of his divine Redeemer. Several of these letters were probably lost; but many of them were collected and published in the volume of inspiration, and will be read in the churches till the end of time.I add,

9. Missionaries at the present period frequently present reports of their doings and circumstances to the Societies which employ them. In some instances they return to make these reports; though the foreign Missionaries more frequently make them by means of periodical and joint communications. We read also of Paul, after his return "to Antioch, from whence he had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which he had fulfiled," that he "gathered the church together, and rehearsed all that God had done with him, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." Soon after this, he and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders ; "and when they were come, and were received of the church, they declared all things that God had done with them. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them."

It is thought the missionary character of Paul, is now fully established, not only from the meaning of the word Apostle, which was customarily applied to him, but from the general similarity of his labors and circumstances to those of missionaries in modern times.

REFLECTIONS.

1. If Paul was a missionary, then the cause of missions is supported by very high authority. It is

sometimes questioned whether this cause has any real foundation in the Scriptures-whether it is not an innovation of the times, and a needless expense and burden to the church. The view we have taken is sufficient to put such a question at rest for ever. Paul was a missionary to the heathen. From almost the commencement of his public ministry to the hour of his death, he labored and suffered in this glorious work. The cause of missions, is therefore supported by the whole example of the apostle Paul. It is supported in like manner by the example of the other apostles. The other apostles were all of them missionaries. They were those whom Christ himself sent forth to preach and propagate the religion of the Gospel. Indeed the cause of missions has all the support which the authority and the command of God can give it. When Paul was set apart and sent forth from Antioch, it was done by the command of the Holy Ghost. "The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I have called them." It is moreover asserted, that Paul was an apostle or missionary" of Jesus Christ by the will of God." The cause of missions regarded therefore as a divine institution. It is as really an institution of God as the Sabbath, or a preached Gospel, or baptism, or the Lord's supper is. It is not a thing proposed to us by our fellow creatures merely and which we are at liberty to think of as we please; but a work committed to us by our Maker, which we are bound to help forward by every method in our power.

should be

2. We may learn how sinful it is to oppose the cause of missions. It is to condemn the whole example-to pass a censure on the whole ministerial life and work of the apostle Paul; for Paul was a mis

sionary. It is to oppose the example of all the apostles; for all the apostles were to some extent missionaries. It is to oppose the commission of Christ; for it was by him that the disciples were sent forthit was by his express commission that they were constituted missionaries. It is to oppose the will of God; for Paul was a missionary" of Jesus Christ by the will of God." In a word it is to oppose a divine institution; for we have seen that the cause of missions is to all intents and purposes an institution of God-an institution of the Gospel.

3. The friends of missions have great encouragement to pray and labour for the promotion of so good a cause. This is the cause for which Paul labored, and in which he died. It is the cause for which all the apostles laboured, and in which most of them fell martyrs. It is the cause of millions of our fellow creatures who are ready to perish. It is the cause of Christ-the cause of God. It is a cause which will go forward. The same omnipotent arm which rolls the spheres, is pledged to carry forward the cause of missions; and the one of these can be stopped as well as the other. Let all esteem it an honor and a privilege to be engaged in such a cause. all pray fervently and constantly for its advancement; and as in the case of good Cornelius, let their "prayers and alms ascend up together, as a memorial before the throne of God."

Let

DISCOURSE III.

THE LABORS OF PAUL.

1 Cor. xv. 10.

"I labored more abundantly than they all."

THIS declaration of the Apostle Paul was not the language of ostentation and pride, or of a disposition to undervalue the labors of his apostolical brethren. In the preceding verse, he had given vent to the feelings of his broken and contrite heart, by saying, "I am the least of the Apostles, that am not meet to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." And lest his enemies, who sought to depreciate him that they might detract from the authority of the holy doctrines which he taught, should take an advantage of this humble confession ; he adds, in the verse of which the text is a part, But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet, not I but the grace of God which was with me.” It was true, we have reason to believe, and so palpably true that there was no denying it, that Paul had labored more, and been more successful, in propagating the religion of the gospel, than any other of the Apostles.

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In the ensuing discourse, I shall,

I. Give a brief statement of the labors of Paul. And,

II. Inquire how it can be accounted for, that he should accomplish so much as he did.

Paul was a most devoted Minister and faithful laborer, in the Churches which had been established previous to his conversion. He commenced his public Ministry in Damascus, whither he had come to afflict the saints, and "straightway preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God." And from that period till the time of his consecration to the great work for which he had been raised up-the work of publishing the gospel in heathen lands, he was never idle; but in Arabia, in Jerusalem, in Cilicia his native country, and in the great revival which took place at Antioch, he was continually and we may suppose most successfully and delightfully employed, though in the midst of exposures and sufferings, in dispensing the gospel of the grace of God. And after his consecration to the work of a Missionary, he was not unmindful of the beloved Churches and brethren which he had left. No sooner had he returned from his first excursion among the heathen to the Church at Antioch which had sent him forth, than immediately he resumed his former labors there. "He continued," we are informed, "in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord."

Paul was frequently annoyed in his public labors by Judaizing teachers, and by the remaining prejudices of Jewish believers. But this did not abate the ardor of his affection, towards those who had been converted from among the Jews. At two different periods, we find him engaged in taking up contributions and making collections, "for the poor saints which dwelt at Jerusalem ;" and in both instances he went up to the city himself, to minister to their necessities with his own hands. His Epistle to the