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 PRINCETON. N. j 
 
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 i> Part of the 
 
 BV 2060 rS66'^1858^ 
 Smyth, Thomas, 1808-1873 
 Obedience the life of 
 missions 
 
X 
 
OBEDIENCE 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF MISSIONS. 
 
 BY 
 THOMAS SMYTH, D.D. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 • No. 821 Chestnut Street. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, 
 
 Bt JAMES DUNLAP, Teeasueeb, 
 
 In the Clerk's OfiBce of the District Court for the Eastern District 
 of PennsylTania. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAOS 
 
 Preface 5 
 
 The Faith which is the Principle of Missions, leads 
 to that Obedience -which is the life of Mis- 
 sions 9 
 
 The will of God 20 
 
 God's revealed will the foundation of all right 
 
 Faith and Obedience 25 
 
 God's revealed will concerning the salvation of the 
 
 heathen 30 
 
 God now accomplishing his decree in two superhu- 
 man facts 37 
 
 The fulfilment of this decree and of God's plan in 
 
 the establishment of his Church 51 
 
 The adaptation of the Church to the fulfilment of 
 
 God's Decree 53 
 
 What the Church accomplished of old, and is still 
 
 able to perform 57 
 
 Christ's Mediatorial work expressly designed for 
 
 accomplishing God's Decree 60 
 
 The will of God is the foundation of our knowledge 
 
 of God, and of our obedience to him 63 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Obedience to this decreed will of God the evidence 
 
 and end of piety 67 
 
 Opposition, disobedience, or indifference to this 
 
 will of God, is sin 73 
 
 Our obedience or disobedience to this will of God 
 to save the heathen, is of momentous and 
 perilous consequence 75 
 
 Most dangerous delusion. Every man required to 
 
 obey 78 
 
 Faith in God's Will to convert the heathen will lead 
 to obedience. Where there is not obedience, 
 there is not faith 80 
 
 Difficulties are no excuse for disobedience 84 
 
 God's decreed will makes failure impossible 87 
 
 God's plan in carrying out his decree not man's 
 plan, but the best plan, as it makes obedience 
 depend solely on God's will 89 
 
 All kingdoms and events subordinate to God's will, 
 
 decree, and Church 97 
 
 The sublimity and eternal recompense of implicit 
 faith and obedience to God's will, and of 
 labouring for missions under great discourage- 
 ments 106 
 
 The appeal — Africa — India — and their martyrs... . 114 
 
 The greatness of the work and greatness of the 
 
 power ... 140 
 
 The true end and value of life 1 52 
 
 The field of the world — A Moravian Missionary 
 
 Hymn 161 
 
 Note. — A third extraordinary fact 164 
 
ll£J,"xUk 
 
 
 The following argument is a sequel to two 
 that have preceded it. I. " How is the World 
 to be Converted? or, Christians Christ's Re- 
 presentatives and Agents for the Conversion 
 of the World." II. "Faith the Principle of 
 Missions," 
 
 Like them, it was prepared by the author 
 as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
 Missions ; read in substance before the Synod 
 of South Carolina; and by it ordered for 
 publication. And as the first was com- 
 mended to the Board of Publication, and the 
 second was also published by it, this also is 
 issued through it, that the voice of this 
 southern Synod may be heard and find an 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 echo in the hearts of dear brethren and 
 sisters in the Lord throughout the length 
 and breadth of the land, and all the tribes 
 of Israel come up together "to the help of 
 the Lord, to the help of the Lord against 
 the might J." 
 
 Exert thy power, thy rights maintain, 
 Insulted — everlasting King! 
 The influence of thy crown increase, 
 And strangers to thy footstool bring. 
 
 We long to see that happy time. 
 That dear, expected, blessed day! 
 When countless myriads of our race 
 The second Adam shall obey. 
 
 The prophecies must be fulfilled, 
 Though earth and hell should dare oppose; 
 The Stone cut from the mountain's side. 
 Though unobserved, to empire grows. 
 
 Soon shall the blended Image fall — 
 Brass, silver, iron, gold, and clay; 
 And superstition's gloomy reign 
 To light and liberty give way. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In one sweet symphony of praise, 
 Gentile and Jew shall then unite; 
 And Infidelity, ashamed. 
 Sink in the abyss of endless night. 
 
 Soon Afric's long benighted sons 
 Shall join with Europe's polished race, 
 To celebrate, in different tongues, 
 The glories of redeeming grace. 
 
 From east to west, from north to south, 
 Emmanuel's kingdom shall extend ; 
 And every man, in every face. 
 Shall meet a brother and a friend. 
 
obedience!Wiifeofiiissms. 
 
 THE FAITH WHICH IS THE PRINCIPLE OF MISSIONS, 
 LEADS TO THAT OBEDIENCE WHICH IS THE LIFE OF 
 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 The feeling of love and good-will to men, 
 and the conscious obligation to communicate 
 to tliem whatever benefits we enjoy — so far 
 as our opportunity and ability permit — are 
 collateral and coextensive. Where one ex- 
 ists, the other cannot be absent; and to 
 whatever extent the one prevails, the other 
 will be found operative. To love our neigh- 
 bour as we love ourselves — the second of 
 God's two comprehensive commandments — is 
 to do unto others as we would think it right 
 and humane in others, if in our circum- 
 stances, to do unto us. 
 
 The faithful and even proportionate appli- 
 cation of this principle to the gospel, and to 
 2 
 
10 
 
 its manifold blessings, is however only possi- 
 ble to those who cherish a deep and life- 
 inspiring faith in that gospel, as "the power 
 of God, and the wisdom of God, unto the sal- 
 vation of every one that believeth." Faith, 
 therefore, is the Principle of Missions;"^ 
 faith in the sinful, guilty,, and dangerous 
 condition of the heathen ; faith in the gospel 
 as that remedy, by the foolishness of preach- 
 ing which, it hath pleased God to save them 
 that believe; and faith in those awe-inspiring 
 declarations of God's word, that the whole 
 world are guilty before him; — that without 
 a written law, the heathen are a law unto 
 themselves, their own consciences accusing 
 or condemning them; — that there is no other 
 name under heaven by which they can be 
 saved but the name of Jesus;" — "go ye 
 therefore into all the world, and preach the 
 gospel to every creature. He that believeth 
 and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that 
 believeth not, shall be damned." 
 
 Faith in these truths is the principle of 
 missions, as a Christian duty, although there 
 
 * See *' Faith, the Principle of Missions," published 
 by the Board. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 11 
 
 are many other motives whicli conspire in 
 urging upon every humane and philanthropic 
 mind an enterprise designed to convey to 
 semi-civilized and barbarous nations that 
 gospel which is not only in itself considered 
 the greatest of all earthly blessings, but is 
 also the source and the security of all perfect 
 civilization, refinement and progress. 
 
 When royal Truth, released from mortal throes, 
 Burst his brief slumber, and triumphant rose, 
 111 had the holiest sued 
 A patron multitude, 
 Or courted Tetrarch's eye, or claimed to rule 
 By the world's winning grace, or proofs from learned 
 school. 
 
 But, robing him in viewless air, he told 
 His secret to a few of meanest mould; 
 They in their turn imparted 
 The gift to men pure-hearted, 
 While the brute many heard his mysteries high. 
 As some strange, fearful tongue, and crouched, they 
 knew not why. 
 
 Still is the might of Truth, as it has been. 
 Lodged in the few, obeyed, and yet unseen: 
 Reared on lone heights, and rare. 
 His saints their watch-flame bear. 
 And the mad world sees the wide-circling blaze, 
 Vain-searching whence it streams, and how to quench 
 its rays. 
 
12 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 And as it is faith in these evangelical, or 
 gospel truths, which alone constitutes the 
 principle of Christian missions, so also is it 
 found to be true, that no other motive or 
 principle will impel to that obedience which 
 is the life of Christian missions. It is just 
 as certain that he who does not believe the 
 gospel, will not incur the self-denial and self- 
 sacrifice necessary to preach that gospel to 
 every creature, as that he will not be himself 
 saved by it. Faith is, by its very nature, an 
 operative principle. It brings into action 
 not only every element of thought, but also 
 every impulse to action. It fills the sails of 
 the ship which the divine builder has man- 
 ned, equipped, and made ready for sea. It 
 supplies steam to the machinery of our moral 
 nature. It projects the mind forward in the 
 orbit of duty. It works by love, both to God 
 and to man. 
 
 Like clouds they are borne 
 
 To do thy great will, 
 And swift as the winds 
 
 Around the world go: 
 All full of thy Godhead, 
 
 While earth lieth still, 
 
OF MISSIONS. 13 
 
 They thunder, they lighten, 
 The -waters o'erflow. 
 
 They thunder — their sound, 
 
 It is Christ the Lord ! 
 Then Satan doth fear. 
 
 His citadels fall, 
 As when the dread trumpets 
 
 Went forth at thy word, 
 And on the ground lieth 
 
 The Canaanites' wall. 
 
 0, loud be thy trump, 
 
 And stirring the sound, 
 To rouse us, Lord, 
 
 From sin's deadly sleep; 
 May lights which thou kindlest 
 
 In darkness around. 
 Our dull souls awaken 
 
 Their vigils to keep. 
 
 But to be thus energetic, faith must be 
 pure. Faith must be evangelistic, in order 
 to be evangelical. In order to secure pa- 
 tience, perseverance, and heartfelt obedience, 
 there must be faith in the remedy, as well as 
 in the disease; faith in the physician, as 
 well as in the remedy; faith in the height 
 of the mercy, as well as in the depth of the 
 misery. These constitute the only power 
 2* 
 
14 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 that can undertake and consummate Chris- 
 tian missions. It is the combination of these 
 spiritual forces into one, that gives to the 
 faith of the gospel its efficiency, supplying it 
 "with its fulcrum, its lever, and its motive 
 power, and thus making it mighty, through 
 God, to the pulling down of the strongholds 
 of sin and Satan. 
 
 The recognized depravity of the heathen 
 will not inspire self-denying efforts to save 
 them. The depravity of the heathen was 
 never more deeply felt than by the wise and 
 virtuous among themselves. But philosophy, 
 wanting the gospel, was equally powerless in 
 motive and in means, and abandoned itself 
 to despair and scepticism. And as it has 
 ever been thus among the philosophers and 
 philanthropists of former ages, so is it now. 
 The Abb^ Dubois, the celebrated Roman 
 Catholic missionary, was so overwhelmed 
 with the contemplation of the deep malignity 
 of heathen character among the Hindoos, as 
 to come to the conclusion that his mission 
 was useless, and that the Hindoos were pre- 
 destined to eternal damnation. Mohammed- 
 
OP MISSIONS. 15 
 
 anism has sought only empire and subju- 
 gation by the sword. Popery has never 
 stimulated to any efforts beyond those of 
 proselytism, propagandism, and mercenary 
 thraldom; and has never yet permanently 
 christianized a heathen nation. She preys 
 upon living Christianity, and sustains her 
 own life only by blood drawn from its veins. 
 Unitarianism was some years since galva- 
 nized into a spasmodic effort, and enterprised 
 a mission at Calcutta, aided by the learned, 
 high-caste Brahmin, E-ammohun Roy ; but it 
 soon relapsed again into its spiritual death. 
 The combined zeal and resources of the 
 entire Unitarian denomination in the United 
 States, provoked into activity by the activity 
 of all around them, have again sent one mis- 
 sionary to Calcutta, among people whom they 
 had always represented as having Unitarian 
 sympathies, virtuous tendencies, and simple- 
 hearted errors. But how fearful is the con- 
 trasted picture, as given by themselves, of 
 what living Hindooism is found to be ! " Could 
 you stand," says Mr. Dall, their mission- 
 
1& OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 ary,* "in the midst of the heathen, and 
 realize their utter destitution of that spi- 
 ritual life which alone can fit a soul for the 
 company of angels, of Jesus, and of God, 
 you would not say that to talk of their agony 
 in this world and the next was ad captandum, 
 ox very wicked language; or that it 'made 
 God a destroyer of the guiltless,' or 'no God 
 of justice, far less a God of love!'"t And 
 yet with all his faith in this awful truth, which 
 the gospel necessarily implies, but which is 
 not itself the gospel, Mr. Dall has only suc- 
 ceeded in gathering some thirty or forty 
 persons — natives and half-caste — besides cir- 
 culating many Unitarian books.J 
 
 * Quarterly Journal of the American Unitarian Asso- 
 ciation, July, 1857. 
 
 f He thus gives a withering rebuke to the infidel 
 pity of a whining writer in a Quarterly Review. 
 
 I At the semi-annual meeting of this body, the Sec- 
 retary read a paper in reference to the missions of the 
 body, from which it appears they have one foreign and 
 and one domestic missionary, at an expense of twenty- 
 two hundred dollars. The paper read says: "There 
 are some great discouragements in our attempts at pro- 
 gress. In the first place, the Association never has 
 had, through the whole thirty years of its history, the 
 
OF MISSIONS. 17 
 
 The conclusion, therefore, which is equally 
 sustained by history, by experience, and by 
 the word of God, is, that it is only faith in 
 the gospel, in the whole gospel, and in 
 nothing but the gospel, which is the principle 
 of Christian missions. Nothing short of this 
 faith can inspire their conception. Nothing 
 less than this can impart to them vigorous 
 life. Nothing, neither more or less, can 
 quicken and sustain that spirit of implicit, 
 persevering, self-sacrificing obedience, which 
 is absolutely essential to secure the prosecu- 
 tion, progress, and permanence of Christian 
 missions. 
 
 Dull thunders moan around the temple rock, 
 
 And deep in hollow caves, far underneath, 
 
 The lonely watchman feels the sullen shock, 
 
 His footsteps timing as the low winds breathe : 
 Hark! from the shrine is asked, What steadfast heart 
 Dares in the storm go forth? Who takes the Almighty's 
 ,* -. part? ' . 
 * And with a bold gleam flushed, full many a brow 
 •^*-^s Raised to say, "Behold me, Lord, and send." 
 
 unanimous approval of our denomination. In the next 
 place, it is peculiarly unfortunate that a number of our 
 leading ministers are totally indifferent to the Associa- 
 tion. But the grand obstacle that weighs heavier than 
 all, is our general indifference to associated action." 
 
18 
 
 *' Without reasoning on the subject, no un- 
 prejudiced inquirer can deny, that from 
 whatever cause, it is emphatically the cross 
 of Christ which has acted as a mighty spi- 
 ritual force upon the soul of the world. 
 Hardly less undeniable is it that the cross 
 has thus acted, because it contains the most 
 touching expression of love and mercy, while 
 at the same time it offers the highest evidence 
 of the invincible moral power of the Re- 
 deemer. As a simple matter-of-fact, it is 
 the doctrine of crucified love that has tri- 
 umphed over man, that has been almighty 
 through God, that has arrested, captivated, 
 regenerated human hearts. Wherever the 
 cross has been wanting, Christianity has 
 appeared shorn of its strength — an ineffec- 
 tive, lifeless, cold system. But wherever the 
 cross has been lifted up, even though asso- 
 ciated with egregious human weakness, and 
 with serious human errors, it has proved an 
 all but resistless power in compelling to an 
 almost superhuman devotion — to the living 
 sacrifice of body, soul, and spirit, as a rea- 
 sonable service in obedience to such a faith." 
 
OF MISSIONS, 19 
 
 Runs not the word of truth through every land, 
 A sword to sever, and a fire to burn? 
 
 If blessed Paul had stayed 
 
 In cot or learned shade, 
 
 With the priest's white attire, 
 
 And the saints' tuneful choir, 
 Men had not gnashed their teeth, nor risen to slay, 
 But thou hadst been a heathen in thy day. 
 
 To analyze and enforce obedience as the 
 life of Christian missions^ will therefore be 
 the object of the present argument. 
 
 for a thousand tongues to sing 
 
 My dear Redeemer's praise ; 
 The glories of my God and King, 
 
 The triumphs of his grace ! 
 
 My gracious Master, and my God, 
 
 Assist me to proclaim, 
 To spread through all the earth abroad, 
 
 The honours of thy name. 
 
 Jesus, the name that calms our fears. 
 
 That bids our sorrows cease ; 
 'T is music in the sinner's ears, 
 
 'T is life, and health, and peace. 
 
 Let us obey, we then shall know. 
 
 Shall feel our sins forgiven; 
 Anticipate our heaven below, 
 
 And own that love is heaven. 
 
20 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 THE WILL 'jOF GOD. 
 
 The belief in a God of infinite wisdom, good- 
 ness, and truth, involves the necessary conclu- 
 sion that all truth, virtue, and happiness, must 
 find in his nature their source, their founda- 
 tion, and their standard. But as the nature 
 of God can be made known to us only by the 
 revelation of his loill in his works and word, 
 it follows that the revealed will of God is, 
 practically, the only rule by which we can 
 infallibly ascertain what is truth, what is 
 virtue, and what is happiness ; the only stan- 
 dard to which all the controversies of limited, 
 imperfect, misguided reason must be brought; 
 the only power by which all spiritual motion, 
 energy, and success can be imparted; and 
 the only centre of spiritual cohesion and 
 attraction, by which all the movements of all 
 the agencies of all his creatures are over- 
 ruled, and made to work together for the 
 furtherance of God's glorious designs. 
 
 As God's will — the term being used as ex- 
 pressing to us God's infinite wisdom, power, 
 and holiness, acting according to his sove- 
 reign purposes — is the ultimate cause of all 
 
OF MISSIONS. 21 
 
 causes and of all effects, of all laws and of 
 all power, it is very evident that this will of 
 God, though to him one and the same, must 
 be regarded by us in a two-fold aspect, that 
 is, as secret and revealed. 
 
 As secret, the will of God is, like him- 
 self, infinite, eternal, all-comprehending, and, 
 therefore, known only to himself, and justi- 
 fied, on grounds of reason and choice, only 
 to himself. Extending as it does to all 
 ,events, past, present, and future, and to the 
 consummated results of all events, the will 
 of God implies knowledge too wonderful for 
 any finite understanding; deep things, un- 
 fathomable by any human reason ; and things 
 so high and unsearchable as to be even com- 
 prehensible only by the infinite Supreme, the 
 Pather, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 Great God ! how infinite art thou ! 
 
 What worthless worms are we ! 
 Let the whole race of creatures bow, 
 
 And pay their praise to thee. 
 
 Thy throne eternal ages stood, 
 
 Ere seas or stars were made: 
 Thou art the ever-living God, 
 
 Were all the nations dead. 
 
 3 
 
22 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Nature and time quite naked lie, 
 
 To thine immense survey — 
 From the formation of the sky, 
 
 To the great, burning day. 
 
 Eternity, with all its years. 
 
 Stands present in thy view; 
 To thee there's nothing old appears — 
 
 Great God! there's nothing new. 
 
 Our lives through various scenes are drawn, 
 
 And vex'd with trifling cares; 
 While thine eternal thoughts move on 
 
 Thine undisturbed affairs. 
 
 This being a universal and absolute truth, 
 it is just as true of any one event in the 
 succession of events, as it is of all events 
 regarded as a whole. It is also as fully true 
 of any particular scheme or course of divine 
 providence, as it is of that universal scheme, 
 of which each particular scheme is a link, an 
 epoch, an event, a scene, a single act. The 
 incomprehensibility of God's will is, there- 
 fore, just as true (but not more so) of the 
 scheme of God's moral government over man 
 in this world — of his permitted trial, tempt- 
 ation, and apostasy — and of the plan and his- 
 tory of redemption — as it is of God's moral 
 
OF MISSIONS. 23 
 
 gjDvernment over other worlds, and other 
 intelligent races of beings. It is, in all 
 cases, past our finding out, and beyond the 
 range even of angelic scrutiny. 
 
 The gospel, considered as including the 
 scheme and the whole administration of sal- 
 vation, in all its dispensations, through all 
 periods of time, and under all the changing 
 vicissitudes of human society — though only 
 one act in the endless drama of the divine 
 government, is, nevertheless, in itself con- 
 sidered, a scheme of boundless extent. It 
 comprehends a past, present, and future, 
 which is to man illimitable. It extends be- 
 yond man and man's world, to other beings, 
 and to other worlds, in ways and measures 
 which we can neither conceive nor compre- 
 hend. Even this scheme of salvation, there- 
 fore, is one of which, before its revelation, 
 we could have known absolutely nothing; of 
 which we can know, even now, absolutely 
 nothing — beyond what is revealed; of which 
 we can witness only a single manifestation, 
 as it passes before us in the great panoramic 
 revolution of time; and which is revealed 
 
24 
 
 and exhibited to men only so far as is neces- 
 sary to guide the wayfaring traveller safely 
 on the highway of salvation, through the 
 •wilderness of sin and guilt. And hence, all 
 objections against this scheme of salvation, 
 and against the method in which it is car- 
 ried on, must, from the very nature of the 
 case, be founded in ignorance; must be 
 maintained without any proper ground for 
 forming an opinion; and must therefore 
 imply presumptuous impiety and wicked ab- 
 surdity. "Secret things belong unto the 
 Lord," by whom alone the issues of any one 
 event are either known, or capable of direc- 
 tion and control. 
 
 How thankful, then, should we be, that 
 while the will of God is known perfectly 
 only to himself, and is capable of being 
 made known in any measure only by him- 
 self, God has, nevertheless, in infinite con- 
 descension and mercy, revealed his will, so 
 far as is profitable for instruction, for re- 
 proof, for correction, for thoroughly furnish- 
 ing unto every good word and work, and for 
 attaining to everlasting life ! 
 
OF MISSIONS. 25 
 
 This revealed will of God comprehends all 
 "we know of God, whether our knowledge is 
 derived from the works of nature; from the 
 ways of providence; from the nature and 
 constitution of the human mind, of human 
 governments, and of human society; or 
 whether it is derived from God's word and 
 Spirit, from prophecies, promises, and spiri- 
 tual experience. 
 
 god's revealed will the foundation of all 
 right faith and obedience. 
 
 This revelation of God's will — this actual 
 and certain knowledge of what God is, in his 
 nature, attributes, and offices; this heaven- 
 imparted discovery of God's purposes and 
 plans towards man; of his desires and de- 
 signs in the gospel; and of his mode of pro- 
 claiming and of administering his spiritual 
 kingdom upon earth — this will of G-od is, we 
 say, the foundation of our faith. It is on 
 this will faith builds, as on the rock of ages. 
 It is on this will faith rests, as its evidence 
 and authority. And it is to this will of God 
 faith looks, for all the certainty, the power, 
 3* 
 
26 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 and the instrumentality of its victorious 
 triumph. 
 
 By his word, and by his hour, 
 AVhen the promise came with power, — 
 By his Holy Spirit's token, — 
 By his covenant unbroken, 
 Strengthening, while the world lasts on 
 From his cross unto his throne, 
 Till the glorious work is done, 
 Know that God's own might is yours, 
 And yours the righteous crown. 
 
 But this revealed knowledge of God is 
 also the source of all our moral obligations. 
 It makes known the relations in which God 
 stands to us, and in which we stand to God, 
 and in which, as they are also related to 
 God, we stand to our fellow- creatures. The 
 Triune God having revealed himself as a 
 merciful Father, loving the whole world of 
 human beings, even considered as sinful, 
 guilty, and miserable; and having further 
 revealed himself in Christ, his Son, as our 
 Saviour, manifested for the reconciliation of 
 the world unto himself; and having revealed 
 himself still further in the person of the 
 Holy Spirit, as convincing the world of sin, 
 
OF MISSIONS. 27 
 
 of righteousness, and of judgment, and in 
 this way converting, regenerating, and sanc- 
 tifying the souls of men; and God having 
 also revealed that this scheme of divine 
 mercy is to be carried on through the instru- 
 mentality of redeemed men, and the ordinary 
 agencies of human power and influence; — 
 these things being revealed and made known, 
 it becomes at once the duty of every man to 
 believe them, and to act in accordance with 
 them. They originate not only faith, but 
 also works. They constitute relations and 
 obligations between us and God, and between 
 us and men. They demand the obedience 
 of faith, and the obedience of practice. 
 They require doing as well as believing. 
 They make service just as reasonable as 
 hearing; sacrifice just as necessary as ser- 
 vice; self-denial just as imperative as reve- 
 rence; and laborious exertion just as plainly 
 obligatory as implicit submission. The re- 
 vealed knowledge of God and of his will 
 creates, therefore, practical principles as 
 certainly as abstract truths; duties as well 
 
28 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 as dogmas; and a life and occupation as 
 assuredly as a creed. 
 
 Faith, miglity faith, the promise sees, 
 
 Relies on that alone ; 
 Laughs at impossibilities, 
 
 And says, *'It shall be done." 
 
 Faith lends her realizing light. 
 
 The clouds disperse, the shado\7S fly; 
 
 The invisible appears in sight, 
 And God is seen by mortal eye. 
 
 As faith, therefore, is the principle of 
 Christian missions, so obedience is their life. 
 Faith is God's truth believed; obedience is 
 God's truth acted upon. Faith receives the 
 knowledge of God's will; obedience applies 
 it to its legitimate purposes. Faith trusts; 
 obedience ventures. Faith loves; obedience 
 works. Faith says, "It ought to be done;" 
 obedience says, "It shall be done." Faith 
 acknowledges the command of our Father, 
 to "^o;" obedience goes and works. Faith 
 looks to the promise, to the prospect, and to 
 the ultimate success; obedience looks to the 
 field, to the harvest, and to the wheat perish- 
 ing for want of labourers, and thrusting in 
 its sickle, in the sweat of the brow, toils 
 
OF MISSIONS. 29 
 
 until the clay is over, and the night has 
 come, when it can no longer work. Faith 
 points to life and to the world as a state of 
 probation, preparation, and discipline, and 
 to heaven as a place of rest, recompense, 
 and glory; obedience accepts the trust, 
 acquiesces in the trial of its faith, and gives 
 all diligence to make our calling and election 
 sure, by working out our own salvation, and 
 the salvation of others, with fear and trem- 
 bling. In all times of need ; in every uncer- 
 tainty; amid perplexity and doubt; when 
 surrounded by clouds and darkness; when 
 tossed by whirlwinds, and amid engulfing 
 seas, faith looks to this will of God as her 
 anchor, her hope, and her compass, while 
 obedience stands at the helm, and steers 
 right onward, bating neither heart nor hope. 
 
 Christ's church her ample bosom may expand, 
 
 Again contract — may open far and wide 
 
 Her tent, extend her cords, on either hand 
 
 Break forth, again into herself subside; 
 
 Alike "with her Faith's oracles abide, 
 
 Revered by fickle worshipper or spurned. 
 
 Oft faint, ne'er lost, the lamp by heaven supplied, 
 
80 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Oft dimmed by envious mists, ne'er uudiscerned, 
 God's witness, tlirough all time, hath in his temple 
 burned. 
 
 0, holy Truth, whene'er Christ's voice is heard, 
 
 A thousand echoes answer to the call; 
 
 Though oft inaudible his gentle word, 
 
 While we regard not. Take me from the thrall 
 
 Of passionate hopes, be thou my all in all; 
 
 So may obedience lead me by the hand 
 
 Into thine inner shrine and secret hall. 
 
 Thence hath thy voice gone forth o'er sea and land, 
 
 And all that will may hear, but none can understand, 
 
 Save the obedient. From both fear and doubt, 
 Affections vile, low cares, and worldly blight, 
 And controversial leanings and debate, 
 Save me ! From earthly film my mental sight 
 Purge thou. Make my whole body full of light. 
 So may my eyes from all things truth convey. 
 My ears thy providential lessons read aright, 
 My dull heart understand, and I obey. 
 Following where'er thy cloud hath marked the forward 
 way. 
 
 god's revealed will concerning the salvation 
 or THE heathen. 
 
 As it regards the subject of Christian 
 missions to the heathen, God has revealed 
 his will with a clearness, frequency, and 
 emphatic earnestness, which leave no room 
 
OF MISSIONS. 81 
 
 for ambiguity or indecision. Take, for in- 
 stance, the second Psalm — a psalm inspired 
 a thousand years before the birth of Christ, 
 to be sung with exultation in the temple; to 
 be adopted by God's believing people in all 
 ages, to the end of time, as the joyful ex- 
 pression of their faith, hope, and confident 
 expectation ; which has thus for three thou- 
 sand years been the strong tower to which, 
 in every emergency, the beleaguered host of 
 Zion has fled; and which, in their hours of 
 battle and of persecution, has constituted 
 their rallying cry, and their shout of triumph, 
 and their victorious banner. 
 
 "Yet have I set my King, [the Anointed, 
 the Messiah,] upon my holy hill of Zion. I 
 will declare the decree: Jehovah hath said 
 unto me, [the Anointed,] Thou art my Son ; 
 this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, 
 [as thou sittest at my right hand, fulfilling 
 thy mediatorial work,] and I shall give thee 
 the heathen for thine inheritance, and the 
 uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
 sion. [New Test.: ^He shall reign for ever 
 and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords.' 
 
32 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Rev. xi. 15 ; xix. 16.] Thou shalt break them 
 with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them in 
 pieces like a potter's vessel. [New Test. : 
 'He must reign till he hath put all enemies 
 under his feet.' 1 Cor. xv. 25.] Be wise 
 now, therefore, ye kings; be instructed, 
 ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with 
 fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the 
 Son, [New Test.: *Come unto me, all ye 
 that labour and are heavy-laden.' Matt. xi. 
 28,] lest he be angry, and ye perish from 
 the way, when his wrath is kindled but a 
 little. [New Test.; 'For our God is a con- 
 suming fire.' Tall on us, and hide us from 
 the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, 
 and from the wrath of the Lamb.' Heb. xii. 
 29; Rev. vi. 16.] Blessed are all they that 
 put their trust in him. [New Test. : 'Who- 
 soever believeth in him shall not perish, but 
 have everlasting life.' John iii. 16.]" 
 
 Here then we have, in very plain, peremp- 
 tory, and authoritative language, the will, 
 the decree, of the Father — written in the 
 volume of the Book of his everlasting pur- 
 poses, and emphatically announced in a 
 
OF MISSIONS. 33 
 
 psalm appointed for daily use in Zion, and 
 burning, as it has been eloquently said, 
 "with seraphic fire; filled with high themes 
 which never entered man's heart; a sum- 
 mary of truths high as heaven, and deep as 
 hell, before which every one who understands 
 them trembles ; announcing a plan of salva- 
 tion devised in God's eternal counsels, and 
 which it emptied heaven to execute; and 
 condensing a history of all future ages as 
 present to the omniscient mind, for the 
 guidance of his obedient children." 
 
 Here also we have unrolled for our peru- 
 sal that will of God which Christ the Son 
 came into this our accursed world "to do," 
 and which he ever lives at God's right hand 
 to execute. Here is that will of God which 
 Christ authoritatively enforced in his com- 
 mission to his church — when on the mount 
 of ascension he spake unto it, and said, "Go 
 ye into all the world, and preach the gospel 
 to every creature;" which he embodied in 
 the short and simple form of prayer delivered 
 by him as the comprehensive summary of 
 all Christian obligation and blessing ; which 
 4 
 
34 
 
 Christ has made the ground and Hmlt of his 
 presence and blessing to the end of the 
 world; and which is given also as the mea- 
 sure of this world's duration, seeing that 
 when the gospel shall have been preached 
 among all nations, as a witness to the people, 
 then shall the end come. This, in short, is 
 the "promise of the Father," which the dis- 
 ciples heard from Christ, the times and the 
 seasons for fulfilling which the Father hath 
 put in his own power, and which there- 
 fore it is not for man to know. "But," 
 added the departing Saviour, "ye shall re- 
 ceive power after that the Holy Ghost is 
 come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses 
 unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, 
 and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost 
 part of the earth." 
 
 Here then is an exposition of his will, 
 given by God himself; sustained and inter- 
 preted by innumerable promises, prophecies, 
 and acts; and made so plain and prominent 
 as to constitute the ground of the most 
 implicit faith, and the motive to the most 
 self-sacrificing efi'ort. And hence we are 
 
OF MISSIONS. 35 
 
 informed, tliat they who listened to our 
 Saviour's last annunciation of this "promise 
 of the Father," — that these all "continued 
 with one accord in prayer and supplication 
 ■with the women." 
 
 Let it then be understood and felt, that it 
 is the will of Grod that the heathen should be 
 given unto Christ, and the uttermost parts 
 of the earth as his possession. This, be it 
 understood by all men, is not merely God's 
 secret, sovereign, and absolute will; this is 
 God's will, revealed and declared. This is 
 not merely God's will, as that word implies 
 God's willingness that this should be accom- 
 plished. It is God's desire. It is God's 
 decree. It is God's decree, declared and 
 ratified. It is God's decree, consummated 
 by the actual establishment of his spiritual 
 kingdom; by the incarnation of his only 
 begotten Son ; by the inauguration of Christ 
 as King upon the holy hill of Zion ; by his 
 exaltation to the throne of heaven; by his 
 endowment there with all power in heaven 
 and on earth. This is that will of God which 
 he has publicly attested to all past a^es by 
 
36 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 the extension of Christ's kingdom; by its 
 preservation and propagation through sixty 
 centuries; through people and realms of 
 every tongue; against powers of earth and 
 hell combined; through ages of persecution 
 and seas of blood; gathering to itself, in its 
 visible organization, through every successive 
 generation, from among its enemies and its 
 most determined, active assailants, millions 
 of devoted — because convinced and convert- 
 ed — friends; and collecting together, in its 
 invisible form, "the kingdom of heaven, the 
 general assembly, the church of the first- 
 born, the heavenly Zion;" the millions of 
 millions who, through faith and patience, and 
 manifold tribulations, conflicts, and victo- 
 ries, shall have passed from earth to heaven, 
 from time to eternity, from faith to vision, 
 and from hope to the full fruition of unspeak- 
 able delight. 
 
 Lord, who, to set thy pardon's seal, 
 To us thy Godhead dost reveal, 
 And on our skies the signal plant 
 Of thy life-giving covenant: 
 Grant I may so obedience learn, 
 That I may all its truths discern; 
 
OF MISSIONS. 37 
 
 And thus, while I its truths discern, 
 
 My heart shall full obedience learn, 
 
 Until their mutual benison 
 
 Disclose in me the eternal Son. 
 
 So order me, that wholly thine. 
 
 Walking in holy discipline, 
 
 Thy promise in my soul I'll hide, 
 
 To steer me mid life's whelming tide; 
 
 Above all joy thy kingdom love, 
 
 In life and death thy servant prove, 
 
 Resigned, resolved, in meekness bold ; 
 
 That so thy prayer, which I repeat, 
 
 May find in me accordance meet. , 
 
 GOD NOW ACCOMPLISHING HIS DECREE IN TWO SUPER- 
 HUMAN FACTS. 
 
 Let us dwell upon two of the marvellous 
 facts to which we have alluded. Although 
 superhuman in their character and cause, 
 and most wonderful in their development, 
 and of extraordinary force as proofs of the 
 divinity of Christianity, they are greatly 
 overlooked both by the friends and by the 
 enemies of the gospel. 
 
 The first is, that the adherents of Chris- 
 tianity, at any one time, are composed ex- 
 clusively of those who have been convinced, 
 4* * 
 
3S OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 converted, and made willing captives and 
 loyal subjects of the Redeemer's kingdom 
 during a single generation, and who will 
 cease even to exist when another generation 
 shall have come into existence. The Church 
 of God is not self-perpetuating. It is not 
 hereditary. It is not a caste. It is not a 
 secret mystic order. It creates no monopo- 
 ly. It is sustained by no appeals to pride, 
 passion, interest, honour, or emolument. It 
 recognizes no distinction in colour, in rank, 
 in social and civil position, in wealth, educa- 
 tion, or refinement, except so far as these 
 pertain to the life that now is, and to those 
 temporal distinctions which are ordained of 
 God only for man's present advantage and 
 progress, and, after serving their temporary 
 purposes, perish and are forgotten. On all 
 that is of the world, Christianity looks with 
 anxious and sorrowful contemplation. On 
 all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, 
 and the pride of life — on all its pomps and 
 pageantry— on all its fashion and vain show 
 — on all its diversities of rank and fortune, 
 of wealth and poverty — on all this fashion 
 
OF MISSIONS. 39 
 
 of the world, Christianity looks down as 
 upon the waves which, in endless variety of 
 form and size, rise, and fall, and sink into the 
 one common mass of ocean ; or as upon the 
 bubbles that come to the surface of some 
 boiling spring, which, however diversified in 
 their force and figure, and noisy ebullition, 
 all burst and scatter, and wholly disappear. 
 Christianity, therefore, is no natural so- 
 ciety, combined and held together by natural 
 principles, prejudices, partialities, or asso- 
 ciations of any kind. It repudiates and. ab- 
 jures them all. It is based exclusively upon 
 spiritual truths, spiritual hopes, spiritual 
 blessings, and spiritual experiences. It de- 
 mands the renunciation of all others, so far 
 as they may be contrary to these. It knows 
 no birthright but a celestial birth, no title 
 but faith, no life but Christ, and no citizen- 
 ship but that constituted by allegiance to 
 Him who is the King of Zion, and the King 
 of kings. Every Christian is therefore a 
 convert, who had once been a pervert. 
 Every Christian is a friend who had once 
 been an enemy. Every Christian is a re- 
 
40 
 
 • 
 
 claimed, reconciled, and adopted child, who 
 
 had once been an apostate, prodigal, and 
 
 disinherited outcast.* 
 
 And hence, whether in another generation, 
 
 Christianity shall become extinct, and the 
 
 Church exterminate, depends upon the fact 
 
 whether other millions shall arise to take the 
 
 places of the living by coming out from the 
 
 world, by separating themselves, believing 
 
 Christ's doctrines, by submitting to Christ's 
 
 discipline, by accepting Christ's promises, 
 
 * "Who are they," says Arnobius (lib. i.) ''perhaps 
 you ask — (he is addressing the heathen, and appealing 
 to the example of the first Christians) — tribes, peoples, 
 nations, the incredulous human race? Had not the 
 thing been public, and in some sort clearer than the 
 light, they would never have given their assent to 
 claims of this nature. Shall "we say that the men of 
 those times were inconsiderate, deceitful, stupid, 
 brutish enough to feign having seen what they never 
 saw ? — and that when they might have lived with you in 
 harmony and amicable union, they chose gratuitous 
 hatred, and to bear an execrable name? Truly, it 
 was because they saw all these things done by Christ 
 and by his heralds, that multitudes, conquered by the 
 force of truth itself, gave themselves to God, nor 
 thought it too great a cost to surrender themselves to 
 you for torture and for death." 
 
OF MISSIONS. 41 
 
 by devoting themselves to Christ's service in 
 body, soul, and spirit; and by living not 
 unto themselves, nor unto the world, but 
 unto Him that died for them, who rose 
 again for their justification, and whose will 
 it is that his gospel should be preached to 
 every creature. 
 
 Let us, then, bear this in mind, in our 
 estimation of the claims of the gospel to 
 be — according to the decree and plan of 
 God — the instrumentality, the power, and 
 the wisdom of God for the salvation of 
 men, and predestined therefore to be yet 
 preached, as a witness unto all nations, and 
 to the very uttermost parts of the earth. To 
 have any thing like a proper view of these 
 claims, we must not only estimate the mil- 
 lions now alive, who have been constrained, 
 by a reluctant conviction, to render to that 
 gospel a real, or at least an outward and 
 submissive obedience; but to these millions 
 we must also add the millions more, in every 
 generation, up to the time of the original 
 proclamation of that gospel in the garden 
 of Eden, who have thus believed. But we 
 
42 
 
 must still further remember, that every one 
 of these millions was personally, and by his 
 own individual choice, and against all the 
 dissuasions of carnal pleasure, worldly profit, 
 and earthly ambition, a living and a willing 
 sacrifice, offered up by his own hand upon 
 the altar of the divine Redeemer's one great 
 sacrifice, as a propitiation for the sins of the 
 whole world. 
 
 It is in this aspect, and in this only, that 
 we can clearly see the will of God, as re- 
 vealed in his decree, actually realized and 
 made the immovable foundation of all provi- 
 dences, the basis of all promises, the spirit 
 of all prophecies, the life of all dispensations, 
 the soul of all ordinances, the key of all 
 mysteries, the philosophy of all history, the 
 destiny of all nations, the chain of all events, 
 and the electric wire which conveys one and 
 the same utterance, from the first voice of 
 God in Eden, to that full proclamation of 
 the gospel now made to every age, and kin- 
 dred, and people under the whole heavens. 
 
 How great, then, is our privilege who live 
 in these later days of the church and of the 
 
OF MISSIONS. 43 
 
 world! The spiritual experience of sixty 
 centuries, and of a cloud of innumerable wit- 
 nesses is ours. We have not to tread a path 
 in which we have no precursors, or encounter 
 dangers which have never been met and 
 overcome. Far as the eye, or even imagina- 
 tion can reach, the road which we have to 
 traverse is crowded with beckoning forms, 
 as though the sepulchres gave up their host 
 of worthies that we might be animated with 
 the view of the victorious throng. 
 
 Soldiers of Christ, arise, 
 And put your armour on. 
 Strong in the strength which God supplies 
 Through his eternal Son; 
 
 Strong in the Lord of Hosts, 
 And in his mighty power; 
 Who in the strength of Jesus trusts, 
 Is more than conqueror. 
 
 Stand then in his great might, 
 With all his strength endued ; 
 But take to arm you for the fight. 
 The panoply of God. 
 
 That having all things done, 
 And all your conflicts past, 
 
44 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Ye may o'ercome througli Christ alone, 
 And stand entire at last. 
 
 From strength to strength go on, 
 Wrestle, and fight, and pray. 
 Tread all the poTrers of darkness down, 
 And win the well-fought day. 
 
 Such is the first fact, in proof of the vi- 
 tality and of the actual accomplishment of 
 God's decree, to which we would invite more 
 than ordinary attention — a fact which mul- 
 tiplies the number of distinct witnesses to 
 the truth of Christianity by millions, and as- 
 similates the accumulated power of their 
 combined testimony to the light of the Sun, 
 whose goings forth are from one end of the 
 heavens unto the other, and which utters its 
 silent proclamations, wherever there is a 
 speech or language in which they can be 
 heard. 
 
 And the second fact in proof of the actual 
 accomplishment and glorious power of God's 
 decree — like unto the first, and following 
 from it as a final end and consummation — is 
 that unlike all other kingdoms, this kingdom 
 of Zion is unfailing and undiminished. Of 
 
OF MISSIONS. 45 
 
 its dominion there is no end. Its victories 
 never become defeats, because its defeats are 
 always the precursors of greater and more 
 glorious victories. The conquests of the 
 gospel abide in everlasting trophies of re- 
 deeming grace. Its converts, numerous as 
 the drops of morning dew, are transformed 
 into living diamonds, which sparkle in un- 
 diminished lustre upon the leaves of that 
 tree which grows fast by the river of life in 
 the paradise above, and whose ever-growing 
 branches supply shade, fruit,' and beauty to 
 the increasing multitude of the ransomed of 
 the Lord, as they return, day by day and 
 hour by hour, to the celestial Zion, with 
 everlasting joy upon their heads. 
 
 I stood by the open casement, 
 
 And looked upon the night, 
 And saw the westward going stars 
 
 Pass slowly out of sight. 
 
 Slowly the bright procession 
 
 Went down the gleaming arch, 
 And my soul discerned the music 
 
 Of their long triumphant march: 
 
 Till the great celestial army, 
 Stretching far beyond the poles, 
 
 5 
 
46 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Became the eternal symbol 
 Of the mighty march of souls. 
 
 The stars and the mailed moon, 
 Though they seem to fall and die, 
 
 Still sweep, with their embattled lines, 
 An endless reach of sky. 
 
 And though the hills of death, 
 
 May hide the bright array, 
 The marshalled brotherhood of souls 
 
 Still keeps its upward way. 
 
 Upward ! for ever upward, 
 
 I see their march sublime, 
 And hear the glorious music 
 
 Of the conquerors of Time. 
 
 And long let me remember 
 
 That the palest fainting one 
 May to Divine vision be 
 
 A bright and blazing sun. 
 
 The cliurch on earth is only the nursery 
 for the church in heaven. She is only the 
 birthplace of souls — the school of eternity — 
 the gymnasium of probationary discipline — 
 the field of labour — the scene of battle — the 
 theatre of glorious war — the harvest for a 
 celestial reaping, when the harvest-home of 
 every grain of wheat, ripened upon earth 
 and gathered into the heavenly garner, shall 
 
OF MISSIONS. 47 
 
 be celebrated amid the rejoicing shouts of 
 that innumerable multitude whom no man 
 can number. 
 
 When, therefore, the present generation, 
 of true believers shall pass from earth, they 
 shall pass to heaven. They die not; they 
 die no more; they are not lost; they are 
 only gone before. 
 
 He bides with us who dies, he is but lost who lives. 
 
 They do not cease to be "Christians; they are 
 made perfect in heaven. They do not lose 
 their birthright; the inheritance is theirs, 
 and the heir has become the lord and mas- 
 ter. They join the generation of true be- 
 lievers who preceded them ; they mingle with 
 the general assembly and church of the first- 
 born in heaven. They become fellow citizens 
 with Adam and Eve; with Enoch and the 
 sons of God; with Noah and his believing 
 posterity; with Abraham and Job; with 
 Moses and Elias; with prophets and apos- 
 tles; with saints and martyrs; with friends 
 and relatives; and with all the blessed dead 
 who have died in the Lord in the faith and 
 hope of the gospel. 
 
48 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Come on, my partners in distress. 
 Companions through the wilderness, 
 
 Fierce warfare urging still: 
 Awhile forget your griefs and fears. 
 And look beyond this vale of tears, 
 
 To that celestial hill. 
 
 Beyond the bounds of time and space 
 Look forward to that heavenly place, 
 
 The saints' secure abode; 
 On faith's strong eagle pinions rise. 
 And force your passage to the skies, 
 
 And scale ttie mount of God. 
 
 We suffer with our Master here, 
 But shall before his face appear, 
 
 And by his side sit down. 
 To patient faith the prize is sure ; 
 And all that to the end endure 
 
 The cross, shall wear the crown. 
 
 The great mysterious Deity, 
 
 We soon with open face shall see — 
 
 The beatific sight 
 Shall fill heaven's sounding courts with praise, 
 And wide diffuse the golden blaze 
 
 Of everlasting light. 
 
 In hope of such ecstatic joys, 
 Jesus, we now sustain the cross,: 
 
 And at thy footstool fall : 
 Till thou our hidden life reveal — 
 Till thou our ravished spirits fill, 
 
 And God be all in all! 
 
OF MISSIONS, 49 
 
 To estimate aright, therefore, the will of 
 God ia this decree; and the results of this 
 decree in the souls already actually given to 
 Christ; and to estimate aright the future 
 results of this decree in the coming triumph 
 of the gospel, we must add to all the Chris- 
 tians now on earth, all who have ever been 
 upon earth, and every one of whom — not 
 one lost or missing — are now in heaven. 
 And still further, in estimating what the 
 gospel, as the power of God and the wisdom 
 of God unto salvation, can now do, and 
 what it can accomplish for the generations 
 following, we must lift up our heads and be- 
 hold that great cloud of witnesses who now 
 surround us in heaven, and who, through 
 faith and patient obedience, have inherited 
 all the promises, and are now enjoying that 
 eternal weight of glory, which is so unspeak- 
 able, that while here below neither eye saw, 
 nor ear heard, nor did it enter into their 
 hearts to conceive it. 
 
 Come, brothers! let us onward; 
 
 Night comes without delay, 
 And in this howling desert 
 
 It is not good to stay. 
 5* 
 
50 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Take courage and be strong ; 
 
 We are hasting on to heaven; 
 
 Strength for warfare will be given, 
 And glory won ere long. 
 
 The pilgrim's path of trial 
 
 We do not fear to view ; 
 We know his voice who calls us — 
 
 We know him to be true. 
 Then let who will contemn, 
 
 Come, strong in his Almighty grace, 
 
 Come, every one with steadfast face! 
 On to Jerusalem! 
 
 brothers, soon is ended 
 
 The journey we've begun; 
 Endure a little longer — 
 
 The race will soon be run. 
 And in the land of rest — 
 
 In yonder bright eternal home 
 
 Where all the Father's loved ones come- 
 We shall be safe and blest. 
 
 Then, boldly let us venture ! 
 
 This, this is worth the cost: 
 Though dangers we encounter. 
 
 Though every thing is lost, 
 world! how vain thy call! 
 
 We follow him who went before, 
 
 We follow, to the eternal shore, 
 Jesus, our all-in-all. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 51 
 
 THE FULFILMENT OF THIS DECREE AND OF GOD's PLAN, 
 IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS CHURCH. 
 
 From such a survey of the actual working 
 of God's decree, and of what has been ac- 
 complished under it in ages past, God's will 
 — including both his purpose and his plan — 
 in the establishment of Zion as the church 
 or kingdom of Christ is made unmistakably 
 plain, and our faith and obedience as indubi- 
 tably certain. The church of God implies 
 the existence of heathen, and of heathen in 
 remote and distant lands, even to the utter- 
 most parts of the earth. The decree of 
 God in setting up Christ as the king of 
 Zion, evidently presupposes such a fallen 
 and apostate condition of humanity as ori- 
 ginates the abominable system of idolatry, 
 with all its defiance of God, and its temporal 
 and everlasting destruction of the well-being 
 of man. And hence the word of God 
 regards sin as rebellion against the govern- 
 ment and laws of God. It declares enmity 
 to God to be the spirit of every natural 
 heart, and traitorous disloyalty to be the 
 
52 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 characteristic of the human race under all 
 its manifestations. 
 
 It was in full view of all this sad apos- 
 tasy, that God established his throne in 
 Zion. Here he manifests himself in Christ 
 for the restoration and reconciliation of the 
 world. Here Christ reigns. Here he pro- 
 mulgates God's purposes and plan of mercy, 
 and the way of salvation. Here a welcome 
 reception is given to every returning sinner, 
 who is willing to lay down the weapons of 
 his rebellion, and bow to the sceptre of 
 God's rightful dominion. And from Zion 
 go forth the messengers of the King of 
 peace, into every valley, and to every moun- 
 tain top, preaching the glad tidings, and 
 publishing peace, he that heareth saying. 
 Come, and every man saying unto his 
 neighbour. Know thou the Lord, until all 
 shall know him, and every knee shall bow 
 to him, and every tongue confess that he 
 is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
 
 Thy name we hallow, and adore, 
 Praising thee for evermore. 
 And hasten till thy kingdom come, 
 Which is our eternal home. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 53 
 
 May we till that blest palm be won, 
 On the path of duty run, 
 With angels and archangels high, 
 And the heavenly company; 
 
 Singing of thine immortal love, 
 As thine angels sing above. 
 daily from the angelic hall. 
 This life giving food let fall; 
 
 And knit us in the holy tie 
 
 Of never failing charity. 
 
 That from thine own parental sway, 
 
 Naught may lead our feet astray ; 
 
 Ever attuned in heart to sing, 
 Thee our everlasting King. 
 Whose glory is our home on high, 
 And his name best Panoply. 
 
 THE ADAPTATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE FULFIL- 
 MENT OF god's decree. 
 
 Such is Zion. It is God's appointed 
 instrumentality for the subjugation of a 
 rebellious world; for the overthrow of the 
 kingdom of darkness; for the reconciliation 
 of apostate men; for their restoration to 
 the image and glory of God ; and for their 
 translation to that heavenly kingdom, where 
 they shall reign as kings and priests unto 
 God for ever. 
 
64 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Now, let US take any one point of time, 
 and any one spot of earth, and let this 
 kingdom be established there, and this 
 gospel be known there, and this decree of 
 God be proclaimed there, and we at once 
 perceive that by the very necessity of the 
 case, this central luminary radiates outwards 
 to those who are still heathen, even to the 
 uttermost parts of the earth — that is, to 
 those parts of the earth which are outermost 
 from that centre. And we are plainly 
 taught by God, that it was for this very 
 purpose that such church was established. 
 God placed it where it is, in the centre of 
 its own particular orbit — ^just as he did the 
 sun, and the moon, and the stars — to give 
 light unto all. For this very end and no 
 other, were that particular church, and the 
 church universal — which is the sum of all 
 particular churches — ordained and establish- 
 ed on the poles of truth, and in the sphere 
 of sinful humanity, that they might each 
 one, according to their ability, irradiate its 
 darkness with the light of the glorious 
 gospel of the blessed God. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 55 
 
 And hence in David's time Zion had its 
 central throne in Palestine; and Europe, 
 Great Britain, and America were, relatively 
 to it, heathen, and at the uttermost ends of 
 the earth. At earlier periods Zion had a 
 different centre, different radii, and a differ- 
 ent circumference. At other periods it had 
 several centres, like the several planets of a 
 system, from each of which the light diffused 
 itself, and the sound of the gospel went forth 
 into all the region round about. After the 
 resurrection of Christ, and his ascension to 
 heaven, and his bestowment of celestial gifts 
 — inspiration, miracles, ordinances, officers, 
 and above all others in glory and import- 
 ance, the influence of the Holy Ghost — these 
 centres of spiritual life and light were kin- 
 dled not only in Palestine, not only in Asia, 
 not only in Italy, but in Spain also, in 
 Britain, in India, in China, and in whatever 
 countries were then the uttermost parts of 
 the earth. And so it has been ever since, 
 and is now, with varying fluctuations accord- 
 ing to the faith and obedience of those to 
 
56 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 ■whose instrumentality the extension of the 
 gospel has been committed. 
 
 Ye captains of a heavenly host ; 
 
 Ye princes of a heavenly hall — 
 Stars of the world, in darkness lost, 
 
 And judges at its funeral; 
 
 Lights rising o'er a wintry night, 
 
 With tidings of eternal youth ; 
 On error's long bewildered sight, 
 
 Emerging with the lamp of truth. 
 
 Captains, but not of spear and shield, 
 No rebel host with steel to tame. 
 
 Nor arms of eloquence to wield ; 
 
 Nought but the lowly cross of shame. 
 
 The chain is riven, and broke the rod, 
 The world's long stern captivity; 
 
 And men are free to serve their God, 
 Whose yoke alone is liberty. 
 
 To distant lands His heralds fleet, 
 By God's mysterious presence led; 
 
 How beauteous ars their passing feet. 
 Like morn upon the mountain spread! 
 
 To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
 
 All glory be, as was of old, 
 Who calleth men, in darkness lost, 
 
 His saving glory to behold.* 
 
 * A hymn of the Ancient Church. 
 
OF MISSIONS. • 57 
 
 WHAT THE CHURCH ACCOMPLISHED OF OLD, AND IS 
 STILL ABLE TO PERFORM. 
 
 The church, as the pillar and ground of 
 truth, is therefore the visible embodiment of 
 God's will to a world, lying in wickedness, 
 rebellion, and guilt. It is the standard of 
 the cross planted on Immanuel's ground; on 
 that territory which has been purchased and 
 watered by his precious blood. It is the un- 
 furling of his banner; the rallying point of 
 his soldiers; the centre of operations in 
 whatever territory of the kingdom of dark- 
 ness it exists. And for the fulfilment of this 
 mission, it is the power of God, mighty 
 to the pulling down of the strongholds of 
 sin and Satan. The church is to the world 
 what Israel was to the surrounding king- 
 doms. To it were given the oracles and 
 ordinances of God. In it were found the 
 tabernacle, and the sanctuary, and the altar, 
 and the ark of the testimony, and the Shek- 
 inah, and the pillar of cloud and fire. 
 Around these were gathered, in their tents 
 and tribes, the chosen people. With that 
 people these signs of heaven abode, and 
 6 
 
58 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 wben by God's order these signs of his pre- 
 sence, these pledges of his power were 
 moved, then also Israel moved. With these 
 evidences of God's presence and power 
 around them, Israel fought and conquered 
 until the whole promised land was subdued, 
 allotted, and inhabited, and God's throne 
 was established on Mount Zion. The centre 
 of God's Jewish Zion was, therefore, origin- 
 ally in Egypt, afterwards at the Red Sea, 
 again in the wilderness, in Edom, and in 
 Canaan. But every where that Zion and 
 the people who composed it were the same, 
 and their ultimate end and purpose the 
 same, and their mode of accomplishing that 
 end was the same. 
 
 Now what Zion did for Israel, it has 
 accomplished every where, and at all times, 
 and for every nation. It lifted them up from 
 the depth of degradation and depravity. It 
 enlightened, elevated, and refined them. It 
 multiplied them as the stars of heaven. It 
 made them courageous, patriotic, and victo- 
 rious. It stimulated them to industry and 
 healthy activity. It encouraged commerce 
 
OF MISSIONS. 59 
 
 and fostered art. It diffused education and 
 gave birth to poetry, eloquence, and true 
 philosophy. It made Israel the envy of all 
 other nations, and the exemplar of all true 
 national glory and prosperity. So long as 
 it existed in purity and power, and so far as 
 its legitimate purpose and spirit were mani- 
 fested, God's ancient church accomplished 
 all these results. And it secured all these 
 results by accomplishing what was its chief 
 end, that is, the preservation and the pro- 
 mulgation of the gospel. Indeed the whole 
 history of the Jewish people is an intended 
 exemplification of God's will and man's duty; 
 of God's mercy and man's misery; of the 
 nature and design of the church and of the 
 gospel entrusted to its instrumentality; of 
 faith as the principle, and obedience as the 
 life of missions; and of the inseparable 
 connection between fidelity and success; 
 between disobedience and calamity; between 
 spirituality and power; between piety and 
 prosperity; between zeal for God's glory 
 and man's salvation, and the enjoyment of 
 God's favour and blessing in this present 
 
60 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 life, and of glory, honour, and immortality, 
 and proportionate recompense in the life 
 everlasting. 
 
 In Israel stood God's ancient throne, 
 
 He loved that chosen race ; 
 But now he calls the world his own, 
 
 And heathens taste his grace. 
 
 Christ's mediatorial work expressly designed 
 
 FOR ACCOMPLISHING GOd's DECREE. 
 
 The church then is God's will and decree, 
 revealed and made the basis of our faith and 
 obedience, that through his church might be 
 made known to the heathen, and to the very 
 uttermost parts of the earth, his manifold 
 wisdom and grace in the gospel of his Son. 
 This is God's own chosen way, and his only 
 appointed way of saving souls; of preaching 
 the gospel, and of reclaiming his enemies. 
 This is the kingdom given to his Son, and 
 founded on his mediation, incarnation, and 
 sacrifice. It was in obedience to God's will 
 and commandment Christ became the Saviour 
 of the world, the propitiation for sin, the 
 founder of his church, the King of Zion, the 
 
OF MISSIONS. 61 
 
 ruler and commander of his loyal subjects, 
 the Captain of salvation, the conqueror of 
 Satan, and the supreme judge and avenger 
 of all finally impenitent enemies. This was 
 that -will of God which Christ tells us he 
 came to do. This was God's commission 
 which Christ came to execute. This was 
 the will of God, to do which was Christ's meat 
 and drink while carrying on and finishing 
 "the work God gave him to do." "This is 
 the will which was supreme with Christ in 
 the garden of Gethsemane, and nerved his 
 soul for the horrors of the cross; the will 
 for which he was born; that will of God 
 for which he died ; for which he rose again ; 
 for which he lives and reigns; for which he 
 saves, sanctifies, and redeems sinners; for 
 which he rules in the armies of heaven, and 
 among the inhabitants of earth, making all 
 things conspire to the furtherance of the 
 gospel, and the fulfilment of his plans."* 
 
 * The reader will, I hope, read and digest Dr. Thorn- 
 well's discourse, The Sacrifice of Christ the Type and 
 Model for Missionary effort, from which I quote. 
 6* 
 
62 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Christ came not to be the Messiah of the 
 Jews, but the Saviour of the world — not to 
 redeem, regenerate, and restore Israel, but 
 to "draw all men unto him;" to gather 
 unto him a glorious church, from among all 
 people, and kindreds, and tribes, to receive 
 in short the heathen for his inheritance, and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth as his pos- 
 session. In comparison with this glorious 
 result God regards the establishment of the 
 visible church, and of its various Christian 
 institutions and advanced civilization, as but 
 of small account. "It is a light thing," 
 says God to Christ, "that thou shouldest be 
 my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, 
 and to restore the preserved of Israel; I 
 will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, 
 that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends 
 of the earth. And in the last day the 
 mountain of the Lord's house shall be 
 established in the top of the mountains, and 
 shall be exalted above the hills, and all na- 
 tions shall flow into it. And he shall judge 
 among the nations. And the Lord alone 
 
OF MISSIONS. bd 
 
 shall be exalted in that day. And the idols 
 he shall utterly abolish!"* 
 
 Christ only, of God's messengers to man, 
 Finished the work of grace, which he began; 
 E'en Moses wearied upon Nebo's height. 
 
 Though loth to leave the fight 
 With the doomed foe, yielded the sun-bright land 
 
 To Joshua's armed hand. * 
 
 And David wrought in turn a strenuous part, 
 Zeal for God's house consuming him at heart; 
 And yet he might not build, but only bring 
 
 Gifts for the heavenly King; 
 And these another reared, his peaceful son, 
 
 Till the full work was done. 
 
 List, Christian warrior! thou, whose soul is fain 
 To rid thy Mother of her present chain; — 
 Christ will exalt his church ; yea, even now 
 
 Begins the work, and thou 
 May est spend for it thy life, but, ere he come 
 
 Thy lot shall be the tomb. 
 
 THE T7ILL OF GOD IS THE FOUNDATION" OF OUR KNOW- 
 LEDGE OF GOD, AND OF OUR OBEDIENCE TO HIM. 
 
 Such then is the will of God respecting 
 the conversion of the world, so far as that 
 
 * See Butler's Summary of the Bible revelation in the 
 Analogy. Part it. Chapter 7th. 
 
64 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 will is revealed. This revealed will of God, 
 therefore, is undoubtedly the source of all 
 our relations to him, as the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, uniting in one mysterious 
 counsel, and in offices of ineffable love, for 
 the redemption of an apostate world. This 
 will of God to show mercy and not wrath, 
 induced him to make known the mystery of 
 godliness, hidden for ages in the infinite 
 depths of his incomprehensible nature. And 
 this revealed will of God is also the sum of 
 all our divine knowledge. This will, and 
 this alone, creates therefore all our obliga- 
 tions and duties; gives origin to faith and 
 hope; to peace and joy; to confidence and 
 expectation; to love and labour; to sacri- 
 fice and service. This will determines what 
 is truth; what is faith; what is obedience; 
 what is the nature of piety; what is the life 
 of piety; what is the final end and purpose 
 of piety; what are the laws of growth and 
 maturity to piety; and what shall be the 
 abiding fruits of piety in its everlasting 
 recompense. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 65 
 
 My Saviour calls, faith bids me rise 
 
 And calmly do my best; 
 Leaving to him, with silent eyes 
 
 Of hope and fear, the rest. 
 I step, I mount where he has led; 
 
 Men count my haltings o'er; 
 I know them ; yet, though self I dread, 
 
 I love his precept more. 
 
 All questions beyond this revealed will 
 of God, are among the secret things still 
 reserved in the arcana of the divine mind. 
 They cannot affect what is revealed. They 
 cannot alter, amend, or contradict it. They 
 cannot become the ground of faith, or the 
 authority for obedience. They are not only 
 beyond our cognizance, they are wisely 
 and purposely withheld and kept in abey- 
 ance. They are not intended to be known, 
 nor to be comprehended, nor to be made 
 the basis either of practical faith, or of 
 actual obedience. They are laid under a 
 divine interdict. To pry into them is sin. 
 To demand their revelation is impious pre- 
 sumption. To assume to know and under- 
 stand them is infatuated folly. And to act 
 upon them, and not to obey what is revealed, 
 
66 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 under a pretended compliance with what is 
 not revealed, is fanaticism and treasonable 
 disobedience. 
 
 Difficulties there may exist both in the 
 way of faith and obedience to this will of 
 God, but difficulcies do not affect positive 
 knowledge. Trials may lie like so many 
 obstacles in our way, but trials do not weaken 
 truth. Conflicting demands upon our time, 
 talents, obligations, and services, will pre- 
 sent their urgent claims, but these do not 
 neutralize the supreme will and demands of 
 God. In regard to Christian missions there- 
 fore — while there are a thousand perplex- 
 ing questions, and innumerable, and in many 
 cases insurmountable difficulties — and while, 
 so far as permitted, selfishness, and carnal 
 wisdom, and national partiality, and imme- 
 diate local interests, (in themselves good and 
 great,) will multiply difficulties and dis- 
 couragements, and while some men will 
 even boldly and blasphemously deny both 
 that faith which is the principle of missions, 
 and that obedidence which is the life of 
 missions, yet, nevertheless, the counsel of 
 
OF MISSIONS. 67 
 
 the Lord standeth sure, and that counsel 
 alone shall stand. There is, therefore, and 
 can be, but one question to every faithful 
 heart, on this and every other practical sub- 
 ject, and that is, "What is the will, and 
 wish, and word of God?" 
 
 might we know, for sore we feel 
 
 The languor of delay, 
 When sickness lets our fainter zeal, 
 
 Our foes block up the way. 
 
 Lord, who thy thousand years dost wait 
 To work the thousandth part 
 
 Of thy vast plan, for us create 
 With zeal — a patient heart. 
 
 OBEDIENCE TO THIS DECREED WILL OF GOD THE EVI- 
 DENCE AND END OF PIETY. 
 
 The will of God as it regards the conver- 
 sion of the world, and the instrumental 
 agency by which it is to be accomplished, are, 
 we have seen, indubitably plain. The king- 
 dom of Christ, composed of all who profess 
 to receive and believe on him, is established 
 for the express purpose of carrying into 
 effect the decreed will of God — that the 
 heathen shall be given to Christ for his 
 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for his possession. This is the chief 
 end and purpose of every church, and of 
 every Christian. To secure this end, God 
 has evidently adapted the gospel, and the 
 church, and the ministry ; and to this end 
 also has God adapted every Christian, both 
 by the natural and spiritual nature he has 
 imparted to him. For what is the essence 
 of Christian piety, but conformity in nature, 
 disposition, and desires, to God as manifested 
 in Christ? And the very character of 
 Christian life, what is it but sympathy with 
 Christ in doing the Vill of God for the 
 redemption of the world; in seeking and 
 saving the lost; in preaching the gospel to 
 every creature; and in doing good unto all 
 men, as we have opportunity and ability? 
 
 Prove thou thy words, the thoughts control 
 That o'er thee swell and throng; 
 
 They will condense within thy soul, 
 And change to purpose strong. 
 
 But he who lets his feelings run 
 
 In soft luxurious flow, 
 Shrinks when hard service must be done, 
 
 And faints at every woe. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 69 
 
 Faith's meanest deed more favour bears, 
 Where hearts and wills are weighed, 
 
 Than brightest transports, choicest prayers, 
 Which bloom their hour and fade. 
 
 Was it not for this end God sent Christ 
 into the world — that the world through him 
 might be saved? Was it not for this end 
 Christ came into the world, and laid down 
 bis life — that whosoever believeth in him 
 might not perish, but have everlasting life? 
 Was it not for this cause the Holj Spirit, 
 the Comforter, was given unto the world — 
 that the world through him might be con- 
 vinced, converted, and saved? Love to God, 
 love to men, and the desire by every sacri- 
 fice and service which God could render, to 
 deliver men from the awful consequences of 
 sin, and to expel it from the kingdom of 
 God, these unquestionably are the moral 
 elements which enter into the gospel, and 
 the whole scheme of salvation. Keunion 
 "with God through faith in Christ, and sanc- 
 tification of the Spirit, will, therefore, as- 
 suredly implant these principles in the 
 believing heart. The love of God in giving 
 7 
 
TO OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Christ, the love of Christ in giving himself, 
 and the love of the Spirit in enkindling love 
 to both, cannot fail to awaken love to our 
 fellow-men; love to the whole race of men; 
 love to that world which God loved; for 
 which Christ became a propitiation, and for 
 which the Spirit works; and love to men in 
 their highest character and greatest need — 
 that is, to men as immortal, and as exposed 
 to everlasting misery. 
 
 This is the will of God, and this must be 
 the will of all who love God. This was the 
 spirit of Christ, and this must be the spirit 
 of all his followers. This is the love of the 
 Spirit, and this love must witness with our 
 spirits that we are, indeed, the children of 
 God. God's will to save the world led him 
 to give his only begotten Son, and to work 
 for its redemption hitherto in all the works 
 of creation, providence, and grace. Christ's 
 will led him to give himself a ransom and a 
 redeemer, and ever to live, and reign, and 
 work for the furtherance of his glorious gos- 
 pel. And the will of the Holy Spirit led 
 him to work in the hearts of all who believe 
 
OP MISSIONS. 71 
 
 to will and to do according to God's merciful 
 designs. Union, therefore, to Christ implies 
 and requires union with him in his Spirit, in 
 his love to God, in his abhorrence of sin, in 
 his sacrifice, in all his designs and desires 
 for the perfect consummation of God's de- 
 cree, and for the complete fulfilment of his 
 glorious inheritance, when the heathen and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth shall be 
 given to him for his possession, and when 
 "all the ends of the world shall remember 
 and turn unto the Lord ; when all the kindreds 
 of the earth shall worship before him, and 
 when the kingdom shall become the Lord's, 
 and be shall be the governor among the 
 nations." Ps. xxii. 
 
 Behold, he comes ! Christ nearer draws, 
 
 And to his glorious mission cause 
 Welcomes his own with words of grace and might: 
 
 "Peace be to you!" — their peace, who stand 
 
 In sentry with God's sword in hand. 
 The peace of Chi'ist's loved champions warring in his 
 sight. 
 
 "Peace be to you!" — their peace, who feel 
 E'en as the Son the Father's seal. 
 So they the Son's; each in his several sphere 
 
72 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Gliding, on fearless angel wing, 
 One heart in all, one hope, one King, 
 Each an apostle true, a crowned and robed seer. 
 
 Sent as the Father sent the Son, 
 
 'T is not for you to swerve nor shun 
 Or power or peril; ye must go before — 
 
 If caught in the fierce bloody shower, 
 
 Think on your Lord's o'erwhelming hour; 
 Are ye not priests to Him who the world's forfeit bore? 
 
 The will of God, revealed as the ground 
 of faith, and the law and measure of obe- 
 dience, is not, then, it will be seen, revealed 
 merely for the salvation of Christian nations, 
 but also for the salvation of the heathen to 
 the uttermost parts of the earth. This is 
 the will and the work of God, on which he 
 has set his heart, and to secure which he in^ 
 vokes the cooperation of all who love and 
 obey him. 
 
 This is the end and aim of the Church, 
 and of the gospel, and of every Christian. 
 They are as light, as leaven, as servants, 
 as. co-workers with God, as an holy priest- 
 hood — that whatever position they providen- 
 tially occupy, they may employ their means, 
 their prayers, their influence, and their ex- 
 
OF MISSIONS. 73 
 
 ertions, to the extent of self-denying sacrifice^ 
 in order to impart the knowledge of salva- 
 tion to the heathen, and to the uttermost 
 parts of the earth. 
 
 Lord! -when sin's close-marshalled line 
 
 Urges thy witness on his way, 
 How should he raise thy glorious sign, 
 
 And how thy will display ! 
 
 Thus holy Paul, with soul of flame, 
 Rose on Mars' Hill, a soldier lone; 
 
 And thus preach we the atoning name, 
 Though but with hearts of stone. 
 
 OPPOSITION, DISOBEDIENCE, OR INDIFFERENCE TO THIS 
 WILL OF GOD, IS SIN. 
 
 We have seen, then, what is God's will. 
 Man is God's creature. Life is God's gift. 
 Faculties of body and mind, opportunities 
 for employing them, influence and means of 
 doing good, all are God's talents! And 
 what man ought to be, what a man ought to 
 believe, and what a man ought to do, is 
 clearly determined by God's will as revealed 
 for his guidance. 
 
 But sin has originated an opposite will. 
 Satan rules in the hearts and minds of unre- 
 
14 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 newed men. The lust of the eyes, the lust 
 of the flesh, and the pride of life have be- 
 come governing principles to the world Ijing 
 in rebellious wickedness, in allegiance to 
 Satan, and in enmity to God. Every man 
 is, therefore, put to the test whether he will 
 serve God or Mammon, whether he will live 
 for self or Christ, whether he will be for 
 Christ or against him, and whether he will 
 take his present portion, and his future and 
 everlasting recompense with the kingdom of 
 the saints of the Most High, or look for his 
 enjoyment in the good things of the present 
 life; or whether he will make the equally 
 fatal, and still more common attempt to 
 serve both God and Mammon, and while 
 keeping on good terms with the world, and 
 securing as much as possible of its present 
 recompense, render unto God a partial ser- 
 vice, give to him a nominal obedience, offer 
 unto him easy and convenient sacri6ces of 
 means and influence, and then hope for the 
 full recompense of an exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory in heaven. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 75 
 
 OUR OBEDIENCE OR DISOBEDIENCE TO THIS WILL OF 
 GOD TO SAYE THE HEATHEN, IS OF MOMENTOUS AND 
 PERILOUS CONSEQUENCE. 
 
 The position of every man, as related to 
 this kingdom and will of God, is, it will be 
 thus apparent, one of momentous conse- 
 quence. It involves his life. It is the actual 
 condition of his being. He must act one 
 way or the other — he cannot be neutral. 
 The world is in a state of apostacy and re- 
 bellion. The very throne and life of God 
 are assailed, and a conspiracy lurks in every 
 heart, and traitors are found even under the 
 garb and profession of friends. Now, it is 
 the object of the whole Bible to disclose 
 the nature, and extent, and malignity of 
 this unnatural wickedness; and it is God's 
 determination, as there disclosed, to over- 
 throw it by the moral power of his gospel, 
 and if that is rejected, by the whole force 
 of his infinite wrath. Christ is therefore 
 exalted to the throne. His church — the 
 Christian association, the great missionary 
 society — is instituted. And as in the time 
 
76 
 
 of William III., and in the period of our 
 own revolutionary struggle, and as in every 
 period of civil war, or foreign invasion, 
 every true and faithful citizen has been ex- 
 pected, and even required to associate him- 
 self with those who pledge life, and honour, 
 and service to the public good, so it is in this 
 spiritual contest, and as it regards the do- 
 minion and throne of the Redeemer. To 
 him every knee is required to bow, and every 
 tongue to confess, and every loyal subject 
 invoked to enrol himself in his divine associa- 
 tion, to deny himself, to forswear all other 
 lords, and to follow Him by a hearty, zealous 
 devotion to his cause, and opposition to his 
 enemies. 
 
 The mystery of iniquity, and the mystery 
 of God's plan for its destruction shall be 
 finished, as God hath declared to his servants 
 the prophets, when this kingdom shall no 
 longer be left to other people, nor to partial 
 development, but when judgment shall be 
 given to the saints, and they shall reign, and 
 the kingdom, and dominion, and the great- 
 ness of the kingdom shall be given to the 
 
OF MISSIONS. 77 
 
 people of the saints of the Most High, and 
 Jesus shall reign from shore to shore, and 
 from the rising to the setting sun. 
 
 It is surely then a perilous thing for any 
 man to be found, either secretly or openly, 
 either partially or unreservedly, either in 
 heart or in life, opposed to this kingdom of 
 Christ, and to this will and decree of God — 
 that by the preaching of the gospel the hea- 
 then shall be given to Christ as his inherit- 
 ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for his possession. 
 
 The decree offers no alternative but sub- 
 mission and cooperation — with the blessing 
 of Christ on earth and future glory; or of 
 opposition and indifference — with Christ's 
 derision here on earth, and everlasting 
 destruction from the presence of the Lord, 
 and from the glory of his power in his hea- 
 venly kingdom. He that is not with him, is, 
 he declares, against him. "He being made 
 perfect through suffering became the author 
 of eternal salvation to all them that obey 
 him, and he shall reign till he hath put all 
 enemies under his feet." "For this man, 
 
78 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, for 
 ever sat down on the right hand of God; 
 from henceforth expecting till his enemies 
 be made his footstool. For by one offering 
 he hath perfected for ever them that are 
 sanctified." 
 
 That we may hallow thy great name, 
 Lay on our lips thine altar flame ; 
 And that from thee no more we roam, 
 Thy kingdom come. 
 
 For only they, who do thy will, 
 Shall thine eternal kingdom fill, 
 Then may we throughout this night 
 Walk in thy Hght. 
 
 MOST DANGEROUS DELUSION. EVERY MAN REQUIRED 
 TO OBEY. 
 
 This subject, we fear, is even yet very 
 imperfectly understood and very inadequately 
 realized by Christians, and of course utterly 
 misconceived by the world. Missions to the 
 heathen are too generally considered as a 
 scheme of man, and not as the decree and 
 will of God. The extension of the gospel to 
 the uttermost parts of the earth is regarded 
 
OF MISSIONS. 79 
 
 as a magnificent but Utopian enterprise of 
 enthusiastic spiritual knight-errantry, and 
 not as the destined purpose of God the 
 Father, secured by covenant to God the Son, 
 and carried into effect by the mighty power 
 of God the Holy Spirit. And the accom- 
 plishment of this decree and will of God is 
 considered as a consummation which only 
 the will and power of God miraculously em- 
 ployed can ever effect, and not as a result to 
 be accomplished by Zion, on which Christ's 
 throne is established; in which he reigns; 
 of which he is the head ; in which he dwells 
 by his Spirit and presence; to which he has 
 given the gospel, and the commission to go 
 and preach it to every creature; and with 
 which. in the prosecution of this agency, and 
 only in so doing, he promises to be always, 
 to the end of the world. 
 
 The truth then is, that every man must be 
 a subject of this kingdom of Christ, or perish 
 ■with his enemies, and that every man who is 
 a member of the kingdom of Christ is re- 
 quired by the decree and will of God to offer 
 prayer continually that this kingdom may 
 
80 
 
 come, until the heathen shall be given to 
 Christ for his inheritance, and the uttermost 
 parts of the earth for his possession. In 
 other words the will of every Christian must 
 be the will of God. The great end and 
 object of his life must be the decreed purpose 
 of God. That on which God has set his 
 heart must engross the heart of the Chris- 
 tian. That for which Christ died and rose 
 again, the Christian must live and die to 
 accomplish. That for which the Father loves 
 the Son, and by which the Spirit glorifies the 
 Son, every Christian must love and count 
 his glory. 
 
 FAITH IN god's WILL TO CONVERT THE HEATHEN WILL 
 LEAD TO OBEDIENCE. WHERE THERE IS NOT OBEDI- 
 ENCE, THERE IS NOT FAITH. 
 
 Faith in God's will, which is the spirit 
 of piety, is therefore the spirit of missions. 
 Obedience to God's will, which is the life of 
 piety, is the life of missions. And missions 
 are just as truly the very spirit and life of 
 piety, and the unbelief and disobedience 
 
OF MISSIONS. 81 
 
 which are the destruction of missions, are at 
 the same time the destruction of piety. 
 
 "Sit thou here," is the will of God to the 
 exalted Redeemer, who having finished his 
 work of redemption is now for ever set down 
 at God's right hand. "Sit thou here till I 
 make all thine enemies thy footstool." This 
 is a renewal in heaven of the decree declared 
 on earth, another seal affixed to it, and a 
 standing evidence that it is immutably cer- 
 tain that Christ shall reign until, through the 
 agency of his church and people, every enemy 
 has been subdued, and his gospel has been 
 preached as a witness unto all nations. 
 
 Thy walls are strength, and at thy gates 
 A guard of heavenly warriors waits ; 
 Nor shall thy deep foundations move — 
 Fixed on his counsels and his love. 
 
 Thy foes in vain designs engage ; 
 Against his throne in vain they rage; 
 Like rising waves, with angry roar 
 That dash, and die upon the shore. 
 
 Now "to them that believe," this will of 
 God, this exaltation and dominion of Christ, 
 and this destined universality and triumph 
 8 
 
82 
 
 of the gospel is precious; but unto them 
 that stumble at the word, being disobedient, 
 this will of God is made a stone of stum- 
 bling, and a rock of offence, over -which 
 they shall fall into the destruction pre- 
 pared for the devil, and for all God's adver- 
 saries. 
 
 Faith in this will of God leads, therefore, 
 to that obedience by which it is accomplished, 
 and not to believe both in the will and in 
 the agency by which it is to be fulfilled is 
 itself disobedience. To believe and obey, 
 to disbelieve and disobey, are so essentially 
 connected as cause and effect, as principle 
 and practice, that they are often employed 
 as synonymous. Unbelief is the source of 
 all disobedience, just as faith is of all work. 
 Faith casts down all lofty, self-opinionated, 
 and proud imaginations, and brings the very 
 thoughts, desires, and the will itself, into the 
 obedience of Christ; and not to believe is, 
 therefore, to remain in a state of rebellion 
 and opposition. But it is more. It is itself 
 the great rebellion. It is the most bold and 
 daring act and exhibition of disobedience, of 
 
OF MISSIONS. »3 
 
 refusing to perform the will and work of 
 God. For " this is the work of God, that ye 
 believe." "The obedience of faith" is the 
 highest act of confidence, of worship, of sub- 
 jection to God. And not to believe is to 
 become "children of disobedience— of "un- 
 persuadableness," as it may be rendered, 
 that is, of those who will not be convinced 
 and converted, and made willing subjects 
 of Christ, and who shall therefore "be 
 damned." 
 
 Unbelief is thus seen to be the parent of 
 disobedience, and both together constitute 
 the highest aggravation of human depravity 
 and guilt. They reject overtures of mercy, 
 and of honourable reconciliation with God. 
 They exalt man, and dethrone his Maker. 
 They substitute self for God; self-will for 
 God's will; man's opinions for God's de- 
 crees ; self-interest in things present and 
 earthly for things everlasting and divine; 
 self-aggrandizement for the glory of God 
 and the advancement.«of his cause. Self, in 
 short, is made a God, and God an idol. The 
 Bible is rejected, or set aside as a dead 
 
84 OBEDIENCE, 
 
 letter; and God is made a liar — a deceiver 
 — an unjust or arbitrary sovereign, whose will 
 ought to be disobeyed. 
 
 Let this truth then be imbedded in the 
 very foundation of our heart's creed. Let it 
 become a first principle, as indeed it is, of 
 the oracles of God. Let it become a first 
 principle in our mental and spiritual habits 
 — an axiomatic, intuitive belief. Let it 
 imbue our minds, and energize our wills, and 
 give sovereignty to our conscience, and im- 
 part tone and temper to our whole lives. 
 
 Gird on thy sword, victorious Prince, 
 
 Ride with majestic sway; 
 Thy terror shall strike through thy foes, 
 
 And make the world obey. 
 
 Thy throne, God, for ever stands. 
 
 Thy word of grace shall prove 
 A peaceful sceptre in thy hands. 
 
 To rule the world by love. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES ARE NO EXCUSE FOR DISOBEDIENCE. 
 
 A thousand difiicultjes will arise to inter- 
 fere with and prevent a willing obedience to 
 the heavenly calling; but this is God's will, 
 
OF MISSIONS. 85 
 
 that the heathen should be given to Christ, 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth as his 
 possession. A thousand questions and con- 
 troversies may be originated about the hea- 
 then — their responsibility, character, and 
 doom — but this is God's will. A thousand 
 claims of home, and family, and church, and 
 country, will demand your time, your purse, 
 your interest, and zeal, and sacrifice; but 
 none of these claims, nor all combined, can 
 interfere with the will and decree of God, 
 that the heathen shall be given to Christ for 
 his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
 the earth for his possession, nor with the 
 divine requirement, that this decree shall be 
 carried into effect by Christ's believing and 
 obedient people. 
 
 There can therefore be no truth, no faith, 
 no obedience, no safety, no hope, no pros- 
 perity, no full and final recompense, where 
 the will of self, or family, or friends, or 
 church, or country, is allowed to interfere 
 with and set aside the will and command of 
 God, to preach the gospel to every creature 
 8* 
 
86 
 
 until the heathen shall be given to Christ, 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
 possession. 
 
 And as a man may even be finally saved, 
 and yet "suffer loss," and behold his many 
 selfish hopes and schemes burnt up and 
 destroyed, and he himself only saved so as 
 by fire, to become one of the least in the 
 kingdom of God, and reap sparingly, and 
 shine faintly in the firmament of heaven ; 
 therefore, let every minister, elder, and 
 church-member lay it to heart, that his 
 faith, if genuine, must be the spirit of mis- 
 sions; that his obedience, if sincere, must be 
 the life of missions; and that in all he does, 
 for self, or home, or church, or country, he 
 must aim supremely at what is the supreme 
 will and decree of God, that the heathen 
 may be given to Christ for his inheritance, 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
 possession. 
 
 Christ's everlasting messengers, 
 
 Still from the opening skies, 
 Traverse the earth like showers of light, 
 
 And sow heaven's mysteries. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 81 
 
 The things discerned by seers of old, 
 
 Behind the shadowy screen, 
 In the full day are now beheld, 
 
 With not a veil between. 
 
 The things which God as man hath done, 
 
 Which man as God hath done, 
 Speak ye, as God commands, to all 
 
 Who see the circling sun. 
 
 Though far in space and clime apart, 
 
 One Spirit sways you all; 
 Through whom in heaven's blest characters, 
 
 Men hear the living call. 
 
 Glory to God, the Three in One, 
 
 All glory be to thee, 
 Who from their darkness callest men, 
 
 Thy glorious light to see.* 
 
 GOD S DECREED WILL MAKES FAILURE IMPOSSIBLE. 
 
 God's decree is the law of this spiritual 
 kingdom. It combines his will and his 
 power. It is his expressed will, and his ex- 
 erted power. It is, therefore, to this spirit- 
 ual . kingdom what the laws of gravitation, 
 attraction, and repulsion are to his physical 
 
 * Ancient Hymn. 
 
88 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 kingdom. It is universal, invariable, funda- 
 mental. It is necessary. It excludes all 
 ideas of contingency, irregularity, and 
 caprice. It is independent, and far above 
 all human interference, or Satanic hin- 
 derance. God has willed that it shall be so, 
 and God's power secures that it will be so. 
 It is the fixed and unchangeable law of the 
 kingdom; and the history of the kingdom, 
 and the innumerable multitude already re- 
 deemed by it from among men, and the mil- 
 lions now passing through it to the kingdom 
 of heaven, evince the presence of God's un- 
 alterable will, and irresistible power. 
 
 This kingdom then must universally ex- 
 tend just as certainly as the sun must con- 
 tinue to rise and set, and in its course 
 irradiate with its light, and enliven with its 
 heat, all the nations of the earth. The one 
 is the type, and emblem, and pledge of the 
 other. 
 
 Arm of the Lord, awake, awake ! 
 
 Put on thy strength ^ — the nations shake ! 
 And let the world, adoring, see 
 
 Triumphs of mercy wrought by thee. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 89 
 
 Say to the heathen from thy throne 
 
 "I am Jehovah — God alone!" 
 Thy voice their idols shall confound, 
 
 And cast their altars to the ground. 
 
 No more let human blood be spilt — 
 
 Vain sacrifice for human guilt! 
 But to each conscience be applied 
 
 The blood that flowed from Jesus' side. 
 
 Arm of the Lord, thy power extend; 
 
 Let Mahomet's impostures end; 
 Break superstition's Papal chain, 
 
 And the proud scoffer's rage restrain. 
 
 Let Zion's time of favour come ; 
 
 bring the tribes of Israel home : 
 And let our wondering eyes behold 
 
 Gentiles and Jews in Christ's one fold. 
 
 Almighty God, thy grace proclaim, 
 
 In every land of every name; 
 Let adverse powers before thee fall. 
 
 And crown the Saviour Lord of all. 
 
 god's plan in carrying out his decree not man's 
 plan, but the best plan, as it makes obedience 
 
 DEPEND SOLELY ON GOD's WILL. 
 
 But God's will as revealed does not teach, 
 nor lead us to expect, that this universality 
 of the kingdom of Christ shall be immediate, 
 
90 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 uniform, and constant. It does not define 
 the time of this restitution of all parts of 
 this apostate world. It does not exclude 
 variations and vicissitudes in its outward 
 visible development. It does not render 
 defeats less possible than triumphs, nor 
 retreats and retrograde movements less likely 
 than onward progress and victorious enter- 
 prises. On the contrary, God revealed as 
 what would certainly transpire, all the muta- 
 tions, the decline, and fall, and rising again 
 — all the disasters and defeats that have 
 actually taken place. The present aspect 
 and condition, the present dangers and 
 duties of the church; the diflQculties that 
 exist within her from wordliness, and secta- 
 rianism, and error; and the difficulties that 
 environ her on every side, from false Chris- 
 tianity, false religions, and temporal dynas- 
 ties — these are all distinctly revealed. They 
 are all depicted by the infallible pen of 
 prophetic inspiration. They are, therefore, 
 a confirmation of the decree and will of God. 
 They are in accordance with it, and indeed 
 a part of it. And instead, therefore, of 
 
OF MISSIONS. 91 
 
 being any ground for unbelief, and disobe- 
 dience, they are an additional ground for 
 faith, and a powerful motive to obedience. 
 They do not excuse, they condemn indiffer- 
 ence. They make neutrality treason, and 
 inactivity unfaithful stewardship — a base 
 betrayal of our solemn trust, and of our 
 plain and undeniable obligations. 
 
 The law of the church is fixed. The 
 instrumentality of the church is fixed. The 
 duty of every Christian man and woman is 
 fixed. The gospel is in our hands, and it is 
 there that it may be put into the hands of 
 every creature. The inheritance has been 
 conveyed to us, and it is ours in trust to be 
 imparted by us to the uttermost parts of the 
 earth, until they too shall become Christ's 
 possession, and those now heathen shall 
 also have become his inheritance. 
 
 This then is our duty as plainly as the 
 result is God's will and decree. Our agency 
 is as plainly God's appointed means for the 
 fulfilment of his decree, as that decree 
 is plainly revealed and visibly manifested. 
 Duty is ours, and the event is God's. Obe- 
 
92 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 dience is ours, and success and recompense 
 are the Lord's. And -whatever may be the 
 result of our labours, and whatever may be 
 the failure or success of missions in our day, 
 of one thing the word and will of God 
 assures us, and that is, that the gospel will 
 yet be preached in all the world; and that 
 every effort, every prayer, every sacrifice of 
 money, of children, of time, of influence, and 
 of talents, for the furtherance of this glorious 
 consummation, will accomplish some present 
 good; will encourage and stimulate others 
 by example; will feed and fan the flame of 
 piety at home, in our hearts, and homes, 
 and churches; will sow the seed of future 
 exertions and success; and will entail a 
 blessed recompense in the world of light 
 and glory. 
 
 Give to the winds thy fears, 
 
 Hope, and be undismayed; 
 God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears, 
 
 God shall lift up thy head. 
 
 Through waves, and clouds, and storms. 
 
 He gently clears the way: 
 Wait thou his time ; so shall this night 
 
 Soon end in joyous day. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 93 
 
 Still heavy is thy heart? 
 
 Still sink thy spirits down? 
 Cast oflF the weight, let fear depart, 
 
 And every care be gone. 
 
 What though thou rulest not? 
 
 Yet heaven, and earth, and hell 
 Proclaim God sitteth on the throne, 
 
 And ruleth all things well. 
 
 Leave to his sovereign sway, 
 
 To choose and to command; 
 So shalt thou, wondering, own his way, 
 
 How wise, how good his hand! 
 
 Far, far above thy thought. 
 
 His counsel shall appear. 
 When fully he the work hath wrought, 
 
 That caused thy needless fear. 
 
 And on the other hand, it is just as cer- 
 tain that every effort that might be made to 
 accomplish this will and decree of God, 
 but which is withheld; every cold and selfish 
 preference of home, and every refusal to 
 live and labour for the conversion of the 
 world, will tend to spiritual poverty both 
 here and hereafter, and bring down upon us 
 the fearful curse, "Curse ye Meroz, curse 
 the inhabitants thereof, because they came 
 9 
 
94 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 ^ 
 
 not up to the help of the Lord — to the help 
 of the Lord against the mighty." 
 
 God's will and power are the only forces 
 in nature, in providence, and in the king- 
 dom of grace. "Everywhere there is pre- 
 sent God acting, not at random, but by law, 
 on principle, and with fixed design. There 
 is a plan in his working, a distinct, and by 
 us undiscoverable plan based on law, and 
 an extended system of laws. He sees for- 
 ward, and his far-seeing eye connects the 
 end with the beginning. His agency is a 
 vast, complicated, but harmonious whole, 
 throughout which we trace not only one 
 mighty hand, but one unerring mind." 
 
 The ultimate and universal diffusion of 
 the gospel, and the extension of the kingdom 
 of Christ to the ends of the earth, are em- 
 braced in God's plan, based on God's decree, 
 and carried forward by his power and 
 wisdom, in his own way, and in accordance 
 with his own manifold wisdom and purposes. 
 But what these ways are, and what in any 
 circumstances may best advance his ends, 
 and secure the greatest good, we are alto- 
 
OF MISSIONS. 95 
 
 gether incapable of determining. "We do 
 not," says Butler, "know what we are about 
 when we endeavour to promote the good of 
 mankind in any ways but those which he has 
 directed." Our short and limited views, our 
 narrow prejudices, and selfish feelings, ren- 
 der us incapable of acting beyond the known 
 will of God. On this rest all our obliga- 
 tions, and by this alone are we guided — like 
 soldiers in the midst of a wide spread battle, 
 or labourers in some extensive building, to 
 that course of action which will best secure 
 the designed result. 
 
 God moves in a mysterious may, 
 
 His wonders to perform; 
 He plants his footsteps in the sea, 
 
 And rides upon the storm. 
 
 Deep in unfathomable mines 
 
 Of never-failing skill, 
 He treasures up his bright designs, 
 
 And works his sovereign will. 
 
 His purposes will ripen fast, 
 
 Unfolding every hour ; 
 The bud may have a bitter taste. 
 
 But sweet will be the flower. 
 
96 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
 
 And scan his work in vain; 
 God is his own interpreter, 
 
 And he will make it plain. 
 
 It is, therefore, unspeakable presumption 
 in any man to determine that God's plan 
 for the UNIVERSAL diffusion of the gospel 
 can be best secured by his devoting his ener- 
 gies to the promotion of personal, local, or 
 national evangelization, to the exclusion of 
 that which is universal, and which aims at 
 giving the heathen to Christ for his inherit- 
 ance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 for his possession. This latter alone is 
 God's plan, God's will, God's command, and 
 God's way of best securing his blessing on 
 all other efforts. And in order, therefore, 
 to manifest the highest exercise of faith and 
 obedience, as good soldiers and efficient 
 co-workers of God, we must, while strenu- 
 ously labouring to promote every grace in 
 our own hearts, and pure and undefiled reli- 
 gion in our families, in our church, and 
 throughout the length and breadth of our 
 whole country, we must fight manfully, and 
 
OF MISSIONS. 97 
 
 labour diligently, to do good unto all men, 
 and to preach the gospel to every creature. 
 *' There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, 
 and there is that withholdeth more than is 
 meet, and it tendeth to poverty." " Go ye 
 into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
 every creature," — and then in so doing — 
 "lo, I am with you always, even unto the 
 end of the world." 
 
 WILL, DECREE, AND CHURCH. 
 
 But here it will be objected, that after all, 
 this will and decree of God has been very 
 partially fulfilled at any time, or in any 
 country. For while the converts gathered 
 into the kingdom of Christ on earth, and in 
 heaven — including among the latter the 
 whole number of those who have passed from 
 earth in a state of infancy, idiocy, and every 
 other form of irresponsible personal agency 
 — have been innumerable, still the greater 
 number of the adult population of the globe 
 9* 
 
9S OBEDIENCE, THE. LIFE 
 
 have never given evidence of any such spi- 
 ritual change. 
 
 Now this objection would have great weight 
 if God's decree implied the immediate and 
 universal establishment of Christ's kingdom, 
 or the universal conversion and salvation of 
 all who are subjected to Christ. But it im- 
 plies neither the one nor the other. "The 
 kingdom of God, the King himself has 
 declared, is not a fabric, but a growth; its 
 beginning is a little seed, which a bird might 
 easily devour; its end is a waving tree, in 
 whose branches the birds of the air may 
 come flocking to build their nests. Such is 
 the life of the church on earth; finished and 
 perfect in its divine beginning, but only as a 
 germ is perfect, not to be finished and per- 
 fect, as a tree is perfect, till human history 
 has run its entire course, and the trumpet 
 of the archangel announces the final judg- 
 ment. Twelve men were the beginning of a 
 kingdom, which has gone victoriously down 
 the ages, and over the continents, and 
 amongst the races of men, slowly but surely 
 subduing all things to itself, till now, if Cel- 
 
OF MISSIONS. 99 
 
 BUS himself, who once derided the idea of a 
 
 f 
 universal religion, could reappear in history, 
 
 he would have to confess that the standard 
 of the cross bids fair to be planted, sooner or 
 later, over all the earth." 
 
 The decree and the kingdom both imply 
 enemies who shall not submit, but shall be 
 destroyed. Rebellious opposers are referred 
 to in this decree as plainly as gracious sub- 
 jects. The heathen shall rage. The kings 
 of the earth shall set themselves against 
 God's anointed. The people shall imagine a 
 vain thing. The great mass of any popula- 
 tion may take counsel together. They may 
 break asunder the bands with which God 
 would in mercy bind them, and cast away 
 the cords with which Christ in love would 
 draw their reluctant hearts. But he that 
 sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The 
 Lord shall have them in derision. Then 
 shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and 
 vex them in his sore displeasure. He will 
 break them with a rod of iron. He will 
 dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 
 All that are incensed against him shall be 
 
100 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 ashamed. Unto him every knee shall bow, 
 every tongue shall swear, and his enemies 
 become his footstool. 
 
 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
 thereof. God has given to Christ *^ power 
 over all flesh, that he should give eternal 
 life to as many as he has given him." "And 
 he shall judge among the nations, and shall 
 rebuke many people." Nations and kings are, 
 therefore, under Christ's dominion, though 
 they may remain enemies to his kingdom, 
 and strangers to his salvation. They all 
 enter into the drama, and conspire to work 
 out the glorious consummation. So runs the 
 decree: "Be wise now therefore, ye kings; 
 be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve 
 the Lord with fear, and rejoice with tremb- 
 ling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and 
 ye perish from the way, when his wrath is 
 kindled but a little. Blessed are all they 
 that put their trust in him." 
 
 But does history confirm such prophecy? 
 do its facts sustain the decree? And is 
 the course of time resolvable into any plan, 
 and consistent with any ultimate purpose of 
 
OF MISSIONS. 101 
 
 the universal triumph of Christ's kingdom? 
 Who can doubt it? "If this world," as it 
 has been eloquently said,* "does not exist 
 for purposes of the church, then it exists by 
 accident and at random. If the history of 
 this world be not the history of the kingdom 
 of Christ, the Redeemer, then it is but the 
 history of confusion, and chaos, and utter 
 nothingness. Bring to mind some of the 
 prominent facts in this matter: First, You 
 have God's own promise to his church ages 
 on ages ago: The nation and hingdom that 
 will not serve thee_ shall perish, yea, those 
 nations shall he utterly wasted. Trace the 
 march of that church in the light of that 
 promise, or rather prediction, as she comes 
 in contact with the successive mighty empires 
 of the East and the West — the Egyptian, 
 the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Medo- 
 Persian, the Alexandrian, the Roman. The 
 office of each, in relation to her, was clearly 
 indicated, and their conduct and consequent 
 
 * From a very profound article on Prophecy an 
 Argument for Christianity, in the Princeton Review for 
 October, 1857, read after ours was delivered. 
 
102 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 fate, all are made known in these predictions, 
 and illustrated in parallel lines in their 
 history. Egypt was the nursery and school 
 to the infant church, where by the discipline 
 of centuries a handful of nomadic shepherds 
 were to be transformed into a nation of 
 civilized men, governed by regular laws, 
 living in fixed habitations, possessed of all 
 those multiform arts, and habits, and appli- 
 ances, that should fit them for their new 
 career in their own land, and when this 
 office is discharged, and she begins to regard 
 this people as her own, and resist God's 
 commands in regard to them, he brings 
 them out of her with a high hand and out- 
 stretched arm. Assyria he uses as a scourge 
 and a rod to his rebellious people, though it 
 was not in the heart of the king, nor did he 
 think so, and when that purpose was sub- 
 served, the indignation of God laid Nineveh 
 in the grave. Babylon was the prison-house 
 in which the Jews were cured of their appa- 
 rently incurable idolatry, and the nation of 
 Israel was utterly dissolved. Cyrus and his 
 dominion were made the deliverers of God's 
 
OF MISSIONS. 103 
 
 cliurch, and the avenger of her wrongs on 
 Babylon. And when that empire had grown 
 hostile to the purposes it was raised up to 
 subserve, it was shattered to atoms by the 
 conquering power of Alexander. His con- 
 quests in their turn spread the Greek lan- 
 guage and culture over all the East, and 
 prepared the way for the diiFusion of the 
 gospel in that tongue, wherever Jews were 
 dispersed that spoke and read the Greek 
 language. To Rome was assigned the work 
 of making commerce free and intercourse 
 safe, of teaching the idea of law to a barba- 
 rian world, of binding together discordant 
 nationalities and races in one vast dominion, 
 and affording safe conduct for the preachers 
 of the religion of Christ through §,11 the 
 Roman world. And when she was no longer 
 needed for this purpose, when her civilization 
 became effeminate and corrupt, and her reli- 
 gion superstitious, she went down before the 
 hardy nations from the woods of Germany. 
 Thus one by one were these great empires 
 raised up to minister, in their several ways, 
 to God's church, and as they turned against 
 
104 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 her, and became unfit to advance her in- 
 terests, were laid in the grave by a resistless 
 hand. 
 
 "Look at the space covered by these ful- 
 filled predictions — Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, 
 the empire of Cyrus, and of Alexander and 
 Rome, Judea and its peculiar people, with 
 all their strange, deathless history, and all 
 the lands and people bordering upon that 
 land; and since the coming of the Son of 
 God, the church in all lands, and that great 
 usurpation, or parody of the church, the 
 shadow it should cast on the depravity of 
 man, and the malignity of the Devil. Take 
 these from the map of the world, and what 
 would be left? Take these from human 
 history, and what would history be? It is 
 most manifest that the central current of 
 human history has flowed over these lands, 
 and through these channels of national life. 
 Then the broad, stupendous fact is, that all 
 these vast affairs have been moulded and 
 controlled by the spirit and power of pro- 
 phecy. In the path of that prophecy lie the 
 graves of these greatest of earthly powers and 
 
OF MISSIONS. 105 
 
 dominions, speaking in eloquent death and 
 ruin to all coming generations. It is the 
 march of God through the ages we see thus 
 opened before our eyes, and the graves of 
 nations, and the tombs of cities are the 
 luminous steps of his course and his judg- 
 ments, where the light of his presence still 
 lingers. What is a man, a city, a nation, in 
 the presence of such a God, and in the way 
 of his purposes? What is there that stands 
 safe, and has charter to life and continuance 
 in the coming ages, but his church, and 
 whatsoever shall minister to her glory and 
 expansion? Who is safe but within her? 
 From God she came — to heaven she is 
 bound — like the ark of Noah, bearing all of 
 life that is to live from the old world to the 
 new." 
 
 Great God, wliose universal sway 
 The known and unknown worlds obey, 
 Now give the kingdom to thy Son; 
 Extend his power, exalt his throne. 
 
 Thy sceptre well becomes his hands ; 
 All heaven submits to his commands; 
 His justice will avenge the poor, 
 And pride and rage prevail no more. 
 
 10 
 
106 
 
 With power he vindicates the just, 
 And treads the oppressor in the dust; 
 His worship and his fear shall last, 
 'Till hours, and years, and time be past. 
 
 As rain on meadows newly mown, 
 So shall he send his influence down; 
 His grace on fainting souls distils, 
 Like heavenly dew on thirsty hills. 
 
 The heathen lands, that lie beneath 
 The shades of overspreading death, 
 Ptevive at his first dawning light; 
 And deserts blossom at the sight. 
 
 The saints shall flourish in his days, 
 Dressed in the robes of joy and praise; 
 Peace, like a river, from his throne 
 Shall flow to nations yet unknown. 
 
 THE SUBLIMITY AND ETERNAL RECOMPENSE OF IMPLICIT 
 FAITH AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD's WILL, AND OF 
 LABOURING FOR MISSIONS UNDER GREAT DISCOURAGE- 
 MENTS. 
 
 Of all possible exercises of faith, implicit 
 faith in this decree of God, and in this com- 
 mission of his church, is the most noble, 
 because the objects of it, the heathen and 
 the uttermost parts of the earth, are invisible 
 — out of sight — distant — unworthy in them- 
 
OF MISSIONS. 107 
 
 selves considered — indifferent, and even op- 
 posed to the requisitions and character en- 
 joined by the gospel. It is written, "blessed 
 are they who, having not seen, nevertheless 
 believe." And Abraham is the father and 
 pattern of all believers, because he obeyed, 
 and he went out not knowing whither he 
 went. He hoped against hope. Therefore 
 sprung there of one, and him as good as 
 dead, as many as the stars of the sky in 
 multitude, and as the sand which is by the 
 seashore innumerable. 
 
 Of all the manifestations of such implicit 
 obedience now possible to the believer, a 
 faithful, persevering, and zealous compliance 
 with this will of God is the most grateful 
 and emphatic manifestation of the spirit and 
 temper of a loving child, a devoted servant, 
 a loyal subject, and a valiant and successful 
 soldier. And the reasons are these ; because 
 this obedience is rendered against the inter- 
 posing claims of self, and kindred, and home, 
 and church, and country; because it is exhi- 
 bited in the midst of unbelieving and per- 
 haps opposing friends, and of too many 
 
108 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 unbelieving and lukewarm professors of reli- 
 gion. "Ye are my friends if ye do whatso- 
 ever I command you," and in 
 
 "That great, that awful day, 
 When man to judgment wakes from clay," 
 
 he that, in this life, hath forsaken father or 
 mother, or houses, or lands, or fortune, or 
 the favour of men; yea, who has given even 
 a cup of cold water for Christ's sake and 
 the gospel's, shall receive an hundredfold, 
 and be encircled with a crown of righteous- 
 ness, amidst the welcoming plaudit of his 
 approving King and Judge. " Hath the Lord 
 as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacri- 
 fices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? 
 Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and 
 to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebeU 
 lion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubborn- 
 ness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because 
 thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he 
 hath also rejected thee." 
 
 ♦'The man that offers humble praise, 
 
 Declares my glory best ; 
 And those that tread my holy ways, 
 Shall my salvation taste." 
 
OF MISSIONS. 109 
 
 And surelj if there is under heaven a 
 spectacle that should stir all the anxieties 
 and sympathies of a believer, it is that of a 
 world which has been ransomed by blood- 
 shedding, but which, nevertheless, is over- 
 spread with impiety and infidelity. The 
 Christian is the man of loyalty and upright- 
 ness forced to dwell in the assemblings of 
 traitors. With a heart that beats true to the 
 King of kings, and Lord of lords, he must 
 tarry among those who have thrown off alle- 
 giance. On all sides he must hear the plot- 
 tings of treason, and behold the actings of 
 rebellion, and the revelries and orgies of 
 debruted outcasts. And can he fail to 
 be wrought up to a longing effort to arrest, 
 in some degree, the march of anarchy, and 
 to bring beneath the sceptre of righteous- 
 ness this revolted, and ruined population? 
 Can he be an indifferent and cold-hearted 
 spectator of the despite done to God's 
 authority, and laws, and to the ignominy 
 cast upon God's infinitely great and gra- 
 cious Son; and shall there be no throbbing 
 of spirit, and no yearning of mind, over 
 10* 
 
110 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 millions of his race, who, though redeemed 
 by the propitiation of Christ, are living and 
 dying without God and without hope in the 
 world? nol''' "We do but reason from 
 the most invariable and well-known princi- 
 ples of our nature, when we argue that, as a 
 loyal and loving subject of Christ, the 
 believer must glow with righteous indignation 
 at the bold insults offered to his Lord, and 
 long to bend every faculty and power to the 
 diminishing the world's wretchedness by 
 overcoming its rebellion." 
 
 But to do this alone, uncheered and unap- 
 plauded; to do this while others do it not; 
 to be faithful among the faithless found ; to 
 be zealous while others are lukewarm ; to be 
 self-denying while others seek their own 
 things; to be self-sacrificing while others 
 live to please only themselves; to persevere 
 when others go back, cowardly, and faint- 
 hearted; to follow Christ's standard through 
 evil and through good report, through defeat 
 and victory; to pursue the routed hosts of 
 the enemy, *' faint, yet still pursuing;" to 
 
 * Modified from a passage in Melville. 
 
OF MISSIONS. Ill 
 
 appear as the champions of God's cause, 
 when that cause is on the point of being 
 universally deserted; to take joyfully the 
 spoiling of goods, and count not life itself 
 dear for Christ's sake — this truly is to glory 
 in the cross, to have fellowship with Christ 
 in his suffering, and in his obedience even 
 unto death, and in his exaltation to glory. 
 
 Stand up, and bless the Lord, 
 
 Ye people of his choice; 
 Stand up, and bless the Lord your God, 
 
 With heart, and soul, and voice. 
 
 Though high above all praise, 
 
 Above all blessing high, 
 Who would not fear his holy name, 
 
 And laud and magnify ? 
 
 ! for the living flame, 
 
 From his own altar brought. 
 To touch our lips, our minds inspire. 
 
 And wing to heaven our thought! 
 
 God is our strength and song, 
 And his salvation ours; 
 . Then be his love in Christ proclaimed, 
 With all our ransomed powers. 
 
 Stand up, and bless the Lord, 
 
 The Lord your God adore ; 
 Stand up, and bless his glorious name, 
 
 Henceforth for evermore. 
 
112 
 
 The promise runs thus: "Them that hon- 
 our me, I will honour. And to him that 
 is faithful unto death, I will give a crown of 
 life. And thej that are wise and faithful 
 in winning souls to the Redeemer, shall shine 
 as the stars in heaven for ever and ever." 
 And with the heart given to Christ, fired 
 with his love, and fixed in his promises, and 
 animated with the assurance of heaven, there 
 should be a feeling in every Christian bosom, 
 that times in which Christ's cause and king- 
 dom are the most disastrously impeded, are 
 the very times in which zeal should be warm- 
 est, and our sacrifices greatest. Then it is 
 that champions are most needed, and that 
 victory will be most triumphant. Then 
 it is of all other times, that faith must 
 prove itself the principle of missions, and 
 obedience the life of missions; and that 
 gathering victory from defeat, and confidence 
 from despair, we exultingly exclaim: "God 
 is our refuge and strength, a very present 
 help in trouble: therefore will not we fear, 
 though the earth be removed, and though 
 the mountains be carried into the midst of 
 
OF MISSIONS. 113 
 
 the sea; though the waters thereof roar and 
 be troubled, though the mountains shake 
 with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is 
 a river, the streams whereof shall make glad 
 the city of God, the holy place of the taber- 
 nacles of the Most High. God is in the 
 midst of her; she shall not be moved: God 
 shall help her, and that right early. The 
 heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; 
 he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The 
 Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob 
 is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the 
 works of the Lord, what desolations he hath 
 made in the earth. He maketh wars to 
 cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh 
 the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he 
 burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and 
 know that I am God; I will be exalted 
 among the heathen, I will be exalted in the 
 earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the 
 God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 
 
 When we cannot see our way, 
 Let us trust, and still obey; 
 He who bids us forward go, 
 Cannot fail the way to show. 
 
114 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Though the sea be deep and -wide, 
 Though a passage seem denied; 
 Fearless let us still proceed, 
 Since the Lord vouchsafes to lead. 
 
 Though it seems the gloom of night, 
 Though we see no ray of light; 
 Since the Lord himself is there, 
 'Tis not meet that we should fear. 
 
 Night with him is never night, 
 "Where he is, there all is light; 
 When he calls us, why delay ? 
 They are happy who obey. 
 
 Be it ours, then, while we're here, 
 Him to follow without fear! 
 Where he calls us, there to go. 
 What he bids us, that to do. 
 
 THE APPEAL — AFRICA — INDIA — AND THEIR MARTYRS. 
 
 This cause is the cause of God against sin 
 and Satan. God is our helper, and Christ, 
 who is our king, is also our leader and com- 
 mander. Like David, his type and figure, 
 he stands not idly by. He will not be a 
 spectator merely. He is the Captain of our 
 salvation. He leads the columns and directs 
 the movements of his sacramental host. He 
 
OF MISSIONS. 115 
 
 is Still the "captain of the host of the Lord," 
 as when he revealed himself to Joshua; and 
 his presence is still power and victory. His 
 voice is heard in the thickest of the fight, 
 shouting, "Come after me," "Follow me." 
 His sword, which is the sword of the Spirit, 
 flashes bright beams of light to his friends, 
 and of terror to his enemies. And his ban- 
 ner " woven of the precious fabric of love," 
 inscribed with the symbol of the dove, and 
 having for its motto "peace on earth, and 
 good will to men," is that sign under which 
 none ever marched to dishonour and defeat. 
 The cause may be driven back, but not 
 destroyed. It may be so assailed in one 
 point, as even to fall back and become in- 
 volved in confusion and rout. Satan may 
 gain temporary and great advantage as now 
 in India, by the explosion of his long-ma- 
 tured plans, and his magazines of dreadful 
 wrath. He may even appear to reign in 
 undisturbed triumph as he does upon the 
 ruins of buried Christianity in Africa, and in 
 the East. Eut that buried Christianity shall 
 yet be raised to a glorious resurrection. God 
 
116 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 has not left himself without witnesses to his 
 truth and faithfulness. He has not forgot- 
 ten his covenant. The last remains of mar- 
 tyred saints lie huried in the soil of India and 
 of Africa, and of Asia Minor — lands planted 
 and harvested by Apostolic missionaries — 
 pledges of their future restoration, seeds of 
 a future harvest, and seals of an everlasting 
 covenant. Like withered trunks and dis- 
 membered branches of the tree of life, these 
 long forgotten witnesses shall, with the scent 
 of living water, and the dew of divine grace, 
 live and flourish again in immortal vigour. 
 Look we to Africa ! There 
 
 The lions prowl around, their graves to guard, 
 
 And Moslem prayers profane 
 At morn and eve come sounding: yet unscared 
 
 The Holy Shades remain; 
 Cyprian, thy chief of watchmen, wise and bold, 
 
 Trusting th« lore of his own loyal heart, 
 And Cyprian's Master, as in age high-souled, 
 
 Yet choosing as in youth the better part. 
 There, too, unwearied Austin, thy keen gaze 
 
 On Atlas' steep, a thousand years and more, 
 Dwells, waiting for the first rekindling rays. 
 
 When Truth upon the solitary shore 
 For the fallen West may light his beacon as of yore. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 117 
 
 Voice of the wise of old! 
 
 Go breathe thy thrilling whispers now, 
 In cells where learned eyes late vigils hold, 
 
 And teach proud science where to veil her brow. 
 
 Voice of Christ's martyred clan! 
 
 Now while the church for combat arms, 
 Calmly do thou confirm her awful ban, 
 
 Thy words to be her conquering, soothing charms. 
 
 Voice of Christ's fearless saints! 
 
 Ring like a trump, where gentle hearts 
 Beat high for truth, but, doubting, cower and faint: 
 
 Tell them the hour is come, and they must take their 
 parts. 
 
 Let that trump, brethren, arouse the Is- 
 rael of God, while it shakes with terror and 
 dismay the enemies of the truth. Let it 
 assure us that the Lord of hosts is with us, 
 and that these walls of Jericho, these walls 
 of China, these Moslem revolts, these Satanic 
 outbursts of the great adversary, who sees 
 that he has but a short time — shall only re- 
 dound to the greater glory of our Immanuel, 
 and the greater triumph of his saints. 
 
 Bide thou thy time! 
 Watch with meek eyes the race of pride and crime, 
 Sit in the gate, and be the heathen's jest, 
 
 11 
 
118 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Smiling and self-possest. 
 thou, to -wliom is pledged a victor's sway, 
 Bide thou the victor's day! 
 
 Patience is gain; 
 Wait the bright Advent that shall loose thy chain ! 
 E'en now the shadows break, and gleams divine 
 
 Edge the dim distant line. 
 When thrones are trembling, and earth's great ones quail, 
 
 True Seed! thou shalt prevail! 
 
 Are there not even now signs of an ap- 
 proaching harvest? Has not the germ' of 
 many a seed manifested its vitality and 
 sprouted up in the blade, the ear, and the 
 ripened grain, o'er many a palmy plain. 
 God's way is now most surely in the East. 
 India and China are now the centre of 
 divine op'erations. God had made them a 
 spectacle to the world. 
 
 The Ark of God is in the field, 
 Like clouds around the alien armies sweep ; 
 
 Each by his spear, beneath his shield, 
 In cold and dew the anointed warriors sleep. 
 
 And can it be thou liest awake. 
 Sworn watchman, tossing on thy couch of down, 
 
 And doth thy recreant heart not ache, 
 To hear the sentries round the leaguered town? 
 
OF MISSIONS. 119 
 
 0, dream no more of quiet life, 
 Care finds the careless ont; more wise to rouse, 
 
 Thine heart entire to faith's pure strife ; 
 So strength will come, and glory crown thy brow. 
 
 "These are times," wrote one of our mar- 
 tyred missionaries in her last letter, "when 
 we are all very near to God, and are all 
 waiting upon him in prayer, to see what he 
 will do for us." 
 
 Speaking of a fellow sufferer: 
 
 "They knew the evening before of the out- 
 break at Mynpurie, but would not tell us, 
 that we might have a quiet night. They 
 sat up all night, watching for the least sound, 
 and would have sent to us instantly. She 
 said she never spent happier hours than 
 these were ; and when the tidings came that 
 the danger was removed, for a time at least, 
 she said that she had a sort of unwilling feel- 
 ing, as if she ivas ' being brought back to the 
 world,' 
 
 " And now, dear ma, I have told you a long 
 story. ... I know that you will rejoice with 
 me when I tell you that my faith in God's 
 goodness has never failed me. And *I will 
 
120 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my 
 fortress, my God, in him will I trust.' And 
 like the Psalmist, I am sure I could say 
 most truly that I was delivered from the 
 * terror by night.' I was alarmed, but I 
 had no overwhelming fear, certainly not of 
 death. I tried most devoutly to realize that 
 perhaps a few hours might bring me to the 
 end of life, and I was not afraid to die, if I 
 knew my own heart. I had a horror of 
 seeing violence and bloodshed, and of the 
 sufferings of others; and there was a dread 
 occasioned by uncertainty that was very 
 trying; . ; . but I was not so terrified that 
 my mind was distracted from the contempla- 
 tion of divine things, God's goodness hither- 
 to, and the bliss of heaven. 
 
 "Since writing the above, news has come 
 to us of new mutinies, and we are pre- 
 pared to flee to the fort. Though they gave 
 us a room where we could lie down and rest, 
 we could not think of sleep — who could, with 
 a drawn sword at one's side, and expecting 
 every moment to hear a cannon sound an 
 alarm ! God only knows if this will reach 
 
OF MISSIONS. 121 
 
 you. All our hope is in him. Heaven, not 
 this world, is our lasting home." 
 
 Hear another voice from the graves of 
 these martyred missionaries. It is as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "On Tuesday, June 9th, we went down 
 again, at an early hour, to our house outside 
 the fort. Dreadful tidings from all quarters. 
 Satan is triumphing and rejoicing over all 
 the wickedness; but his reign will be only 
 for a season : for of this we are all sure, that 
 He, who has bruised the serpent's head, will 
 be the conqueror. We believe most cer- 
 tainly that this time of distress is only a 
 means in the hand of God for bringing the 
 Mohammedans and Hindus more speedily to 
 the knowledge of their crucified Saviour. 
 0, that his kingdom of peace might quickly 
 come!" 
 
 How vivid is this living picture of the pro- 
 phecy, the warfare, and the promise ! 
 
 When the ti'ue soldiers steal an hour 
 
 To break the bread of life, 
 And drink the draught of love and power, 
 
 And plan the holy strife. 
 
 11* 
 
122 
 
 Hear once more the noble testimony of 
 Mrs. Freeman, one of our Christian sisters, 
 and one worthy of the best age of the mar- 
 tyrs ; and we trust hers was the feeling of all 
 the missionaries of our church. In imme- 
 diate sight of appalling danger, she was en- 
 abled to write these ever memorable words: 
 "Our little church and ourselves will be 
 the first attacked: but we are in God's 
 hands, and we know that he reigns. We 
 have no place to flee to for shelter, but under 
 the covert of his wings, and there we are 
 safe. Not but he may suffer our bodies to 
 be slain; and if he does, we know he has 
 wise reasons for it. I sometimes think our 
 deaths may do more good than we could do 
 in all our lives; if so, his will be done. 
 Should I be called to lay down my life, do 
 not grieve, dear sisters, that I came here; 
 for most joyfully will I die for him who laid 
 down his life for me." God be praised for 
 this testimony! 
 
 But let us listen again, and what do we 
 hear ? It is the inspiring sound of that sub- 
 lime argument and triumphant euthanasia of 
 
OF MISSIONS. 423 
 
 the Apostle. It is the trump of the arch- 
 angel, and the life and immortality of the 
 gospel.' They are words of life in the very 
 midst of death. It is the Christian mis- 
 sionary reading the burial-service over him- 
 self, and a party of his doomed brethren, 
 who then shook hands with each other, and 
 were immediately shot ! 
 
 Thus have perished hundreds of Christian 
 men and women, and thousands, probably, of 
 native Christians, not counting their lives 
 dear unto them for the testimony of Jesus.* 
 
 * The Rev. Mr. Hay denies having heard of any- 
 native converts who had renounced the faith. The Rev. 
 Mr. Pourie, of the Free Church Mission, Calcutta, in a 
 letter to one of the missionaries at Madras, gives the 
 following deeply interesting and encouraging facts re- 
 garding the trials of some of the converts of the Mission, 
 and their devoted adherence to Christ amid very severe 
 persecution for his blessed name. 
 
 *' We have had (says Mr. Pourie) some gratifying in- 
 stances of the staunchness of our native converts. At 
 Allahabad, one of them employed on the railway 
 mounted guard regularly as a volunteer in the fort, 
 and came down in the steamer the other day as a sort 
 of protection to the ladies. Another, with his wife and 
 two little children, was stripped naked by the mob in 
 some of the villages, and after being brought before the 
 
124» OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 These native Christians were, in many cases, 
 seized and tortured to make them renounce 
 Christianity. They were forewarned of 
 mutilation and death, and their wives and 
 
 Moulvie, who was leading the rebels there, he firmly 
 resisted every attempt to get him to recant. The Moul- 
 vie questioned him about the number of converts he had 
 made at his mission station (Futtehpore,) argued with 
 him, threatened him in vain. He was four or five days 
 in the stocks, naked in the blazing sun, with only a little 
 grain and water, before he was rescued. His wife, too, 
 was equally firm. He was one of the earliest con- 
 verts of our mission here, but has been for many years 
 labouring in connection with our American Presbyterian 
 brethren in the Northwest, where he is widely known 
 and much respected both by natives and Europeans. 
 Had it not been for his desire of the eclat of making 
 such a man embrace Mohammedanism, no doubt the 
 Moulvie would have killed him at once, or allowed the 
 infuriated rabble to do so." 
 
 We have also a very touching account of a native 
 preacher, AValayat Ali, who was held in great estima- 
 tion by the missionaries : 
 
 ** After Delhi had been long vacant by the death of 
 brother Thompson, the brethren there, as well as our- 
 selves, felt anxious to see the station re-occupied, and 
 after several visits we determined to send a native 
 preacher until a European missionary was appointed by 
 the Home Committee. "Walayat Ali appeared most fit 
 
OF MISSIONS. 125 
 
 children were brought before them, and 
 threatened with horrors not to be mention- 
 ed ; and all these evils would be escaped if 
 they would only read the Mohammedan con- 
 fer the position, and was eventually cliosen to fill it. 
 When I asked him to go, he hesitated for some time ; 
 he knew well the dangers and difficulties he should have 
 to grapple with, and the peculiar hatred of the Moham- 
 medans to any one who had left their ranks, and he 
 might well hesitate before he undertook such an arduous 
 task. When once, however, the path of duty had been 
 ascertained, he consulted no more with flesh and blood, 
 but declared to me his readiness to go, though he might 
 be called to lay down his life for his Lord and Saviour. 
 When he bade a sorrowful good-by to us at Chitoura 
 with his interesting family, little did I expect how soon 
 he would be called to the presence of his Lord in the 
 martyr's chariot of fire. I visited him at Delhi when 
 other duties permitted, and often preached with him to 
 large and attentive crowds of people in the Chandni 
 Chouk Bazar and other great thoroughfares, and I 
 heard, the last time I was there, that his influence was 
 being felt among the respectable Mohammedans, and 
 that one of the princes from the palac* paid him an oc- 
 casional visit during the darkness of the evening. There 
 can be no doubt that many in Delhi who had failed to 
 stop his mouth by fair argument, were too ready to stop 
 it by the sword, as soon as the dread of British power 
 was removed, and hence I conclude the towns-people, 
 
126 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 fession " God is great, and Mahomet is his 
 prophet," but thej steadfastly refused, and 
 preferred to die. Such a testimony in India 
 is worth all that the mission has cost. 
 
 (who knew him, and not the sepoys from Meerut, who 
 could not know him,) on the breaking out of the insur- 
 rection rushed on and cut him down; and Silas, an eye- 
 witness, who escaped to Agra, says, that between every 
 cut of the sword his murderers said, 'Now preach to 
 us, now preach to us ;' and I trust his innocent blood 
 will speak to them, and remind thenj of his warnings 
 and teachings. The blood of the martyrs will again, I 
 doubt not, be the seed of the church, and a brighter day 
 dawn on India. It is said his wife, whose name is 
 Fatima, and his daughter, are in prison ; iind should I 
 be spared to meet them on my return to India, I shall 
 try to give a more extended account of our much 
 lamented brother, whose two sons were killed before 
 his face. That these fearful events may rouse the 
 Church to larger efforts and more prayer for the con- 
 version of India, is the hope of. 
 
 Yours, faithfully, 
 
 James Smith." 
 English Baptist Herald, Oct. 1857. 
 
 CONSTANCY OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 
 
 The Bombay Guardian, after giving an account of an 
 attack made on native Christians lately in Bombay, and 
 referring to the general bitterness felt towards them at 
 
OF MISSIONS. 127 
 
 But before leaving these scenes of horror, 
 let us turn our eyes on that group of mourn- 
 ers. It is a new-made grave. An aged 
 woman is kneeling beside it, with her head 
 
 present as a class, pays the following tribute to their 
 constancy and their services : 
 
 "Is it not a fact that we are indebted to native Chris- 
 tians for the discovery of several deep-laid plots in 
 different parts of India, since June last ? The Moham- 
 medan plot organized on Monghyr and Patna, and ex- 
 tending to we know not what places beside, which was 
 to have been carried out on Buckree Eed, was brought 
 to light through the agency of a native Christian. The 
 Belgaum and Dharwar conspiracy, connecting itself 
 with Poonah, and possibly with other places, the carry- 
 ing out of which might have imperilled the entire Presi- 
 dency, was brought to the knowledge of the authorities 
 by a native Christian. Other facts of a similar kind 
 may be added, if we mistake not, to this list. We are 
 not aware that there has been a single instance of a 
 native convert joining the mutineers, even to save his 
 life. Should such instances come to light, we could not 
 greatly wonder, seeing that an Englishman, once a non- 
 commissioned officer in the Company's army, was con- 
 spicuous among the defenders of Delhi, and was killed 
 in the ranks of the mutineers. But, as we said, no such 
 fact is reported of any native Christian, though it may 
 be that nearly a thousand of them have been put to 
 
128 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 laid thereon. Beside her is a middle-aged 
 woman, with her pallid lips touching the con- 
 secrated earth, while three sweet children 
 stand silently and sorrowfully around. All 
 
 death for their religion since the commencement of the 
 mutinies." 
 
 About twelve miles from Cawnpore, on the Ganges, 
 was residing an adopted son of the late Mahratta 
 Peishwa Bajee Rao. This man, Nena Sahib, had re- 
 ceived an English education on government principles, 
 i. e. without Christianity; was a great favourite with 
 English people; was fond of accompanying gentlemen 
 on hunting excursions, and very fond of giving cham- 
 paigne parties, and having gentlemen and ladies dine in 
 his palace. In short, he was a splendid specimen of a 
 native gentleman, educated on the principles of the 
 government of the East India Company. When trouble 
 was threatening at Cawnpore, Nena Sahib promised to 
 afford every protection to the ladies and gentlemen 
 whose society had afforded him so much enjoyment on 
 the chase and at his table. He had been allowed 
 by government to keep on his estate at Bithoor, a 
 park of artillery and a considerable body of troops. 
 When the outbreak occurred, his confiding European 
 friends sent for his assistance. He came and took com- 
 mand of the revolted troops, and headed the rebellion. 
 The combined rebellious forces for twenty days kept up 
 almost an incessant fire on the beleaguered garrison. 
 The loss of the garrison in killed, as well as from sick- 
 
OF MISSIONS. 129 
 
 are weeping. Yes, even in that dark land, 
 where the missionary had taught them about 
 Jesus who loved, and wept, and died for sin- 
 ners — bitter tears now fell upon that mission- 
 
 ness and wounds, must have been fearful. The barrack 
 is said to have been riddled and ruined by round shot, 
 and the roof all knocked in. No one could even go to 
 the well for water without being exposed to the enemy's 
 fire. For several days the inhabitants of the garrison, 
 gentlemen and ladies, men, women, and children, had 
 nothing to eat but grain soaked in water. At length, 
 on the 27th of June, they capitulated to Nena Sahib, 
 and agreed to leave the place and proceed in boats to 
 Allahabad. Nena Sahib promised, with an oath, taken 
 over Ganges water, to give them a safe passage down 
 the river. The evening was occupied in evacuating the 
 entrenchment, and embarking the ladies and children 
 on the boats which Nena Sahib had provided. All the 
 Europeans spent the night on board the boats. Early 
 the next morning the boats were loosened, and a start 
 was made. The sepoys on shore beckoned to the boat- 
 men to come ashore, which they instantly did. Then, 
 from a battery which had hitherto remained concealed, 
 a most murderous fire opened on the Europeans in the 
 boats. Many jumped into the water, and attempted to 
 escape to the other side of the river ; but troopers were 
 at hand, who cut them all up. Several gentlemen were 
 brought back from the boats, and taken to the parade- 
 ground, and there shot down. Among them was the ex- 
 
 12 
 
130 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 ary's grave. True, these mourners were 
 poor. They were rude and untutored ; but 
 their hearts were warm, and their sorrow 
 sincere and deep. It was the emblem of 
 that wide-extending sympathy, now awaken- 
 ed throughout India, and throughout the 
 Christian world, for Christ's suffering mar- 
 tyrs, and his bleeding cause; It is fellow- 
 ship with Christ, in his sufferings, and in his 
 death, and in the power of his glorious resur- 
 rection, ascension, and exalted dominion. 
 God is again uttering his decree, and writing 
 it in the blood of martyrs, in the tears of 
 
 cellent cliaplain, Mr. Moncrieff, a godly man. A native 
 witness says, that before they were shot, he asked for a 
 few minutes to read. His request was granted, and he 
 took from his pocket a small book, and read a short 
 time. Then all the gentlemen shook hands with each 
 other, and were immediately shot. It is conjectured 
 that Mr. Moncrieff read the burial-service over himself 
 and his Christian brethren. One boat had gone several 
 miles down the river, but was caught and brought back 
 to Cawnpore. The gentlemen were all killed at once. 
 The ladies and children, in all more than one hundred 
 and fifty, were taken to a large house, called the Assem- 
 bly Rooms, and there kept until the 15th of July. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 131 
 
 mourners, and in the heart's deepest faith of 
 all true believers. 
 
 He whom the Father sent to die, 
 Hath given us his commission high, 
 The channels of his grace to be, 
 And vessels of his charity. 
 
 The Lamb, which by the wolves was slain, 
 Sends us as lambs to wolves again; 
 Till they — aside their nature laid — 
 Are lambs of wolves by grace now made. 
 
 The earth, which 'neath the offended skies, 
 Was foul with imp^us sacrifice; 
 Now by your sweat 'tis newly dyed. 
 And by your blood is purified. 
 
 New fruits her genial face renew, 
 Blest by that fertilizing dew ; 
 Made a rich harvest by his grace ! 
 In which even such can find a place. 
 
 If thou who dost the increase give, 
 Wilt look on them, then they shall live. 
 Ripen, and grow, and evermore 
 Be gathered to thy heavenly store. 
 
 Among the noble army of martyrs who 
 have recently gone up with a shout, who 
 found "sudden death, sudden glory," and 
 found themselves at once transported "from 
 
132 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 the burning, blood-stained plains of heathen 
 India to the quiet and peaceful rest that 
 remaineth for the people of God in that 
 home where Jesus dwells," God raised up 
 some illustrious civilians and soldiers, who 
 have rejoiced to irradiate with the lustre of 
 their fame that cross in which they gloried, 
 and under which they fought and con- 
 quered.* 
 
 When General Havelock advanced to the 
 relief of Lucknow, he met with numerous 
 difficulties. In the firsC" battle his little body 
 of men were met by twenty-seven thousand 
 of the enemy. They advanced, and beat 
 them again and again; but they were 
 stricken, not by man, but by God, and were 
 compelled to retire, returning to Cawnpore 
 to leave their sick and wounded. They then 
 
 * "The noble examples of Sir Henry Lawrence, Judge 
 Robertson, Mr. Tucker, &c., have kindled a noble emu- 
 lation; and the bravery and devotion of our countrymen 
 all over India, makes us proud of the race. I am con- 
 vinced that Christianity and missions have received a 
 wonderful impetus through late events, that will before 
 long result in some extraordinary manifestation against 
 Satan's power, throughout heathendom." 
 
OF MISSIONS. 133 
 
 advanced afresh, and reached the city, and 
 pressed on, determined to secure the deli- 
 verance of their fellow-countrymen. They 
 passed through that archway where the fire 
 of the enemy was so fierce as almost to blind 
 them by the blaze. Not a cry was raised, 
 not a voice was heard, not an alarm was 
 given. The bullet and the bayonet did their 
 work in silence, for they were vigorous, and 
 determined that nothing should stop them; 
 and before the enemy knew it, they reached 
 the place, and the Highlanders were seen 
 shaking hands with the Englishmen, and the 
 Englishmen tossing the children in the air, 
 in the midst of their joy, and a shout was 
 raised, "Havelock is come! we are saved, 
 we are saved I' 'Now Hindooism (to use the 
 language of a missionary) is a fortified 
 city; its walls are thick, and it contains 
 millions whom we are to save. We have 
 to set them free, and our numbers are few ; 
 but let us not be afraid of those who en- 
 counter us. Let us increase our missions 
 from four hundred to six hundred. That 
 city shall then fall; and, though we die 
 12* 
 
134 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 in the contest, we shall hear the voice of 
 the Hindoos crying out, 'We are saved, we 
 are saved!' " 
 
 ''Havelock is gone. Heaven's will is best: 
 Indian turf o'erlies his breast. 
 Ghoul in black, nor fool in gold, 
 Laid him in yon hallowed mould: 
 Guarded to a soldier's grave 
 By the bravest of the brave, 
 He hath gained a nobler tomb 
 Than in old cathedral gloom ; 
 Nobler mourners paid the rite 
 Than the crowd that craves a sight; 
 England's banners o'er him waved — 
 Dead, he keeps the realm he saved. 
 Strew not on the hero's hearse 
 Garlands of a herald's verse ; 
 Let us hear no words of fame 
 Sounding loud a deathless name ; 
 Tell us of no vauntful glory 
 Shouting forth her haughty story. 
 All life long his homage rose 
 To far other shrine than those, 
 '/w Hoc Siffno,' pale nor dim, 
 Lit the battle-field for him ; 
 And the prize he sought and won, 
 Was the crown for duty done. 
 
 But being dead, do not these heroic spirits 
 still speak to us ? Does not their blood cry 
 
OF MISSIONS. 135 
 
 aloud, not only to heaven, but also to the 
 earth, saying, "How long! Wilt thou not 
 avenge our blood? Come over and help us! 
 Haste to deliver!" 
 
 The youth of England — its beauty and 
 its chivalry — are rushing to India, to fill 
 the vacant posts of danger. Sir Colin 
 Campbell asked for only twenty-four hours 
 to get ready to go. At the siege of Delhi, 
 two young officers, three sergeants, and 
 one trumpeter, volunteered to fasten bags 
 of powder to the gates of Delhi, amid a 
 storm of bullets pouring upon them from the 
 loopholes within; and with fearful loss and 
 suffering they did it ! 
 
 And can the Church do less? Are life, 
 and blood, and treasures, dearer to it than 
 to the world? Or is the duty less impera- 
 tive ? Or is the honour less glorious ? Or is 
 the victory less certain? Who, then, will 
 go for the dead? How many mothers who 
 have buried one martyred son, and have 
 others fighting in the field, are like that re- 
 cent Spartan mother, ready to equip others 
 for the good fight, and only sorry she had 
 
136 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 not many more able and willing to go ? How 
 many whose children have been slaughtered 
 by that hybrid monster, Nena Sahib, have 
 the heart of that mother who recently re- 
 quested the prayers of five thousand Chris- 
 tians for the conversion of him who had 
 made her motherless? 
 
 Christians in England are all actively 
 zealous in responding to the call. We find a 
 great increase in the candidates for missions 
 at the universities where hitherto the great- 
 est backwardness existed. All denominations 
 cooperate. Let not Christians in America 
 be found lagging. The seal of God is on 
 our forehead. We have been baptized with 
 the missionary spirit and consecrated and 
 set apart to the missionary work. Reserved 
 in undiscovered solitude until the set time 
 to favour Zion had come — just on the eve of 
 the wonderful developments of modern sci- 
 ence and civilization — two of the greatest 
 systems of error that ever cursed the world 
 in their dotage — Protestantism everywhere 
 springing up with new life — having access 
 to the world of men — away from the effete 
 
OF MISSIONS. 137 
 
 systems of the Old World — free from their 
 corruptions — palpitating with the fires of 
 evangelism — and swaying an influence in 
 the world paramount to all others — let Ame- 
 rican Christians act worthy of their high 
 calling and exalted destiny. 
 
 India with her teeming multitudes stretches 
 out her hands, and calls beseechingly for our 
 help. In the four presidencies, there are 
 one hundred and twelve millions, with some 
 four hundred missionaries; or one to each 
 quarter million. In the territories outside 
 the presidencies, there are, among sixty- 
 four millions of natives, only eight mission- 
 aries. And has not the Captain of our sal- 
 vation been himself going up and down 
 among our churches, through the length and 
 breadth of the land, and recruiting good 
 soldiers of Jesus Christ for the glorious war? 
 Has not he who called unto him the twelve, 
 and again other seventy also, saying "Follow 
 me," called unto him recently at least one 
 hundred thousand souls, and a large propor- 
 tion of them young men and maidens, and 
 
138 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 caused them to arise and stand up a great 
 army? 
 
 "Let us not be desponding, but hopeful. 
 The voice of this revival in America comes, 
 (to use the stirring words of John Angel 
 James, of England,) to every country, and 
 to every Christian, as the midnight cry of 
 old, * Behold, the bridegroom cometh!' 
 
 "A new era is struggling into birth, 
 Christ is moving to reorganize the world. 
 Is it a vision of my imagination f Or is it 
 only a spectral form which I see f Or is it, 
 ! is it the Saviour himself walking upon 
 the waters of the Atlantic, and receding 
 with his face towards Britain? I hear his 
 voice saying to this country, ' Behold, I come 
 quickly, and my reward is with me.' 0! 
 brethren, shall we fear, neglect, repel Him? 
 Shall we, like the mercernary Gadarenes, 
 entreat Him to leave our coasts, or shall we 
 not rather implore his presence and say, 
 'Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and land 
 upon our shores?' " 
 
 The Son of God is gone to war, 
 A kingly crown to gain; 
 
OF MISSIONS. 139 
 
 His blood-red banner streams afar ; 
 
 Who follows in his train ? 
 Who best can drink his cup of woe, 
 
 Triumphant over pain ; 
 Who boldest bears his cross below — - 
 
 He follows in his train. 
 
 The martyr first, whose eagle eye 
 
 Could pierce beyond the grave; 
 Who saw his Master in the sky 
 
 And called on Him to save : 
 Like Him, with pardon on his tongue. 
 
 In midst of mortal pain, 
 He prayed for them that did the wrong : 
 
 Who follows in His train ? 
 
 A glorious band, the chosen few, 
 
 On whom the Spirit came, 
 Twelve valiant saints, the truth they knew, 
 
 And braved the cross and flame : 
 They met the tyrant's brandished steel, 
 
 The lion's gory mane ; 
 They bowed their necks the death to feel : 
 
 Who follows in their train ? 
 A noble army, men and boys. 
 
 The matron and the maid. 
 Around their Saviour's throne rejoice. 
 
 In robes of light arrayed ; 
 They climbed the dizzy steep of heaven, 
 
 Through peril, toil, and pain : 
 ! God, to us may grace be given, 
 
 To follow in their train. 
 
140 
 
 THE GREATNESS OF THE Tf ORE AND GREATNESS OF THE 
 POWER. 
 
 The heathen are not yet given to Christ 
 for his inheritance, nor the uttermost parts 
 of the earth for his possession; but they 
 are his by a divine decree. They are his in 
 certain reversion. Nay, they are his in ac- 
 tual possession. They are under his domin- 
 ion. They are governed by his providence 
 and laws. He is fulfilling among them the 
 secret purposes of his will, and making 
 known through them to principalities and 
 powers in heavenly places the manifold les- 
 sons of his wisdom and mercy, of sin and 
 salvation, of the apostasy and recovery of 
 man. 
 
 But there is no mystery as to the result. 
 By special revelation, that result was made 
 known to the Apostle Paul, (Eph. iii. 2-7) 
 and demonstrated by his almost superhuman 
 life and labours. To talk of difficulties and 
 discouragements and dangers, is unbeliev- 
 ing disobedience. God has promised, and 
 who shall make his promise of none effect? 
 Ps. ii. 8, &c.) To his church he has given 
 
OF MISSIONS. 141 
 
 the assurance, "Thou shalt break forth on 
 the right hand and on the left; and thy 
 seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make 
 the desolate cities to be inhabited," (Isa. liv. 
 8,) and who can arrest her onward course? 
 He has declared, "1 will gather all nations 
 and tongues; and they shall come and see 
 my glory. And I will set a sign among 
 them, and I will send those that escape of 
 them unto the nations 'S^ * * * that have not 
 heard my fame, neither seen my glory: and 
 they shall declare my glory among the Gen- 
 tiles," (Isa. Ixvi. 18 19,) and who may ven- 
 ture to say the work is impracticable? He 
 has promised of his Son, "He will lift up 
 an ensign to the nations from far, and will 
 hiss unto them from the end of the earth ; 
 and behold they shall come with speed swift- 
 ly," (Isa. V. 26,) and who can doubt of suc- 
 cess in a work like this? No! beloved 
 brethren, with the open pages of God's word 
 and promises before us, we cannot doubt. 
 The work must go on, until every knee shall 
 bow, and every tongue confess. God's pur- 
 poses must and will be fulfilled. 
 13 
 
142 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Neither is there any mystery as to the 
 agency for accomplishing this result. It is 
 by men that men are to be converted. The 
 redeemed are to restore the captives. The 
 saved are to seek the lost, and those who 
 hear and live are to become the preachers to 
 them that have never heard, and who are 
 perishing for lack of knowledge. This has 
 been God's agency in all past dispensations 
 of the church and is the only instrumen- 
 tality instituted for all time to come. (Rom. 
 X. 13-15). 
 
 Neither is there any ambiguity as to the 
 course of duty. Events belong to the Lord, 
 but commands belong to us. Obedience, 
 therefore, is ours, and it is with God to bless 
 or to withhold his blessing, to withhold or 
 to withdraw his presence; and this obedi- 
 ence is to be rendered according to our 
 ability and opportunity, whether success or 
 disaster has attended past exertions — whe- 
 ther hope or despondency lower upon the 
 future. The very essence of obedience is that 
 it is rendered from a principle of love, sub- 
 mission, and confidence towards= God, whose 
 
OF MISSIONS. 143 
 
 "will is done. Let us suppose that missions to 
 the heathen were a failure. Let us forget 
 that Christendom, including all Christian 
 civilization, is itself the fruit of missionary 
 effort. Let us forget that the ice-bound 
 shores of Greenland have become a fruitful 
 field and a garden of the Lord under mission- 
 ary culture. Let us cease to remember that 
 the islands of the Pacific have blossomed with 
 the rose of Sharon, planted there by mission- 
 ary hands. Let us forget that in India and 
 Burmah, in New Zealand and Ceylon, and 
 amid the jungle forests of Africa, thousands 
 make prayer continually, and offer praises to 
 Jesus. Let us forget that every wind wafts 
 his story, and every sea bears his glad 
 tidings, and that there is no speech nor lan- 
 guage where this voice is not heard. Let us 
 suppose that amid the thick darkness which 
 rests upon the nations who know not God, 
 the eye can catch no ray of light to tell 
 of coming day ; that Mohammedanism, now 
 almost at its last gasp, was "lengthening its 
 cords, and strengthening its stakes;" that 
 the gates of China, instead of being thrown 
 
144 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 open to our missionaries, were double-barred 
 against us; that no voice reached us from 
 other lands to tell of the triumphs of Mes- 
 siah's cause. Let us close our eyes and ears 
 to every encouraging fact, and suppose all 
 this, and more — and what then ? Will this 
 excuse us for our neglect of imperative obli- 
 gation ? Will it free us from the debt of 
 duty which we owe to the perishing heathen, 
 which we owe to God ? We are required to 
 love our neighbour as ourselves. This com- 
 mand has its source in our common nature, 
 our common origin. But what manner of 
 love is that which sees a brother perishing 
 for lack of knowledge, and yet stretches out 
 no hand to save him — makes no effort, no 
 sacrifice to deliver him ? Unto whomsoever 
 this gospel is sent, upon him does the obliga- 
 tion rest to make it known to those who have 
 it not. The message must pass from man to 
 man, until all the world have gathered be- 
 neath the standard of the cross. (Rev. xxii. 
 17.) "Whether they will hear, or whether 
 they will forbear," we who have the gospel 
 must make it known "in all the world for a 
 
OF MISSIONS. 145 
 
 witness unto all nations." " Go ye into all 
 the world, and preach the gospel to every 
 creature," is God's command to us, no less 
 than to his primitive apostles and disciples ; 
 and whether they receive our testimony or 
 reject it — whether none or millions be con- 
 verted by our instrumentality, our witness is 
 with God, and to him, and not to success, do 
 we look for the acceptance and the reward 
 of our duty and obedience. Whatever may 
 be God's time to bless, our time of labour is 
 now. We must work whilst it is day, and 
 leave events and time to God. We must 
 sow the seed now, the plant will spring up 
 and ripen in God's own good season. So 
 long as the word of God remains with us, it 
 matters not how great our discouragements 
 and difficulties. " Woe be unto us if we 
 preach not the gospel." 
 
 When Dr. Judson laboured at Rangoon 
 and other places, there were no visible fruits 
 from his labours, and the Board of Missions 
 at home began to be doubting and disheart- 
 ened. This man of strong-winged faith, in 
 the very midst of all the discouraging scenes, 
 13* 
 
146 
 
 was the only one whose courage and confi- 
 dence never failed. He never doubted of 
 the conversion of Burmah, whether or not he 
 should be permitted to gather the first fruits ; 
 and his answer to desponding letters from 
 America roused the home churches as with 
 the voice of a trumpet. "Permit us to 
 labour on in obscurity, and at the end of 
 twenty years you may hear from us again.'* 
 It was in this spirit, also, he replied to the 
 question of the venerable Mr. Loring, " Do 
 you think the prospects bright for the speedy 
 conversion of the heathen?" "As bright," 
 was his prompt reply, full of deep meaning, 
 as well as of fine sentiment, " as bright as 
 the promises of God !" 
 
 Who that reads these pages can be assured 
 of a more favourable and promising opportu- 
 nity than the present for helping forward 
 this glorious cause ? Which of us can look 
 for any other time than the present now, for 
 doing his part towards sending the gospel to 
 those who have it not? This may not be 
 God's time to convert the world, but it is 
 your time; the only time that you can call 
 
OF MISSIONS. 147 
 
 your own. Death is ever near us, and in an 
 hour that we know not of, we may be sum- 
 moned to our great account ; and what ex- 
 cuse will it be at the bar of judgment, when 
 our Master shall charge us with neglecting 
 to labour in his vineyard, to say, " I deemed 
 that the time was not yet come for the con- 
 version of the world, and therefore I did 
 nothing." How will the soul be filled with 
 horror, when, pointing to His children from 
 the east and west, he replies, " Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not 
 unto the least of these, ye did it not unto 
 me. Depart from me, I know ye not." 
 For your soul's sake, then, beloved reader, 
 let me beseech you deceive not yourself 
 with the idea, that the time for you to con- 
 tribute to the advancement of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom has not yet come. 
 
 Time was I shrank from what was right, 
 
 From fear of what was wrong; 
 I would not brave the sacred fight, 
 
 Because the foe was strong. 
 
 But now I cast that finer sense 
 
 And sorer shame aside ; 
 Such dread of sin was indolence, 
 
 Such aim at heaven was pride. 
 
148 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Away then with fear, and unbelieving, 
 covetous timidity, and faint- heartedness. 
 The work is the Lord's, and the strength is 
 his also. And though the mountains reach 
 unto the heavens, and Jacob be but as a 
 feeble worm, yet shall he thresh the moun- 
 tains, and beat them small, and make the 
 hills as chaff. In no part of his labours did 
 Dr. Judson gather more abundant cause of 
 joy than in his visits to the Karens, those 
 wild, untutored children of the wilderness. 
 Ascending almost impassable mountains, 
 wading knee-deep for miles up the beds of 
 mountain streams, drawing little companies 
 around him in some way-side zayat, or 
 preaching to wondering multitudes from his 
 boat on some river-side, he felt as if the time 
 to favour this people were come. "Yes!" 
 he exclaims, writing on one occasion from 
 the midst of the Karen jungles, "the great 
 Invisible is in the midst of these Karen 
 wilds. That mighty Being, who heaped up 
 these craggy rocks, and reared these stu- 
 pendous mountains, and poured out these 
 streams in all directions, and scattered im- 
 
OP MISSIONS. 149 
 
 mortal beings throughout these deserts, He 
 is present by the influence of his Holy Spirit, 
 and accompanies the sound of the gospel 
 with converting, sanctifying power. The 
 best of all is, God is with us !" ■ 
 
 Let us then be well assured of the ground 
 on which we stand, in this great conflict. 
 The honour, the power, the Sprit of the Son 
 of God are on the one hand assailed; on the 
 other, they are divinely pledged for the 
 result. We must be identified with him, 
 hide ourselves in him, conquer with him, or 
 perish among his enemies. Away, then, 
 with the brandishing of human weapons, and 
 succumbing to human fear. Argue what we 
 will, hope what we will, attempt what we 
 will, it is vain, unless He works in us, and in 
 the hearts of all we would bless. The con- 
 flict is his ; and the faith he inspires, assures 
 us that, trusting in him, consecrating our- 
 selves to him, and doing the work he appoints, 
 he will own our endeavours, and ultimate 
 victory is certain. We may fall in the con- 
 test, and honour him in the fires of martyr- 
 dom, but he will conquer; and if not here, 
 
150 
 
 we shall in heaven witness the triumph of his 
 power and love. 
 
 To what, then, does Christ by his Spirit call 
 us for the world's conversion ? The voice of 
 his providence and grace claims every renew- 
 ed soul as wholly his, and demands that all the 
 means of his own appointment be faithfully 
 employed. We seem to hear him say, "These 
 ought ye to have done, and not to leave the 
 other undone." Not our own neighbourhood 
 and land merely, but "every creature" must 
 be supplied, not with the written word merely, 
 which gives authority to all other means, but 
 with the living ministry, which it appoints ; 
 not by the labours of the commissioned minis- 
 try alone, but with the cooperation of every 
 member of the body of Christ ; not with oral 
 preaching or instruction merely, but the same 
 permanently embodied, and presented to the 
 eye; not with any one of these instrumental- 
 ities, alone, but with all united ; or where all 
 cannot at once be employed, with such as can 
 be, as introductory to the rest, "if by any 
 means" we may "save some." 
 
OP MISSIONS. 151 
 
 The Church has waited long 
 
 Her absent Lord to see; 
 And still in loneliness she waits — 
 . A friendless stranger she. 
 Age after age has gone, 
 Sun after sun has set, 
 And still in weeds of widowhood 
 She weeps, a mourner yet. 
 Come, then, Lord Jesus, come ! 
 
 Saint after saint on earth 
 
 Has lived, and hoped, and died; 
 And as they left us, one by one, 
 
 We laid them side by side : 
 We laid them down to sleep, 
 
 But not in hope forlorn ; 
 We laid them but to ripen there 
 
 Till the last glorious morn. 
 Come, then. Lord Jesus, come! 
 
 The serpent's broo(;J increase, 
 
 The powers of hell grow bold; 
 The conflict thickens," faith is low, 
 
 And love is waxing cold. 
 How long, Lord our God, 
 
 Holy, and true, and good. 
 Wilt thou not judge thy suffering Church, 
 
 Her sighs, and tears, and blood ? 
 Come, then. Lord Jesus, come ! 
 
 We long to hear thy voice, 
 To see thee face to face ; 
 
152 
 
 To share thy crown and glory then, 
 As now we share thy grace. 
 
 Should not the loving bride 
 The absent bridegroom mourn! 
 
 Should she not wear the weeds of grief 
 
 ' Until her Lord return? 
 
 Come, then, Lord Jesus, come ! 
 
 The whole creation groans, 
 
 And waits to hear that voice 
 That shall restore her comeliness, 
 
 And make her wastes rejoice. 
 Come, Lord, and wipe away 
 
 The curse, the sin, the stain, 
 And make this blighted world of ours 
 
 Thine own fair world again. 
 Come, then, Lord Jesus, come ! 
 
 THE TRUE END AND VALUE OF LIFE. 
 
 From all that lias been said, let us learn 
 the true .value of life, that stupendous gift 
 of God. Life is unspeakably and incalcula- 
 bly sublime, considered as a participation of 
 the divine immortal life. But life is incon- 
 ceivably great, chiefly as an opportunity of 
 doing good. In any other aspect, no image 
 is too affecting to portray its vanity. K.e 
 
OF MISSIONS. 153 
 
 garded, liow-ever, as an agency, a trust, a 
 day of toil, of strife, and of victorious 
 achievement, life is gloriously sublime. In 
 every form of self-denying, self-sacrificing 
 endurance, life is glorious — whether it be the 
 glory of the faithful mother; or of the pa- 
 tient sufferer; or of virtue uncorriipted amid 
 impurity and poverty; or of the persevering 
 and enterprising, and public-spirited mer- 
 chant; or of the toiling, cheerful and indus- 
 trious artizan; or of the laborious, indefati- 
 gable student; or of the true, disinterested 
 patriot; or of the gallant hero; or of the 
 brave commander, who stands by his vessel, 
 and her hapless crew, and sinks with her in 
 indomitable firmness. But while these and 
 all other forms of enterprise and suffering 
 for the good of others, and in submission to 
 the will of God, are glorious even as the 
 glory of the stars, there is another form of 
 life-long or life-sacrificiDg labour which is as 
 the glory of the sun ! 
 
 To feel that to live is Christ — to be so 
 united to Christ that his work is our work, 
 his will our will, his sufferings, death, and 
 14 
 
154 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 sacrifice ours, his self-denial, lave and cha- 
 rity ours, his kingdom our inheritance, and 
 his triumph and glory ours — to feel that 
 to spend and be spent in his service, to be 
 instant in season and out of season in win- 
 ning souls to Christ, is our life — to feel that 
 pain is pleasure, and weariness rest, and tri- 
 bulation glory, and death gain, when en- 
 dured as good soldiers of Jesus Christ — this 
 is to shine with a glory which death itself 
 shall not eclipse, but which rising in a 
 brighter dawn, in a better land, in a hemis- 
 phere encircled by the eternal hills watered 
 by the river of life, and luxuriant as the 
 paradise of God, shall shine more and more 
 throughout the unending day of our ever 
 brightening immortality. 
 
 Dear reader ! Can you take God's will, 
 and word, and decree as your inheritance? 
 Can you say. Thy kingdom, Christ, is 
 over all, thy power will subjugate all, and 
 thy glory will obscure all? As it is in thy 
 purposes, so is it in thy promises. So be it 
 in our prayers, and praises, and labours, 
 
OF MISSIONS. 155 
 
 until thy will is " done on earth as it is done 
 in heaven." 
 
 What say you reader? Can you venture 
 on Christ's promise all you love and live 
 for, and life itself? Dr. Watts said, "I have 
 faith enough to venture body, soul, and spirit 
 for an eternity upon it." The Rev. John 
 Hyatt was for many years co-pastor with 
 the Rev. Matthew Wilks, of the congrega- 
 tions at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court 
 chapel. His venerable colleague, who called 
 upon him a few hours before his death, in 
 a characteristic conversation said, "Is all 
 right for another world?" 
 
 "I am very happy," said Mr. Hyatt. 
 
 "Have you made your will?" 
 
 Mistaking the question — "The will of the 
 Lord be done!" said the dying Christian. 
 
 "Shall I pray with you?" 
 
 "Yes, if you can ;" alluding to Mr. Wilks's 
 feelings, at that moment considerably ex- 
 cited. 
 
 After prayer, "Well, my brother, if you 
 had a hundred souls, could you commit them 
 all to Christ now?" (alluding to an expres- 
 
156 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 sion Mr. Hyatt frequently used in the pul- 
 pit.) With a mighty and convulsive effort, 
 he replied, "A million!" 
 
 Thus also was it with our dear martyred 
 sisters and brethren. 
 
 They perished — but their wrea,th was won, 
 Immortal on the heights of fame ; 
 
 Nor sank a cloud on Zion's sun, 
 
 For still she conquers in His name — 
 
 Filled with whose life she cannot die, 
 Her conquest is posterity. 
 
 Christian reader ! To you, to me, to every 
 one of us is given a banner, that it may 
 be borne manfully for Christ's cause. "Fol- 
 low me," is his war-cry. "Whithersoever I 
 lead," is his emphatic word, as he rushes into 
 the thickest of the fight. "He that loseth 
 his life for my sake shall find it: and he 
 that loveth it more than'me is not worthy of 
 me. And to him that overcometh and is 
 faithful unto death, I will give a crown of 
 life in glory everlasting." 
 
 See how they close around his m?ijestic 
 person, catching fire from his eye, and daring 
 from his presence. They endure hardness. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 157 
 
 They fight not uncertainly. They contend 
 earnestly even unto blood, striving against 
 sin and Satan. They are baptized with a 
 baptism of fire. They have trial of cruel 
 mocking and scourging, yea, moreover, of 
 bonds and imprisonment. They are stoned. 
 They are sawn asunder. They are tempted 
 with grievous, and unspeakable, yea, fiendish 
 atrocities. They wander about in naked- 
 ness, and peril, in hunger, and thirst. They 
 are destitute, afilicted, tormented. They 
 are mangled, hewn to pieces, and even cru- 
 cified. 
 
 But to them to live is Christ, and to die 
 gain. They conquer though they die. Yea, 
 they are more than conquerors through him 
 that loveth them; whose grace is sufficient, 
 and whose felt presence is perfect peace, and 
 a present heaven. Christ is the strength of 
 their failing heart, the light of their fading 
 eye. They grasp their banner firmly, even 
 in death, 
 
 "And smile to see its splendors fly, 
 In triumph o'er the closing eye." 
 
 They have fought the good fight. They 
 14* 
 
158 OBEDIENCE, 
 
 have kept the faith. Thej have let no man 
 take their crown. And as the dimness of 
 death seals the closing eyelid, and glazes 
 the vacant eyeball, and the cold chill freezes 
 their heart's blood, their spirit revives on 
 seeing Christ's banner waving still over them. 
 And as a dying patriot requested that the 
 flag under which he had fought and conquered 
 might be placed under his head for a pillow, 
 while life was ebbing away, so does the 
 Christian, whose pulse of life is fleeting, 
 pillow his sinking head on his Saviour's 
 bosom ; while the last beat of his heart 
 sends up to heaven the shout, "Thanks be 
 to God, who giveth us the victory through 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
 
 And may He, whose is the kingdom, and 
 the power, and the life, and the glory, first 
 "work in each of us to will^ and then to do 
 his good pleasure here ; and then by his un- 
 speakable grace make us partakers of his 
 glory, and in his kingdom in heaven. 
 
 "Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
 God, by thy blood out of every kindred, and 
 
OF MISSIONS. ^ 159 
 
 tongue, and nation, and hast made us unto 
 our God kings and priests." 
 
 "Coelo quos eadem gloria consecrat." 
 
 Ye that are now in heavenly glory one, 
 May we together join, with earthly voice, 
 
 Hymning your everlasting victories, won 
 By arduous labours, and the better choice. 
 
 Now love and unveiled truth doth feed for aye, 
 And ye drink full of joy's o'erflowing wells, 
 
 "Where slakes the soul her thirst that cannot die ; 
 And by the sacred fountain ever dwells. 
 
 From inmost shrines from whence the Godhead 
 streams, 
 
 The King, himself, with his own countenance, 
 Shines o'er you, and, unsparing of his beams, 
 
 Fills the soul's dwelling with his radiance. 
 
 From out the golden altar, 'neath the throne, 
 Blood of the Innocent for mercy pleads ; 
 
 Shed in the cause of Him who sits thereon. 
 For ever sues anew, and ever bleeds. 
 
 Mid lightnings numberless, thro' the dim vast 
 Of light, the adoring elders bow them down, 
 
 To Him, whose kingdom shall for ever last; 
 And each before him casts his golden crown. 
 
 Nations and languages of countless tongue. 
 With jubilant palm, and robes washed white in 
 blood, 
 
160 
 
 For ever sing the inexpressive song — 
 Him the thrice holy, and the only Good. 
 
 Glory on earth, and glory be above, 
 To Father, Son, and Spirit, ever blest. 
 
 Who with o'erflowing, boundless love, 
 
 Saints to their fulness fill with perfect rest.'^^ 
 
 I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
 
 The house of thine abode ; 
 The church our blest Redeemer saved 
 
 With his own precious blood. 
 
 I love thy church, God ! 
 
 Her walls before thee stand, 
 Dear as the apple of thine eye, 
 
 And graven on thy hand. 
 
 If e'er to bless thy sons 
 
 My voice or hands deny, 
 These hands let useful skill forsake, 
 
 This voice in silence die. 
 
 If e'er my heart forget 
 
 Her welfare or her woe, 
 Let every joy this heart forsake, 
 
 And every grief o'erflow. 
 
 For her my tears shall fall ; 
 
 For her my prayers ascend: 
 To her my cares and toils be given, 
 
 'Till toils and cares shall end. 
 
 * Ancient Hymn. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 161 
 
 Beyond my highest joy 
 
 I prize her heavenly ways; 
 Hei' sweet communion, solemn vows, 
 
 Her hymns of love and praise. 
 
 Jesus, thou Friend divine, 
 
 Our Saviour, and our King, 
 Thy hand from every snare and foe 
 
 Shall great deliverance bring. 
 
 Sure as thy truth shall last, 
 
 To Zion shall be given 
 The brightest glories earth can yiel l« 
 
 And brighter bliss of heaven. 
 
 THE FIELD OF THE WORLD. 
 A MORAVIAN MISSIONARY HTMN. 
 
 High on his everlasting throne, 
 
 The King of saints his work surveys; 
 Marks the dear souls he calls his own, 
 
 And smiles on that peculiar race. 
 He rests well pleased their toil to see, 
 
 Beneath his easy yoke they move, 
 With all their heart and strength agree, 
 
 In the sweet labour of his -love. 
 
 His eye the world at once looks throngh- 
 
 A vast, uncultivated field; 
 Mountains and vales in ghastly show, 
 
 A barren, uncouth prospect yield. 
 
162 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 Cleared of the thorns by civil care, 
 A few less hideous wastes are seen ; 
 
 Yet still they all continue bare, 
 And not one spot of earth is green. 
 
 See where the servants of their God, 
 
 A busy multitude appear! 
 For Jesus day and night employed, 
 
 His husbandry they toil to clear. 
 The love of Christ their hearts constrains, 
 
 And strengthens their unwearied hands ; 
 They spend their blood, and sweat, and pains, 
 
 To cultivate Emmanuel's lands. 
 
 Alarmed at their successful toil, 
 
 Satan and his wild spirits rage, 
 They labour to tear up and spoil, 
 
 And blast the rising heritage. 
 In every wilderness they sow 
 
 The seed of death, the carnal mind ; 
 They would not let one virtue grow, 
 
 Nor leave one seed of good behind. 
 
 Yet still the servants of the Lord, 
 
 Look up and calmly persevere; 
 Supported by the Master's word. 
 
 The adverse powers they scorn to fear. 
 Gladly their happy work pursue ; 
 
 The labour of their hands is seen. 
 Their hands the face of earth renew ; 
 
 Some spots at least are lively green. 
 
OF MISSIONS. 163 
 
 To dig the ground they thus bestow 
 
 Their lives, from every softened clod 
 They gather out the stones, and sow 
 
 The immortal seed, the word of God. 
 They water it with tears and prayers, 
 
 Then long for the returning word ; 
 Happy, if all their pains and cares. 
 
 Can bring forth fruit to please the Lord. 
 
 Jesus their work delighted sees, 
 
 Their industry vouchsafes to crown; 
 He kindly gives the wished increase. 
 
 And sends the promised blessing down. 
 The sap of life, the Spirit's powers, 
 
 He rains incessant from above; 
 He all his gracious fulness showers, 
 
 To perfect their great work of love. 
 
 multiply thy sower's seed, 
 
 And fruit we every hour shall bear; 
 Throughout the world thy gospel spread, 
 
 Thy everlasting grace declare ; 
 We all in perfect love renewed. 
 
 Shall know the greatness of thy power, 
 Stand in the temple of our God, 
 
 As pillars, and go out no more. 
 
164 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 A THIRD EXTRAORDINARY FACT. 
 
 In addition to the two extraordinary facts 
 mentioned, as demonstrative of the power 
 and efficiency of the church for the conver- 
 sion of the world, a third may be added, and 
 that is, that the church after having been 
 established by miracles and inspired teachers, 
 has held on her way until the present time, 
 under the operation of ordinary causes, and 
 the agency of uninspired, and often weak, 
 ignorant, and wicked men, 
 
 " In the formation of any society, nothing 
 is more likely than that the means adopted 
 for its first establishment should be also the 
 means proposed for its continuance and se- 
 curity. Thus the same institutions by which 
 Lycurgus or Solon each established a com- 
 munity of that description which best pleased 
 himself, were, by them, considered as the most 
 conducive to perpetuate it in its genuine 
 
OF MISSIONS. 165 
 
 purity. This, indeed, will be mostly the case 
 in all human societies. But the reverse oc- 
 curs in the history of the church. It was 
 established by miracles, exhibiting an infinite 
 variety of superhuman power; it has been 
 perpetuated without any. Its very rulers 
 and agents (as if to make the contrast still 
 more striking) have not remained the same. 
 The terms apostle, prophet, interpreter, &c. 
 denote offices which seem to have been de- 
 signed only for the formation of the church ; 
 and, accordingly, to have been dropped on 
 its complete establishment. Even some of 
 the customary usages of Christianity partook 
 of this temporary character; and these, if 
 preserved, have been applied by the purest 
 churches to purposes different from those 
 which they originally served." 
 
 The reason for this apparent abandonment 
 of Christianity to the natural operation of 
 its own principles, and system of laws, offi- 
 cers and order, is, therefore, a still further 
 proof of its inherent efficacy as the power of 
 God to the conversion of the world, and the 
 salvation of souls. 
 15 
 
166 
 
 The establishment of Christianity was a 
 miraculous revelation and institution by God 
 of all the truth and of all the instrumentality 
 necessary for the fulfilment of his decree, 
 that the heathen shall be converted. And 
 just as God, having created the universe and 
 established its order, laws, adaptations, and 
 relations, withdrew all miraculous interposi- 
 tion, and left the completed work, which was 
 all very good, to accomplish its purposes 
 under his divine providence; so, having com- 
 pleted the revelation of the truth, and the 
 institutions and instrumentalities of the gos- 
 pel, all further superhuman interference by 
 revelation or miraculous agency was un- 
 necessary, and would imply imperfection. 
 Their withdrawal, therefore, is the assurance 
 that God's work was finished, and all very 
 good, and that his church and gospel are 
 mighty through God ; and that their present 
 design is, as the angel flying in mid-heaven, 
 to preach the everlasting gospel to every 
 nation, and kindred, and tribe, and people. 
 
 All expectations, therefore, of miraculous 
 interposition for the promulgation and tri- 
 
OF MISSIONS. 167 
 
 umph of the gospel, and of the personal 
 return and reign of Christ in earthly glory, 
 are based on the idea of the present insuffi- 
 ciency, incompleteness, and powerlessness of 
 the gospel system, and are a plain and mani- 
 fest denial of the sufficiency of Scripture to 
 make wise unto salvation; of the adequacy 
 of the gospel as the power and the wisdom 
 of God for the salvation of all that believe ; 
 of the fitness of the church to be both the 
 pillar and the ground, that is, the preserver 
 and the propagator of the truth; of Christ's 
 prophecy that the gates of hell should not 
 prevail against it; and of Christ's promised 
 presence and power to the end of the world. 
 The volume of revelation has been sealed 
 and closed. Christ's kingdom is come. 
 Christ's truth is perfect, and able to make 
 wise unto salvation, and to convey the gospel 
 to every creature. And the church is God's 
 only appointed instrumentality, first for pre- 
 serving the Scriptures; secondly, for bear- 
 ing witness to them ; thirdly, the propaga- 
 tion of them; and lastly, as being God's 
 
168 OBEDIENCE, THE LIFE 
 
 ministry for the reconciliation and salvation 
 of men. 
 
 Grant that the church thus left has been 
 unfaithful, cold, wayward, and selfish, and 
 that it has often greatly departed from its 
 inspired principles, and divine precedents 
 and purposes, for worldly and ambitious ends. 
 This does not affect the truth or efficacy of 
 either. " The same difficulty meets us in the 
 history of the progressive corruption of the 
 human race; in the backslidings of God's cho- 
 sen people, the Jews; and it was what we have 
 reason to look for in the last dispensation 
 itself, from the prophetic warning of its in- 
 spired founders. It is a difficulty which re- 
 solves itself into the inexplicable question 
 concerning the existence of evil. The general 
 corruption of the Christian world at any past 
 period, ought to be considered rather as a 
 presumption that the church is assisted by 
 God ; and this the more the earlier such cor- 
 ruption occurred, and for this obvious reason. 
 When the old world began to corrupt reli- 
 gion, we know that they plunged deeper and 
 deeper into error, in every age, and country, 
 
OF MISSIONS. 169 
 
 and system of theology, or morals. And we 
 see plainly that if left to themselves the 
 Jews would have sunk into a similar total 
 apostasy and corruption. And why did they 
 not? Because God continually interposed,'^ 
 And what then but a corresponding, though 
 insensible, divine guardianship, can account 
 for the revivals, the reformations, the purifi- 
 cations, through martyrdom and blood, the 
 ever recurring zeal for Christ and his truth, 
 the self-denial, devotedness, and missionary 
 enterprise, the manly liberality, union, and 
 onward progress, which are now manifesting 
 their power in every part of the earth where 
 evangelical Christianity exists? 
 
 What the church has done it can do, and 
 what has been done for the church can be 
 and will be done, until her victory is com- 
 plete, and her dominion universal. He who 
 is with her is greater than all that can be 
 against her. The Lord in the midst of her 
 is mighty. 
 
 Nay, Bride of Heayen! thou art not all bereft, 
 Though this world's prince against thy power rebels ; 
 By thrones, dominions, wealth, and honours left, 
 
 15* 
 
170 THE LIFE OF MISSIONS. 
 
 Witliin thee still the Eternal Spirit dwells, 
 Thy pledged possession. Seek nor seer nor sign, 
 True Temple of that Habitant Divine. 
 Thy part is simple. Fearless still proclaim 
 The Truth to men who loathe her very name. 
 Proclaim that He, to Paul in glory shown, 
 Even from that glory calls thy wrongs his own; 
 And if thy night be dark — if tempests roll, 
 Dread as the visions of thy boding soul. 
 Still in thy dimness, watch, and fast, and pray, 
 And wait the bridegroom's call — the burst of open- 
 ing day. 
 
 THE END. 
 
CHOICE BOOKS 
 
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 16 
 
8 
 
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10 
 
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Princeton 
 
 Theological ,Seminar|r,,Ljbra^ 
 
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DATE DUE 
 
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