PRIMITIVE AND MODERN PIETY. 
 

 mi 
 
PRIMITIVE AND MODERN PIETY: 
 
 A 
 
 SERMON, 
 
 DELIVERED IN PORTLAND, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 ORDINATION OF THE REV. CYRUS HAMLIN, 
 
 MISSIONARY OK TIIE A. B. C. F. M. TO CONSTANTINOPLE, 
 
 OCTOBER 3, 1838. 
 
 BY J. MALTBY, 
 
 rASTOR OF THE HAMMOND-STREET CHURCH, BANCOR. 
 
 uy 
 
 BANGOR : 
 
 E. F. DUREN. 
 
 SAMUEL S. SMITH, PRINTER, 
 
 1838. 
 
Portland, October 29, 1838. 
 
 Rev. John Maltby, Bangor. 
 
 Dear Sir: — It being deemed highly desirable that the valuable ser- 
 mon delivered by you, at the Ordination of the Rev. Cvrcs Hamlin, 
 should be placed before the public, the undersigned, committee of the 
 Second Church in Portland, respectfully solicit a copy for publication. 
 With great respect, your assured friends, 
 
 LEVI CUTTER, 
 
 ROYAL LINCOLN, 
 WILLIAM SWAN. 
 
 Bangor, November 9, 1838. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Yours of October 29, was duly received. Having just 
 returned from a journey, my time is more closely occupied than usual ; 
 I will however improve the earliest opportunity to comply with your 
 request. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 J. MALTBY. 
 
 Messrs. Levi Cutter, 
 
 Royal Lincoln, 
 
 William Swan. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 Matthew VII. xx. 
 
 “ By their fruits ye shall know them.” 
 
 We are furnished in this passage with a searching test of 
 individual character. This was the particular purpose for 
 which Christ designed it. The fruit brought forth in a man’s 
 life, shows what he is. It is an exposition of the state of 
 his heart. 
 
 But the principle may, with equal propriety, be applied 
 to other things. It may be applied to different systems of 
 religious doctrine. Here, a form of doctrine meets you, 
 that proves, in the application of it, “quick and powerful.” 
 There, you see one that is only a “ dead letter.” Their 
 fruits tell you what they are. And whenever ministers 
 preach, and churches receive, not “ the faith once delivered 
 to the saints,” but “ another gospel,” the fruits produced will 
 proclaim the apostacy. 
 
 The principle may be applied also, to the different prac- 
 tical applications that have been made of Christianity. And 
 this is the use I propose to make of it on the present occa- 
 sion. Different periods have been distinguished by different 
 modes of applying the Christian system. At one time, the 
 church has gone deeper into “ the spirit ;” at another, she 
 has followed “ the letter.” At one age, she has taken the 
 yoke of Christ and gone forth on her pilgrimage to heaven ; 
 
4 
 
 at another, she has conferred with flesh and blood. Primitive 
 piety was marked with one of these distinctions. Modern 
 piety, I submit, is marked with the other. And which is 
 the juster course, we must determine from the fruit produced. 
 The principle in the text requires us to ask, Where has God 
 been most honored, and the work of salvation most pro- 
 moted ? On which of the trees is found the fairest and 
 richest fruit ? Compare the trees together ; — compare 
 them by their fruits ; — and say which should be pruned into 
 the shape of the other. 
 
 To speak without a figure, I propose, 
 
 In the first place, to compare the piety of the first 
 century with the piety of the present day. 
 
 Secondly, to show which has produced the most rapid 
 and illustrious triumphs of the gospel. 
 
 And thirdly, to try the question , whether modern piety 
 docs not need to he moulded into the primitive form. 
 
 In the comparison of primitive with modem piety, which 
 is the first thing proposed, it will be my object to present 
 several of the points of difference. That there are points 
 of resemblance, clear and strong, I rejoice to believe. The 
 necessities of our dying race require that they become clearer, 
 stronger, more. Short of its actual salvation, nothing would 
 so bless the world, as baptizing the church universal with 
 the spirit of the first century. 
 
 As the first point in the comparison, look at the practical 
 interpretation of the Bible. 
 
 Before I proceed, however, it ought to be suggested as a 
 preliminary consideration, that on the great question of prac- 
 tical Christianity, the first disciples had a better opportunity 
 to form just views than we have. They were nearer to 
 Christ. They had his example, and the example of the 
 apostles, immediately before them. They had not, as we 
 
have, the mists of a hundred generations coining between 
 them and the “ Light of the world.” They were not, as 
 we are, surrounded with unworthy examples which cause to 
 err. With propriety, we may refer to their views and prac- 
 tices, as possessing a measure of authority. 
 
 Come, then, to the interpretation of the Bible — its appli- 
 cation, as a hook to live by. 
 
 As a book of Dogmatic Theology, we find in it, generally, 
 the same doctrines as they did. But as a book of rules and 
 precepts to be carried severely into the business of life, my 
 fear is, that it is not to us what it was to them. They took 
 its directions with a simplicity and nearness to the letter, that 
 we hardly allow. If this led them into peril, as it often did, 
 they did not go hack and look for another interpretation ; 
 they entrusted themselves to the protecting providence of 
 God and went forward ; and they did it with a confidence 
 which we hardly consider warrantable. 
 
 Take, in any of its forms of statement, the great practical 
 principle that met them, as it meets us, at the threshold, — 
 “My kingdom is not of this world,” — “Ye cannot serve 
 God and Mammon,” — “ He that saveth his life shall lose it, 
 and he that loseth his life shall save it,” — the thing intended 
 is the same throughout. And what was it : — what did they 
 understand it to be? Plainly, that the pursuits of this life 
 were to be forsaken for the kingdom of Christ. Not this 
 life literally ; but those interests and pleasures which men of 
 the world pursue as life. These were to be literally aban- 
 doned. It remained, therefore, to weigh the question, and 
 be one thing or the other — to receive the precept and obey 
 it, or reject it. To do both they could not. Here, then, 
 was an elementary truth for them to begin with, given by 
 Christ himself, and to be applied in all their interpretations 
 of the Bible. They applied it accordingly. And we see 
 the effect, in their becoming “ pilgrims and strangers on the 
 
6 
 
 earth in their becoming a peculiar people,” every where 
 known as the disciples of Christ ; in the multiplication of 
 their charities ; in their “ taking joyfully the spoiling of their 
 goods and if need so required, in selling houses and lands, 
 and having all things common. The thought that they 
 should still live as before, — that they should follow in the 
 channels of business, like men of the world, with ambitious 
 covetings to be rich, making it their object to “join house to 
 house and lay field to field ” — they could as soon think of 
 apostacy. That they should become the disciples of Christ, 
 whose kingdom is not of this world, and yet go on to amass 
 estates, gather honors, and taste the sweets of worldly joy, — 
 that they should lust and desire to have — should establish 
 their mercantile house in the emporium of the world, with a 
 branch in this hemisphere and another in that, that so they 
 might be as large as the largest, and live as fast as the fastest, 
 and yet pretend to be the disciples of him who “ had not 
 where to lay his head ” — it might not be. Their interpreta- 
 tion of the Bible kept them from such a course of worldliness, 
 as effectually as the “ cherubim and flaming sword ” that 
 turned every way kept Adam to the path, through which he 
 was ordered out of Eden. 
 
 As a second point in the comparison, look at their esti- 
 mate of the Promises and the Providence of God. Their 
 expectation was from these. They believed that the prom- 
 ises were for them to live upon. They believed that provi- 
 dence would be an ample illustration and fulfilment of them. 
 And now, what though duty leads them away from the ordi- 
 nary pursuits of men, — what though it leads them to a course 
 of life that seems to contradict all the ordinary ideas of a 
 worldly policy, it is only what they were expecting. They 
 had gone into a kingdom that was not of this world. They 
 had gone into it under the shelter of the divine promises. 
 
7 
 
 These covered the whole field of duty, and that was enough. 
 What God had promised, they felt assured he would perform. 
 They believed that, if it was best, God would cause their 
 enemies to be at peace with them ; and if it was not best, 
 they did not wish it done. Their simplicity in interpreting 
 the Bible, was ecjualled only by their simplicity in believing 
 it and resting upon it. The day of darkness did not dismay 
 them ; — it was the Lord’s ; all its elements were in his hand. 
 The Bible was the grand fastness to which they held. Here 
 they resolved all their fears. True they could not see the 
 end of a course of peril ; but their Saviour could. This 
 was enough. This was their fortress. They stood upon 
 the lofty summits of his promise — those mountain heights 
 which overtop the storm. And while all was dark and 
 furious below, on their heads would be sunshine. In this 
 sublime confidence in the protecting providence of God, see 
 them meet the shock of ten fierce persecutions, in which 
 “ the heathen raged and the people imagined a vain thing. 
 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took 
 counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed.” 
 Here are examples unrivalled, of the human mind staying 
 itself on the God of promise. How far we come short of 
 them in this tiling I dare not say. How far we aim, hy a 
 secular policy, to save ourselves from the necessity of thus 
 resting upon God, I leave you to judge. 
 
 For a third point in this comparison, look at their estimate 
 of the present life. To cherish it — to refine it — to magnify 
 it, was not their object. Its pleasures they were prepared 
 to forego. What the world pursues as life, they understood 
 was to be surrendered — literally forsaken. They had 
 undertaken for another life — the life of God in the soul. 
 They had entered upon it ; and Christ was leading them to 
 its consummation. It opened to them a heavenly prospect— 
 
8 
 
 a hope full of immortality. And should they now be covet- 
 ing the distinctions of the world ? Must they still be con- 
 ferring with flesh and blood ? Was it for them to have their 
 tables loaded with luxuries, their wardrobes filled, their estates 
 matured, and all as a matter of indulgence and gratification, 
 before they could become laborers in the vineyard ? They 
 did not so learn Christ. To shine with the brightest, and 
 flourish with the fairest, had no charms for them. They saw 
 a radiance from heaven, in whose brightness all the differing 
 shades of worldly splendor went out. They would rather 
 be poor in temporal things, that they might make many rich 
 in the things of the spirit. They would rather possess noth- 
 ing in the world, that they might have all things in Christ. 
 For him they were ready to suffer the loss of all things. 
 
 Consider now and say, whether the views and practices of 
 modern Christians are after this pattern. Do they not pro- 
 ceed, after their conversion, much as they did before, — indi- 
 cating that their relish for fashion and pleasure is still strong. 
 Not only do they continue in the same calling, which as a 
 general thing Paul recommends ; — but do they not go on to 
 vie with covetous men in the pursuit of the world ? In 
 too many and melancholy instances, do they not even go into 
 the games of business and worldly strife, and oppose cunning 
 to cunning, and artifice to artifice, and shrewdness to shrewd- 
 ness, to turn the game into then - own hands ? They would be 
 rich, that they may be able to live freely. They would be 
 independent, that they may be free from care and anxiety. . 
 They would be fashionable, that they may have influence 
 and divest religion of all forbidding austerity. Not so they 
 who took pattern from Christ. That class of objects, which 
 go to fill out the ordinary idea of this life, they abandoned. 
 They laid down their life at the Cross of Christ, that by bis 
 death, and the lessons of self-denial it taught, they might 
 have life eternal. 
 
9 
 
 Fourthly, look at their estimate of the spiritual life , — the 
 jovs and hopes their religion afforded. These they esteemed 
 more, in proportion as they esteemed the pleasures of this 
 life less. Their religion was their all, from the time they 
 possessed it. Its joys and its pursuits were in the place of 
 all other joys. 
 
 It is to be feared that with us the case is different ; — 
 that we hold our religion as a future good, or rather as the 
 pledge of a future good, meanwhile drawing our pleasures 
 from the world as well as we can. They began their heaven 
 at once. “ They had a heaven to go to heaven in.” By 
 an unequivocal act, and with a heart that meant so, they 
 went over to the objects of faith and the fellowship of heaven 
 as their portion. 
 
 “ They lived upon the Saviour’s smiles, 
 
 “ And leaned upon his arm.” 
 
 W ith all their might they gave themselves to the purposes of 
 Christianity ; and in return, Christianity poured her living 
 streams of joy through their souls. Of the pleasures 
 
 of this life, their portion was small. This, however, did not 
 disappoint them. It was the condition on which they became 
 disciples. But the pleasures of religion were sweeter, in 
 proportion as they had no other. “ Sorrowful, yet always 
 rejoicing; — •• Having nothing, yet possessing all things.” 
 Were they in tribulation, they rejoiced in it. Did they 
 endure the spoiling of then - goods, they took it joyfully. 
 Having then portion in God, it was their privilege to rejoice 
 always, and again to rejoice. 
 
 Almost nothing is so fatal to spiritual enjoyment, as a 
 divided state of mind. “ Looking back ;” — “ remembering 
 the delights of Sodom ;” — “ longing for the flesh-pots of 
 Egypt.” This is as a palsy to our whole moral natures. It 
 blights the conscience ; it humbles the dignity of truth ; it 
 
10 
 
 makes the moral frame-work of the soul a ruin. Let 
 the Christian then, — and the Christian as well in these latter 
 days as in primitive times, if he would be established, and 
 drink largely of the river of life, escape -from this ambiguous 
 state. Let him have done with serving God and Mammon — 
 that moral impossibility. Let him go quite over, and take 
 his position where his spirit can be whole. Then he shall 
 take in whole joys. 
 
 We pass, fifthly, to the use of property for the support and 
 propagation of Christianity. Primitive Christians held their 
 estates, as they did their persons, dedicated. An early usage 
 was to lay by a portion every week for benevolent purposes, 
 as God had prospered them. The churches of Macedonia 
 were an eminent example of this liberality. Under a “ great 
 trial of affliction,” and in “ deep poverty,” they prayed Paul 
 with much entreaty that he would take their bounty and 
 appropriate it. If a crisis came, the spirit of the age would 
 meet it. Let necessities multiply, or opportunities of use- 
 fulness open ; the church would not shut her eyes, nor turn 
 her back. She would meet the case, even to the selling of 
 houses and lands. She held nothing in reserve from 
 requisition. 
 
 And is there a similar pulsation in the bosom of modem 
 piety ? Is the devotion of the present day thus lofty and 
 sublime? Listen to the lamentations of our half-forsaken 
 missionaries. Look at our schools disbanded, and our presses 
 stopped. You have just had the case all spread out before 
 you.* Think of those five thousand children in Ceylon, 
 sent away from their Christian privileges into black heathen- 
 ism ; — the uncircumcised meanwhile triumphing, and saying 
 “ aha,” so we predicted, and so would we have it. Think 
 
 * At the Annual Meeting of the Board of Foreign Missions, which 
 had just been held in Portland. 
 
of it. Go and whisper it, at the sepulchres of primitive 
 saints, — and a deep groan shall fill your ear. Do you ask 
 what held the first disciples to their high and chivalrous 
 course? The answer is easy. Truth, conscience, duty, the 
 spirit of God, — all the high principles of the gospel, held them 
 to it. Their own act of consecration, faithfully remembered, 
 held them to it. They had given themselves and their 
 substance to God. They had done it. It only remained 
 therefore, that they go forward and act accordingly. More- 
 over they loved to do so. Nothing was so sweet to them as 
 to serve Christ, and see his kingdom enlarge, and hear heaven 
 rejoice over repenting sinners. The kingdom of Christ had 
 a hold on their hearts beyond every thing else. They loved 
 it ; — they loved to give it all they had. 
 
 Look sixthly, at their separateness from the world . — They 
 did not, indeed, refuse all intercourse, save with their own 
 number. The gospel does not require this, nor tend to it, 
 but the contrary. Nevertheless there was, for a season, 
 much of this literal separation. The disciples were exiled 
 by persecution. Like Old-Testament saints, “ they were 
 stoned, they were saw r n asunder, they wandered about in 
 sheep skins and goat skins — destitute, afflicted, tormented 
 “ they w r andered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, 
 and in caves of the earth.” 
 
 But this is not the separateness intended. Particularly, 
 they w r ere distinguished by their habits of life. Plainness 
 and simplicity marked their style of living. Not the luxuries, 
 but the substantial of life, were their object. They did not 
 sell themselves into servitude, to maintain an artificial and 
 costly style of intercourse. They did not sanction such 
 modes of life and equipage, as would go to consume their 
 time and means in the mere business of living; — ay, and keep 
 them in a hurry besides. A large portion of the time which 
 
12 
 
 we give to indulgence and fashion, they gave to the “ vine- 
 yard,” where they were called to be laborers. By their 
 simplicity, they saved both time and funds for the cause they 
 had espoused. Let the question fneet us then, and 
 answer it who can, — is there any justification, on gospel 
 principles, of the devotion to style and display, which at the 
 present day pervades the Christian community ? Who will 
 undertake to defend it ? On careful consideration, will it not 
 be found, that the church is sinfully giving a large portion of 
 her time and fortune to the evolutions of fashion and artifi- 
 cial life, which she ought to give directly to the purposes of 
 Christianity ? 
 
 The sanctity of their lives also made them distinct. They 
 put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and made not provision for the 
 flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. They went about doing 
 good. The character given them by some writers is doubt- 
 less overdrawn ; yet that they were eminent saints is not to 
 be questioned. Mosheim, who is not suspected of thinking 
 too favorably of them, and who would guard his readers 
 against considering them perfect, nevertheless says — “ The 
 lives and manners of Christians in the first century are highly 
 celebrated by most authors, and recommended to succeeding 
 generations as unspotted models of piety and virtue. And 
 if these encomiums,” he continues, “ be confined to the 
 greatest part of those, who embraced Christianity in the 
 infancy of the church, they are certainly distributed with 
 justice.” * There was one apostate among the twelve. 
 That there were others afterwards is not doubted. Yet the 
 first disciples collectively were a holy nation. They took 
 the type of their piety from Christ, and it held them to an 
 unearthly course. Whichever way the wind of popular 
 sentiment blew, it mattered not to them. They had another 
 
 Cent. I Part II. Chap. iii. Sec. 0. 
 
13 
 
 pole-star. They sailed under another warrant, and by 
 another compass. 
 
 Furthermore, the object for which they lived made them 
 distinct. ‘ Not temporal things, but spiritual.’ ; By all 
 means let some be saved.’ This was their object, and it 
 engrossed them. Their heart was in it. It was more to 
 them than their meat and drink. They set themselves to 
 work in the community accordingly. And the interesting 
 fact is, that by their example and their efforts, men’s con- 
 sciences were awakened. Their sins found them out and 
 stared upon them. Hence the community became agitated. 
 Indeed it could not rest, while they were in it. They were 
 as a fire in its bosom. The light and spirit of the gospel 
 made them so. Christ’s words, that he “ came not to send 
 peace on earth but a sword,” were fulfilled. The gospel 
 contemplates, not fellowship with sin — whether in its ruder 
 or its more cultivated forms, but warfare, to be conducted 
 under “ the Captain of our salvation,” whose language is, 
 “ look unto me and be ye saved” — “ he that is not with me 
 is against me.” And it demands serious consideration, 
 whether the relations of amity now subsisting between the 
 church and the world — take New-England as an example of 
 it — is not something the gospel was not intended to produce, 
 which it is not at all adapted to produce, and which, if duly 
 applied, it never would produce. Look at the fellowship 
 and alliances subsisting every where, and in every degree, 
 from the looser connexion of church and parish up through 
 all the relations of business and social life, till you come to 
 the “ Banns of holy wedlock.” I seem to hear the gospel 
 groan under this intolerable load. Is not the present day 
 marked by a conformity and compromise with the world, of 
 which the first century stood clear ? And do we not need 
 another Ezra £ to pray, to confess, to weep, to sit astonished, 
 to cast himself down before God ;’ and to cany on the work 
 
14 
 
 of reformation, till an awakened people shall come and 
 stand all of them in the street of the house of God, ‘ trem- 
 bling ?’ I repeat it, there is a question here that demands 
 to be most seriously pondered. 
 
 The first Christians, taking their map of life personally 
 from Christ and the apostles, considered themselves and their 
 children as a chosen generation, separated unto God. Like 
 ancient Israel, they must keep themselves distinct. They 
 might not intermarry nor commingle. Their children they 
 reared in schools of their own, where religion was a primary 
 matter. This fact looks down upon us, with an eye full of 
 astonishment and rebuke. The legitimate and full effect of 
 a religious education, was their great object. To send their 
 children into schools such as the world provides, where often 
 the Bible may not come, nor the voice of prayer be heard, — 
 they would as soon pass them through the fire to Moloch. 
 It would be virtually taking them out of the path of life, and 
 putting them into the arms of the destroyer. Mosheim thus 
 describes their practice : — “ The Christians took all possible 
 care to accustom their children to the study of the scriptures, 
 and to instruct them in the doctrine of their holy religion ; 
 and schools were every where erected for this purpose, even 
 
 from the very commencement of the Christian church.” 
 
 Besides what was thus done in the primary schools, it appears 
 from the same author, that other and more special efforts 
 were made. All who were not members of the church, 
 were numbered and classed as catechumens, for the express 
 purpose of religious instruction. They stood in two general 
 divisions, — children, and those more advanced, — “ those in 
 whom the natural force of reason was small,” and “ those 
 who were judged capable of comprehending, in some mea- 
 sure, the whole system of divine truth.” To instruct these, 
 the church employed such of her members as “ were dis- 
 tinguished for their gravity and w isdom, and also for their 
 
15 
 
 learning and judgment. Here we see the heritage of the 
 Lord, under its appropriate and distinctive administration. 
 
 But w hat is the aspect of the present day ? To how 
 great an extent, does the church put Iter children into the 
 hands of the world ! Though born w ithin the enclosures of 
 the kingdom, w e send them out for their education and the 
 formation of their characters, in the hope that the Spirit of 
 God will go after them and brim: them back. In how few 
 of our schools are the lessons of religion introduced. From 
 how r many of them are these lessons strictly excluded. A 
 district votes out the Bible, votes out prayer, votes out all 
 the appropriate symbols of our faith, — and what do we 1 
 Throw ourselves upon the resources of our religion, and as a 
 matter of conscience open schools of piety ? No. That 
 would be thought rigid and puritanical. There is a strange 
 feeling that we must acquiesce. The world, it is said, is 
 perverse, and w e must yield, lest we give offence and lose 
 our influence. And w e do yield. One symbol after another, 
 of our religion, is taken away, till even - thing seems arranged 
 to shut the thought of God and eternity away from the 
 youthful mind, as if there w ere contagion in it. It is even 
 so ; and we passively concur, unfaithful though it proves us. 
 Yes, the city can be quoted to-day, — the city in Yew -Eng- 
 land, into w hose schools, by printed law, no Bible, no cate- 
 chism is allowed to be introduced. In such a case, where, 
 1 ask, would you find the children of primitive Christians 
 
 * A history, adequately sought out and authenticated, of the progress 
 of infidelity and the antichristian spirit, in bringing about the exclusion 
 of religion from the primary schools of Mew-England, would be a docu- 
 ment of extraordinary interest. It might do great good! Is there not 
 some able and candid mind that will undertake it, not indeed in the 
 expectation of persuading the world to reinstate religion, and give it its 
 proper place, but rather to produce impression on the church, by show- 
 ing to how fearful an extent this work of exclusion, by a slow and artful 
 progress, has been carried ? If we would find where we are, we must 
 examine whence we came, and the length of the road. This done, it might 
 
16 
 
 Let it be repeated then ; — the early Christians aimed to 
 keep themselves unspotted from the world. And then they 
 aimed to draw the world to them, by the attractiveness of 
 their Saviour’s love. They gathered other children to their 
 schools, as our missionaries do to theirs. They gathered 
 adults into neighborhood schools, for the purpose of studying 
 Christianity. In a word, they were like leaven in the com- 
 munity, operating with ceaseless and irrepressible activity, 
 to leaven the whole lump. 
 
 Let these points of comparison now be multiplied, till the 
 portrait of primitive piety is fully drawn. Let the heavenly 
 form pass familiarly among us, and it will read us lessons 
 that will correct and instruct us in righteousness. In contrast 
 with it, are not our attainments small ? Are we not like 
 children delicately nurtured and indulged ? The nerve and 
 the sinew of the first witnesses to the truth — how little of 
 it do we possess ! The type of their piety was evangelical, 
 spiritual ; ours — I submit the question, is secular, 2 )rudential. 
 “ By their fruits ye shall know them.” 
 
 Let me pass now to the second general topic ; — Where 
 has the gospel flourished most, with primitive christiajis, or 
 with us 1 Where do we see most of its vitality and quick- 
 ening power ? 
 
 To estimate this question fairly, we must look at compar- 
 ative facilities. In the work of promulgating Christianity, 
 was the balance of means and favoring circumstances with 
 the first Christians, or is it with us ? A little consideration 
 will show that the advantages are greatly on our side. 
 
 awaken Christians to their duty. And when it is said, that if Christians 
 should establish schools of their own — as schools of religion, the differ- 
 ent denominations have not common ground enough to keep them in 
 harmony, the best answer is to deny the assertion. But allowing it were 
 true, it by no means shuts us up to our present suicidal course 
 
17 
 
 First, our numbers. Look at the thousands and tens of 
 thousands, reported from year to year, in the statistics of the 
 churches. Compare these with the little band of “ an hun- 
 dred and twenty,” in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, wait- 
 ing for die promised Spirit. 
 
 Secondly, our wealth. Where now, in all our land, is the 
 city, whose business, and whose wealth is not largely in the 
 hands of Christians ? In which, of all the golden channels 
 of commerce, do you not find the ships of the church, and 
 the men of the church, and the merchandize of the church ? 
 Our resources, at this moment, estimated in the spirit of the 
 first century, would be found adequate to compass the 'world, 
 and reveal the love of Christ to every creature. 
 
 Thirdly, our means of intercourse. The facilities of con- 
 veyance, which mark the present day, have reduced the 
 world to the dimensions of a neighborhood. Measured by 
 time bills, New- York and Constantinople are hardly so distant 
 as the capitals of adjoining States were, a century ago. 
 
 Fourthly, our means of diffusing knowledge. I refer 
 particularly to printing and books. In the gift of the press, 
 the church has an equivalent, not to the gift of tongues 
 merely ; — it is as an angel — it is as legions of angels, flying 
 through the midst of heaven, with the everlasting gospel to 
 preach to all nations. 
 
 Fifthly, our resources of science and of literature. The 
 learning extant when Christ came was summed up mainly 
 in two formidable systems of pagan philosophy — the Orien- 
 tal and the Grecian, which subsequently became the Roman. 
 These stood, like two impregnable fortresses, in the way of 
 Christianity. Add to this, that what literature existed at 
 that time was corrupt and corrupting. Here lay another 
 obstacle, as multiform as the dark mind of the age could 
 make it. How different our own case. Now, whatever 
 
 may be true as to the condition of our primary schools, we 
 3 
 
18 
 
 are enriched with a literature, varied and copious, that has 
 been baptized and consecrated to the purposes of religion. 
 Science, too, has become servant to the church. Its treas- 
 ures come from afar. The heavens, under the application 
 of Astronomy, and the earth, in the hands of Geology, have 
 become the allies of Christianity. All the past, too, chron- 
 icled in history, is now her auxiliary. 
 
 Turn, then, sixthly, to our moral poiver, compared with 
 that of primitive Christians. I mean our power to evince 
 truth, and cause it to be felt. Under every variety of attack, 
 Christianity has been proving herself true, from the time of 
 her first announcement. By a slow and gradual process, 
 time has been evolving the argument demonstrative of her 
 authenticity. Her light has been rising. Her prophecies 
 have been fulfilling. Her conflicts and triumphs have been 
 multiplying ; and her strength thereupon increasing. Her 
 history has become a great reservoir of moral power. Out 
 of it you may bring proofs, that no infidel genius can gain- 
 say. Entrenched in the fortresses of truth, she can now 
 bind unbelief with cords, and enchain the conscience of the 
 world, as once she could not. 
 
 Let me add, seventhly, the wide spread expectation that 
 the world is to be evangelized. This is no small thing in our 
 favor. Unbelief is expecting to vanish away. And while 
 this expectation prevails in nominally Christian lands ; some- 
 thing analagous to it is found extensively among heathen 
 nations. They are tired of the religions they have ; and 
 they feel an anxious, and almost a believing expectation, 
 that something better is at hand. Such are some of our 
 advantages over primitive Christians, in the work of promul- 
 gating Christianity. 
 
 On the other hand, it will occur to you, that the apostles 
 had the gift of miracles and of tongues. These, however, 
 it should be considered, were designed rather to authenticate 
 
19 
 
 Christianity, than to aid in promulgating it. And in this 
 respect their effect is felt to the present day, and will be to 
 the last. 
 
 To the question, then, where has the gospel appeared in 
 its strength, as a matchless conqueror ; — in w hose hands has 
 it been glorified, ours or theirs? To this question we shall 
 all give the same answer. Notwithstanding the balance of 
 facilities in our favor, we shall refer to the earlier, as the day 
 of Zion’s glory. Her people then were not only born of 
 the Spirit ; they also walked in the Spirit. They were un- 
 earthly men. Their conversation was in heaven. 
 
 The distinguishing glory of the gospel dispensation appear- 
 ed first at Jerusalem. Christ had finished his work of atone- 
 ment. He had laid the foundation of hope for lost man. 
 It remained for him to return to heaven, that the Spirit might 
 come, and carry out the atonement into actual redemption. 
 For the coming of the Spirit, the disciples were to wait in 
 Jerusalem. They repaired to their upper chamber, and 
 waited accordingly. This was the first protracted prayer 
 meeting ever held under the gospel. If you ask how long 
 it continued, the first and most obvious answer is — till its 
 object was gained. And this seems to be the scripture 
 method of measuring such meetings, — not by the number of 
 days, whether four or fourteen, but by the result. In the 
 Old Testament we read, “ It is time to seek the Lord till 
 he come.” And here , — “ tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, 
 until ye be endued with power from on high.” By a process 
 of calculation, however, it will be found that this meeting 
 continued seven days. And as to the kind of meeting, it is 
 said, “ They continued with one accord in prayer and sup- 
 plication.” As might be expected, a most remarkable “ out- 
 pouring of the Spirit” ensued. Then commenced the tri- 
 umphs of the new dispensation. “ Not by might, nor by 
 power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” 
 
20 
 
 The history of that first revival under the gospel is as 
 interesting as it is brief. The disciples, baptized afresh with 
 the Holy Spirit, came out from their place of prayer. Their 
 first essay was upon Jerusalem. And it was attended with 
 a most signal display of the power of God that was upon 
 them. A great concourse was assembled ; Peter was the 
 principal speaker ; and not less than three thousand were 
 awakened, and converted to God. 
 
 The next crowd was gathered, by the healing of the crip- 
 ple, at the beautiful gate of the temple. The preaching 
 was pungent, as before ; and the result was equally wonder- 
 ful. At least two thousand men, — as some understand the 
 passage, five thousand, were converted to God. This was 
 more than the world could bear. And what was done ? 
 The same that has been done at intervals ever since. A 
 violent opposition was raised. The apostles were imprison- 
 ed, and the disciples scattered. In fleeing, however, and 
 leaving the apostles in the city to breast the storm alone, 
 they did not go to hide themselves. They “ went every 
 where preaching the word.” They went in the name of 
 Christ. And every where it was known whose they were, 
 and for what purpose they had come. Nor was it without 
 effect. “ The word of God grew and multiplied exceeding- 
 ly.” It sounded out from Jerusalem, and struck at once 
 upon the sensibilities of all Judea and Galilee. The disci- 
 ples, filled with the Holy Ghost, were thrown out upon the 
 community, and the effect was simultaneous and universal. 
 
 Next, Samaria is visited by Philip. He, too, had gone 
 forth of Jerusalem by the hand of violence ; but he went in 
 the power of God. On his arrival here, superstition van- 
 ishes. He meets Simon, whose sorceries had long bewitch- 
 ed the people. These are exposetl and exploded. Jerusa- 
 lem is thrilled with the report that Samaria has received the 
 word ; and Peter and John are sent to Philip’s assistance. 
 
About this time the eunuch, whom Philip baptized, carries 
 the gospel into Lower Egypt. 
 
 Meanwhile Philip, making the circuit of his labors wider 
 and wider from Samaria, comes at length to Azotus, near the 
 southeastern angle of the Mediterranean. After a season of 
 labor here, and preaching in all the cities northward, till he 
 arrived at Cesarea, he makes that a stand point. Here the 
 same illustrious effects follow. The place is shaken. More 
 laborers are needed. And to supply them, Cornelius has a 
 vision, and sends to Joppa for Peter. Peter, meantime, has 
 his vision of a sheet let down from heaven, and takes into 
 his wondering mind the great lesson which it taught. Now 
 the middle wall of partition is broken down. The broad 
 basis of the gospel is laid open ; and Christ is preached to 
 all the awakened inhabitants of the place, whether Gentiles 
 or Jews. 
 
 Next Antioch, near the north-eastern angle of the Med- 
 iterranean, and the great metropolis of Syria, is overshad- 
 owed by the gospel. And what deserves particular note 
 here is, that it was private Christians — men of Cyprus and 
 Cyrene, who brought the gospel to this place. In this we 
 see exemplified, the missionary character of the first churches. 
 “ Christ, to all nations ” — was the idea on which they 
 were organized, and on which they acted. Of the brethren 
 who brought the gospel to Antioch, it is said — “ The hand 
 of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed 
 and turned to the Lord.” The report goes out. And as 
 soon as it reaches the ears of the church at Jerusalem, Bar- 
 nabas — a good man, and full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, 
 is sent to their assistance. Seeing the magnitude of the 
 work to be done, he immediately obtains Saul from Tarsus. 
 Antioch is soon pervaded and quickened by the gospel. 
 And if it were for ministers to choose then - home and place 
 of labor, these apostles might well desire to remain at Anti- 
 
22 
 
 och. But this privilege was not for them. “ Separate me 
 Barnabas and Saul,” said the Holy Ghost, “ for the work 
 whereunto I have called them.” They obeyed : and after 
 a public occasion of fasting, and prayer, and laying on of 
 hands, they were sent forth on their high calling. This 
 seems to have been the first formal Christian mission. 
 
 The detail of particulars I may not pursue, how interest- 
 ing soever it might be. They went forth ; and the work 
 prevailed faster, as its compass was wider. F rom Antioch 
 they went to Seleucia, which lay as the sea-port of Antioch. 
 Thence westward, by sea, to the island of Cyprus, which 
 they explored. From Salamis, its eastern city, to Paphos, 
 its western, they published the love of Christ. Sergius 
 Paulus, the governor of the island, became a believer, and 
 Elymas, the sorcerer, was struck with blindness. IN ext they 
 passed to the continental cities northward ; — and first to 
 Perga, in Pamplylia. Then to the district of Pisidia, through 
 which the gospel passed with almost electric rapidity. Then 
 to Iconium ; and then to Lystra and Derbe, in Lycaonia. 
 Through most of this entire circuit they were hastened by 
 violence. As persecution rose in one city, they fled to the 
 next. 
 
 From Lycaonia — the farthest point in this their first mis- 
 sion, they contemplated a return. As soon as the smoke 
 had passed off" their track, and a measure of quiet was 
 restored, they began to retrace their steps. Their object 
 now was, to set tilings in order ; to consolidate and make 
 permanent what they had done. They passed, therefore, 
 from city to city, confirming the souls of the disciples, exhort- 
 ing them to continue in the faith — since through much trib- 
 ulation we must enter into the kingdom of God, ordaining 
 them elders in every church, praying, fasting, and commend- 
 ing them to the Lord, on whom they believed. Thus they 
 returned to Antioch, whence they set out. “ And when 
 
they were come, and had gathered the church together, they 
 rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had 
 opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” This was the 
 First Report of Christian Missions. 
 
 With additional laborers, and new divisions of labor, the 
 great work was now resumed. Soon all Asia Minor was 
 traversed, the Hellespont was passed, Philippi was com- 
 passed, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Rome — that 
 proud and cruel mistress of the iron dynasty, which Daniel 
 saw — these places, with much of the adjacent country, were 
 successively reached ; and with a rapidity that surprises us. 
 Light went forth, like the successive flashes from the deep 
 folds of the evening cloud. It was the work, not of two or 
 three centuries, but of one generation of laborers. 
 
 We have, indeed, little of minute history that extends 
 back to the New-Testament records ; yet we have proof 
 sufficient, that the gospel prevailed at that early day, as it 
 has at no period since. Taking in the apostolic age, and 
 one generation after it, we find Christianity w idely diffused 
 and established. The fires had burnt against it, and the 
 sword had been red with its blood ; yet it had gone forth, 
 conquering and to conquer. Summarily, it went through all 
 the different sections of Arabia, overspread the divisions of 
 Asia Minor, pervaded Greece and the provinces northward, 
 penetrated Italy, gained the ascendency at Rome, and at 
 length took the crown of the Caesars. It compassed Spain, 
 France, Germany, Britain, — in a word, all central and 
 southern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa. In 
 relation to the world then known, the command of Christ — 
 “ preach the gospel to every creature,” was more nearly 
 fulfilled than it has been since. Says the author already 
 quoted, “ they earned the divine lamp of the gospel to all 
 the nations of the world, and saw their labors crowned, almost 
 every where, with the most abundant fruits.” In espousing 
 
24 
 
 Christianity, the early disciples espoused it as a religion for 
 the world. To them this was as much a part of the gospel, 
 as the atonement itself. They entered upon their course 
 accordingly. The command of Christ, a,nd the promise of 
 Christ, inspired them with the expectation of success. And 
 this expectation infused itself into every thing they did, 
 giving it tone and effect. 
 
 Compare now the achievements of the nineteenth century, 
 and say how do they appear? Verily, as if they belonged 
 to another dispensation ; — a dispensation, not of the Spirit, 
 hut of the letter. We are sending missionaries far and near. 
 Among them are some of our ablest and best men. We 
 are sustaining them at great pecuniary expense. But where 
 are conquests of the truth, like those attending the labors of 
 the first disciples ? Where has the gospel gone forth so 
 instinct with the power of God 1 And is there not a cause ? 
 Are we not shut up to the conviction, that at some material 
 point, we have forsaken the right way of the Lord ? Has 
 the heart of the church let go of the world ? Does she 
 walk with God, as she did at first? The affections of the 
 church are a golden chain, along which the love of heaven 
 passes, to bless the world. Does this chain connect as it 
 should at the altar of God ? We retain our creeds and 
 formulas of religion ; but is not that deeper piety, which lies 
 hack of creeds and symbols, wanting ; — that deeper piety, 
 which, shrinking from public gaze and public proclamation, 
 lives and breathes in the presence-chamber of God? Is not 
 this an clement materially wanting in modern piety ? Else 
 why is it, that the Quickening Spirit does not go forth with 
 our armies ? 
 
 What remains then, thirdly, — and 1 submit it as the ques- 
 tion now to be tried — what remains, but that we go back to 
 the pattern of primitive saints? Applying the touchstone 
 
25 
 
 of the text, are we not held to this? Our course of life is 
 not justified by its fruits, as theirs w as. Nor does it so 
 accord to the sympathies of the gospel. Are we not put 
 upon our consciences, then, to correct our style of piety by 
 theirs, — to return to their practical interpretation of the 
 Bible, to their habit of trusting themselves to the protecting 
 providence of God, to their relinquishment of this life, to 
 their choice of the spiritual life as their portion, to their 
 use of property for the purposes of Christianity, to their sep- 
 arateness from the w orld, and let me add, to w hatever w r ent 
 to constitute them the peculiar people of God. Have we 
 any warrant to expect their measure of success, till we go 
 back and tread in their footsteps ? It is a solemn question, — 
 and it remains for us to answer it — whether they were held 
 to their peculiar life by any reasons that do not equally hold 
 us to the same ? We have the same religion, — its object is 
 the same, its principles of doctrine and duty the same, its 
 promises and its means of awakening and saving men the 
 same. We have this religion in the same world, — that world 
 lying materially in the same condition, and to be operated 
 upon in materially the same way. What reason, then, why 
 the church in the nineteenth century should be so unlike that 
 in the first ? On the great question of practical Christianity, 
 as I have said, the early disciples had a better opportunity 
 to form just opinions, than we have. The true shape of 
 Christian life and character was actually before them, with 
 all needed explanations. Their example, therefore, comes 
 to us with a measure of authority. And what that example 
 was, I have endeavored, in several particulars, to explain. 
 Clearly, they obeyed the precept, — they forsook all things 
 for Christ — houses and lands, wives and children, yea, and 
 life itself. All these went into a place of secondary impor- 
 tance in their account. They made themselves pilgrims and 
 
 strangers on the earth. They made home not home, spend- 
 4 
 
26 
 
 ing life and estate upon it, to beautify and adorn it, and pride 
 themselves in it. Rather they made it as a tent — as a 
 lodging place for a night. Home ; — it was in a brighter 
 
 world. I ask, therefore, — and I ask it, in view of all the 
 splendor and equipage, w ith which Christians at the present 
 day are crowning their mortal pilgrimage, — is it, or is it not, 
 a great practical principle in the scheme of Christianity, that 
 we arc to lay down this life, in order to gather fruit unto 
 life eternal 1 
 
 I know that various pleas are offered, in the way of object- 
 ing to the primitive pattern as a rule for us ; and in defence 
 of the secular and prudential type of modern piety. Some 
 of these pleas are entitled to be noticed here. 
 
 In the first place, it is said, and very plausibly, that as the 
 world changes its position and its aspects, Christians must 
 change theirs. They must adapt their policy to existing 
 circumstances, or their efforts will be abortive. It is claimed, 
 therefore, that since the world, though unchanged as to the 
 great fact that it lieth in wickedness, has yet in eighteen 
 hundred years been greatly changed in other respects, to hold 
 the church to the style of primitive times, would be to vacate 
 her influence, and make her labors inappropriate and power- 
 less. That the world is changed, none will question ; but 
 that the church must change too, and in the same direction, 
 in order to render her efforts available, is the question ; — or 
 rather, perhaps, it is no question at all. The people of the 
 world have, for example, been magnifying this life, and dot- 
 ing upon it. They have been endeavoring to multiply its 
 points of interest, and the variety of its pleasures. They 
 have inflated and blown it up, till its balloon dimensions 
 present any thing rather than natural and just proportions. 
 They would exalt it above all that is eternal. Their estimate 
 of wealth and fashion, of distinction and refinement, is in- 
 
21 
 
 creasingly extravagant. If tliis is not true of imperial courts, 
 it is of the community at large. Coextensively with popu- 
 lar liberty, there has gone forth the claim to popular wealth 
 and luxury. Busy multitudes, in love with the flesh, would 
 make every thing of their earthly existence. By enriching 
 and adorning it, by inventing new forms of refinement and 
 of pleasure, they would advance it to a chief good. They 
 would make it large enough, and bright enough, to satisfy 
 the desires of the soul, and thus remove all occasion to look 
 higher. And is the church to follow in this matter; and 
 more than follow — lead ? In the effort to expand this life, 
 while the gospel says “ he that findeth his life shall lose it,” 
 is there no danger ? Are there no limits, beyond which we 
 cannot go and be innocent ? What though these pleasures 
 and improvements are, as they are said to be, rational 1 Will 
 you from this make out their justification ? When inevitably 
 they must consume the time and resources demanded for the 
 salvation of souls, may we still pursue them ? Shall the 
 interests of the eternal future be sacrificed to them, and the 
 defence be, that they are rational ? It is quite reasonable 
 that I have the comfort of my ordinary dinner. But to claim 
 it, when a man, just thrown from his carriage, is dying at my 
 door, would be the height of extravagance. Who does not 
 see, that a pleasure or a gratification may be rational in itself, 
 and yet, coming in certain connexions, be madness ? And 
 tell me who can, whether the efforts of modern Christians to 
 magnify and adorn, to embellish and refine this life, while a 
 world perishing before their eyes asks their compassion, is 
 not an example of this madness ? 
 
 As another plea, it is said, Christians must have influence ; 
 and they must go measurably into the circles of fashion, or 
 they will not acquire it. They must conform to the world, 
 or the world will be impatient of them, and will set them at 
 nought ; and then to do good will be out of their power. 
 
28 
 
 But at what chapter and verse, let me ask, is this doctrine 
 found ? Is the scripture rule that of conformity, or of sepa- 
 rateness ? Obviously, this plea goes to introduce human 
 wisdom and policy in the place of Christ’s guidance ; — human 
 wisdom, too, accommodated to the lustings of the flesh. Did 
 not God know that Christians would need influence, and did 
 he not know what sort of influence they would need, when 
 he said, “ come out from among them and be ye separate ?” 
 If Christians are after an influence, that will cause them to 
 be courted and caressed by the world, why be it so ; — let 
 them bow themselves in the house of Rimmon as often as 
 shall be necessary to gain their end. But if their object is 
 the salvation of souls, in order to which the world is to be 
 renounced, and life lost as the means of saving it, the course 
 of duty is plain. As to the influence to be gained by con- 
 formity to the world, it is extensively tine, that the less the 
 Christian has of it the better. Go into that conformity, — 
 suppress all those peculiar and appropriate developements of 
 your religion, which would be likely to disturb the guilty 
 conscience and give offence, — bend your profession, and 
 make it yield at this point and at that, till it becomes a mere 
 compound of softness, indecision, and duplicity, and though 
 you may be caressed and fawned upon, you will also be 
 despised. But let your course be marked by integrity, and 
 a consistent adherence to the gospel, governing yourself uni- 
 formly by its heavenly principles, wherever they may lead 
 you, and though you may he hated, you will yet be honored. 
 Deep in the soul there will bo a record to your praise. The 
 hatred of the world even Christ could not escape ; but not 
 one, of all the personifications of wickedness among men, 
 ever despised, him. 
 
 There is another plea. It is said, that literature and the 
 sciences have been greatly advanced and matured ; and that 
 the church, if she would keep her place in the world, must 
 
29 
 
 have learning. Her scholars must be as tall as any. Time 
 and means must therefore be largely expended here. Be it 
 so. But will you hence conclude, that it is right to spend 
 life in mere literary indulgence and gratification ? And shall 
 we make the institutions of learning our hope for the world ? 
 Shall these be substituted for the simplicity and godly sin- 
 cerity of the gospel ? 
 
 That the church, somewhere within her compass, should 
 command all the varied resources of learning, none will 
 question. The sciences, profoundly explored, have yielded, 
 and will yet yield, a growing testimony to revelation and 
 Christianity. Every century, almost every age, has given 
 some new proof of the Christian faith, or some new refuta- 
 tion of infidelity. And the church would be recreant to her 
 duty and her welfare, not to hold all these in requisition for 
 her establishment in the faith. And here I will propose the 
 question whether, in all our estimates of learning, the edifi- 
 cation, and confirmation, and establishment of the church, is 
 not the main thing to be had in view ? Is learning the in- 
 strument of conquest 1 As to herself, let the church be root- 
 ed and grounded in the truth. Let her be all light and 
 glorious within. Let her be fully persuaded in her own 
 mind. And when the enemy assaults her, let her be able to 
 repel the attack, in whatever form it is made. To this end 
 let none of the treasures of science, ancient or modem, be 
 wanting to her. Yet let it never be forgotten, that with all 
 the lights of science kindled around her, her faith is to stand, 
 not in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. And 
 when she undertakes to inculcate that faith, it must be, not 
 in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the 
 Holy Ghost teacheth. When she goes out to recover the 
 world to righteousness, not only must her reliance be on God, 
 but her weapons must be not carnal but spiritual, — the sim- 
 ple yet sublime truths of the gospel, as they lie upon the 
 
30 
 
 inspired page. I mean not that scientific attainments, even 
 the profoundest, are incompatible with personal holiness, 
 but that they are not the aliment of that holiness ; and 
 moreover that they will never avail to awaken and recover 
 men from their sins. It is not in the power of learning and 
 philosophy to arrest the world and convict its conscience. 
 Science is not the element which the Spirit of God employs 
 to that end. Here we are thrown upon the peculiar and 
 distinguishing truths of the gospel, — those channels of heav- 
 en’s love to man ; there is no substitute for them. You 
 look at your unbelieving neighbor, sin yet blinding his mind 
 and hardening his heart. He is a man, it may be, of edu- 
 cation and refinement, possessing largely the more amiable 
 qualities of our nature, — a lovely relic amid the ruins of our 
 race. How shall you bring to pass his salvation ? How 
 shall you reach the moral susceptibilities of his bosom, and 
 wake up his soul to the interests of his immortality ? Has 
 learning power to do it ? The testimony of history, the 
 deeper testimony of science to the truths of revelation will 
 not avail. Your reasoning is vain. Logic will neither 
 awaken nor convict him. Truth will not do it. Truth 
 demonstrated, and flashed upon the mind by the most fervid 
 eloquence, will not do it. Where, then, is your hope ? In 
 the Spirit that quickeneth. It remains that you tell him, 
 “ God so loved the world that he gave his onlv-begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life.” Here you not only bring a new thought 
 before his mind, but you touch a new element in his nature. 
 Go to him, then, not in the pride of learning, but with the 
 Bible — its authority and its love. Press his heart with the 
 peculiar claims of Jesus Christ, just as they lie on the living 
 page. Accompanied by the Holy Ghost, these will pene- 
 trate, where no force of reasoning will go. 
 
 Let the church, then, stand on her appropriate foundation. 
 
Let her be built thereon, and consolidated by the Spirit of 
 God. Let her be transparent throughout, with the lamp of 
 divine truth shining within her. Besides this, let her possess 
 herself of all the resources of learning, and enlighten, with 
 her own radiance, all the lights of science ; so that under 
 her God, and with the means her God gives her, she may be 
 prepared for any emergency. But when she goes forth to 
 the conversion of the world, let it be not with the armor of 
 Goliath, but with the sling and the stone. 
 
 As another plea, it is said that the church needs wealth, 
 and somebody must get it. To endow her seminaries, sup- 
 port her ministry, establish her missions, and sustain their 
 operations, estates must be accumulated. Christians, there- 
 fore, must ply their business and labor to be rich. To 
 
 go back to the style of primitive times would be absurd. 
 
 How much of worldliness is sheltered here, 1 dare not say. 
 That such a sentiment may be entertained w ith safety is pos- 
 sible ; that it is beset with peril is plain. 
 
 As to the point assumed, that the church needs wealth, 
 all are agreed. She needs it, and ought to be using it to-day 
 far more largely than she is. But that her members are, 
 therefore, to compete with worldly men, and meet them on 
 their ground with finesse and legerdemain, and go through 
 all the technicalities of glossing and concealment, in order to 
 settle the terms of a contract favorably — Heaven forbid it. 
 Here is my neighbor, a rich but impenitent man. He will 
 not use his property for the spread of the gospel ; I under- 
 take, therefore, to win a fortune out of his estate for that 
 purpose. He is in business, and ready for proposals. I 
 commence my negotiations ; and to be sure of success, since 
 my object is so good, I go largely into the trick and chica- 
 nery of the exchange. The game comes into my hand. 
 He sees it. He grinds under it. He remembers that I am 
 
32 
 
 a professed Christian ; and in a moment of haste he says, 
 “ I want no more of your religion.” There is a more 
 excellent way. Let me fix my heart, not on his estate, but 
 on his soul. Let my object be his salvation. Let me pur- 
 sue this, assiduously as I did the other ; and the result, how 
 unspeakably different ! He is in the kingdom, filled with 
 joy ; and his property consecrated, and waiting the call of 
 Christ. 
 
 The great practical truth is, — and it is a truth which 
 many, who are endeavoring to serve God in the way I have 
 just exposed, need to be reminded of daily, that there 
 is property enough extant already, to give the gospel to 
 every creature. We need not go into the bowels of the 
 earth to dig up more. What the church does not possess, is 
 possessed by the world. And it can be obtained for the 
 Christian’s purposes faster, by seeking the conversion of those 
 who hold it, than it can by depending on the chances of 
 business to withdraw it from their hands. Besides, in the 
 one case it comes with a blessing ; in the other with a curse. 
 
 There is yet another plea. It is said that primitive Chris- 
 tians were shut up, by a relentless and dire necessity, to the 
 unearthly cause they pursued ; that, surrounded as they 
 were by proscription and the sword, only one thing was left 
 them, and that was to look up : but that we, on the other 
 hand, caressed and protected by the world, and able to hold 
 our portion in it like other men, can hardly be expected to 
 enter upon so sublime a course as theirs ; and that to press 
 us to it, as a matter of duty and of conscience, is to over- 
 look the material conditions of the case. Where, then, 
 are we ; and what are the motives that govern us ? Is it so, 
 that we are to forsake the w'orld only when it frowns upon 
 us ? Are we to become pilgrims and strangers only because 
 of fire and fagot? And is Christ to he our portion, only 
 
when an infuriate world will give us no other? Come, then, 
 the day of blood ; come sword and flame ; come, if they 
 must, to make God's children live and walk with him ! 
 
 We come, then, to the issue, — the solemn question, wheth- 
 er we are not imperatively called upon, whatever it may 
 cost, to return to the primitive pattern ? Has not a worldly, 
 secular policy, crept into our religious operations, ol which 
 the first Christians knew nothing ? And is not this policy to 
 us instead of God ? Are we not relying upon it, rather 
 than upon Him, for our safety and our success ? 
 
 Bear with me, while I push inquiry further, and ask, 
 whether the most alarming feature in our whole case is not 
 this, — that extensively this course of policy, and prudential 
 confonnity to the world, is thought to be right 1 You shall 
 hardly find a portion of the whole sacramental host, that is 
 not pervaded with the belief that it should be so. I assume 
 this, as a truth to be taken for granted. For assuredly 1 do 
 not believe that Christians live as they do, while yet then- 
 conviction is that they ought to live like the early disciples. 
 I am far from the belief that they thus habitually violate 
 their consciences. By some reasoning or other, they come 
 to think they ought to live as they do. Men must be rich, 
 in order to do good. They must have the finest literary 
 
 accomplishments, in order to be courted in the circles of un- 
 sanctified genius, — deceiving themselves with the thought 
 that there they shall show the Christian and do good. They 
 must conform to the world, in order to have influence ; they 
 must multiply the machinery of life, and polish the style of 
 life, and beautify and adorn life, till it comes to take all their 
 time and resources to live, in order to show that wisdom’s 
 ways are ways of pleasantness, and that they are not them- 
 selves gloomy, dejected, melancholy ascetics. Not so, He 
 who had not where to lay his head. Not so, they w ho took 
 
34 
 
 iheir pattern of life from him. And if it is so, that primitive 
 Christians were right, how is it possible that we are not 
 wrong ? That they were “ a peculiar people” is plain ; — in 
 their faith, and in their lives, so peculiar vyere they, that they 
 failed not to be recognized. Every where men took knowl- 
 edge of them. Their example was a standing warning to 
 the impenitent ; it was a living witness to the truth. And it 
 sent burning thoughts deep into the conscience of the world. 
 Men were stung with conviction and alarm. They knew 
 not whether to hate most themselves, or the holiness that 
 rebuked them. 
 
 With the holy men of the first, and of the second century, 
 the church appeared in her true light. She appeared as the 
 grand medium of communication between heaven and earth. 
 Such she was designed to be. Through her, God gives his 
 Spirit, “ to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and 
 of judgment.” All along the line of her duties he pours his 
 love. She prays, and there is no rain ; she prays again, and 
 the heavens give rain, and the earth brings forth its fruit. 
 Let it be so that she shall grieve the Spirit, neither from her- 
 self, nor from her works ; let her come forth from the world, 
 and stand in her spiritual attire — holiness to the Lord, and 
 like the electric chain, radiant with the passing fire, she shall 
 but lay her hand upon the altar of Cod, and the love of 
 heaven shall pass to vivify and save the world. 
 
 Of the machinery of religion we have a great deal, much 
 more than was employed at first. We have ministers and 
 churches, seminaries and funds, missions and missionary as- 
 sociations in great abundance, and in imposing array, — all as 
 it should be, and all to be rejoiced in. We have a system 
 of instrumentalities, that seems adequate to compass the 
 world. But where is the Spirit — “ the Spirit of the living 
 creature in the wheels”? We have the body, but where is 
 the soul of piety, — the quickening Spirit that shall make 
 
35 
 
 all this moral machinery instinct with life, and mighty through 
 God to the pulling down of strong holds. 
 
 Let not the thought of one of us he, that the action of 
 the church should be less. Rather let her operations, 
 abroad and at home, be enlarged. As a part of this en- 
 largement, let us come to-day, “ strong in faith giving glory 
 to God,” and add to the number of our missionaries the 
 brother whom we are now to consecrate ; and with him the 
 helper God has given him, in the hope that, like Phoebe, 
 servant of the church at Cenchrea and missionary to Rome, 
 she may be a succorer of many and of himself also. Let 
 us come to this consecration devoutly, as the apostles in the 
 upper chamber came to the choice of Matthias. And what 
 Jerusalem and the day of Pentecost was to them, may this 
 place and this day be to us. Beloved brother and sister, we 
 give you to your work, and to the God whom you are to 
 serve in it. ‘ If some fiery trial shall overtake you, rejoice, 
 inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.’ “ If 
 ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye ; for 
 the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.” May 
 you be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And going, as you 
 are, to tread in the footsteps of the Apostles, and to traverse 
 the fields of primitive enterprise, may God give you the 
 spirit of primitive times, and crown your labors with the full 
 measure of primitive success. 
 
CHARGE,. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. JOHN W. ELLINGWOOD, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN BATH, ME. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 The solemn act of your consecration, having now been 
 performed, you stand here before God, in the character of an 
 evangelist ; and as such, are fully qualified to enter upon all 
 the duties of a minister of Christ. The ecclesiastical coun- 
 cil present, having inducted you into this sacred office, whose 
 duties are to be performed by you in a far distant land, have 
 appointed me, on their behalf, to charge you, in the name of 
 Christ, to be faithful therein. Among the greatest and most 
 responsible duties ever assigned to mortal man, are those 
 which are soon to be committed to your hands. The precious, 
 the never dying souls of very many, are, in some sense, to 
 be placed under your care. To the single point of saving 
 those souls, you are chiefly to direct your efforts. 
 
 O then, my dear sir, let me say to you, in the light of that 
 eternity to which we are all hastening, “Take heed to the 
 ministry, which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil 
 it.” Among the highest duties incumbent on you, as you 
 have doubtless long felt, is that of laying open to sinful men 
 the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. In doing this, know- 
 ing, as you do, that there is but one gospel for all mankind, 
 and viewing divine revelation as a grand whole, whether you 
 address the “ worshippers of the beast,” or the followers of a 
 “ false prophet,” whether you speak to “Barbarian, or Scy- 
 thian, bond or free,” you must declare, as far as may be, all 
 the word of God. 
 
 Every human science, it is well known, is founded on a 
 few leading principles, which need, first of all, to be well 
 understood. So also it is, with revealed truth. The funda- 
 
37 
 
 mental doctrines of the gospel, therefore, all which are 
 included in the one great theme, of “ Jesus Christ and 
 him crucified ,” claim your first attention ; not only on 
 account of their intrinsic importance, but because they are 
 the basis of all genuine practical religion. To the Jews, 
 indeed, these doctrines may be a “ stumbling block, and to 
 Greeks” and Armenians “ foolishness yet to all of eveiy 
 class, who truly believe, they will prove “ the power of God, 
 and the wisdom of God,” unto salvation. Be careful then 
 to inculcate them, with all fidelity, and show to those, to 
 whom you may minister, their vast importance in the scheme 
 of mercy. Unfold to their view, as far as in your power, 
 the infinite perfections of the Godhead ; — the absolute Deity 
 of Jesus Christ ; — the personality and divinity of the Holy 
 Spirit ; — the entire depravity of the human heart ; — the na- 
 ture and necessity of regeneration by the Spirit of God ; — 
 the atonement for sin by the blood of Christ ; — justification 
 by faith alone ; — the sovereign and distinguishing love of 
 God ; — and the boundless riches of his grace, in the salvation 
 of men. These, with such other kindred truths as the gos- 
 pel enjoins, you must inculcate, in due proportion, and with 
 the greatest simplicity and plainness of speech ; never con- 
 cealing them, as the manner of some is, under a multitude 
 of enticing words. 
 
 While you instruct, in the great principles of our religion, 
 the mingled population of that far-famed city to which you 
 go, call upon them earnestly, also, to perform the duties 
 which result from those principles. Is there a God, for ex- 
 ample, who possesses infinite perfections ? then must you 
 show to sinners, that they are bound to love him supremely. 
 Is man’s heart, by nature, entirely depraved, and all his 
 moral conduct, while in that state, sinful ? then should you 
 exhort him to repentance, as an immediate duty. Has an 
 atonement been made for sin, by the sacrifice of Christ ? then 
 ought you to require and intreat sinners instantly to accept 
 it, by relying on his mercy. Tell those to whom you go, 
 that they must not only believe, but obey ; and not only 
 repent of sin, but “ perfect holiness, in the fear of the Lord.” 
 Call upon them to exercise love, without delay, both to God 
 and men ; and to manifest this love, by appropriate works. 
 In a word, show them clearly their duty, their guilt, and their 
 dependence on divine grace ; and declare unto them, in 
 
38 
 
 Jehovah’s name, that “ without holiness, no man “ of them 
 all” shall see the Lord.” 
 
 Should you ever be called, in the providence of God, to 
 be the pastor of a church of Christ, from whatever class or 
 tribe of men it may be gathered, you must, watch over it as 
 precious in his eyes : — as “ purchased with his blood.” You 
 must attend carefully to the preservation of its order, and 
 maintain the purity of its discipline, so far as it may devolve 
 on you. You must do nothing by partiality, but always 
 act from love to Christ and his cause, taking his word for 
 your guide. On the one hand, you should never make a 
 man “ an offender for a word ;” on the other, you must do 
 your utmost to purge the church of God from every flagrant 
 immorality, and from every destructive heresy. 
 
 Administer the Lord’s supper to all proper subjects, where- 
 ever you may find them ; and while you guard the avenues 
 to the church with proper vigilance, be careful that you re- 
 ject no applicant for gospel ordinances, whom Christ would 
 admit. Believing, as you fully do, that the covenant made 
 with Abraham is the “ everlasting covenant” of grace, and 
 that baptism, which is now its seal, is, by divine appoint- 
 ment, to be applied to believers and their children, be care- 
 ful that you so apply it. 
 
 While you thus go steadily forward in your work, guided, 
 as you believe, by the truth of God, and in the practice of 
 what you consider duty, use no bitter w ords against opposers 
 of any class, whether they be Mohammedans, or Jews, or 
 the advocates of any form of corrupted Christianity. Should 
 any among them attack you with ever so violent or harsh 
 language, never return it. Never render “ railing for railing, 
 but contrarywise blessing.” “ Bless, but curse not.” You 
 may, and you ought, to exercise benevolent affections toward 
 them all. You may pray for them, too, as much as you 
 will ; and though, with temperance, and fairness, and in the 
 language of love, you attempt to refute their great errors, 
 yet engage in no angry disputation with any man. “ The 
 servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all 
 men.” 
 
 Look well, my dear sir, to your whole conduct, not only 
 in public, but in private, as a disciple of Christ. Though 
 you endeavor not to entangle yourself with the affairs of this 
 life, yet you must, to some extent, have secular intercourse 
 
with those around you, and those too who, with eagle eyes, 
 will watch for your halting. In all your transactions, there- 
 fore, of this nature, let the strict principles of morality and 
 discretion govern you. Remember also, my brother, that 
 the tongue is, in every part of the earth, “ a world of iniqui- 
 ty and let Christian prudence guard the door of your lips. 
 ‘ Have a care,’ says one, ‘ ichat you say ; and where you 
 say it ; and when you say it ; and how you say it ; and before 
 whom you say it.’ Let your conversation, in a word, be 
 always with grace ; — sound speech that cannot be condemned. 
 
 Let your habitation, also, be the abode of order, hospital- 
 ity, and love. Never forget that you are required to be an 
 example, in all things that are pure, and lovely, and of good 
 report. In fine, let “ holiness to the Lord” be written on 
 your whole deportment, in such living and legible characters, 
 that all men, passing by, may read the inscription, and glorify 
 your Divine Master. 
 
 I am bound also to charge you, to take heed to your heart, 
 as well as to your life, that while you are watching and 
 laboring for the souls of others, you may not neglect your 
 own. How distressing, my dear sir, would it be, if in the 
 end, you should be constrained to say, “ They made me the 
 keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have H not 
 kept.” Maintain, therefore, the spirit of piety in your own 
 soul, and live near to God. However pressing your other 
 avocations may be, never neglect your private devotions. 
 Hold intercourse with heaven, every day you live. Strive 
 earnestly, and with all your powers, to be pure in heart, as 
 well as life ; for they that minister at the altar, whether in 
 their native country, or in a foreign land, must be holy, if 
 they would be accepted of God, and successful in his service. 
 
 Authorised as you are, to assist in the induction of others 
 to this holy work, and called upon, as you probably will be, 
 to do it, with few to share with you the responsibility, I must 
 charge you, in the name of Christ, never to betray the sacred 
 trust reposed in you. Better that your arm should fall from 
 its socket, or that your right hand should be utterly w ithered, 
 than that you should officially place it, in ordination, on one, 
 who you have reason to believe, is not a friend of Christ, 
 whatever his talents, his acquirements, or his professions may 
 be. “ Lay hands suddenly on no man,” but commit the 
 
40 
 
 ministry to “ faithful men — faithful in doctrine, faithful in 
 practice, and “ able to teach others also.” 
 
 And now, in view of these momentous subjects, let me 
 solemnly and affectionately enjoin upon you, to shake off, as 
 far as possible, every worldly concern ; to devote all your 
 talents, all your attainments, all your life, to the glory of 
 God, and the salvation of souls, in whatever place you may 
 be called to labor. Going, as you expect to do, to a city, 
 where often dwelleth “ the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
 ness,” and “ the destruction that wasteth at noon day,” I 
 scarce need remind you, that while the work in which you 
 engage is great, the time may he short. A very few revolv- 
 ing years, my dear sir, may wind up your affairs, as they 
 certainly will mine, with this fleeting world. A few years 
 indeed, comparatively, and these heavens, and this earth will 
 be no more, and all ministers, and those to whom they have 
 ministered, will “ stand before God.” 
 
 With these great considerations fresh in your mind, set 
 your face toward the distant field of your labors, and when 
 you arrive there, gird yourself for your work, and never for- 
 sake it, till called away by your Master and Lord. In the 
 meantime, hear him saying ; “ Be thou faithful unto death :” 
 Let “ no man take thy crown.” And when, at some future, 
 far distant day, after having gathered many souls to your 
 beloved Savior, you shall lie down to die, then may you hear 
 his voice, more cheering than the music of angels, saying ; 
 “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the 
 joy of thy Lord.” Then, my brother, thy toils will be fin- 
 ished : — then thy soul will be blessed forever.