o that which it is to preserve from corruption. The remnant of Jacob
is in the _midst_ of many peoples; and you and I are encompassed by
those who need our Christ, and who do not know Him or love Him; and one
great reason for the close intertwining is that, scattered, we may
diffuse, and that at all points the world may be in contact with those
who ought to be working to preserve it from putrefaction and decay.

Now there are two ways by which this function may be discharged, and in
which it is incumbent upon every Christian man to make his contribution,
be it greater or smaller, to the discharge of it. The one is by direct
efforts to impart to others the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ which
we have, and which we profess to be the very root of our lives. We can
all do that if we will, and we are here to do it. Every one of us has
somebody or other close to us, bound to us, perhaps, by the tie of
kindred and love, who will listen to us more readily than to anybody
else. Christian men and women, have you utilised these channels which
God Himself, by the arrangements of society, has dug for you, that
through them you may pour upon some thirsty ground the water of life? We
could also help, and help far more than any of us do, in associated
efforts for the same purpose. The direct obligation to direct efforts to
impart the Gospel cannot be shirked, though, alas! it is far too often
ignored by us professing Christians.

But there is another way by which 'the remnant of Jacob' is to be 'a dew
from the Lord,' and that is by trying to bring to bear Christian
thoughts and Christian principles upon all the relations of life in
which we stand, and upon all the societies, be they greater or
smaller--the family, the city, or the nation--of which we form parts. We
have heard a great deal lately about what people that know very little
about it, are pleased to call 'the Nonconformist conscience,' I take the
compliment, which is not intended, but is conveyed by the word. But I
venture to say that what is meant, is not the 'Nonconformist'
conscience, it is the _Christian_ conscience. We Nonconformists have no
monopoly, thank God, of that. Nay, rather, in some respects, our friends
in the Anglican churches are teaching some of us a lesson as to the
application of Christian principles to civic duty and to national life.
I beseech you, although I do not mean to dwell upon that point at all at
this time, to ask yourselves whether, as citize