; a work which contemplates such difficulties, embarrassments, and discouragements; a work which is to be pursued through such scenes of alternate hope and fear, and a work contemplating such sacrifices, self-denials, expenditures and sufferings, there can be no reliance but the RELIGION OF PRINCIPLE. It is this religion, originated only by the Holy Spirit of God, which, we trust, gave birth to the enterprises undertaken by this Board, and which has thus far animated and sustained the Board and its Missionaries, in the great work of giving the gospel to heathen lands. The circumstances under which we meet, Fathers and Brethren, are adapted forcibly to impress this truth on our hearts. Thirty-three years ago the Board held its second annual meeting in this place. It had then but nine members, and but little more than a thousand dollars in its Treasury, and had no missionaries in the field. It had four young men under its care, ready to go wherever the Providence of God should guide them, and whose wish to devote themselves to the work of missions, was as clearly formed under the influence of principle, as any purpose ever undertaken by man. With similar feelings they who then constituted the Board-but one of whom now survives-assembled here to look over the condition of the world. It was not a spirit of romance terminating in a missionary enterprise, which led to their organization; it was not a desire to extend and perpetuate a religion of forms; it was not under the influence of mere temporary excitement. The Holy Spirit of God had created in their hearts a permanent conviction of the duty of obeying the last command of the Saviour, and of sending the gospel to distant nations. One third of a century-the period of a generation of the human race has passed away. The income of the Board has increased from one thousand, to more than two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. There was then no missionary station under their care, now there are ninety-five stations. Then, no American had left his native land, to be a missionary among the heathen. Now, one hundred and thirty-five ordained American missionaries proclaim the blessed gospel to the nations of the earth, and almost five hundred laborers are employed by this Board, in various departments of effort, in Pagan lands. Then, not one had been converted among the heathen by the instrumentality of this Board. Now, there are sixty-three churches, and more than twenty-five thousand members. Then, the Board convened in this place in a private parlor. Now, the largest edifice will not accommodate its members and friends. During the time which has elapsed since that meeting, there have been reverses and discouragements-trials and deaths. But the religion under whose auspices the Board was formed, has proved itself equal to the exigencies which have arisen, and adapted to the work. The ends of the earth have felt the influence of this Board. The sun never sets on its missionary stations; and in all its history there has been no occasion to doubt, that the Religion of Principle is adapted to convey the gospel around the globe. Fathers and Brethren! From the past let us take courage in regard to the future. Let us never be disheartened by reverses; let us not be unduly elated by success; let us never confide in impulses and temporary excitements; let us, above all, never trust in our own wisdom and strength. Leaning on the arni of our God and Saviour, and seeking to cultivate in our own hearts, more and more, the spirit of that pure gospel, which is itself nothing else than the religion of principle; let us go on, under all reverses and discouragements, laboring patiently till the Master shall call us home, and then leave the work to other hands, with faith in God, and faith in coming generations, that it will be accomplished. We shall die-some of us will soon die-all of us at no distant period. But this work will not die. It will be as deeply embalmed in the affections of those who succeed us, as it has been in ours; it will be as steadily prosecuted; it will make as triumphant a progress in future times as it has done in our own. Its final triumph is the only thing that illuminates the darkness of the future; but that result is as clear as the sun in heaven. By the grace of our God we will do our duty while we live; we will be found at our post when we die; we will pass the work, then, into other hands-and in our final abode in heaven we will calmly wait until from a redeemed world, a voice, loud as the sound of many waters, comes swelling up on high, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever." PASTOR OF THE SOUTH PRESBYterian church, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. THE LAW OF GRACE IN THE BESTOWMENT OF "THE "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." 1st Cor. iii. 6. At the time the apostle addressed his first epistle to the Corinthians, they were divided in respect to their spiritual leaders; one saying, "I am of Paul"-another, "I am of Apollos"-and "another-"I am of Cephas." With a view to correct this evil, he seeks to instruct them in regard to the functions and appropriate position of the Christian ministry. He recalls to their notice the fact, that he himself had planted this very church, that he first preached the Gospel to them, and sowed the seed of Divine truth. Providence directing him to another field, Apollos came; and entering upon the labors of his predecessor, he watered this spiritual soil. God, however, gave the' increase; their ministry was successful because it was favored by God. Hence neither himself, nor Apollos, nor any other preacher should be made the centre of schism or faction: they were "laborers together with God," united in design, and all equally dependent on God for success. By a careful inspection of the text, in itself and in its relations, it will be perceived, that all which the writer means by planting or watering, as attributed to himself, or Apollos, is associated with the idea of God, as giving the increase. The blessing comes in the presence, and not in the absence of the appropriate means. There is the planting-also the watering-also the increase given by God. This is the order of the apostle's thoughts. Between the use of means and the gift of grace, they suggest some connection. What is this connection? Are all methods of preaching the Gospel and applying moral causes in the kingdom of Christ equally adapted to success? Will men be as likely to be converted by flights of fancy and romantic exhilarations of taste, as by solemn and pungent exhibitions of truth? Is there any rule in heaven on this subject? Is that rule so well marked that we can define it, and by its light, with some degree of probability, calculate results, even before we see them? Since we depend on God for success, have we any means of inferring beforehand how the Deity will be disposed to treat our efforts; or, is it a matter of pure conjecture, where the result is as likely to be one way as the other? These are grave inquiries. The entire sum of all Christian efforts to extend the Gospel, and bring men to the saving acknowledgment of the truth, implies in the minds of Christians the existence of some answer to the above questions. Without such an answer these efforts would possess no rational basis. In its most generic view, this answer includes the following elements of thought, viz.: that in executing the redemptive designs of the Gospel, it is the plan of God that means shall be used; that their employment is committed to the instrumentality and agency of men; that the means themselves are of a nature to admit of judicious application or the opposite; that, as a general principle, it is a rule of divine influence to act proportionately to, and in coincidence with, the proper use of Gospel means. If we deny any, or all of these positions, we shall contradict the word of God, and not less so, the experience of the Christian world; and the moment we undertake to do anything in the cause of Christ, our practice and theory will be at variance. In admitting these views we should cautiously secure our minds against any scheme which is based upon the independent and self-sufficient efficiency of means. A false attitude of the intellect upon these points, especially the last, can never fail to be of essential disservice. We should understand with great distinctness, that we are not mere passive recipients of good; that we are to be positive and active organs in its communication; that our moral sphere is one in which we are bound to be wise, and summon to action our best powers in the very best way; that there is nothing in the structure of the Gospel system, or in its relation to the agency and sovereignty of God, that in the slightest degree interferes with the true range and proper application of second causes. It is as important that we see and realize our dependence upon God for success in all our efforts. Beholding both positions in their insulated and their mutually related character; beholding the great law of grace, which unites and reduces them to the symmetry of a perfect system, we shall be prepared on the one hand to appreciate our responsibilities, and on the other to trust in the power, and seek the aid of the Great Supreme. It is in this way only, that we can make practical the idea of acting, as if all depended on action, and trusting, as if all depended on God. It being granted, that God ordinarily bestows the increase in the ratio of the kind and the character of the means, it does not follow, that they should become the exclusive theatre of our confidence; but it does follow, that our responsibility in their employment is one of intense and awful nature. This law of grace in the bestowment of the increase, considered in its application to Christians, will be the theme of the present inquiry. You will permit me to assume that it is God's design in regard to every Christian, that he should do good. He can do good, and he ought to do so. God requires it. Everything in the moral universe demands it. As to the quantity of good, which he is to do, we can adopt |