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 THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 C. W. HODGE, D. D. 
 
Compliments of Princeton Seminary . 
 
/ 
 
 
THE WORK OF MISSIONS ESSENTIAL TO THE 
 
 LIFE OF THE CHURCH 
 
 > 
 
 SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
 SEMINARY CHAPEL 
 
 NOVEMBER 7TH, 1880 
 
 BY 
 
 C. W. HODGE, D. D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT LITERATURE AND BIBLICAL GREEK IN THE 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE STUDENTS 
 
 PRINCETON 
 
 PRESS PRINTING ESTAULISIIMENT 
 
 l880 
 

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SERMON. 
 
 Eph. hi, 6. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs , and 
 of the same body , and partakers of his promise in Christ by the 
 gospel . 
 
 It may seem an unnecessary task to endeavor to shew that 
 the work of missions is essential to the life of the church, that 
 it is involved in the idea of its being, and in the history of its 
 origin ; and that the New Testament in its doctrine and its 
 history sets forth the salvation of the world as the object oi 
 the gospel, and lays the responsibility for the accomplishment 
 of that object upon the missionary agency of the Church. It 
 is so true that it seems like a truism; and yet, like many things 
 of primary importance, there is danger that it be left to take 
 care of itself in the search after less obvious and practical 
 interests. 
 
 The commission was given by our Saviour to his disciples 
 before his ascension to go into all the world, and to preach 
 the gospel to every creature. Terms could not be found 
 wider or more inclusive. And the limit of time they were to 
 tarry at Jerusalem was set at Pentecost, when they should be 
 endued with power from on high. And yet we find, so far as 
 we have an account of their work in’the Book of Acts, which 
 though not complete in detail, must be accurate in principle, 
 that they were content to remain in Jerusalem for fourteen 
 years preaching to none but Jews only; and that the gospel 
 was carried to the Gentiles, not by the apostles in the first 
 instance, but by the church ; and that the church herself had 
 first to be scattered by persecution among the nations, before 
 
4 
 
 the spirit of the gospel burning in the hearts of believers, 
 impelled them to preach wherever they went; and where there 
 was preaching there were conversions, and where there were 
 believers, there was the church. Not till the gentile church 
 of Antioch was founded, did Jerusalem send Barnabas to 
 oversee it; and not until fourteen years after the ascension did 
 the church at Antioch enter upon the first systematic and 
 ecclesiastical effort to spread the gospel in the world, in equip¬ 
 ping and sending forth Barnabas and Paul. And even yet, 
 the original apostles took no direct part in thus carrying out 
 the commission of the Saviour, but remained in Jerusalem, or 
 were content, no doubt for wise reasons, to go to the Jews 
 while Paul preached to Gentiles. No new revelation of truth 
 was involved in this extension ; no new commission ; no princi¬ 
 ple inculcated which had not been taught them by the Master ; 
 and yet we see how slowly and partially they reached a personal 
 understanding of what was involved in the truth they taught, 
 and a practical recognition of its consequences. And so it 
 has been ever since. The church cannot live except by grow¬ 
 ing, it cannot exist except by extending itself. And yet, 
 throughout its history, it has been occupied with controver¬ 
 sies, with the development and settlement or reformation of 
 its doctrines, with the discussion of its relations to the state, 
 or with the struggle for existence under persecution, and its 
 work of missions has been lost sight of, or relegated to a 
 secondary place in its estimation, instead of being regarded 
 as the reason for its being, and the legitimate sphere of its 
 activity. And even in these days of missionary agencies, we 
 are apt to regard the work as accessory rather than funda¬ 
 mental ; to draw distinctions between its various departments 
 more than to insist upon its essential unity; and therefore to 
 underrate the effect of this work upon the spirituality of the 
 church, and upon our own personal spiritual life. It will be 
 profitable to see how much evidence exists that missions are 
 not modern, and to study the relations in which they are set 
 in the New Testament. 
 
5 
 
 I. I can only briefly allude at the outset to thetruth, which 
 I may not pass over, that the whole scheme of salvation has 
 its origin in the love of God, and that the limits and conditions 
 of that love are in God himself. It is not because one race, or 
 one man, is more worthy than another that God bestows his 
 love ; but his love bestowed becomes the cause of their be¬ 
 coming worthy of it. God so loved the world in its sin and 
 misery, as to purpose to save it at vast sacrifice. And that 
 originating principle, therefore, determines the application of 
 salvation, and sets the measure of our responsibility wide as 
 the sweep of the love of God. 
 
 And moreover, as love is the originating principle of salva¬ 
 tion, so it becomes the organizing and life principle of those 
 who are saved. Men are saved by the love of God, overcom¬ 
 ing the enmity and opposition of the heart to God, bringing 
 the soul into harmony with the truth, furnishing the principle 
 and motive of new obedience to the will of God. Love, there¬ 
 fore, is to such a degree the life principle of the redeemed, 
 that it must determine all their relations to God and to their 
 fellow men. Saved by love, they are by virtue of salvation, 
 lovers of God and lovers of men. Free giving implies not 
 only free acceptance, but free giving in return to others. The 
 same principle which originated salvation, and applied it in 
 any individual case, works outward with resistless impulse, 
 burning and shining, for the salvation of the world, mani¬ 
 festing its heavenly origin by working as God works, vindi¬ 
 cating itself to the believer and to the world as genuine and 
 divine, by this divine activity. And as a principle which has 
 power enough to accomplish the work is the origin of the 
 whole scheme, so every declaration of the purpose of God in 
 salvation reveals the same extension. Read that exalted 
 doxology to the grace of God in Eph. I, traversing the whole 
 scheme from its source in the purpose of God to its present 
 realization of spiritual gifts by both Jews and Gentiles ; that is, 
 all men everywhere and without distinction. The Apostle 
 sets forth its design, its characteristics, and its blessings, all in 
 
6 
 
 order to the glory of God. It is first in the purpose of God, 
 it is realized in redemption by the blood of Christ; and then, 
 the mystery before hidden, is revealed ; “ according to the good 
 pleasure which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispen¬ 
 sation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one 
 all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are 
 in earth, even in him.” And this salvation is thus said to 
 have been appropriated when revealed, both by Jews and Gen¬ 
 tiles, and then, “ sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which 
 is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the 
 purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” 
 
 2. I might dwell on the evidences of this universal adapta¬ 
 tion in the first form of the promise of this salvation, as it 
 came into history. It was for man. A promised man from 
 heaven should win salvation for men. And even when in the 
 development of the purpose, the election of God was narrowed 
 to a nation, the promise was not narrowed ; for the blessing 
 to Abraham was to include all nations. And, as the apostle 
 argues, the law which was given afterwards, could neither 
 annul the promise nor add to its conditions. And in like 
 manner, we might recall the prophecies of Messiah’s King¬ 
 dom, which are of universal scope, including all without dis¬ 
 tinction, and unto the complete establishment of the reign of 
 righteousness. With all this pride and hatred of Gentiles, and 
 mistake as to the spiritual meaning of their own prophecies, 
 the Jews never dreamed that these were to be confined to 
 themselves. The law should be perpetual, but the nations 
 were to be admitted to its privileges ; so that our Saviour 
 testified of the Pharisees, that “ they compassed sea and land 
 to make one proselyte.” The whole Old Testament is full of 
 this idea of universal salvation. 
 
 But turning to the New Testament, 
 
 3. We might dwell at length on the Person and Work of 
 .Christ, in order to appreciate how impossible it is to associate 
 any idea of restriction with these. In Him the love of God has 
 its highest manifestation. He considered not his own glory, 
 
but sacrificed himself for men. He passed over angels that 
 were fallen in order to devote himself to a most foreign mission, 
 to another world, and to a lower and lost race. How much is 
 implied in that phrase, characteristic of the Gospel of John, 
 God sent him into the world ! It implies the eternal pre-exist¬ 
 ence and therefore the divine dignity of the Lord. It shows 
 the infinite love of God in the sacrifice of such a Saviour. It 
 implies the preparation and equipment of the Son in the 
 character of the Revealer of the Father, his representative 
 and agent in the execution of his purpose. Sent him away, 
 from God, from glory, from heaven, to the life on earth, to 
 the cross and sepulchre ; and thereby constituted him the 
 type of all who are to engage in any part of the work of pro¬ 
 moting the purpose of his sending. 
 
 “ The word became flesh.” In the Incarnation the uni¬ 
 versality of this salvation is conspicuous. He became man for 
 all men. Not for the Jews, nor favoured races of men, the 
 philosophical, the refined, the heroic, the cultured. Such dis¬ 
 tinctions vanish beneath the infinite condescension of his com¬ 
 ing. The lowest are no more removed from him than the 
 highest, the best no better worth in his sight than the lost and 
 lowest. Light for the world ! Universal sympathy for every 
 character and condition. No characteristic of our Lord is 
 more remarkable than His many-sidedness. And it is so be¬ 
 cause it so thoroughly corresponds with the ideal of humanity. 
 Nothing could be more misconceived than the representation 
 of him as a Jew, the product of his race, the embodiment of 
 the spirit of his age and his religion. On the human side 
 alone, he is ideal man. No capacity, no weakness, no aspira¬ 
 tion of men, but has its profoundest counterpart in him, and 
 therefore its sympathy and inspiration. He is of all men the 
 most human, most manly, and therefore most helpful. “The 
 Word became Flesh.” 
 
 And this truth appears most conspicuously in the death of 
 Christ. As this was the real and spiritual sacrifice, offered 
 once for all, it was necessarily for all at once. No longer under 
 
8 
 
 
 the conditions of the ritual, with High Priest, and altars and 
 temples, all of which were the instruments of restriction to a 
 chosen race, it was the substance of which these were the 
 shadow. And therefore when the real sacrifice was paid, these 
 must be for ever done away. When Christ died types and pre¬ 
 dictions were emptied of all value. And as real, it was also ade¬ 
 quate in its value for the sins of all men, and precisely adapted 
 to the condition of all men as sinners. And as real, adequate 
 and adapted, it must be freely offered to all men. No reserva¬ 
 tion is compatible with its essential nature. And on the other 
 hand, and as a consequence also of its reality, the condition 
 of its efficacy can only be faith. As Paul argued and Luther 
 preached, faith only, must be necessary to its effect. Every 
 one who accepts it must be saved by it. And faith is a per¬ 
 sonal condition, possible for all men everywhere by the aid of 
 God’s Spirit. The very nature of the atonement involves its 
 universality. The death of Christ would not be proclaimed, 
 without in the very statement including its application to the 
 world. John the Baptist would not point to the Lamb of God, 
 as the real fulfilment of the typical sacrifice, without adding 
 in the same sentence, which taketh away the sin of the world. 
 Jesus could hot say to Nicodemus that he was to be lifted up, 
 without adding as its necessary complement, that he would 
 draw all men unto him. So Paul declares that the Cross is 
 the point of union between Jew and Gentile, and between man 
 and God. “ It pleased the Father that in him should all ful¬ 
 ness dwell ; and having made peace through the blood of his 
 Cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I 
 Say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And 
 you that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind 
 by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.” He could not 
 die, in the nature of things, for a class, or for a nation. Such 
 provision must be for the race. 
 
 And as he passed to his throne it certainly must be to 
 dominion over the whole earth, and not earth only but heaven. 
 Now if in the incarnation and death of Christ the idea is neces- 
 
9 
 
 sarily included of abundant application, of wealth in provision, 
 of a glorious conquest of humanity, is it possible that any be¬ 
 liever should by faith so come into union with that death, as 
 to receive its pardoning benefit, and into union with that risen 
 and reigning Saviour, so as to partake of his life, and imagine 
 that in the appropriation to himself he has done ail that is 
 required of him? That all this has been done for him for his 
 own sake only ? Or that he can have any work to do, or any 
 worth in the kingdom of Christ, but to spread the knowledge 
 of salvation, and bring others to its joys to the praise of the 
 grace of God ? 
 
 4. The same truth is evidently displayed in the Mission of 
 the Holy Ghost, and the establishment thereby of a Spiritual 
 dispensation. During the presence of the Lord on eartn, all 
 eyes were directed to him, and all hopes centered in his im¬ 
 mediate presence. To be with him, to follow him, to learn of 
 him, was the earnest longing of his disciples. On this 
 account, in large part, he told them that it was expedient for 
 them that he should go away, that he might send the Com¬ 
 forter to them, to establish a union with him closer than that 
 of sight and sense, so that the work of the Spirit with all that 
 it implies of enlightenment and guidance, might be no longer 
 embarrassed by local restrictions. So that those afar off 
 might be as near to him as those nigh at hand. And thus 
 their spiritual life might be exercised and strengthened by the 
 immediate influence of the Spirit within them. In the very 
 nature of spiritual influence lies the evidence that it can be 
 subject to no restrictions. The Spirit does not deal with 
 organizations, or with nations, or with classes of men, prim¬ 
 arily. He does not act through external means, but imme¬ 
 diately in the soul. He exerts a personal power upon indi¬ 
 vidual men. Men, as men, are the subjects of his grace. And 
 therefore no conditions external to individual men, can restrict 
 his grace. No conditions of race, forms of organization, or of 
 external privilege of any kind, can either procure or prevent 
 his operations; but faith only, and obedience, which are per- 
 
10 
 
 sonal to the believer. Here is a grand distinction between the 
 Old Dispensation and the New, that faith no longer rests on 
 intermediate representations of the truth, but upon Christ in 
 person, and that by the agency of the Holy Ghost, the soul 
 enjoys this immediate access to and communion with God, 
 and therefore every barrier to the universal spread of the gos¬ 
 pel is done away. Nations without a ritual, a temple, a 
 priesthood or a sacrifice, stand by the Spirit in the inmost 
 courts of divine manifestation. Men everywhere are the 
 proper subjects of salvation, and the way is open for carrying 
 its promises to the ends of the earth. In the nature of things 
 the Spirit cannot be bestowed in any other way, or upon any 
 other terms, and the very fact of his outpouring is therefore 
 the evidence of his universal extension. 
 
 How central this truth was in the occurrences at Pentecost 
 is familiar to all. The multitude from all nations spake in 
 unknown languages. Peter quotes the prophecy of Joel, to 
 the effect that all distinctions of age, sex, station, or nationality 
 were henceforth to be abolished, and that the Spirit was now 
 come upon them that were nigh, and them that were afar off, 
 even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And in accord¬ 
 ance with this essential character of the Spirit’s operations, 
 the practical effect is that each one who receives the Holy 
 Spirit becomes himself the centre of a new diffusion. Regen¬ 
 erated and illumined and filled with the love of God, he is 
 impelled to communicate to others also. Standing in new 
 relations to God and to his fellow men, he is deterred by no 
 outward conditions from bringing all within his reach to the 
 same blessings. By all his sense of gratitude for good be¬ 
 stowed, by all his sense of sin and unworthiness under which 
 the grace has been received, by all his sympathy with the 
 wants and dangers of his fellows in like condition with him¬ 
 self, he is compelled to use his utmost effort in bringing others 
 to Christ. Impelled by the powers of a new life, by the cer¬ 
 titudes of a new faith which cannot be gainsaid, by the con¬ 
 scious communications of a strength more than human, he be- 
 
11 
 
 comes the most fitting instrument of the Spirit in spreading his 
 conquests among men. As is said of Andrew and John, the 
 first disciples called by Jesus, when they went to call their 
 brethren, “ they were no sooner Christians then they were 
 missionaries.” 
 
 5. And because this is the essential nature of Spiritual 
 operations, we see, in the next place, that the idea of Missions 
 is incorporated in the very idea of the Church ; and so vitally 
 incorporated that the church has no existence apart from it. 
 The church does not consist of the seed of Abraham after the 
 flesh ; it is not made up of those who are circumcised and 
 conform to the conditions of the Mosaic covenant; it does 
 not consist of the baptized, nor of those standing in any out¬ 
 ward relation to any organization of men. It is composed of 
 the elect of God, in whom his Holy Spirit dwells by faith. By 
 the Spirit they are united to Christ, and are therefore become 
 one with one another; one body, one church. And without 
 that indwelling there is no church. And as the gift of the 
 Spirit is without restriction, so is the church necessarily 
 coextensive with the gift of the Spirit. Without believers in 
 Christ, called out of every kindred and people under heaven, 
 there is no church of Christ upon earth. And therefore the 
 church by its initial constitution and in the very idea of its 
 being is a Missionary institution, composed of the scattered 
 company of the people of God, and with the law of self perpet¬ 
 uation imposed upon it, existing for the very purpose of ex¬ 
 tending itself, and bringing the nations into its living union. 
 For this reason when our Lord founded his church on earth, 
 it was, as at Pentecost, by the effusion of the Holy Spirit upon 
 all. For this reason, when he ascended, the great promise, 
 made not for immediate consolation so much as for future 
 guidance, was that the Holy Spirit should be given continu¬ 
 ously unto the end. For this reason he sketched to his dis¬ 
 ciples the future contests and persecutions his people should 
 meet with in the world, all of which should issue in the glori¬ 
 ous triumph of his kingdom in his Second Coming. For the 
 
12 
 
 same reason when he commissioned his Apostles, it was with 
 the express command, “ Go into all the world and preach my 
 gospel to every creature.” And to this idea of the Church as 
 a Missionary organization the Book of Acts remarkably cor¬ 
 responds ; for, amidst all vicissitudes of persecution and inter¬ 
 nal corruption, the fundamental thought of the book is growth. 
 Three thousand at Pentecost, five thousand later, among peo¬ 
 ple and priests, in spite of persecution and because of persecu¬ 
 tion, in spite of hypocritical members and of internal dissen¬ 
 sions, and because of overcoming these, it continued to grow. 
 From Jerusalem to Samaria, to Cyprus, and to Antioch; from 
 Antioch to Pamphylia and Pisidia, to Galatia and Phrygia, 
 ter Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth ; to Ephesus, 
 Colossae and Laodicea, until from Jerusalem round about 
 unto Ulyricum there was no space left, and the circle must 
 widen westward to Rome also. In the first instance, in the 
 nature of the case, the process must begin in Palestine, and 
 among Jews. It was only the more efficient because the 
 church at first failed to understand the universal scope of her 
 mission, and concentrated her energies upon the field within 
 her reach; yet the Spirit within her could not long be thus 
 confined. It burst the barriers of the ritual, and spread on 
 every side and by every opportunity, without waiting for 
 Apostles either to lead or to point the way. Apostles them¬ 
 selves regarded with wonder the expansive force of the gospel 
 which they were commissioned to teach, and learned by the 
 effect of the Spirit in the church as well as by the revelation 
 of the Spirit within them, the purpose of God toward the 
 world. It follows, therefore, that in whatever degree the 
 church fails to appreciate her duty to the world, and to neglect 
 the means of this growth, she vitiates the idea of her being, 
 and dwarfs and despiritualizes her life. It follows that these 
 notions of ours of churches restricted nationally, or by de¬ 
 nominations, and these distinctions between the church and 
 her missionary agencies,—as though the life were in the home 
 organization, and only the far off and secondary channel of her 
 
13 
 
 life were in the Missionaries she sends to the frontier or to the 
 heathen—are ideas contrary to New Testament truth. Nay, 
 if we must make distinctions, let us rather say that the Mis¬ 
 sionary work is the church, and the home organization is the 
 appendage. Paul and his Missions were more than Jerusalem 
 and Antioch combined. And let us be assured that the law 
 of her being is, that in proportion to her sound and spiritual 
 extension abroad, will be the vigour and illumination of her 
 life at home. 
 
 6. Noth ng mn ^ more instructive than to study the way 
 in which this idea of universality is inwrought into the structure 
 of the New Testament both in its history and the development 
 of its doctrine. We have seen that it is included in that love 
 which is the life principle of the church ; in the purpose of 
 God in salvation; in the sending, the incarnation and atonement 
 of Christ; in the mission of the Holy Spirit: and in the idea 
 of the church when first instituted on earth. Now look at the 
 New Testament in its broad outlines of history and literature. 
 Its history is the history of Missions ; its epistles are the liter¬ 
 ature of its Missions. The great, comprehensive, historical 
 fact of the Apostolic period is the change of dispensations ; that 
 is, the calling of the Gentiles ; that is, Missions. The great, 
 fundamental truth of the gospel is justification by faith. We 
 have seen how indissolubly connected these two are; that the 
 one is the expression in history of the other, which is the life 
 principle moulding that expression. That because the real, 
 spiritual sacrifice has been made, there can be no condition of 
 salvation other than faith, and because faith is the sole condi¬ 
 tion, the application must be universal. And as this truth, 
 taught by Christ and brought into life by the Spirit, found ex¬ 
 pression in the extension of the church, so on the other hand, 
 the church came to full comprehension of the truth, and of its 
 relations, so as to reduce it to definition and to carry it to its 
 intended results, by means of this extension. In this sense it 
 is eminently true that history was before doctrine. The 
 Apostles in Jerusalem, in the nature of the case, necessarily 
 devoted themselves to witnessing for Christ, and promoting 
 
H 
 
 the growth of the church among the Jews, at first. There; 
 must be a material basis for wider extension. The leaven 
 spread from within. And in order to their greater efficiency 
 in this work, their minds are not distracted by ulterior ques¬ 
 tions, about the abrogation of the law, or the calling of the 
 Gentiles. Peter and James especially, therefore, hold the door 
 open for Jews, and continue to do so to the end of their lives. 
 Meanwhile we have seen that the expansive force of this new 
 idea, or rather the force of this new life, has, unconsciously to 
 themselves, pressed beyond the limits of Judaism, and Gentiles 
 are brought in, and Gentile Missions established. How did the 
 church learn not only that faith in Christ was the way of sal¬ 
 vation, but more than this that circumcision was no longer to 
 be enforced, and that righteousness was in no sense by the 
 law? You say that these are truths of salvation taught only, 
 by the Spirit of God, through men inspired to communicate 
 them. And you say truly. But it is equally true that the 
 Spirit of God taught these truths to Paul, by Missions. Per¬ 
 secution scattered the church, and the Spirit within them im¬ 
 pelled believers to preach, and Gentiles were converted. And 
 thus Paul came to see and understand the scope and applica¬ 
 tion of the work of Christ. Then the church at Jerusalem 
 rejoiced that upon Gentiles also God had bestowed eternal life. 
 Then Peter said to complaining Jewish Christians, Who can 
 refuse water that these should not be baptized ! What was I 
 that I could withstand God ! On the one hand, Paul writes 
 to the Ephesians (ch. iii : 3-6) that his knowledge that “ the 
 Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, partak¬ 
 ers of his promise in.Christ by the gospel,” was a mystery 
 made known to him by revelation, which in other ages was 
 not made known to the sons of men. And on the other hand, 
 we learn the method of that revelation by the Spirit, not only 
 in the important fact that the work was already begun and had 
 made good progress before Paul entered upon it, but we read 
 it even more clearly in the fact that his statement and argument 
 for his doctrine of justification are but the elucidation of princi¬ 
 ples involved, and vindication of truths which lay at the basis 
 
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 > 
 
 of his Missionary activity. Justification is through Christ be¬ 
 cause of the universal sinfulness of men, Jews as well as GehfciiesP 
 There can be no righteousness by the law, therefore, but only 
 in Christ, and therefore for all men. The mystery of Christ 
 seems in Paul’s mind to be almost identical with the mystery 
 of the calling of the Gentiles ; the extent of the atonement is 
 involved in the nature of it. Thus the church owes the very 
 title deeds of her existence, the very doctrines of her salva¬ 
 tion, to the early Missionary impulse of the Holy Spirit. 
 And so also, when Paul passes on to his Christological Epis¬ 
 tles, we trace the same motive, in part at least, of expanding 
 and establishing the idea of the dignity of the Person of Christ, 
 as necessary on the one hand, to furnish an adequate value for 
 the universal sacrifice, and as the other, to exhibit his right to 
 his glorious reign as head over all things to his church,' pos¬ 
 sessing all might and dominion and majesty and judgment. 
 And when we pass on to that picture in the gospel of John, 
 the heavenly gospel, telling of Christ’s testifying of himself, 
 and speaking of things which he had received from the Father, 
 who does not see that the same, or rather a higher universal- 
 ism pervades the whole ; that Jew and Judaizer, are now all 
 forgotten ; that man as man, as he stands before God in rela¬ 
 tion to Christ, believing or rejecting, is alone in question ; 
 that this idea of universality, the salvation of the world, its 
 new creation, is alone in place. And the Apocalypse carries 
 forward the hope of the church into the future, when the 
 promises shall be fulfilled, and the effect of the spiritual life 
 completely realized. 
 
 Let us see to it that whether we stay at home or go 
 abroad, travel by land or by sea, preach in our own or in a 
 foreign language, labour on the frontier or in the great cities, 
 that we be Missionaries ; not content unless the church grows 
 by our instrumentality, both in extension and in inward grace ; 
 lest by self seeking we vitiate the truth of our own Spiritual 
 life, and separate ourselves from the flow of that blessing that 
 comes from Christ through his Holy Spirit.