A DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED BEFORE "THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, PIETY, AND CHARITY,"MAY 27, 1816, BY THE REV. MR. LOWELL.

DEUTERONOMY i.

Part of the 27 and 3 following verses.

And ye said, Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, the people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great, and walled up to heaven; and, moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. GOD, which goeth before you, He

you.

The Lord your shall fight for

THE words, I have now read, were address ed by Moses to the Children of Israel. In this, and several of the following chapters, he recapitulates their history, retraces the foot

steps of divine providence, so manifest in every stage of their progress, and reminds them of their distrust of the promises and disobedience of the commands of GOD. The text contains an account of the objections made by the Israelites to the proposal of Moses, that they should go up and take possession of the promised land, the fearful apprehensions they indulged, the desponding language they used, and the encouraging assurance of Moses, that GOD would be with them.

The things that were written aforetime, my hearers, were written for our learning. The scriptures of the Old, as well as of the New Testament, the history of the jewish theocracy, as well as of the christian church, the admonitions of Moses, as well as the precepts of Christ, are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Fears and apprehensions, and faint-heartedness belong not exclusively to the murmuring Israelites. They may be found among christians. We, as well as they, are in a wilderness; there are many obstacles in our way to the promised land ; the sons of Anakims” are in every path of duty; and we, all of us, need the assurance that God will go before us," to stimulate our efforts, and to encourage our perseverance.

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In discoursing from this subject on an ordinary occasion, I should be naturally led to point out the difficulties and dangers which attend the christian's course, the temptations and sufferings and discouragements of various kinds, which are inseparable from his state of pilgrimage, and the attention, diligence, selfdenial, and reliance on GoD, which are requisite to success in the arduous conflict. But such a direction of your thoughts, however useful at all times, would hardly be adapted

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to the present occasion; nor, I had almost said, to a large portion of the audience who are now assembled; but I would not forget, alas, I cannot forget, that we too, my brethren in the ministry, are men of like infirmities and passions with others, and that, both as christian men, and as christian ministers, we have often need to be reminded of our duties and our dangers.

The respectable society, which I have the honour now to address, has many difficulties to encounter in the prosecution of its objects. Some of these are common to all societies of a similar nature, others are peculiar to this society, and to those, which are founded on the same broad basis of christian catholicism.

Those which are common to all societies, are to be found in the nature and circumstances of man, in those propensities, prejudices,

and passions, which oppose themselves to the reception of christian truth, and to the practice of christian virtue; and those allurements and seductions of the present world, which too often gain possession of the heart, bind it to earth, and destroy its relish for the pure, refined, and exalted pleasures of religion. The love of money, which is the root of all evil; the love of pleasure, which renders those who possess it dead whilst they live ; the love of ease, which too often finds a place in the bosom, and diffuses a torpid languor over the soul; these, and various other causes, tend to destroy the seeds of piety, and to counteract the efforts of those who would enlighten, reform, and improve mankind. The word of the kingdom falling by the wayside, on stony places, or among thorns, is checked in its growth, by unbelief, by levity, by unhallowed passion; and they who sow it, are compelled to adopt the pathetic complaint of