may be an honest difference among those who love the Lord Jesus and who endeavor to know and do his will. Among these different denominations, we are not to look for a complete coöperation. Such coöperation is not to be attempted, and may not at present be desirable. But the moment you come to anything which belongs to the substance of Christianity, anything essential to the great interest of the church, or the common duties of religion, ministers and Christians ought all to be one. Here, there should be a cordial and perfect coöperation. Here all the friends of Christ do fully agree. And they ought to show their agreement. Coöperation here is a natural and practicable duty. Should, therefore, the ministers of any denomination be full of ardor in promoting what is local, or what is peculiar to a particular part of Christ's kingdom, while they look with coldness on what relates to the common interest of the church; they would show that their hearts are misguided through the deceitfulness of sin. When the day of decision shall come; when the light of truth shall shine forth in its glory from the throne of God, and all the delusions of the understanding and the passions shall cease; we shall see, that what related to our own personal interest, or the interest of one particular denomination, in distinction from the common interest of Christ's spiritual kingdom, was worthy of little or no regard. Then every object will vanish out of sight, but the worth of the immortal soul, and the glory of Christ, and the distinction, so joyful on one side, and so tremendous on the other, between the righteous and the wicked. Oh! that Christians of every name might anticipate the views and feelings they will have, when all these clouds and shadows shall flee away, and the whole moral world be filled with the clearness and splendor of divine truth.

But here there is need of serious caution. For Christian fellowship and coöperation can properly go no further, than there is real agreement. With all who manifestly belong to the body of Christ and love his cause, we ought gladly to unite in all those duties which are common to them and us, and in every measure which is suited to advance the general prosperity of the

church, whatever minor differences may at present exist. But if we would, in any way, unite with those, who do not maintain what we believe to be the essential principles of Christianity, the union must not extend to anything which involves those principles. We can safely unite with them in those things only, in which their peculiar views can have no effect on what we believe to be the vital interests of religion. In a word, while we ought to exercise the sincerest good will and kindness towards all men, towards those especially, who have in our opinion imbibed pernicious errors; we can properly maintain Christian fellowship with those only, who agree with us respecting the essential principles of our holy religion.

MY DEAR NEPHEW,

I cannot, for a moment, call to remembrance what God has done for you, and by what ways he has brought you hither, without a delightful impression of his great goodness. About eleven years ago, your honored father and I, after a long separation, had unexpectedly the pleasure of meeting at our native place. Wishing as I did to express my cordial gratitude for the pious concern he had shown for me when I was a child, I proposed that his son, whom he had very affectionately named to me, should receive a public education, and proffered all the assistance in my power in carrying such a design into effect. Many a time has his heart and mine been filled with the tenderest emotions, at the thought of the interview we then had, and of the consequences which have flowed from it. And I cannot refrain from saying, that all the solicitude which I have felt for your welfare, and the sincere, though very defective efforts I have made for your improvement, have received a four-fold reward. I say it to the glory of Him, who has been the guide of your youth -to the glory of that grace which has made you what you are.

If, my dear nephew, you look back to the time when, as we hope, God called you with an holy calling, and gave you to experience the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; and then to the time when you began the arduous labor

of preparing for the ministry by a regular literary and theological education; and if you call to remembrance the whole course of your life since; you must perceive, that you are indebted to the goodness of God in no ordinary degree, and that you are bound, by everlasting obligations, to devote your talents, your life, your whole being, to his holy service. You are not your own. The powers of mind which you possess; the literary acquisitions which you have gained; your skill in sacred criticism, your theological knowledge, and all your qualifications for the work of the ministry, and for the particular office you are now called to fill, are given you by the Head of the church. And for what are they given? To fill your heart with vanity and self-complacency? To excite and gratify an aspiring ambition? The Spirit of God, I trust, has taught you a very different sentiment. Just in proportion to your talents and your attainments in knowledge, are your obligations to love God and promote his cause. Your understanding, your heart, your learning, your time, health, and influençe are God's. Pride, then, is impiety; it is sacrilege. Banish it forever from your heart. Or if it strives to maintain its place there, make unceasing war against it. And let the hateful thing be made to destroy itself, by occasioning deeper humility and selfabhorrence.

Study, preach, and labor from love to Christ, a principle of action infinitely nobler than ambition. Let that love be your ruling passion. Under its holy influence, strive in all things to excel; but with such a temper, that you will always be pleased with the superior excellence of others. Forever avoid the disposition of those who envy the height which they cannot reach, and who endeavor to stain and depress the fairest character which they see rising above them.

You are engaged, my dear nephew, in an enterprise great and arduous for any man, especially for one so young and inexperienced. But your Saviour offers you his all-sufficient grace. And there is one thing which cannot be mentioned, without bringing into view the wisdom and goodness of God; that is, that the whole course of your education has manifestly been directed by his

providence with a view to the particular station for which you are designated. Your education has been suited so exactly to prepare you for that station, that if you had from the first definitely fixed your thoughts upon it, you could not have made any desirable alteration in your plan of study. With this view of the merciful guidance which God has afforded you, and with a full reliance on his grace, take courage, and go forward in your work, always keeping a steady eye upon your great object. While laboring to discipline the minds of your pupils, and to promote the interests of learning, remember that you are a Christian, and a minister of the gospel, and that it is your duty, in both characters, to strive for the promotion of true religion, as your great object. Go forward then in the strength of God. Be faithful unto death; and your merciful Saviour will give you the crown of eternal life.

*Note to the present edition of the Sermon.

The particular situation referred to was a Professorship in Columbia College in the District of Columbia. After that, the Rev. Alva Woods, was for several years, President of the College in Lexington, Ky., and then, for a longer time, President of the College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

A SERMON

DELIVERED AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REV. BENJAMIN WOODBURY, AT FALMOUTH, MASS., JUNE 9, 1824.

1 Cor. 9: 22.-I AM MADE ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN, THAT I MIGHT BY ALL MEANS SAVE SOME.

THERE is perhaps no passage of Scripture which has been more frequently misinterpreted than this; and none which has been applied to purposes more contrary to the design of the writer. The principal abuse of it is to be found among those, whose temper inclines to indecision and timidity, and who endeavor to justify this weakness of character by the account the Apostle here gives of his own conduct. The mistake which has in this way been committed, and the injury which has resulted from it to the interests of religion, have been so palpable, that some have been led to discard altogether the principle of action asserted in the text, and thus have fallen into errors as really hurtful to religion, as those which they have labored to avoid.

It becomes then a matter of consequence, to determine what views the Apostle meant to express by the language of the text,— "I am made all things to all men." What is the import of this declaration? And what are the limitations and cautions to be