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subjects, and which may be made highly serviceable in advancing the cause which we profess to revere and honor.

As a farther apology, for this volume, it is proper to state, that the plan of collecting the Sermons into a book, was not suggested till several of the preachers had left the city. Most of the discourses, also, were mainly extemporaneous, and have been written out since, from memory, after two or three weeks delay, and in considerable haste. Time has likewise been consumed in communicating with the authors, and the subsequent hurry in crowding the work through the press, has left no opportunity for them to examine proof-sheets. Errors, consequently, may have occurred. If so, let them be regarded, under the circumstances, with a lenient eye.

With every needed allowance, however, it is believed this little volume will be found highly interesting and valuable; and, in the confident hope that it will accomplish much good, it is sent forth on its errand of love.

NEW YORK, Nov. 1841.

THE PUBLISHER.

CONVENTION SERMONS.

OCCASIONAL SERMON,

BEFORE THE GENERAL CONVENTION OF UNIVERSALISTS, AT ITS SESSION IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 15, 1841.

BY REV. T. J. SAWYER.

"Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh the harvest. Behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to the harvest."-JOHN iv. 35.

WHAT is the cause in which we are engaged? What is the position it now occupies? What are the prospects that lie open before it? What is the ministry it is destined to perform? And, finally, What are the duties it requires at our hands?

I know not, my brethren, that I can better fulfil the duty assigned me on the present occasion, than by calling your attention to these several questions, and endeavoring, as well as I may, to answer them. The field which they open before us is obviously one of great extent, and even a brief discussion of the several topics it presents will necessarily occupy considerable time; but as I deem it a subject of no inconsiderable importance to Universalists, I indulge the hope that my auditors may be so far interested in its consideration as to relieve me from the fear of soon wearying their patience, while I attempt to unfold it,

Were we to listen to the representations of our opposers, we should be led to think that the cause in

which we are engaged is one full-fraught with mischief; that it is opening wide the flood-gates of licentiousness, paving a highway for vice and crime, and, if successful, will "convert our world into a hell," and end only by working out the certain and hopeless ruin of millions and millions of our race! But we, my brethren, do not so apprehend it. On the contrary, in the light of Scripture, according to the dictates of sober reason, and under all the lessons of experience, we cannot but regard it as the cause of truth, of humanity, and of God,—a cause whose spirit is that of divine benevolence, breathing universal good-will, and is inwoven with the best and holiest aspirations of many a heart that knows not whence those aspirations come, nor whither they

tend.

The cause in which we are engaged is an open and manifest one, that shrinks not from observation or scrutiny, and may therefore be easily defined. It is the cause of universal goodness and grace. It combines two considerations which must ever be of the highest importance to rational and moral beings : I mean the glory of God, and the happiness of mankind. We name it after no man; we designate it by no appellation drawn from outward or trifling circumstances. We give it a title indicative of its broad and comprehensive character. We call it UNIVERSALISM. It stands opposed to all partial and narrow-minded schemes; it lifts itself up above all low and grovelling systems, and comprehends the whole vast plan of the divine goodness and grace, from the moment of creation, when the morning-stars sang together, to the grand consummation of Heaven's purposes in relation to man, when all moral beings shall be brought into willing subjection to the gentle reign of Jesus Christ, and "God shall be all

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