they are verbally expressed; something of this ready discernment, accompanied with instant compliance, may reasonably be expected from those who profess to be habitually led by the Spirit. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear

him.'

There is a constant danger of extremes and inconsistency in the operations of men, and in the working of the means which God has called them to employ. Our fathers were men of prayer and of spiritual abstraction-their children are men of bustle, and activity, and public spirit. The former failed from not doing, as well as praying; the latter may not less fail, by doing without praying. The observance of apparent failure has led men to sneer at societies, and committees, and public meetings, and to endeavour to bring them into disrepute. These are not the things which are wrong; and the abandonment of them would not be the cure, but the death of the cause. What we want is, not that men should do these things less, but that they should do other things more; that they should study consistency in all things; that they should pray as well as meet to make or to hear speeches; and consecrate themselves, as well as devote their property to the kingdom of Heaven.

The attention of the church in latter years has been greatly directed to means, and men's ingenuity has actually been put to the rack to devise

* Hall on the Influence of the Spirit, p. 23.

H

schemes of benevolence and usefulness. Societies and plans of operation have been multiplied, till neither time nor strength seems equal to their demands, and the mind itself feels incapable of following the details of their progress. To all this we do not object.-Nay, in all this we do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice. It is not from this we augur ill to the world, or to the cause of Christ. Bounding from what may be considered the over-straining of human power, men have proposed as the chief thing of importance, praying for the Spirit, and waiting for the coming of the Lord. We object not to this. It is the prayer of faith that shall save the world; and the men who are waiting for the coming of their Lord, are in the best attitude for doing his work. What we would recommend, is not prayer and spiritual dependence in opposition to effort; but their enlightened and regular combination. That while the eye is directed to God, the hand should be laid upon men; that while Heaven's blessing is fervently implored, personal activity should not be laid aside; that following the example, and obeying the precepts of the Redeemer and his apostles, we should be steadfast in the faith, immoveable in the hope, and always abounding in the work of the Lord; knowing that thus "our labour in the Lord shall not be in vain."*

I am aware that some may not be prepared to agree with all the sentiments brought forward in *See Note [EE].

this and the preceding discourse. Accustomed to look at influence and means rather in their separate than in their combined operation, they may not be disposed at once to admit the close and established concurrence, for which I have contended. They will be ready to urge, that they do not see the connexion between them always maintained. They can refer to cases, in which, as they believe, there has been a judicious and vigorous employment of God's appointed means, where little effect comparatively has followed. I grant that there may be such cases, but will not allow that they affect the argument. They may be placed among exceptions, which perhaps exist, but ought not to be regarded as the rule, or the general method of God's procedure.

He

But even in regard to such cases, I beg to ask whether we are sure that the divinely-appointed means have been used to the full extent, and in the manner required? Are we confident that there has been no mistake or failure? How frequently does it happen, that a calculation completely fails from a trifling mistake in the process, of which the calculator is unconscious. knows that his rules and method of computation are right; and is aware that if the result is unsatisfactory, the fault belongs to himself. Frequently a philosophical experiment fails, and baffles all the efforts of the operator to correct it, through something wrong in the apparatus or working of the experiment, though he knows not

what is the cause of the failure. Are we not called to reason in the same manner respecting the work of God? We may have the fullest confidence in the means which we employ, in our own motives in using them, and in the general method and perseverance of working them; and yet there may be some discrepancy which we do not perceive; some unobserved flaw, or latent evil, which to a considerable extent vitiates the whole process, and defeats the object at which we aim. I beg to ask, whether it is not more likely, that this should be the case, than that God should violate the established principles of his moral administration. If he has commanded us to use certain means, and promised to bless them, I contend that there will always be found a reason for withholding that blessing, in something relating to the means, or to the manner of using them.

We are besides, very imperfect judges of the effects which are produced by the means we employ. We sometimes overrate them, and we often underrate them. We do not know all that is going on; and it will often be found that the seed which appears to have been lost, or to have lain long under-ground, breaks forth unexpectedly and with a vigour proportioned to its long conceal

ment.

The conversion of an individual, in peculiar and unlooked-for circumstances, may strike us as proof that little connexion exists between means and influence; while in point of fact, it would fur

nish the most complete evidence of the connexion, did we know all the operations which have been going on. It may have been the effect of prayers presented on his behalf by individuals unknown to him, or, who, though once known, have, perhaps, long before gone to a better world. Doubtless the churches of Christ were engaged in praying for Saul of Tarsus, when, in the prosecution of his bloody commission, he was on the way to Damascus. Perhaps some devoted individual, an Ananias for instance, was at the very hour of Paul's conversion, pleading that God would have mercy on him, and not only on him, but on the disciples also. We know that "many were gathered together, praying," when Peter, in hourly expectation of martyrdom, was delivered by the angel of the Lord.* In this case, the direct connexion between prayer and success is matter of revelation; have we not reason to believe, that in many other instances, though the evidence cannot be adduced, the connexion is not less certain? The most insulated case of conversion, therefore, is no proof that regard has not been had by God to the means employed by his people: though, as already stated, should the Spirit frequently precede, instead of follow, our endeavours, it would not militate against the views we have endeavoured to establish. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit."+

Acts xii. 5, 12.

* John iii. 8.