I will lie near his heart. In nothing will he so much rejoice as in the conversion of sinners to Christ. He will cry aloud, and spare not: he will lift up his voice like a trumpet, and shew the people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. He will, as the apostle expresses it, travail in birth until Christ be formed in them. For this he will ardently pray, and indefatigably labour; and though conscious that neither his zeal nor his diligence will of themselves convert one soul; he is neither remiss nor cold in the discharge of his work; but anxious that he may be found faithful unto death; being well persuaded that, in accomplishing the number of God's elect, the means and the end are inseparably connected. If there be any thing, in the present day, that can give to the faithful ministers of Christ a new stimulus to exertion, it is the wonderful occurrences recently witnessed by the christian world. Who can contemplate the various and extensive missionary efforts-the British and Foreign Bible Society, and other benevolent institutions for the dissemination of religious 208 THOUGHTS ON THE SUFFERINGS, &c. knowledge, without anticipating something of the blessedness of that glorious day, when the great Head of the church will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.- -For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea? I remain, Sir, Yours, &c. Published by the same Author, Ornamented with a beautiful Design by Burney, THE GUIDE TO DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. Eleventh Edition. Price 5s. in Boards. THE REFUGE, With a Frontispiece by STOTHARD. THE VICTIM; IN FIVE LETTERS TO ADOLPHUS. Whittingham and Rowland, Printers, Goswel! Street, London. |