able to injure you, if you live near to your Lord. Do not trouble your people with doubtful disputations, nor poison their minds with false doctrines. You have already studied very important truths in the word of God. You know the person and offices of the great Redeemer, the important doctrines of a sinner's justification before God, of adoption into his family, of regeneration and sanctification, all proving our election, of the resurrection and eternal life. You have the example of faithful preachers of the gospel recorded in the word of God. You have there also set before you who are the proud preachers, and what is their reward. The preachers who love this world's goods, as Judas and Demas. You have the example of true believers, the marks of ungodly professors and hypocrites, and you are warned by their fate. You have also the character of those who should be bishops, or overseers and elders, described by the Holy Spirit in 1 Tim. iii. 1-8.

O, my brethren, be not lords over God's heritage. 1 Pet. v. 3; neither attempt to lord it over your brethren. Give up yourselves entirely to the work of your great Master. Study with great diligence and earnest prayer. Preach the word, and water it with your tears and prayers. Be compassionate for the poor sinners, and affectionate to true believers. Preach the gospel to yourself, include yourself in all the service, and when pronouncing the apostolic benediction, seek to fulfil the important part of fathers in the church. Do not forget the direction which our Lord gives his apostles: "Be ye wise as serpents, and

harmless as doves." Pray that the Lord may take you from study, and recommend you to his people by the graces he freely bestows on you, that you may be found among the number of those whom the Lord promises to his church in the prophecies of Jeremiah, chap. iii. 15. “And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." The Lord give you a double portion of his spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Another important duty I beg to fulfil, viz. to call upon the churches of Christ in Britain, to afford their fostering care, that we may be able to give instruction to those who may become pastors and preachers of the gospel in this dark land.

Brethren, in Jesus Christ in the British churches, you have by the great assistance of the living God, pitied the poor heathen, and sent them relief. You have overcome difficulties, and you have given an example of your true love to Christ before hypocrites and wicked professors of our holy religion, by seeking out those who had wandered far from God in the wilderness; you have sent the gospel of the blessed God to this land of darkness. I have seen many copies of the holy Scriptures in the villages and towns, and many of the poor people are reading them, but I have seen very few preachers. There are many voices crying out among the heathen and Roman Catholics and Mahommedans, as the Eunuch of Ethiopia did when Philip asked him, "Understandest thou

what thou readest?"

Some say,

"We wish we

were as Cornelius, then would we send servants to find out preachers, but we cannot.'

O, dear brethren, in the British churches we have taken root from your extended branches; we need constant support from you, as the way to receive it from our Lord, who is the root. The living God has given great light to the churches in Britain. He has made you as the light of the world. Here darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the people: Give us of your light that the candle of the Lord may also shine brightly upon our tabernacle, and chase away the darkness which is felt. You have entered the land of promise, the Canaanites, and Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and Jebusites, and all your enemies are driven out from before you, or subdued under you. Your temple is built, and you go up to Mount Zion with singing and praise, but we, brethren, are very lately come from Egypt, we are in the thorny wilderness. The Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and Jebusite, are living in their fenced cities, and their strong-built walls reach up to heaven, in that part of the promised land which falls to our lot. O, brethren, send us some of your skilful warriors. Give us your council fathers. Send to refresh our fainting spirits in this wilderness, some more of the ripe fruits of Canaan.

Do not forget, brethren, the way that God has led you. Recollect that you were not only slaves in Egypt, but you also were captives in Babylon. The marks of your chains are yet visible on your hands

and feet. You did hang your harps upon the willows whilst you sat and wept by the rivers of Babylon. You thought upon Zion, but would not sing her songs in a strange land. How much were you indebted to your Zerubbabels, your Ezras, your Nehemiahs? How did your hearts faint when your enemies conspired against you, and would not suffer you to raise your holy city from its ruins. Think of the marks of your former bondage, the cruel insults of your bitter enemies, the cloudy and comfortless season you spent when your Jerusalem lay waste; and, O think on us, and compassionate us, your brethren, whose face is Zion-ward, but surrounded with many enemies.

Allow me, my dear brethren, to explain more particularly to you. The Scriptures and tracts are given away to the poor people; but many cannot read when they get the Scriptures. Often when they find a friend or neighbour who is able to read for them, not one of them is able fully to understand what it means. They want some person to explain those things to them. Many complain because that they have no person to teach them. I judge this is very much the case in every place where the word of God and tracts are distributed, from what I have heard the people say, and what I experienced in my own mind, when the Lord in his merciful providence gave me a part of his holy book. Very few places can yet be visited by preachers of the gospel, their number is so small. The schools of the prophets are yet very few. The Saviour has given his assistance to his servants in translating his blessed word into many languages,

but very few preachers there are to read and explain it to the people.

Dear brethren, suffer me to entreat you to consider the great want of living teachers in this land. Allow me to explain my meaning by mentioning the great difficulties I felt in the beginning of my serious inquiries, and comparing them with the difficulties which multitudes of my poor countrymen must at this time experience.

When I found the four gospels under the tree in my own language, whilst I lived in Ceylon, I read them, and I believed what I read, and I was convinced that all my religion and the religion of my father was great folly. I was convinced of this before I had finished reading the ninth chapter of Matthew. I soon learned to cry to God in prayer, but all my thoughts and way of serving God were very childish: I greatly wanted some person to teach me how to understand this book: I made many inquiries, but could find no person to explain in my own language this holy book to me..

I felt so uneasy in my own mind when I could not find any person to teach me after I had made many inquiries for three months, that I left a very comfortable situation, and went a great distance to seek for teachers. The Lord preserved me safely when returning from Ceylon to India, but instead of going where I first intended, I was landed in another place. I found out in this strange place some worldly friends that I had known before, but by dwelling with them for a few weeks, and by their conversation, I lost my