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formality in the matter, a mere observance of the outward duty, while we are amazed at the seeming insuccess of our prayers, and the great disproportion between them and the answers that are received. That there is a mighty contrast apparently between the two cannot be denied. But why is it so? Have we not reason for praying as we do, and asking large things in connexion with Christ's cause and service? Has not God promised them in the fullest manner? Why then are they not in adequate measure bestowed upon us? Is it not to be found in the fact that we ask amiss,—not really or earnestly caring whether we receive the blessings that we seek,-not following up our prayers with an appropriate degree of expectation, and longing desire, and active, patient, persevering effort? We are told that we shall obtain whatever we ask in faith agreeable to the will of God,-that it shall be done for us by Christ and His Father in heaven; and it is ours to verify the promise in all manner of things. "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." O that this impression were wrought into the minds and hearts of God's people and made manifest in their lives, as it respects the spread of the Gospel and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit! We are persuaded that if it were so, apart from all mystery about God's agency and man's accountability, great things would be accomplished, and the promises of Scripture would be abundantly fulfilled.

In closing, we have only to remark that we are engaged in a mighty conflict with the powers of earth and hell, but we believe in final and complete success. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Yet we are confident of a glorious victory. We stand in front of the frowning battlements of heathenism, but they are doomed to fall. We are surrounded by the numerous emblems of idolatry and superstition, which it is ours, under God, to overthrow. We see hundreds of millions of our fellow men in circumstances of appalling sin and evil, that are soul destroying in their character and results. This has been the case all through the ages that are past, but it is our object to set them free, and bring them to the knowledge of God and Christ, and to the enjoyment of peace and purity and eternal life. This is not our work, but God's. We are mere instruments in His hand for its accomplishment, and in connexion with all earnest and devoted labour it is ours to join in the prayer of the universal Church.

ARISE! O LORD! AND PLEAD THINE OWN CAUSE. COME FROM THE FOUR WINDS, 0 BREATH, AND

BREATHE UPON THESE SLAIN THAT THEY MAY LIVE! THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.

CHAPTER X.

MISSIONARY DISCOURSE.

"WHERE is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 COR. i, 20, 21.

VARIOUS interpretations have been given of this passage. For the right understanding of it, we must be acquainted with the moral and spiritual condition of the old heathen world, and the bearing of Christianity that was in conflict with it at the time. Paul knew this subject well and wrote accordingly. We have here some of his profoundest views in regard to it, which are of practical and far-reaching application.

The Greeks boasted of their wisdom and philosophy, and on this account were held in high honour by the nations round about. But the apostle judged of it differently from other men. He looked at it from a Divine stand-point, and under Divine influence denounced it as vain and foolish, and he was amply sustained in this opinion by a consideration of its character and effects.

There was another thing, however, in which he gloried, and of which he was warranted to speak in the highest terms. He called it "the foolishness of preaching." Such was the estimate which others had formed of it. Such was the epithet commonly attached to it by those around him, while he firmly believed in its Divine origin, and was able to adduce satisfactory proof of its saving influence and design. It was in his view indispensably necessary from the circumstances of the case, as the only availing antidote to the evils and errors that were everywhere current in the earth.

There is no country perhaps that so much resembles ancient Greece in many respects as China at the present day. It has long boasted of, and been widely famed for, its wisdom and learning, its civilization and culture. But the more we consider these in their moral aspect and bearing, we are the more convinced of the importance and necessity of the truths which the Apostle was engaged in making known. The moral and spiritual condition of the great empire of China is practically the same as that of Greece and Rome in the times of the Apostle, and it is interesting to contemplate the subject from this point of view. We are able to understand these words and similar passages of holy writ better, by the light of an actual acquaintance with the state of things in China, than by any mere general speculation, or by the researches and discoveries of other men.

We can intensely appreciate the sentiments of the inspired writer, as he describes his own corresponding field of Missionary labour. We can enter into deepest sympathy with him, and realize from our own experience and observation, his parallel impressions of the times in which he lived, and the circumstances in which he was placed. We are thus able to read the past in large measure by the light of the present. The differences existing between the civilized East and West, in ancient and in modern times, are not so great as to prevent our seeing a wonderful similarity, and in that proportion we can estimate the necessity and advantage of the Apostle's ministry equally in the one case as in the other.

We intend to direct your thoughts to China in the consideration of our text, as a field with which we profess to be familiar, and which is calculated to shed no small degree of light upon it. Our sermon will be strictly a Missionary one, and in that respect it may be all the more peculiar. In the first place, we shall notice what the Apostle means by the wisdom of this world, and in the second place, by the foolishness of preaching.

I. The Wisdom of this world.

How shall we best determine this in the sense we have proposed? We cannot do it better perhaps than by examining the various questions con

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