THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD WITH TOE MEANS AND MOTIVES FOR THE WORK. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCII TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD, WITH THE MEANS AND MOTIVES FOR THE WORK. SERMON PREACHED FOR THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE Irtslijtfrian € f nv t Ij OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, MLA.Y 6. 1866, IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, UNIVERSITY PLACE, NEW YORK. BY THE REV. CYRUS DICKSON, D. D., OF BALTIMORE, Md. yuiliBtjcS at 0)t rcqurst of t f)t ffiictutibt (Committer. NEW YORK : MISSION HOUSE, No. 23 CENTRE STREET. 1866. SERMON. “ Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, llow then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher ? And how shall they preach except they be sent.” — Romans x : 13-15. The text is a part of Paul’s defense of the cause of Mis- sions. The Jews objected to the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. Regarding themselves as the peculiar people of God, they imagined that the Gentile must, in some way, become a Jew in order to salvation. They exhibited dissatis- faction at any efforts to evangelize them, and sometimes, in- deed, were willing to resist it even unto blood. In this Epistle the Apostle, having shown the lost estate by nature and practice of the Gentile, and the equally hopeless condition of the Jew, and his deeper and more deserved con- demnation, for resisting the light and refusing the mercy and grace of God, declares that both Jew and Gentile — that is, the whole race, are guilty before God, and stand in unanswer- ing silence convicted and condemned at His judgment-seat. He then opens up the glorious way of salvation through the incarnation, substitution, sufferings, sacrificial death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten and well-beloved Son — how God can now be just and yet justify the ungodly ; how, having borne our sins in His own body on the tree, suffering the just in the place of the unjust, He can bring us nigh to God ; that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish but have eternal life ; that Christ of God is made wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and 4 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH redemption to every one that belie veth ; that whosoever be- lieveth or calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved, for with God, as between Jew and Gentile, there is no difference, for He is rich in mercy to all that call upon Him ; that this Gospel of the grace of God was intended, not for the Jew alone, but for the race — that it is a universal religion, unre- stricted by nation, or language, or condition, or color, or coun- try. He assigns the Fatherhood of God, the common origin and guilt and ruin of the race, the complete adaptation of the Gospel to all, as some of the reasons why, regardless of Jew- ish passion and prejudice, these glad tidings should be preached to every creature and to every age. Nay, he denounces the expulsion, for long generations, of the Jews from the pale of the Church because of their rejection of this Gospel, and re- fusal to communicate it freely to the nations, and predicts that, after the “ fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in,” the conversion of both Jew and Gentile shall vindicate its univer- sal fitness. The same great truths demonstrate our duty and enforce our obligation to evangelize the world. The demonstration needs perpetual repetition, for the Church seems to have fallen into the same mistaken sentiment as the Jew, for although eight- een centuries have passed away, yet there still remain more heathen to-day than there were inhabitants in the world at the time of the Incarnation. Blessed with the light of the Gospel, she often acts as if it were exclusively her own, and sitting at her ease and satisfied with her blessings, leaves countless millions to perish in darkness. She needs to be re- minded perpetually that her God is the God and Father of all ; that her Saviour is the Saviour for all ; that his invita- tion — the invitation which she is commissioned and command- ed to repeat — is, “ Whosoever regardless of condition or color or country, whosoever calls upon the Lord shall be saved ! That having provided a universal religion , He demands its universal extension, and being rich in mercy to all that call TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. 5 upon Him, He requires tlie Church to communicate to all the nations the knowledge of His being and the freeness and full- ness of His grace. For how can they call upon Him in whom they have not believed ? How can they, in their sins and sorrows and igno- rance, call upon Him for help, of whose love and grace, of whose willingness and power to save the guilty and the lost they know nothing ? And without this knowledge they must perish ! How shall they know of His mercy and grace unless the Church preaches to them these glad tidings ot the blessed God? This is the ordained way, “by the foolishness of preaching,” to enlighten, evangelize and save the race. Hence the ascending command of her King and Saviour, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature .” And in view of the greatness of the work, and the weariness and worldliness and weakness of His people, adds : “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” How can these preachers go, unless sent and supported by God, and sent and supported by His people ? In this great work God is the worker, and His people are honored to co- work with Him. Exalted privilege, divine communion be- tween the Church and her glorious Head ! The part of the Lord Jesus is to supply the gifts, the means, the instrumentalities. The part of the Church is to employ them. These are amongst His great ascension gifts, for “ he gave to some apostles, and some prophets, and some evan. gelists, that is, missionaries , and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. In all ages of the Church He has supplied her with ample means for her ap- pointed work. He never reaps where He has not sown, and when He appoints the work He supplies the workers. Without dwelling on past times or resources, is it not true that the Church of the present generation has had men and means and opportunities enough, if properly and faithfully employed, to evangelize the world within the generation ? 6 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH Miglit not the Gospel have been proclaimed so as that every tribe and tongue of the race could have heard the joyful sound?’ Did not the primitive Christians, with greater obsta- cles to surmount, succeed in testifying for Christ to the whole world in the life-time of the apostles ? . It is true they had the “ gift of tongues but have we not the printing-press, equal to more than many times the gift of tongues in its ability to multiply the Word? If they had not so many continents and islands to visit, our facilities for easy and rapid intercom- munication more than equalizes the increased extent of the field. Consider the membership of the Church — their qualifica- tions as to talent, education and numbers; devoted to enter- prises of commerce encircling the globe ; to learning, filling every department of statesmanship, science, literature and art, and but little doubt will exist of her ability, as to men, to have evangelized the world, so that to-night, instead of meet- ing to hear from the Board of the difficulty and discourage- ment of reinforcing our few and feeble outposts among the heathen, we might have met to rejoice with praise and thanks- giving over the universal dissemination of this Gospel. As to means to send and support this preaching, the Saviour has filled the Church to overflowing. ' Look at the immense wealth in Christian hands — for the active wealth of the world is either largely in the possession or under the control of Pro- testant Christians — wealth enough to educate, send forth and support thousands and tens of thousands of earnest and de- voted men and women, to impart to all nations the Way of Life. As to opportunities to labor, whatever may be said of for- mer times, we affirm that now the whole world is open to the Gospel. The walls of China have fallen and opened her four hundred millions to our compassion. India and Japan, Thi- bet and Tartary, Arabia and Persia, the followers of the false Prophet everywhere, Africa and the islands of the sea — all TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. 7 lauds, pagan and papal, are accessible to our works of faith and labors of love. Has the Church, to her utmost, employed these vast re- sources of men and means and opportunities , entered these “ great, doors and effectual,” notwithstanding the many adver- saries? Constrained by the love of Christ to judge that He died for all, because all were dead, and that lie thus died for all that they who live should not henceforth live unto them- selves, but for Him who died for them, has she consecrated her sous and improved her opportunities of turning the world unto God ? Alas ! what tribes and nations and empires still sit in the region and shadow of death ! How few and feeble and uninterrupted the efforts to bring them to the obedience of Christ ! How unbelieving still is the Church and how lit- tle in sympathy with the plans and purposes, the counsels and covenants of her risen and exalted King ! Our own branch of Zion, though by no means behind her sister denominations, has not distinguished her devotion to this great work as she should. More than twelve hundred of O our churches have given nothing during the past year for the conversion of the Pagan world. The 1,380 contributing ones have given only including legacies $165,170, — $220,000 less than a single elder reports as “ annual income ” for the purpose of Government revenue ! The entire contributions of all our twenty-seven hundred churches to all objects, at home and abroad, are less than the annual personal income of the membership in many of our congregations ! There is, saith Jehovah, that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty. May not the great judg- ments through which the Church and nation are passing have been sent, among other purposes, to rebuke our want of com- passion for these perishing millions. We were so anxious about the health and worldly success of our sons as to with- hold them from the real or imaginary disease and dangers of Heathen lands, and yet 250,000, at least, perished from sick- ness and exposure alone during the war — a number many times 8 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH greater than ever sent from this continent to convert the out- side world ! A talented and promising young man was thought to be “ throwing himself away ” in going as a mis- sionary, and the means as next to lost, sent to support the missions. Now, a million of the young men of the land either sleep in bloody graves, slain in fratricidal strife or overcome by the hardships of camp and field, or wander wounded and disabled for life ! How many of this great multitude were pious, educated, talented, qualified “to teach the nations.” Do not these great and dreadful judgments practically ex- pound the warning of God by the wise man in Prov. xxiv. : 11, 12 : “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it ? and he that keepeth thy soul doth he not know it ? and shall he not render to every man according to his works ?” Did not the great conflict really begin years ago in the- nation’s timidly yielding to the arrogant and unjust de- mands of a State to drive away the missionaries from laboring among the Indians ? Did not a just and sleepless Providence order the bloodiest and most protracted of our fraternal strug- gles to take place around Chattanooga and Lookout Moun- tain, Chickamauga and Missionary 'Midge, localities of this flagrant but almost forgotten wrong ? The wounded and dying soldiers of either side were sheltered and nursed in the very church and dwellings built, more than a generation ago, by the exiled and imprisoned missionaries. Was not the finger of God in this, and should we not be instructed and warned by it? Besides, was not the great struggle, substantially, respect- ing a people from whom, if the Church had been faithful to her great trust, multitudes might have been educated and sent to enlighten and evangelize the dark millions of Africa — the home of their ancestors, and, we trust, the ultimate destina- tion of themselves and their children. Ten thousand millions of treasure expended or destroyed ; TO EVANGELIZE THE WOULD. 9 a million of our young men slain or disabled ; a nation filled with affliction and sorrow, and burdened with debt, are the visitations of God for living too much for ourselves , and far too little for Him who died for us and rose again. Ten thous- and millions of treasure and a million of men ! More than the Church has expended for the conversion of the world in a thousand years ! Full enough, under God’s promised bless- ing, to send in a single generation the Gospel to every human heart and habitation on the globe ! May this great discipline lead us to look, not every one on his own, but every man on the things of others ! May it impel the compassionate inquiry, How can they hear without a preacher ? how can they preach except they be sent ? May the cry of the Apostle become the Litany of the Church : “ Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel !” Is there not danger, imminent danger, unless we repent and do our first works, that the Lord’s controversy with the Church and nation will continue, leaving us to waste our strength in mutual criminations and controversies, until with one heart we come to the help of the Lord against the mighty in the conquest of the world ? Is it any wouder, with such immense resources of men and means and opportunities, when so little is done by the Church to fulfil the great commission, that her enemies tauntingly de- clare her missionary efforts a failure, and even some of her own children suggest the wisdom of abandoning them? Woe ©o © to Zion, and woe to our branch of it, when, from any cause, even from the pressure of boundless wants at home, we with- draw our compassions from these peiishing hundreds of mil- lions, either by recalling the few and feeble laborers already in the field, or by failing to suitably reinforce them. If this calamity and guilt should come, then the glory will soon go up from our temples at home, and the fire of God die out on our altars. Then God, as upon Israel in the days of the Apostle, will denounce and execute upon us the greater ex- communication ! Let us not despond at the greatness of the work, nor at the 10 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH vast difficulties surrounding it, nor at tlie slow and feeble progress made, nor at the little apparent interest manifested in its success, but let us rather consider and improve the means for its speedy accomplishment. Among these, the Piety of the Church must not be over- looked. There must be realized a deeper love, everywhere and always for Christ ; a profounder sense of obligation to live for his glory ; a constant and growing compassion for lost men ; a practical belief in the guilt and condemnation of the heathen ; of the Gospel as their only help and hope, of the Church’s supreme duty to consecrate herself, her sons and her substance to their evangelization — confidence in the means divinely appointed for the salvation of the world, especially the preaching of the Cross ; a holy vigor in the work, making it her meat and drink, her life and joy ; and a full assurance of His gracious and almighty presence with her, always and everywhere, when engaged in this work. The piety of the Church may be measured by the spirit of missions within her. She is, indeed, by her very organization, a Missionary Society, intended to be chiefly engaged in mis- sionary labor. Her commission reads, “ Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Every effort she makes must bend to this great command. She must oc- cupy this as her normal state and work. She is an army, and the chief object of an army is, not to fortify, but to fight, and these are her “ marching orders.” Every service must aim at extensioji and final triumph. Her closets and congregations, her sermons and sacraments, and Sabbaths and Scriptures, her ministers and her members, her old men and maidens and children, must all be filled with the love of Christ, constrain- ing them as the wind the wave, the sail the ship, as the warmth of Spring impels the leaf to open, the bud to blossom and the fruit to fill. The Church must realize that she is called and gathered just to support and assist and carry on this work of works. When every private member, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, young or old, seeks and finds TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. 11 something to do for Missions ; when the Church shall read aright the command to “ Go," and thus reading shall obey, then the isles will begin to wait for his law, and Ethio- pia stretch out her hands unto God. The Church must lie educated to regard it as the duty and privilege of every member, and every child at her firesides, or in her Sabbath-schools, to give to this cause systematically and scripturally, “on the first day of the week, as the Lord hath prospered.” To set apart on the Sabbath, the day that com- memorates the resurrection of Christ, as an act of love and loyalty to Him, and expressive of unshaken confidence in Ilis final and universal triumph over the world. In this way, the vast means now expended for personal, and sometimes selfish gratifications, will be restored to their true channel — the bet- terment of the race, and the glory of her God and King. This giving and practical compassion, will work wonders in the Church. The rich and poor, according to their several “ abilities,” contributing systematically and scripturally, every Sabbath, like the thousand rills from the mountain’s side, will, uniting, form that river, “ the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” This training of the young, will prove a blessed means to bring them to Jesus, and lead them to self- denying devotion to His cause. Already no small part of the support of this Board comes from tender hearts and tiny hands. Into its Treasury the other day came the contribution of a poor, little, half-clad, orphan child, some five years old. The largeness of the gift, in view of the childhood and pov- erty of the giver, excited inquiry, and it was found, that, moved with pity for the heathen, she had devoted the entire earnings of a day per week, and these fourteen pennies were the wages for watching the infants of some poor washerwomen, whilst their mothers were absent at work. A poor little orphan child, watching these infants the weary, winter day, to procure means for the conversion of the world, and the glory of Jesus ! What a heroic example to the Church of Christ ! This child is surely a spiritual descendant of the 12 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH widow of old, who gave “ of her penury all her living,” and He who once sat, and still sits, “ over against the Treasury, beholding how the people cast in their money,” beheld her, no doubt, with smiles of approbation. This praying, preaching, working, giving, the Church must be excited to prize and employ. A compassionate ministry, and scripturally instructed people, under the blessing of the Holy Ghost, can multiply these men and means indefinitely. She must learn that He who taught her to pray, taught her to pray for His glory and the coming of His kingdom, before daily bread, or daily sins, or daily temptations and dangers, and that the order of importance, in His mind, should be the order in her own. Missionary Intelligence must be extended and brought into contact with the minds and consciences of the people of God, and especially in our schools — Sabbath and day — and colleges and seminaries. The conviction must be wrought of the sad estate, and guilty and perishing condition of the heathen, and our responsibility for their rescue. That “ we whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high,” cannot leave these benighted ones to perish, without great blood-guiltiness. The guilt of Christians must be shown in the unequal dis- tribution of the laborers, keeping, sometimes five or ten ministers laboring in towns or villages of a few hundred or thousand inhabitants, representing differences of doctrine or order, that do not touch the fundamentals of religion — wasting their strength, and sometimes injuring the Gospel by mutual contentions, whilst thousands of cities, with tens and hundreds of thousands of people, nay, whole states and almost empires have not a solitary preacher to tell them of the being and grace of God, as revealed in the Gospel of His dear Son ! Why, this city alone has more ministers than China, Thibet, Tartary, Japan, with their six hundred millions! The Church must be made to realize and rectify this wrong. Such a state of inequality the Saviour of men cannot be expected to tolerate, and as he allowed the bolts of TO EVANGELIZE TIIE WORLD. 13 persecution to scatter the disciples from Jerusalem and send them “ everywhere, preaching the word,” so may He not be provoked by our selfishness, to drive us away from our pleasant land and homes, and churches, so that “ the wilder- ness and solitary places may be glad for us, and the desert blossom as the rose.” The eagle thus breaks up her nest amid the rocks, to compel her young to fly and work. Providence thus sent the tent-makers, Aquilla and Priscilla driven from Home to Corinth, and Ephesus to comfort Paul and counsel and co work with Apollos. The Gospel, the preaching of the Gospel is the divinely appointed means to transform the race, and to translate it from darkuess to light, and from the power of Satan, into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. The only voice to reach the nations — wandering like the demoniac amongst the tombs, and to evoke the evil spirit, and bring them to sit at the feet of “ Jesus, clothed and in their right mind.” It is the true and only Sesame, at the sound of which, the heart’s doors open. The Moravian Missionaries found it so, after laboring for years, painfully, but in vain, to educate the Greenlanders in morality, and thus prepare them for the Gospel. Brother Beck one day was reading with much tenderness, the agony in the garden and on the cross, as recorded by Matthew, when Kayamak, a savage chief, said, “ Read that again, for I too wish to be saved.” The Cross is the power of God to sal- vation ! Dr. Nelson, once a furious infidel, afterwards a successful Evangelist, often traversed the Indian country, as surgeon to the army of Gen. Jackson, in the Cherokee and Creek wars ; some years after, returning on the Cherokee war-path, he was surprised to find in the wilderness, a pretty cabin, a little farm neatly fenced, with many other marks of civilization and com- fort. From among the tall green-corn, he heard the voice of In- dian singing. In answer to his inquiry, his guide and interpreter said the Induui “ was singing about some one’s dying on a 14 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH. tree.” Tlie missionary had been there ! The cabin, the corn- field, the quiet, the comfort — all came from the Cross of Christ ! The Cherokee warrior, once revelling in blood, but now converted, was singing in his own language, the wonder- ful love of God, as described by Watts in that immortal hymn, “ Was it for crimes that I had done, He groan’d upon the tree ? Amazing pity, grace unknown, And love beyond degree.” The Gospel is the key of the house of David, with which to open the sad hearts of men. With it, let the Church arise and open the prison-doors of the nations ! Will this work ever be accomplished ? Tim predictions and promises of God’s Word, assuring the final triumphs of the Gospel, began to be disclosed before the expulsion from Eden, and through all the Scriptures, by pro- phets and apostles, priests and kings, in song and symbol, in covenant and sacrament, these glorious triumphs are portrayed. “The seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent’s head.” The dying Jacob, foretold the coming of “ the Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the peoples should be.” To Moses it was said, “ As surely as I live,” saith Jehovah, “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.” By David, “The heathen shall be given to Him for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. All kings shall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him.” By Daniel, “ The kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high God.” By John, “The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ.” That “Satan shall be bound with a great chain, and cast into the bottomless-pit, for a thousand years, that he may no more deceive the nations.” And saints of martyr power and spirit, shall live and reign with Christ through those wondrous years. This glorious scheme of mil- lennial promise, extends through the entire Scriptures. Before TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. 15 these thousand years begin, we are warned by Daniel, Paul and John, that a large part of the visible church shall be over- come by the Man of Sin — that vast apostacies shall occur, by which the true Church shall be oppressed for 1,260 years — that her struggle, through this long, sad period, shall be for existence, rather than extension — that at the close of the 1,260 years, the powers of darkness, represented by the Beast that ascended from the bottomless-pit, shall for a little season, seem to prevail — the witnesses testifying in sackcloth and sorrow shall be slain — the public testimony of the Church suppres- sed — that great commotions shall be stirred, in which, and by which, the kings of the Roman earth, and of the whole world, shall be gathered — the friends of light and darkness, of God and Satan, arrayed for the final and dreadful conflict, styled the Battle or War, of the Great Day of God Almighty, in which, the Beast and the False Prophet are to be slain, and, in some way or other, out of which, like a resurrection from the dead, God's ancient and covenant, yet scattered Israel, will be restored and converted, and the Gospel preached to all nations. This war is described by Christ as the “ distress of nations, with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” By the Psalmist ; as “the heathen raging and people imagining a vain thing, or as- sembling in tumults. The kings of the earth setting themselves in array, and the rulers conspiring together against Jehovah and His Anointed, or Christ.” The close of these 1,260 years of Zion’s sorrow is at hand. Great convulsions in the Church, and among the nations, extending through the lifetime of a generation, are to characterize the suppression of this testimony of sackcloth and sorrow. In the midst of this prediction, the Lord Jesus cries, “Behold, I come as a thief! Blessed is he who watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” Forewarned by prophecy, of these tribulations of their dread- ful character, yet short continuance, and glorious results, let 16 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH the Church arise from her slumbers, and gird herself for her work and warfare. Like Daniel in the captivity at Babylon, “ understanding from books that the number of the years” ap- pointed for the Church’s oppression by Anti - Christ, is nearly ended, let her come forth by fasting and prayer, to guide the bewildered nations in their return to God. These “ Scriptures were written for our learning, on whom these ends of the earth have come, that we, through their patience and comfort, might have hope.” These great changes are represented as levelling mountains and filling up valleys, that a highway may be prepared for the ransomed of the Lord to walk on — that is, the removal of all obstacles to the evangelization of the world. Let the Church arise ! It is promised that her feet shall appear “ beautiful upon the mountains,” bringing these glad tidings of good things. These great changes have already begun! The barriers which divided the nations are falling — the brotherhood of men is beginning to be felt and acknowledged — that God “ made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth ” — and to keep us in daily and perpetual remem- brance of this, our wants and our comforts are supplied by the productions and toil of the most distant Papal and Pagan peoples. The tea and coffee that daily refresh us, the per- fumes and spices and medicine, the costly silks and fabrics of Orient, the shawls from the looms of Cashmere and Afghan- istan, the gums and gems from India and the land of Ishmael, and the very pestilences too, that afflict and appal Christen- dom, remind us of the kindred, and implore us to send them the health and healing of the Gospel. God evidently intends them to accomplish this mission, and thus to pour upon the Christian’s ear daily the cry of a thousand Macedons. We ought, as Paul from the vision, to assuredly gather that the Lord hath called us to preach the Gospel unto the many lands from whence they come. Besides, the decline and decay of the great superstitions in TO EVANGELIZE THE WOULD. 17 lliese lands, ought to quicken the hopes and encourage the labors ot‘ God’s people. Brahma and Buddh, whose panthe- istic systems have for more than a hundred generations, held in bondage half the human race, are losing the confidence of their multitudinous worshippers — Gunga and Vishnu no longer attract, as formerly, such countless pilgrims to their shrines and melas, and the wheels of Jugganath have ceased to crush his myriads of victims. That strange foreboding in the minds of men which always precedes and prepares the way for great revolutions — the forerunners of change and overthrow of the past, are now penetrating the hearts of Mohammedan, and Papal and Pagan nations. The voices, such as were heard before the overthrow of Jerusalem — like the sighings of the sea before the storm, or the moanings of the earth before the earthquake — such premonitory voices, are heard amidst the gorgeous temples and altars, of these various and venerable superstitions. Every fear and foreboding they feel, every voice they hear, are to us, intended to be tones of cheer and com- fort. The desire for the Scriptures, and the constantly growing opportunities for their circulation, call to gratitude and labor. The translation and printing the Arabic Scriptures in this city, in the sacred language of a hundred millions of the race, and they largely the descendants of Abraham’s eldest son, are signs of promise in these wondrous times. The diminished time and space between countries and continents ; and the vastly increased intercourse of Christian nations — especially of our own — with the older and larger families of the race ; the vast culture and knowledge that many of them possess — the influence and intelligence of their learned men, priests and statesmen — their interest in our science and civilization — and, if converted, their ability to overthrow the superstitions of their countrymen, and guide them to the Gospel — their skill and energy illustrated by their vast works, their temples, their pagodas, their canals, their manufactures, their cities — why, the wall of China alone, it is supposed, contains more 2 18 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH material, and required more labor, than all the habitations in England or this country ! How the Bible will yet sweeten such toil, and sanctity such skill and energy, and direct them to the culture and comfort of the race. God’s ordinary way of spreading the Gospel, has been by converting devotees from the corrupt or false religions. The apostles themselves were converted from Judaism, that they might better overthrow it, and “multitudes of the priests” became obedient to the faith and missionaries to the Gentiles. Heathen priests and lawyers and philosophers and poets be- came the early Apologists for Christianity, and Luther and Calvin, and Cranmer and Knox, and a thousand other heroes, were trained by the Papacy, and turned from it by God, for its overthrow. And why may not we hopefully labor for the conversion of Brahmin, and Lama, and Moolah, and Pundit, and Parsee, and Priest, so that they may turn many to right- eousness. Thus commerce, and travel, and science, and civilization, are all handmaids of the Church, to assist in turning the world to God. The great movements of the nations are towards Zion, God’s hill of sunshine — and though these journeys through the wilderness may be long and weary, yet they will be accomplished, and the nations will yet dwell around this mount of God, where nothing shall hurt or destroy. The great calls and wonderful responses to benevolent effort in behalf of the wounded and sick of our soldiers, and prison- ers, and refugees, and the suffering from the war were intend- ed by God, no doubt, to break up the fallow ground of our selfishness, that God’s people might no longer sow among thorns. The world never witnessed such sublime, personal and pecuniary efforts, to relieve human suffering. The Church should avail of this strong heart-flood, to continue and enlarge, and direct it, to relieve the weeping and wounded, and perish- ing in sin. Thousands have begun to pity and to give, who never did before. Let their eyes be directed beyond the suf TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. 19 ferings of the body, to the deeper and more dreadful diseases and dangers of the soul. Another motive to hopeful exertion, is, the blessed and wide-spread revivals of religion of the last few months. They almost without exception, began in connection with the “Week of Prayer” — the universal concert for the world’s con- version — indicating the law of the divine kingdom, that com- passion for others, brings blessings on ourselves. Indeed the great missionary enterprises rise or fall, extend or contract, as the Holy Spirit is given or withheld from the Churches. Re- vivals make missionaries, and advance missions. They must be improved, by turning these new converts and revived congregations to enlarged labor for Christ. A renewed soul, and revived Church, are like clay ready to receive any form of utility or beauty, and let us see to it, that these be made vessels for honor and glory. Besides, these universal concerts, so recently begun, and now so widely observed, and these gracious outpourings of the Holy Spirit in connection with them, are harbingers of the latter days, reminding us of the promises, “ when they call I will answer,” “ I will pour water upon the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground ; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring : and they shall spring up as among the grass, and as willows by the water courses.” As the freshness and fragrance of the winds assured Colum- bus of these to him yet unseen shores, so, by these precious seasons of refreshing and revival, the Church may know and rejoice at her drawing nigh to the Thousand years of song and sunshine. The favor of God, as seen in the Progress already made, is a theme for thanksgiving and encouragement. When we con- sider the smallness of the means — the greatness of the obsta- cles — the islands and parts of continents already occupied — the languages of savage peoples reduced to writing — the trans- lation and printing of the Scriptures in all the great languages, and many dialects — the stations already planted — the 20 THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH churches organized and members added — the schools and seminaries opened, and scholars gathered — the general good character of the converts — the native ministry forming, and willingness of the people, as far as able, to support it — the immense preparatory work accomplished — the great convic- tion largely wrought in the minds of the heathen, of the excellency of our religion and the insufficiency of their own — the growing intelligence at home, respecting Pagan, Moham- medan and Papal populations and countries — the necessity of their evangelization — the disposition of God’s people to meet their responsibility, and the enlarged prayerfulness, compas- sion and benevolence ; — when we consider either, or all of these things, we cannot but thank God and take courage. To such an one as our venerable secretary, the retrospect must be full of hope. Surveying the great horizon of thirty years’ connection with the Board, pausing to contemplate more ten- derly the shores and seas of China, where the remains of two sainted sons repose, and recounting the changes and progress at home and abroad, effected by this work of Missions — with soul swelling as the soul of Moses on Pisgali, may he not exclaim, “ What hath God wrought ! This work of missions is the work of God ! ” This is our final comfort and encouragement : O It is the work of God, the chosen work of God ! For the wonders of Creation, the process of Providence and Plan of Redemption, all point to the same glorious end ; the crowning of the Redeemer Lord of all — “ to bring every knee to bow, and every tongue confess the name of Jesus to the glory of God the Father ! ” Councils and covenants, predictions and promises, terminate in this ; the means are all ordained as well as the end ; and spring answers to spring, and wheel works within wheel, for its consummation. The sleepless eyes, the unwearying skill and unforgetting love of Jehovah - Jesus, superintend all operations. lie himself hath said, “A woman may forget her sucking child, that she should not have com- passion on the son of her womb ; yea, they may forget, yet TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. 21 will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” The plans and specifications of this great work, this work of the Ages, have not been trusted to papyrus or parchment, but are graven upon the palms of the hands of the great Founder and Builder, and thus her ruined, or her rising walls, are always before his eye. From the far away quarries of China and Siam, and Burundi, and India, and all Asia, and all islands and continents, “ living stones,” will yet be hewn and brought to complete this temple, at whose commencement the sous of God sang for joy, and the head or capstone of which, shall be brought forth with universal shoutings of, “ Grace, grace, glory, glory ! ” • It will be finished ! All power in heaven and upon earth, for this enterprise, is put into the hands that were once nailed to the cross. The mediatorial crown is upon the brow of Him, who once for it, was crowned with thorns — its affairs are dear to that heart which, for its success, was once exceed- ing sorrowful even unto death, and for it, was pierced by the Roman’s coward spear, and purchased it with his own blood. May thy kingdom come, blessed Jesus ! for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever ! Amen ! and Amen ! * A