3 
 
 Rev. C, H. SPURGE ON’S 
 ]SLjsstonarv sermox, 
 
 AT TIIK 
 
 Whslf.v.w Missionary Annivhrsary, 
 
 GREAT QUEEN STREET CHAPEL, 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 May, 1886 . 
 
 ; 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
 The “London Recorder" of May 7th says; 
 
 The Missionary Anniversary of tliis year will long be remembered, if 
 only because of the two pulpit masterpieces it evoked. Mr. Spcrgeos’s 
 sermon was the highest example of preaching we have ever heard. The 
 full report this week presented to our readers will sound like a trumpet 
 through all the homes and societies of Methodism. Its echoes are sure to 
 be heard, “not many days hence,” on every mission station at home and 
 abroad ; it will renew faith and re-kiiidle zeal into flames of loving loyalty. 
 Faith, child-like in its simplicity, giant-like in its strength, zeal of the true 
 Elijah type, love like that of a lover, and loyalty unwavering in its obed- 
 ience and radiant with reverence, these were the things touching the King’s 
 servants which England’s most successful preacher displayed to his en- 
 tranced hearers. He did not fail to warn us of our perils, or to rebuke us for 
 our faults. But his severest irony and sternest invective were so clotheii in 
 love, and enforced by devotion, that, whilst every one was admonished, no 
 one could be offended. “It was worth while coming all the way from Paris 
 to hear that sermon,” said Mr. de Movilpied at the Breakfast Meeting; and 
 all Methodism will, to-day, unite in the shout with which his “God bless 
 him” was greeted. 
 
Missionary Sermon. 
 
 By Rev. C. H. Wri:R(;KON. 
 
 Dear friends, you will find my text in the last 
 chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, the 18th 
 verse and onward: “And Jesus came and spake 
 
 unto them, saying. All power is given unto Me in 
 heaven and in earth.” That will really be my sub- 
 ject, but we shall need all the rest of the passage: 
 “ Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all 
 things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and, lo, I 
 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” 
 “Jesus came and spake to them, saying. All power 
 is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Before 
 our Savior’s death he seems to have been almost 
 always with his disciples; but, after he was risen 
 from the dead, he was not always with them. He 
 came and he went in a very mysterious manner. 
 Doors being shut, there he Tvas; or, when they were 
 by the sea, in some other singular style, he stood 
 upon the shore and spake to them. He came and 
 he went, and still manifested himself to them, as he 
 did not unto the world. There is a speciality in his 
 communion with them then, but in the case before 
 us, whatever speciality there was, there was much of 
 familiarity too. “Jesus came and spake to them;” 
 perhaps a more correct translation would be “ talked 
 
4 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 with them.” It was no oratorical display, no speech 
 from a distance, but he came, bringing himself into 
 close proximity with them ; and he talked with them 
 just as he had done of old, and held sweet inter- 
 course with them. There may have been but the 
 Eleven; the connection would make us think so; 
 and yet when we read — “ They saw him, and wor- 
 shipped him, and some doubted,” one would think 
 there must have been more than the eleven, for 
 they had surely got over their doubts by this time. ' 
 Many of the most learned expositors think that this 
 was the occasion on which our Lord appeared to 
 about five hundred brethren at once. It does not 
 much matter which. If he spake to the eleven, 
 they represented the whole; and if he spake to the 
 five hundred, they were nearly the whole of his fol- 
 lowers here below. Anyhow, he must have spoken, 
 not to those who were actually present, but to his 
 whole Church, because in no other sense can it be 
 true — “ Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world ; ” for they have gone, they have not 
 remained unto the end of the dispensation. We do 
 remain, and we take it that the Master’s words were 
 spoken to us all. Christ looked over the heads of 
 the centuries, and ho saw us, and he said to us, who 
 work for and serve him in the })reaching of the Gos- 
 pel, and to all his people (for they all do tliis), “Lo, 
 
 I am with you alway, even unto tlie end of the 
 world.” 
 
 The j)oint I want to begin with is this. You see 
 that what the Savior said to them was spoken to 
 them in familiar intercourse by himself ; and it is 
 all about liimself. He begins by saying “All j)ower 
 
.MISSJO.XA n Y SnitMON. 
 
 is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” The 
 work to which he is about to send them is one which 
 is very dear to his own heart. He comes himself to 
 tell them about it, and he puts himself in the fore- 
 front as the leader of it, and as the great source of 
 supply in it. Brethren, we shall never do aright in 
 this work, except as we get very near to our Master. 
 We cannot teach what we have not learned, and we 
 cannot learn it so as to teach it well unless we learn 
 it of Him. The first thing to make Apostles know 
 is to know who He is that sends them. “All j^ower 
 is given unto Me in heaven and in earth ” is the very 
 first lesson for a missionary. If he does not know 
 his Master and know his Master’s j)Ower, if ho does 
 not believe in this ui) to the very hilt, he is not 
 qualified to go upon his work at all. It must be 
 from his Master that he gets his commission, 
 and he must know enough of his Master to know 
 that all the strength comes from him. And 
 then the whole thing is in connection with the 
 Master. He says : Because all ] >ower is given unto 
 me in heaven and earth, “Go ye, therefore, and 
 teach all nations.” The teaching is to be done 
 for him ; the teaching is about him. They are to 
 disciple; they are not to make disciples to them- 
 selves, nor to a party ; but disciples to him. He sends 
 them that they may bring disciples to his feet, that 
 he may be the Master of those who are thus discipled. 
 And when they are to baptize it is to be in His name, 
 and in association with the revered name of the 
 Father and of the Holy Ghost. We are not baptized 
 into this or that Church, nor even into this or that 
 form or creed ; but we are baptized into the name of 
 
6 
 
 MISSTONAEY SER3fON. 
 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost — 
 always, you see, bringing up Christ again, always 
 for the making known of the savor of His name. 
 Whether it be an outward ordinance, or the minis- 
 tration of the word vocally, it is still all for .Jesus ; 
 everything goes from him and goes back to him. 
 “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
 have commanded you ; ” the Master still to the front! 
 The pasturing of those whom we have ingathered by 
 our evangelistic services is all to be beneath the care 
 of the Great Shepherd of the sheep. The only stat- 
 ute-book of the church is the command of Christ. 
 The only legitimate authority within the Church of 
 God is the authority of Jesus. We teach them, not 
 to observe what is commanded by a synod, or a con- 
 ference, or by some great prophet in our Israel, but 
 still teach them “ all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you.” Christ to the front still ! A leader 
 and commander to the people, the true and only 
 Rabbi of the people of God. And all this, beloved, 
 is to be done, you see, in constant fellowship with 
 Christ: “ Lo, I am with you, I am with you alway.” 
 We do not go except he sends us, and we go not ex- 
 cept u})on his errand ; and we go not to do our own 
 bidding, but his bidding in all thing.s. And then, 
 he must go with us. “ If thy presence go not with 
 me, carry me not up hence,” every servant of Christ 
 may truly say every day. If thou speakest because 
 Christ speaketh in thee thou speakest with power. 
 If thou goest out to the ungodly and Christ goes 
 with thee it is a divine visitation. If thou dost 
 preach, baptize, or pa.storize — whatever it is — if thou 
 doe.st it, th}’ Master himself being at thy back, then 
 
3riSSI0NARV SERMOX. i 
 
 doest thou something tlmt will stand that testing 
 fire which shall try every man’s work, of whatever 
 sort it is. “ Without Me,” saith he, “ ye can do noth- 
 ing;” and our answer is, “’Tis true, great Master, 
 we can do nothing, neither will we attempt to do 
 anything, but we will ever fall back upon this, thy 
 generous and compassionate word : ‘ Lo, I am with 
 you alway, even unto the end.’ ” 
 
 Then, to close this preface, we have to do this in 
 joyful anticipation — that expectancy all being con- 
 cerning him unto the end of the era, or of the dis- 
 pensation; for I take it, brethren, that the great 
 hope of the Church is the Second Advent of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. There may be differences of 
 form as to your expectation, but the whole Church 
 of God longs for the appearing and the manifesta- 
 tion of the Son of God. This same Jesus, which is 
 taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in 
 like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. 
 We sigh from our very soul, “Come, Lord Jesus,” 
 and yet again ever say, “ Come, Lord Jesus ! ” “ The 
 Spirit and the Bride say. Come ! ” 
 
 Now, then, if I have been able to utter the thought 
 that is in my soul, it is tins. Jesus Christ famil- 
 iarly gathers us around him now, and talks to us 
 about that which is nearest to his heart. We are to 
 go and teach the ignorant, convert the unconverted, 
 and build up those who are converted. We are to 
 do this as part of our loyalty to him, who is the 
 King. We are to do it for him, and with him. 
 We are to expect him to come, not saying, “My 
 Lord delayeth his coming,” but expecting him soon 
 to appear. We are to do this as servants that look 
 
8 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 to their master for their reward ; we are to do it as 
 friends whose great delight it is to do this act of 
 generous friendship towards him who poured out 
 his soul unto death for them. “ Jesus came and 
 spake to them, and said, All power is given unto 
 Me in heaven and in earth.” 
 
 We must get to Jesus, brethren and sisters. We 
 must keep with Jesus. We must live with Jesus. 
 We cannot serve him else. The fellowship of Christ 
 lies at the bottom of all true usefulness. If thou 
 beginnest to serve God, and thou wouldst enjoy the 
 light of his'countenance, leave thy gift at the altar, 
 and go first and be reconciled to thy God. If there 
 be any cloud between thee and thy Lord, attempt 
 not to act as God’s servant until thou hast put that 
 away. If ye say that ye have fellowship with him, 
 then in that fellowship shall ye work for him, with 
 divine unction and power, without which ye shall 
 labor in vain. Let this stand as the introduction 
 for the text. 
 
 Now I ask you to consider the important state- 
 ment that lies before us. Our Lord said, “ All power 
 is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” All 
 power! that is not my word; all authority would be 
 nearer, and yet I do not think authority would be 
 an exhaustive translation. You know that dynasty 
 is power. Our Lord does not care about dynastic 
 power in which kings and princes take so much 
 delight. Cannons are the last arguments of kings, 
 but Christ has a more forcible argument than this. 
 You remember the passage, “ To as many as received 
 him, to them gave he j)ower to become the sons of 
 Cfod.” When we are preaching from that we .say 
 
jrissio XA li y sk k mo n. 
 
 9 
 
 this means privilege, right, liberty, power, to become 
 the sons of God, and it does mean all that. That is 
 what it means in this particular {)lace. All author- 
 ity, all right, but not that exclusively, for some are 
 kings dejure who are not kings de facto. They have 
 the right to the kingdom, but they have not posses- 
 sion of the kingdom. But, in the Lord’s ca.se, these 
 two together give might and right, lie is the 
 authorized sovereign in heaven and in earth. All 
 power, dominion, rule, majesty, might, is given to 
 him in heaven and in earth. “ All ])ower is given.” 
 Do not let us read this text as if we were to go into 
 the world and get power for Christ. Oh, no; all 
 power is given. He has it already. The King of 
 all the world is Christ, after all. It is not only what 
 he shall be, but what he is. This very day his drum 
 sounds round the universe. He is King of kings 
 and Lord of lords. Hallelujah ! The rightful sov- 
 ereign of this world is King Jesus. It is not alone 
 that he shall reign, but he does reign. Yes, and he 
 must reign until all enemies are made his footstool. 
 Catch the word ! “ All power is given to Me.” Christ 
 has got it. As the gift of the Father, it is even now 
 with him. As God, of course he is omnipotent; as 
 man, he could not contain all power, for the vessel 
 of a creature could not hold an Infinite. But the 
 text reflects Christ in his united person, in his com- 
 plex nature: “God, Man, Mediator.” That power, 
 in a measure, he laid aside when he was here. Then, 
 even, he was the rightful King of kings, but that 
 power he has re-assumed since his resurrection from 
 the dead. The Father hath bestowed upon him, as 
 the reward of his travail, all right and all might. 
 
10 
 
 3rissioxAnr sermox. 
 
 all authority and all power in heaven and in earth. 
 And he has it. He has it this very day. We may 
 sing by poetic license — 
 
 Bring forth the royal diadem 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 But, as a matter of fact, he was crowned long ago; 
 and now doth God declare the decree, “ T will declare 
 the decree, saith he, yet have I set my king upon 
 my holy hill of Zion.” He reigneth ; the Lord 
 reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitudes 
 of the hills be glad thereof. “ All power is given 
 unto Me in heaven.” In heaven ! what a place to 
 have power. In heaven? Oh, brothers, if we had 
 our choice of where we would have power, we would 
 not deliberate long; hut we would say: give me 
 power in heaven. What a power was that of Elias 
 when he went to the top of Carmel ! He had turned 
 the key and shut uj) heaven for the space of three 
 years, so that there was neither dew nor rain ; but 
 on the top of Carmel he kept his head between his 
 knees and cried until he heard the sound of an 
 abundance of rain, for he had power in heaven. 
 And there are men and women of God among us 
 who have power in heaven. “ There,” it was said 
 of Luther, “ There goes a man who can do anything 
 with God he likes.” 'Idiere are such men and women 
 among us still ; but all the power of all the Elijahs, 
 and all the intercessors, will never come to as much 
 as this. It is vested in the great interceding High 
 Priest now before the throne, even in our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. All j)ower is given unto him in heaven — 
 in fact, all the power of all the interceders who pre- 
 vail with God cometh from him. lie puts power 
 
.MISSION ARY SERMON. 
 
 11 
 
 into our pleadings and prayers. A fullness in that 
 respect dwells in him. He hath power with God, 
 and, if power with God, I need scarcely say that all 
 power in heaven among the angels is with him. 
 Legions of angels fly at his bidding; and all intel- 
 ligences, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or 
 principalities, or powers, are all submissive to this 
 great First-born, this Lord of All. lie hath all 
 power in heaven. 
 
 But the text saith, “All power is given in heaven 
 and in earth.” In earth, too, Chri.st has power; and 
 never let us doubt it. Our troubles come from our 
 doubting about this. The world is in a dreadful 
 hurly-burly. Everything is out of order. The 
 storm-winds are out, and everything is in a rage. 
 Think ye not so ! He seeth order where we see con- 
 fusion. Where everything shakes I hear him amid 
 the earthquake. The pillars of the earth are re- 
 moved, and he saith, “ I bear them up.” The foun- 
 dation of God standeth sure in the person of the 
 unchanging Christ, “ the same yesterday, to-day, and 
 for ever.” I bless God that the }>ower, after all, does 
 not lie with the kings, nor, for the matter of that, 
 with the mob. I rejoice that the power does not lie 
 with the Premier, nor with the Cabinet, nor with the 
 multitude. “But power is given unto Me,” saith 
 Christ. Britannia rules the waves ! Put Britannia 
 on the waves, and see. He that rules the waves — 
 the waves of human thought as well as the waves of 
 the sea, is everywhere Master and Lord, in the little 
 and in the great, in the present and in the future. 
 “ The Lord sitteth on the flood, yea, the Lord sitteth 
 King for ever.” Hallelujah ! “All power is given 
 
12 
 
 HUSSION A R Y SER .VO A". 
 
 unto Me in heaven and in earth.” That is my brief 
 exposition of tlie text. I would not keep you longer, 
 though it W'Ould not need much more time to enlarge 
 upon it, because I want now to use it; and oh, may 
 the Spirit of God use this blessed truth, w'hich the 
 Lord communicated to his people ! We w'ant him 
 to communicate it to us. Tliere it lies in the Bible 
 like a dead text. IT the Lord wdll set it on fire so 
 that w'e shall see it until it burns into our very eye- 
 balls, so that we may see all things through it, this 
 wdll be a good morning for many of us! 
 
 “ All powder is given unto Me in heaven and in 
 earth.” First, then, dear brethren, I think I 
 can s[)eak for you all wdien I say we rejoice to 
 have it so. But it thrills my soul wdth rapture to 
 think that he has power. Tlie liead that once was 
 crowned with thorns is crowned ■with glory now. 
 Let it be so ! No more doth he endure infirmity and 
 ■v^eakness. He has left his weakness on the cross, 
 and all power is given unto him — unto him whom 
 we love with all our hearts. No sorrow ever tears 
 my heart like the thought that he is dishonored. 
 If his truth is denied, if doubts are cast upon his 
 sacrifice, I see him torn as upon the rack ; but if he 
 that is glorified, if he saves me, and his name is 
 great to the ends of the earth, then am 1 rich and 
 abound; then am I lifted high if he be lifted high. 
 There is no honor and no praise that is equal to 
 his honor and his ]>raise. Many years ago 1 w'as 
 the subject of a great calamity. I w'as but a youth 
 then, and it so depressed me and weighed upon my 
 mind that it made my reason reel. I remember 
 how, for some time, I could not open the Word of 
 
MISSIONARV SEKMOiX. 
 
 13 
 
 God to read it, for even its precious pages seemed to 
 trouble my poor weary brain, until one day there 
 came through my mind this thought: “ Him hath 
 
 God exalted and given him a name that is above 
 every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 should how.” That thought calmed me. 1 knelt 
 down and praised and hles.sed his name that if I, a 
 common soldier, should die in a ditch, it did not 
 matter, if I could see the Emperor ride by in all his 
 glory. The King had won the victory, and what 
 mattered what became of me? I am sure that kind 
 of feeling must often have passed through your 
 minds, brothers and sisters. If he is exalted. Halle- 
 lujah ! again we would cry, higher and higher still, 
 though at the cost of our sinking. Let all power be 
 in him. We do not want any power ourselves, for 
 we are sure that the power is so much l>etter in him, 
 for we are sure he would use it. If we had the 
 same power we might begin to filch a little of it for 
 our own selfish aims. No, we are not fit to be trusted 
 with power. The best men that ever live are not fit 
 to he trusted with unrestrained power, but as for 
 him, let him do as he wills. We want no limited 
 monarchy Avith Christ. Let him have his Avay, and 
 to the full, for he will never think or do anything 
 but Avhat is right, true, good, holy, and kind. Let 
 him, therefore, have all power in heaven and in 
 earth. We are glad it should be so. I, for one, feel 
 glad that he should have all power, because I have 
 now got such a good excuse for often going to him. 
 If I had a little of the poAver I might live separate, 
 and spend on myself an independent fortune. What 
 haA'e we to do, when we rise in the morning, but wait 
 
14 
 
 MISSIONARY SER3I0N. 
 
 upon him for power for that day ? If all power be 
 with him, he cannot blame us if we cr}-^ unto him 
 before we preach. He cannot blame us if we, having 
 no power of our own, go to his. We must go to 
 him. If anything is to be done or .suffered he must 
 not blame us if we go often to his power. If he has 
 stopped every well — and he has — but one well, and 
 he is that well, we must go and draw from himself. 
 All fresh springs are in Thee, my Lord. If he says. 
 Why comest thou unto Me so often? we say. To 
 whom should we go ? Thou hast all the springs in 
 Thyself. We must come unto him. Is it not so? Are 
 you not glad to feel that, while you have such love 
 in him, you have such an excellent reason to come 
 to him ? and one that you can plead without any 
 fear that your Lord and Master will gainsay the 
 plea ? Then it is so blessed that all power should 
 be in him because he is so easy of access. We can 
 come so readily, to him to get that power. You 
 would find it hard to speak with a king, or with a 
 prince; but you can speak with the King of kings in 
 the dead of night; you can lodge your petition with 
 the Prince by the highway, or wherever you go ; for 
 all power is in him. That is where you can get at it. 
 There it is that the poorest sinner may touch the 
 hem of his garment and be made whole. It is there 
 that the most tried saint, the most busy man, the 
 man most deeply immersed in business may just 
 ste]) aside for a moment and get j)ower from him in 
 whom ])Ower is lodged. M'e are all agreed about 
 this, and we are happy in our souls to think that 
 all j)ower is in Christ. We do rejoice in thi.s. The 
 Father has exalted him. Oh ! how the Father loves 
 
MISSION A li r SEliMOX. 
 
 15 
 
 him ! 1 bless the Fatlier for his inhnite love to his 
 Son. We seem drawn into unity with the Father 
 in knowing this common centre of onr affections. 
 God the F'ather loves him, God the Holy Ghost loves 
 him, and we love him. And .so we are in one fel- 
 lowship. Surely, our fellowship is with the Father 
 and with liis Son Jesus Christ. I love that bond. 
 We rejoice in him. 
 
 But now, .secondly, we believe, brethren and sisters, 
 we see the practical outcome of it. “ Go ye, there- 
 fore” — that seems very strong, does it not? I have 
 all the power, says Christ; therefore, go ye! But, 
 Lord, we are so insignificant, we are so unworthy; 
 we have not power, according to what Thou hast 
 already said. And yet, he says. Go ye ! AMiat does 
 he want with us? No, he does not want us at all. 
 There is no want with him that saith, “ The cattle 
 on a thousand hills are mine.” He does not want 
 us, but oh, how he loves to honor us by using us! 
 I have all the power, saith he ; I am not asking 
 power of you ; but, having that I am able to turn 
 round to you and say, “ Go ye, therefore ! ” I can 
 tell you, brethren, how some have turned a text like 
 this. They have said, “ All power is given unto 
 Christ in heaven and in earth. It is all right, it is 
 all right ; God will fulfill his own purposes. What 
 a mercy ! Let us button up our pockets ! let us go 
 to bed; it is all right! You would not have us do 
 God’s work, Avould you ? Surely, he can do his own 
 work if all power is in him! What can we do? 
 Therefore, we are exonerated from all need to do 
 anything.” There are none of that kind of people 
 here, I suppose ; you are all of a more rational sort. 
 
16 
 
 3USSI0NARY SERMON. 
 
 and I hope of a more spiritual sort. No, the fact is 
 that this power in Christ is an incentive to action; 
 it is not the cause of inaction. “ All j)ower is given 
 unto Me; therefore go ye!” Don’t sit down and 
 worry. Oli, what long sighs some people fetch ! 
 “ The world is in a dreadful state ; the church of 
 God is all going wrong.” Now I believe a good deal 
 of it. I am afraid it is so. At the same time I do 
 not see the use of worrying. “ But, Lord, we can- 
 not get brothers right. They will think in crooked 
 ways in these days, and their consciences seem such 
 complicated pieces of machinery.” “ Nevertheless,” 
 says Christ, “ leave them alone, and go 1 All power 
 is given unto Me ; go ! ” “ But we have not in our 
 days the great men we used to have. We do not 
 seem to have the old Methodist fire we used to have.” 
 “ No,” saith Christ, “ but all power is given unto Me 
 in heaven and in earth ; therefore what reasons there 
 may be or may not be, whatever changes may have 
 taken place, I have not changed. The same power 
 is in Me as ever. Therefore go ! ” 
 
 The text, you see, jmts us all on the “go.” If we 
 are in the right state of mood it just says : “ Come 
 away from your dunghills, shake off your dust, roll 
 up your sackcloth, lay it on one side, and go about 
 your Master’s business. Go ye into all tlie world 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature, because of 
 this unchanging argument that all power is given 
 unto Me in heaven and inearth.” Laying the stress 
 upon the next word, “ Go ye / ” it docs seem to me as 
 if the Master looked round on those gathered to 
 him and said : “ Go ye — you, Deter, the headstrong, 
 imj)ctuous, that is your weakne.ss; but, then, 1 have 
 
illSSJONARy SERMON. 
 
 17 
 
 all power to match you. Go, Peter. And you, 
 John, you that would have called fire from heaven 
 in your holy passion that was soured and turned 
 aside, go, go ; I have all power. I can help you. 
 And there is you that have been so long a time 
 with Me, yet ha.st thou not known Me, Philip; and 
 you, Thomas, that must put thy finger into the print 
 of the nails, or you would not believe. I have all 
 power, and therefore I send such as you ; go ! And, 
 go ye, men and women, the whole company of you ; 
 go forth and tell abroad the story of My love, because 
 I have all power, and therefore I have chosen you. 
 Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, and baptize 
 them with My name!” And so, I see a reason why 
 there should always be a practical outcome of this 
 blessed statement. They might have said, “ But, 
 gracious Master, we dare not go into some parts of 
 the world, because we are aliens ; we arc Jews, we 
 may not go.” “ I will make out your passport,” 
 says Christ; “I have all authority in heaven and in 
 earth ; there is nobody to stop you ; My warrant runs 
 in every kingdom.” “ But, Lord,” they might say, 
 “ we want our commissions. We must not go without 
 credentials.” Brothers, you must alway mind that, 
 you Wesleyan ministers! You are going where you 
 may often have a brother coming across you, and 
 asking you where your credentials are; and you and 
 I are not so wicked as to do anything without hav- 
 ing any authority at the back of us. “ There are 
 your commissions,” says your Master; “ Go ye, there- 
 fore, and teach all nations; because I have all 
 authority, I authorize you.” The next time any- 
 body asks me for my authority to preach, I shall go 
 
18 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 on preaching. I think you and I may do the same, 
 because, as long as Christ has authority in heaven 
 and in earth, all those who are in him have author- 
 ity to go and spread, according to their ability, the 
 knowledge of his truth, the savor of his name. And 
 now he gives it back to each of us, who know and 
 love him, and says : “ Go ye and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them into My name.” He gives them 
 their passports, he gives them their credentials, and 
 then he tells them, what they must often have 
 remembered with great comfort : “ I do not promise 
 that I will send my power after you to follow up 
 what you do; but I give you this, as something 
 better — My power has gone before }mu. All power 
 is Mine — is Mine on earth as well as in heaven. 
 Therefore, go ye where My power already is.” It is 
 as when Israel went into Canaan, and the Lord sent 
 a hornet before them that the inhabitants might be 
 driven out, and that his ])COple might take posses- 
 sion. Often when missionaries land in new coun- 
 tries they are surprised to find that there have been 
 singular changes — political, social, and the like — 
 l)reparing men’s minds for the Word when it comes. 
 The great steam-plough of Providence is tearing up 
 the wastes to make everything ready for the scat- 
 tering of the seed. Chri.st has already compiercd; 
 he is already Master; he is already Lord. There- 
 fore go ye and take ])OSsession of what he has bought 
 with his blood, Avhat he claims as the reward of the 
 travail of Ids soul. It is not for you and me to 
 sj)eak with bated breath, and ask for courteous j>er- 
 inission to live and preach. We are representatives 
 of a great King. We liave a riglit to be anywhere. 
 
MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 10 
 
 We have a right to be everywhere. “ All the world 
 is my parish ; ” a blessed word was that ! And so it 
 is true of the Church of God. All the world belongs 
 to him. The earth is the Lord’s and the kingdoms 
 thereof — the world, and they that dwell therein. 
 Let us go and take possession. It belongs to us 
 already. It belongs to our Master, and we who are 
 sent of him to i>reach his gosi)el have but to go and 
 claim what is his by right, even at this moment. 
 This ought to put the missionary enterprise upon a 
 very cheering footing; and I })niy we may feel it 
 to be so. 
 
 But now, thirdly — my time will fail me, I am 
 afraid; but 1 wanted to say a little on the next 
 point — we feel the need of it. We see the practical 
 drift of this statement, but we also feel the need of 
 it. What power have ivef We cannot convert a 
 single soul. If any man thinks he can, I should 
 like him to try any one whom he chooses to select. 
 If any Sunday-school teacher thinks she can save a 
 soul of herself, let her try one girl. Oh! you might 
 as well try to create a world as try to change a 
 heart unrenewed, a dead heai-t, into the life and 
 love of God. No, we must have power, we must 
 have the power of Christ resting upon us. I hope 
 we are not accustomed to say this as a sort of com- 
 pliment to the Holy Ghost. I hope we mean it, 
 brethren. It is easy to get into the pulpit and to 
 feel that we can slay the Philistines, and shake our- 
 selves as aforetime, and to find that the Spirit of 
 God has departed from us. Here is real power and 
 energy coming from Christ into the hearts of his 
 believing people; and if the power and energy be 
 
20 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 gone away from us, what can we do ? We are utterly 
 incompetent for this great service. We must have 
 our Master’s power; and when I think of the con- 
 version of the world — for that is what we seek after — 
 what opposition there is to this ! How can we look 
 at the battle and hope that we can succeed in it 
 apart from Divine power ? The history of Christi- 
 anity is a story of the supernatural. It is super- 
 natural all through. It is a series of miracles. 
 Christianity is never truly spread except by Divine 
 power. The power of moral suasion and education 
 and all that, we do employ and rightly; hut the 
 basis, the real power, lies in the outgoings of the 
 Godhead, in the majesty of its eternal might, upon 
 the hearts and consciences of men. All the systems 
 of idolatry will not crumble before eloquence, long 
 established systems of sin will not disappear before 
 reasoning. It is the Holy Ghost, and the power from 
 Jesus himself, that must accomplish this deed; and 
 we feel it to be so. The whole work is supernatural. 
 
 Well, brethren,.! believe that between here and 
 the kingdom of our Lord we shall want every kind 
 of power to be employed for the overcoming of the 
 foe. All power in heaven and in earth will have to 
 be brought to bear upon this great warfare. In 
 God’s great armory are the shields, and the battle- 
 axes, and the swords, and the arrows — “ all power,” 
 all under the authority of Christ. Whatever is 
 wanted to bombard the gates of hell, and carry the 
 castles of iniquity by storm, is already laid up in 
 Christ for the sure and certain result — “all power.” 
 
 Oh, how we want all power now! We all have 
 our theories of the condition of the Church just 
 
.)fISSIONA JiV SERMON. 
 
 21 
 
 now. I do not know what yours may be. Mine is 
 not very bright, but I have this one belief in my 
 soul, that what is wanted most of all is one great 
 revival of spiritual life — one wonderful downpour 
 of the grace of God from heaven to flood all the 
 churches. It seems to me we get something like 
 the barges and the vessels down yonder at London 
 Bridge when the tide is out. There they lie in the 
 mud. There are gangs of men, but they cannot 
 get at these vessels and barges. M’hat is to be done? 
 Now, will you great engineers tell me how much 
 horse power, how much steam power you want? 
 There is nothing wanted but the tide. When the 
 tide rises every barge begins to walk like a thing of 
 life, and every vessel can readily receive its cargo 
 and go out to sea in due time. When the heavenly 
 tides of spiritual blessing begin to come up nothing 
 can withstand them. What a glorious time it was 
 when Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley were going up 
 and down this land like twin seraphim, burning 
 everywhere with the Divine flame, and carrjdng 
 everywhere the Divine life! Can this be done 
 again? Can the masses of the people be raised? 
 Can we raise those who are sunk in ignorance and 
 degradation ? Do you think it cannot be done ? It 
 must be done. It shall be done. And this is the 
 reason why we expect it : “ All power is given unto 
 Me in heaven and in earth.” He can find another 
 student in Oxford ; he can find another potboy in 
 Gloucester; he can find some one somewhere upon 
 whom he can pour out his Holy Spirit, and send 
 him forth to preach with a tongue of fire that shall 
 wake up the churches, and startle the world. Let 
 
22 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 US cry to God that it may be so. But we must, first, 
 deeply feel the necessity of it, and rejoice that this 
 necessity is met by the text ; “ All power is given 
 unto Me in heaven and in earth.” 
 
 Once more you will bear with me when I say, 
 concerning the statement of the text, wc believe in it, 
 and we rest in it. First, we believe in it. But I 
 must pause, and say: Do we believe in it? There 
 is such a thing as a sneering belief. At school, in 
 our early days, we had bread and butter. We could 
 not in honesty say but what there was butter. There 
 are friends who have doubts and faith. We cannot 
 in all candor say that they are without faith, but it 
 is the smell of it. They have just got a touch, a 
 drop of faith, on the end of a sword. Oh, that they 
 would plunge it up to the hilt ! They say some- 
 times, “ Why, that man sjjcaks as if he believed it.” 
 I have heard that said as if it were the proper thing 
 to say in these days. Ah, me! we shall never do 
 anything at this rate. We must believe, we must 
 begin to believe, with the old sort of believing, mean- 
 ing that it is true, that we are sure it is true, and 
 that we are going to act upon it. Is it? Is all 
 power given unto Christ in heaven and inearth? 
 “But, you see, in entering upon enterprise.s, it is 
 well for us to be prudent, and to calculate the forces 
 upon which we can depend.” And that is believing 
 that all power is given unto him in heaven and in 
 earth, is it? “ But, still, there is the adaptation of 
 moans to an end, which, I think, every person should 
 take into view, and oftentimes we are kept from acts 
 of fanaticism when we j)roperly consider the halo nee 
 of forces.” Oh, yes, I know all that. I have heard 
 
MISSIONARV SERMON. 
 
 23 
 
 all that sort of stuff. Of course, 1 believe it; only 
 it serins to me that the moment I get hold of a 
 truth like this — that there is all power in Christ — 
 all calculation is done with. You have got a factor 
 here that is absolutely infinite, and what does it 
 matter as to what the other factors may be? This 
 Aaron’s rod has swallowed up the other rods. “All 
 power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, 
 do ye, therefore.” “ I will do as much as 1 can,” 
 says one. Any fool can do that. He that believes 
 in Christ does what he cannot do, attempts the 
 impossible, and performs it. Until we get back this 
 old heroic spirit which believes in the (fodhead of 
 Christ, and in the infinite power of Christ, what shall 
 we do ? We shall stick in the mud, where we are 
 now, run along the old paths, and do nothing. How 
 ever are we to win the world, if we simply keep in 
 our chapels and keep in our classes? Let us break 
 loose ; it is time we did. May God help us so to 
 do! We cannot let the world die for fear we should 
 violate the proprieties. Let us believe in Christ. 
 Let us believe up to the hilt. “ But what do our 
 learned men say — what of the current of modern 
 thought, and the tendency of the times?” Ah, 
 dear sir, were you born yesterday that the shell is 
 not taken off your head? All this kind of thing 
 always was from the beginning — from the days of 
 St. Paul until now. God hath chosen the foolish 
 things of this world still to confound the wise, and 
 the things that are weak to confound the mighty; 
 and you had better make up your mind which side 
 you are going to be on — on the side of the foolish- 
 ness of God, or on the side of the wisdom of men. 
 
24 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 If you are on the side of the wisdom of men, you 
 will be shifting, of course, continually; for what is 
 the wisdom of men to-day is folly to-morrow. But 
 you will be defeated in the long run, for there is 
 no more stark-naked folly in the world than the 
 wisdom of men. If, however, you are content to be 
 on the side of the foolishness of God, lift your 
 banners high. “ We preach Christ crucified, unto 
 the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks 
 foolishness.” You will know where you are walk- 
 ing, when you always keep to that which is always 
 the same, and you shall find yourself one day among 
 the victors who shall cast their crowns at his dear 
 feet, in whose name they overcame. We do believe 
 it, I may assume, then. We do believe in this 
 power. If we do, then let us not seek any other kind 
 of power. Let us not bow and cringe to get power 
 from the world. Do not let us seek worldly amuse- 
 ments, and worldly patronage. Do not say, “Christ 
 is not enough, you know; we must have just a little 
 bit of the theatre.” Some say, “ Let us go to the 
 State: Cjesar, cannot you help us?” The hand of 
 the king in the old time was thought to cure the 
 evil, and they brought the people up in order that 
 wherever the royal hand went it might cure the 
 evil. My impression is that there never was a 
 Church that was touched by that hand but got the 
 evil, and that it is a source of weakness to all who 
 have been touched by it. Our principle should be 
 to see tliat we have no king but Christ, We do not 
 care for Caisar’s power and help in this matter of 
 religion. All power is given unto Him; and we 
 mean to fight the battle out in his power, and with 
 
}fISSIOXARY REll.VOX. 
 
 25 
 
 no help of any other kind. Instead of seeking any 
 other power, we feel that we are of another mind — 
 namely, to defy all other powers. Let learning rise 
 to her height, let culture reach her climax, let all 
 the power we have lie at his feet. We shall still 
 go on to victory if we depend wholly and alone on 
 him who is able to achieve his own purposes, let 
 man oppose him as he may. 
 
 Last of all — and I will weary you no longer, — if 
 it be so that Christ saith “All power is given unto 
 Me in heaven and in earth,” let us obey this. If he 
 has all authority, let us yield to it. Let us go forth 
 as he tells us ; — “ Go ye, therefore, and disciple all 
 nations.” Have you all tried to disciple people? 
 Might I put a question to my congregation ? Are 
 there not some of you who never tried to bring one 
 to Christ? Yet all power is in Christ, and he bids 
 you, as his child, whoever you may be, “ Go and make 
 disciples.” But have you sought this? We, who are 
 ministers of Christ — and I am glad there are so 
 many here — are we always trying to make disciples 
 for Christ ? It seems to me that this is our own one 
 business. We have, of course, to pastorize ; but our 
 first work is always to be trying to make disciples 
 for Christ. You say we can preach fine sermons. 
 Perhaps we can ; perhaps we cannot. But that is 
 no business of ours. Our business is to make dis- 
 ciples; and I confess that I would sooner speak in 
 the most vulgar language of Billingsgate and win 
 souls, than I would speak in the most polished tones 
 of the classics, and be simply myself admired. Oh, 
 sirs, it is the result at the last that the Master would 
 care for, that we should really have discipled men 
 
26 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMON. 
 
 for Christ. Has our teaching been all for Christ? 
 I do not blame you for making Wesleyans of them, 
 but still that is not your business. Your business is 
 to make Christians of them. If I speak rather as a 
 Baptist than of Christ, I should be ashamed, and 
 should have need to be so; for our first business is 
 to make disciples unto Christ. If we do this we 
 have kept the faith, and served him well. Then he 
 tells us that we are to teach all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost. It seems to me that we are 
 always to do what he tells us, and we are to do it just 
 as he tells us. If all authority is given to him in 
 heaven and in earth, we do it simply because we 
 have got his bidding to hack it. We will neither 
 believe nor do anything which is not taught nor 
 commanded by him ; but be it once taught, be it 
 once commanded to us, we go to do all things, even 
 as the Master laid it down ; because all power is 
 given to him. And as we thus teach and baptize, we 
 then go on further to instruct. We tell men that 
 they are to observe all things whatsoever Christ has 
 commanded them. Let us take care that we do this. 
 
 You know that the Chri.stian Church is divided 
 now into various sections, and we shall always be so 
 divided until we all agree that we will follow Christ 
 more closely than ever. But the great business of the 
 Church at the present day seems to me that, after you 
 have brought men to Christ, and they have been 
 received into the Church, you should go on teaching 
 and instructing them in all things which Christ has 
 taught to us. ^\'e want instructed membershi}) 
 more and more. People are getting to be wise in 
 
M I O xV.l n y S E li M O X. 
 
 27 
 
 the things of this world. Wo must bo more and 
 more diligent in training them in the things of the 
 world to come, lieloved, wo want, in this age, above 
 all things, saints — more saints. That Church which 
 produces most saints has really the most power; and 
 if we can, by God’s grace, statedly in our ministry, 
 feel that there is power in Christ for the production 
 of saints, a jiower for the [)roduction of holines.s — I 
 moan holiness of life and character; a jiower for the 
 production of consecration — I mean consecration of 
 the most intense and vigorous kind ; if we can be- 
 lieve that in Christ there is all power in heaven and 
 in earth, to make us even while we are hero live a 
 heavenly life and live among men as tho.se who are 
 inspired by God, and filled with the Divine pres- 
 ence, we shall do for our age something that is well 
 worth doing. Oh! Church of God, obey this teach- 
 ing, as well as rejoice in it. Obey this that inas- 
 much as Christ has all authority in heaven and in 
 earth you and I resolve from this day, by his help, 
 that we will yield to that authority, that we will do 
 what he bids, do it promptly, heartily, joyfully, and 
 thoroughly. Oh ! Christian men and women, if wo 
 were half we professed to be, we should be infinitely 
 better than we are. If we really conceived that he 
 had the whole supremacy of us, and gave up our- 
 selves wholly to him, there is in this Great Queen- 
 street Chapel — ^upposing we were all the Christians 
 in the world — enough seed-corn to sow the nations, 
 were all the living endued with the Spirit of God, 
 and germinating with the inner life; there is enough 
 here to shake London from end to end, and make 
 these British Isles to burn and glow in the might 
 
28 
 
 MISSIONAEY SERMON. 
 
 and glory of the Spirit of God. May he help us so 
 to do ! I am conscious of having spoken to you in 
 great feebleness, but I am conscious that the truth 
 has power in it. God bless you, beloved brethren, 
 for Jesus Christ’s sake ! 
 
EXTRACT FROM A SERMON PREACHED BY 
 DR. R. S. STORRS BEFORE THE AMERI- 
 CAN BOARD AT ITS SEVENTY- 
 FIFTH ANNIVERSARY. 
 
 ^ > 
 
 It is a development which points distinctly to a 
 Missionary enthusiasm to be by -and -by, perhaps 
 speedily, evoked, which shall be wide in extent, in- 
 tense in aspiration, prodigal in endeavor, finding its 
 instruments in the wealth of the country, its great 
 oppoi’tunity through the place of this in the world. 
 Remember that in 1800 there were but three thousand 
 and thirty local churches in the land, which in 1880 
 had grown to be ninety-seven thousand and ninety. 
 For twenty-six hundred and fifty-one ministers at the 
 earlier date, there were almost seventy thousand 
 (69,870) five years ago ; and in place of three hundred 
 and sixty -five thousand (364,872) communicants at 
 the outset of the century, there were more than ten 
 million (10,065,963) in 1880. The ratio of commu- 
 nicants to the whole population, which was only one 
 in more than fourteen when the century began, has 
 risen nearly to one in five; so that, with all our 
 advance in numbers and wealth, the advance in the 
 special spiritual culture which Christianity fosters 
 has surpassed it. 
 
 29 
 
30 
 
 EXTRACT FE03I SER3ION 
 
 No mistake is more serious, though none more 
 common, than that which affirms or suspects a 
 decline in the relative power of religion here since 
 the Colonial period passed. The movement has been 
 strongly in the opposite direction ; and while I am no 
 more blind- than others to the evils which surronnd 
 and the dangers which threaten us, — while I know 
 how cities seethe with vice, and country districts 
 often grow careless of the faith of the Fathers, — how 
 socialism is breeding amid the passions of ignorance, 
 and a spiritual theism without Christ is the delusive 
 dream of culture, — I doubt if another example can 
 be found of the power of the gospel exerted through 
 years, and on a large scale, more signal than is shown 
 in the influence it has gained over our energetic and 
 daring democracy, which has counted it no task to 
 conquer a continent, and which to-day confronts the 
 world with its veins full of blood, and its temper 
 instinctively hating control. 
 
 The birth and growth here of great institutions, 
 during the lifetime of many present — to distribute 
 the Bible, to make the Press serve the cause of the 
 Master, to set preachers of the gospel along the fron- 
 tier, to cover the land with Sunday-school teaching, 
 by leading sailors to. Christ to purify the circulating 
 blood of the world, — these illustrate the breadth and 
 power of the Christian faith, born of the Spirit, 
 which secular reverses have only intensified, which 
 secular successes have never subdued. 
 
BY DR. R. S. STORRS. 
 
 31 
 
 The establishment of a hundred thousand Sunday- 
 schools in the laud within less than a centur}', with 
 nine millions of scholars and teachers, is a fact of 
 simply amazing proportions. The extension of the 
 system to Continental Europe, under an impulse 
 starting from our country, is full of significance. 
 "With the new prominence of the nation in the world 
 and the new desire stirring in it to quicken and guide 
 the progress of mankind, it may surely be expected 
 that this widening force of evangelical conviction will 
 assert itself in missions of an unparalleled extent. 
 
 Liberality is not an exotic here. It is native and 
 continental. It has already spent millions of money 
 to adorn as well as subdue the land. It is ready now 
 for greater things. 
 
 The heroic spirit has shown itself among us, iu an 
 exhibition, sudden and sublime; asking little and 
 giving much, shrinking from no risks, and freely 
 offering life for great purposes. And it is to this 
 liberal and heroic temper that the Lord of the Gospel 
 makes pre-eminent appeal. The alabaster box, broken 
 for him, perfumes the world. The soldier of the truth, 
 the martjT for it, are his honored servants ; not the 
 spiritual miser who would sneak without sacrifice into 
 his fellowship. And when this heroic spirit appears, 
 answering the appeal of his cross and his glory, and 
 kindling souls with celestial fire, the sweep of Ameri- 
 can Missions on the globe must be like the rush of an 
 ocean of light when the bars of darkn ess have been 
 unloosed. 
 
FACTS AND FIGURES. 
 
 The great benevolent societies of Protestantism in 
 the United States gave, in 1885, $159,799,885, or about 
 sixteen dollars for each of the nearly ten million 
 church-members. The Methodist Episcopal Church 
 paid the following sums in 1885. (A small fraction 
 came from foreign fields.) 
 
 For the support of Pastors, Elders, and Bishops, $ 7,792,407 
 For Conference Claimants (aged ministers, widows and 
 
 orphans), ----- 180,000 
 
 For building churches and parsonages, and general 
 
 improvements, . - - - 4,131,831 
 
 Paid on old debts of churches and parsonages, - 1,159,948 
 
 ForMissions (including W. F. M. S. and local City 
 
 missions), over - - - - 1,000,000 
 
 For Education — given by conferences to local institu- 
 tions, ------ 180,000 
 
 Board of Education at New York, and Children’s Fund, 38,852 
 
 American Bible Society, - - - - 29,511 
 
 Tract Society, ------ 14,972 
 
 Sunday School Union, - - - - 15,753 
 
 Freedmen’s Aid Society (see report in Gospel in All 
 
 Lands), ----- 143,752 
 
 Current Expenses of 19,700 Churches, at $178 per 
 Church tyhe average of Kock River Conference), 
 
 — sexton, fuel, light, music, etc., - - 3,500,000 
 
 Board of Church Extension, . - - 137,361 
 
 Special Aid — Y. M. C. A.. Hospitals, Orphanages, 
 
 Newsboys’ Homes, Kindergartens, etc., - 82,000 
 
 Woman’s Home Missionary Society (new Society), 60,000 
 
 Total, $18,466,387 
 
 This is an average of ten dollars for eac.. communicant. 
 
 In addition to the above amount drafts were made 
 upon the benevolence of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church as follows : 
 
 Methodist Literature — books, papers, general publi- 
 
 cations, ------ $1,613,871 
 
 Temperance Work, — AV. C. T. U., etc., - - 400,0(M) 
 
 Special Evangelistic Work, - - - - 25,00(1 
 
 Special Emergencies,— war, yellow fever, fires, etc., 1.50.000 
 
 Students attending Colleges,— beneficiaries, - 3,000,000 
 
 $.5,188,871 
 
 Making a grand total of - - $2.1,0.)5,258 
 
 Which the members and .adherent.s of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church pay for the support and propagation of their religion.