SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY CONDITIONED UPON THE MISSIONARY WORK. Spiritual prosperity CONDITIONED UPON THE MISSIONARY WORK. A SERMON TREACIIET) FOR TIIE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF TIIE PRESBYTERIAN CIIURCII OF TIIE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, APRIL 30, 1865. IN THE BRICK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. NEW YORK. REV. M. J. HICKOK, D. D., OF SCRANTON, PA. published at the request of the Executive (^oraraittee. NEW YORK: MISSION HOUSE, No. 23 CENTRE STREET. 1865. New Y ork : Edward O. Jenkins, Printer, SO North William St. SERMON. “ Anil Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 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. Amen.” — Matthew xxviii. 18-20. This is tlie crowning utterance of our Lord J esus Christ- Tlie time , the circumstances , the significance of it, exalt it to the glowing summit of those “ exceeding great and precious promises,” by which we become “partakers of the Divine nature.” The time was that fullness of ages “ Which kings and prophets waited for, But died without the Sight that trembling moment in the history of man, when redemp- tion was to be declared complete ; when the Saviour of the world was to be crowned victorious over sin, death, and the devil, and to enter heaven as a conqueror. In all the expe- rience of Adam’s race, there has not been another such a moment. The circumstances were befitting the occasion. The main body of Christ’s disciples had assembled, by his appoint- ment, for a final and transcendant interview. After his resur- rection our Lord had appeared to the two Marys — “ last at the cross and earliest at the sepulchre” — and addressed them, in hur- ried accents : “ Be not afraid : go tell my brethren that they 4 SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY CONDITIONED go before me into Galilee.” Indeed, the angels, seen in tbe abandoned tomb of Joseph, bad said tbe same before, with even more hurried accents : “ Go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead ; and, behold ! he goeth before you into Galilee ; there shall ye see him : lo ! I have told you.” Before he fulfilled this appointment, our Lord had appeared many times to individuals — at Jerusalem, on the way to Emmaus, on the shore of Tiberias, and elsewhere. But there was something 'pre-eminent in this Epiphany, worthy of ever- lasting remembrance and dutiful regard by the whole Church. The forty days of his sojourn on earth, after his passion, were now wasting away. His followers had gathered in Galilee to meet the great appointment of the risen Lord. It was upon a mountain ; but which and where none of the eye-witnesses have undertaken to tell us. The scene would demand room and seclusion, as the Transfiguration did, and there is no in- congruity in assuming the same location. Upon the matchless Tabor, therefore — their eyes sweeping at a glance the scenes im- mortalized by our Saviour’s life and labors — let us contemplate the assembled Church, standing around their ascending Lord for the last time on earth, and receiving his farewell charge : “ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 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. Amen.” No such words ever fell upon mortal ears before nor since ; no such assemblage ever trod this earth’s surface since time began ; nor shall, till that same Jesus corneth again in the clouds of heaven. Never could language be rendered more solemnly impressive by external circumstances. The glorious Saviour trembling between two worlds, the visible link, binding this mortal to that immortal life beyond ; after death, yet still in the body, still burning with deathless sympathy, seeking UPON TIIE MISSION A BY WORK. 5 one more interview on earth, that he might repeat, in the hear- ing of the whole Church, the sublime missionary command already given in private to the Apostles, on the very day of the Resurrection : “ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo ! 1 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” The significance of this great command it has been the effort of the Church for eighteen centuries to educe and actualize. It contains, first of all, a sublime assumption of full Divinity, “ All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” The possession of omnipotence could not be more concisely stated. By virtue of this power, I commission you to go out and re- cover a lost world to God and happiness : you, Apostles, first of all. The eleven had been commissioned before (Mark xvi. 15) but now, in the presence of the whole Church, this commission is repeated with a solemn emphasis. But others are now in- cluded. The vast assembly surrounding the Apostles, the “ five hundred brethren at once ” — all invited, as distinctly as the “ eleven ” — give a peculiar direction and application to the words, “ Go ye therefore, and disciple the nations.” The re- sponsibility was rolled upon the Church , “ evangelists, elders and deacons,” as well as upon the Apostles. All that consti- • tuted the “ body of Christ, and members in particular ” — Apostles, Prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts, helps, govern- ments — the whole body of the discipleship was plainly addressed, “ Go ye and make disciples of all nations.” The work of missions does not rest exclusively upon the min- istry. Neither can it be inferred from the command that they only are to “ go.” “ Tell his disciples and Peter,” relates the exact Evangelist Mark, “ that he goeth before you into Galilee.” To his disciples and the Apostles, without a question, the com- mand was addressed, “ go,” do this great work. The whole Church are solemnly commissioned, by the ascending Saviour, to engage in the grand life-work of evangelizing the nations. They were to do three things : G SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY COXDITIOXED 1. “Teach all nations;” nadtirevoare — make disciples of — con- vert to the faith as it is in Jesus. 2. “ Baptizing them.” Henceforth Baptism, instead of Cir- cumcision, is to he the outward rite of initiation. Baptism had heretofore been applied to Pagan proselytes, signiiying the washing away of the defilements of Paganism ; hut they were also circumcised. Henceforth it should suffice to baptize them only in the name of the Trinity. 3. “ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Here is employed a very different word from that rendered to teacli , in the first member of the sen- tence, diddoicovreg — as believers and members of the Church in- doctrinate them : instruct them in the usa*ED haste, as if the time was short. The whole Church co- operated and “brought them on their way.” They “laid their possessions at the Apostle’s feet.” They, with their united prayers, opened their prison-doors and delivered them from “deaths oft.” They exemplified their impassioned preaching with their holy lives and heroic deaths. It was the triumphant time with Christianity — the type and pledge of all its triumphs. In smaller circles and more private experience, the fulfillment of this promise has been equally satisfactory. Whenever and wherever any Church or individuals have taken up these labors of the Apostles, similar results have followed. Christ has been with them. Their own characters have glowed with the beauty of an angel. Mighty works have sprung into being, and reared their monuments along their path. Peace at home and conquests abroad have crowned their zeal with perpetual triumph. The particular congregation which has been most devoted to the world’s conversion has been most blessed in all their private ordinances and enjoyments. Churches interested in missions are spiritual churches all Christendom over ! The Sabbath-school which embodies most of this spirit, which devotes itself to the poor and neglected children of the parish, is always most prosperous and most blessed in its effects upon its own offspring. Christ is with them, and the Gospel has a flavor and power which the ex- clusive and selfish never know. The soul that waters others is watered also himself. What- ever the sphere of his ministrations, if he endeavor to make disciples of others, his own hope burns brightly ; his own fruit- fulness is ripe and abundant. The reflex influence of sincere evangelism is the most won- drous thing about it. It is the seal and authentication of the Divine Presence which accompanies it. This indirect blessing may be the chiefest good about the service. It never fails. It is sure and speedy. Whatever disappointment the mis- ETON TIIE MISSIONARY WORK. 15 sionary may encounter on tlie foreign field, lie lias poured a rich boon into his own bosom, which no failure can touch. The money which your hands put into the Lord’s treasury will be the seed of new peace and joy in your own soul, what- ever be the destiny of the expenditure abroad. Charity is twice blessed. It blesses him who receives it, and doubly blesses him who gives. This broad fact of Christian experi- ence is the providential confirmation of the promise, “ Lo ! I am with you alway,” whenever you imitate my work and sacrifice. This is the deep secret of all missionary success. The spirit of missions is the real spirit of Christ. When the ascending Lord bade the assembled Church “ Go and do these evangelical works,” he only commanded them to follow his footsteps. He came to our world on an unmatched mission of love. That same love must be the main-spring of our obedience. Just as truly as Paul, we are “ debtors both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.” In the behalf of Christ, we are to communicate his dying love to lost men. We are to carry it to them and urge it upon their acceptance ; even as He “ came down from heaven, not to be ministered unto but to minister.” The Gospel is essentially missionary in its principles and precepts ; in its spirit and inspired examples. Its foundation is love, inspired by suffering and danger. Its great command , “ Go to the lost and press the motives of redemption upon them,” even as God became man, and worked out the great salvation in the midst of human frailties and infirmities. Its spirit is one of holy devotion to other’s good. Its brightest lights and best examples sparkle with missionary zeal, and bum with benevolence, as a consuming fire. The true type of Chris- tianity undoubtedly is found in the missionary age and achievements. Certainly the missionary work is our only defense against the encroachments of the world, and the bale- ful reign of selfishness. Our piety demands some such un- worldly work and sacrifice to save it from utter carnality. 16 SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY CONDITIONED We want a protest, sharp and vivid, against the despotism of sense and fashion and manifold sin. The world is falling into O scepticism for want of attractive goodness, the power of a holy sacrifice and the blazing light of disinterested love. The missionary work, more than any other now attempted bv the Church, demands and inspires such sacrifice. The ten derest ties of home and kindred are deliberately severed. The dis- tasteful fellowship of heathen ignorance and pollution is freely welcomed. Yea, even the swift martyrdom to deadly malaria is braved and gloried in for religious considerations alone. Such sublime sacrifice startles the self-indulging Church with the presence of a Spirit which is not of earth. The impulsive power of a new conviction ; the magnetism of Messianic love silently penetrates and transforms the whole body of be- lievers. Old sceptical habits of thought melt off, and nobler aspirations exalt and spiritualize the Church. In the missionary work we find the true remedy for secta- rianism and every species of exclusiveness. Face to face with dying heathen, our differences fade away ; our bigotry is rebuked, and becomes contemptible. We exalt what is essential to Christianity. We bring into prominence what we all hold in common, and mutual sympathy and brotherly love burst into a blaze. This whole unworldly work naturally fellowships the spirit of our Lord. He was a missionary, and we find sympathy with him only when walking in his footsteps. The natural link of connection between the Christian laborer and his exalted Lord, is this very “ discipling of the nations.” We are doing Ilis work — walking in his footsteps, and obeying his most solemn command. He will fulfill his promise, “Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” But, disobey that command ; quench your sympathies for the perishing heathen, and recall your missionaries, and no man can have any assurance that Christ will be with us. I fear greatly that the “ tabernacle of God ” will be removed UPON THE MISSIONARY WORK. 17 from our sacred camp and pitched afar off, as it was from sin- ning Israel at Sinai ; or that the glory of the Lord will blaze about it only in anger, giving emphasis to the fatal and final sentence, “ Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein.” Brethren ! let us look about us, “ Wc are living, we arc dwelling, In a grand and awful time.” In all the march of the Dead Ages no such movements have ever startled human life. Swifter, sublimer than ever before, all things sweep “down the ringing grooves of change.” Divine voices are swelling about us, loud as the noise of many waters. God is lifting up his ensign upon the mountains. The great trumpet of His providence has been blown. All the people of the land are summoned to see and hear. We can “ be strong and work,” if we can have the divine assurance, “ I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.” But that assur- ance is given only to those who will “ go forth and teach the nations.” Neglect the heathen and you cut the very sinews of your strength to succeed any where. Never was there more apology for selfishness, nor more temptation to abandon the heathen world than at this mo-, ment. Our own wants and perils, as a nation, are appalling. Our young men are wasted by the nfvages of war, or wanted to fill gaps in our grasping enterprise. Our candidates for the Gospel ministry are fast disappearing. Some of our largest Presbyteries have not one at this present time. Not long hence there will come an exhaustion of men suitable for the sacred office. Godly ministers have ever been the life of the Church. Let that life ebb away, and the very foundations of Christianity will be endangered. Our educational institutions need stimulating, speedily and powerfully. 18 SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY CONDITIONED Never was there sncli a call for religions literature and colportage. Amid the wildest storms of war, emigration is swelling over all our older settlements and pushing out into the wilderness. Great States, away toward the setting sun, are annually launching into being, with a civilization to be created and leavened with a pure Christianity, or they will rush into barbarism and carry us all down with them to swift destruction. Over this wide, unsettled border the Gos- * pel must be carried in the knapsack and preached from house to house, or not at all. Colportage is the only hope of the wilderness. And now we have a million of readers in the Army and in the employ of the Government ; away from home and all the ordinary means of religious instruction. You have heard their cry for books and papers, and have done something for their relief. Thousands and tens of thousands are languishing in hospitals, longing for health, or looking death in the face. Their quickened and restless minds need medicine as much as their bodies. Their imperiled souls need nursing quite as desperately as the enfeebled frame. We must send them good books and kind Christian friends, whose cheerful words and warm hearts will do more good than medicine. And then, there is the great Home Missionary field, wider and more full of want to-day than at any moment, since the Mayflower was moored to Plymouth Rock. There are thou- sands of houseless churches struggling to build a tabernacle in the wilderness, that their feeble flocks may not be scattered, and all their labor be “in vain in the Lord.” Without a house of worship, the Missionary does labor in vain. We ought to pour our treasures into these poor and sparse settle- ments, freely as the children of Israel did, for the “ service of the work ” of the tabernacle at Sinai. Our poor Home Missionary brethren, holding on in great self-denial, lest they lose all they have gained — how shall we speak of their hardships, or express their claim for immediate l T rON THE MISSIONARY WORK. 19 relief? Never, perhaps, since the settlement of the country, have the ministers of Christ had more to tiy their faith, espe- cially in the destitute settlements. Instead of diminishing their aid, as our Boards have been obliged to do, it ought to be doubled or trebled without delay. And now very soon (may God grant) the whole Southern half of our territory will be thrown upon us; with its institutions all in ruins, its churches rent, its resources squandered and its stricken popu- lation enfeebled and embittered. This blasted realm must be recovered ; this burnt desert re-peopled and freely watered, or that Union for which we have sacrificed so much, will, after all, be impossible. Our Home Missionary problem has unfolded to an awful sublimity. If, after all our treasure and blood for the establishment of the Government, we allow the people to sink into barbarism for lack of moral culture, we shall not deserve the freedom our swords have achieved ; and we shall not Tceep it either ! Besides all this, just now, in the strange providence of God, six hundred thousand poor, half-heathen slaves have been cast helpless at our feet. Behind them are coming, in God’s own good time, three millions more. Their fetters have been cut, and their exodus effected from the house of their bondage, in answer to our prayers. Oh, Brethren ! there are not bayo- nets enough in our armies, nor spires enough on our churches, to avert the judgments of heaven, if we allow these trusting Freedmen to die unrelieved. They are houseless and home- less. They are hungry and in rags. They are, many of them, enfeebled by hardship and sinking under disease. Unless they are helped, effectually and soon, they will drop into ghastly graves, and their blood will cry to heaven from the very ground. We must not let them perish! The culture of the black race, social and spiritual, is the gravest problem of this new civilization which is bursting upon us. That culture must proceed from the North or from Europe. There will be no resources in the South, personal or pecuniar}*, to meet 20 spiritual Prosperity conditioned this demand for a generation to come. We must certainly add it to the great weight of our obligations to “ disciple all nations.” But what has this to do with Foreign Missions ? 11 Much, every way.” Do you think it demonstrates that all our resources are needed at home ? It is precisely because some have drawn that inference and withheld their contributions from the Foreign Board, that I have stated the whole argu- ment. Under the terrible pressure of the times, and the wail of our country’s want, may we not relax our efforts for the distant Gentiles? Brethren ! In the fear of God, I dare not do it. Passing from our many and deep destitutions to the top of Tabor; putting our great cry of distress beside Christ’s solemn com- mand, I am afraid of offending him if we neglect the heathen. I fear that every dollar we subtract from the just claims of the perishing nations to be expended upon our own white and wasting harvest-field, will blast more than it blesses. I think I hear the angry rebukes of the great Husbandman : “ These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Oh ! if Christ be not with us, we labor and sacrifice to no purpose. Every duty we essay to do, every triumph we burn to achieve, depends decisively upon the presence of Christ atnon" us. O Are we in want of ministers ? Do you not know that every true priest is “ called of God, as was Aaron ? ” Without the presence of Christ, no amount of education can ever make a minister. Our young men must be converted and filled with the love of souls before they are fit candidates for the sacred ofiice. Without the presence of Christ with him, in vain does the colporteur thread the wilderness, and lift up his voice in the streets. In vain does the Builder “ bring forth the top-stone of the temple, with shouting.” All will be dark within. In vain does the spiritual Husband- man cast in the seed. Without Christ, his field will be dry UPON THE MISSIONARY WORK. 21 as Gilboa, where there was “ no dew, nor rain, nor fields of offering.” We cannot get along without Christ. Our only hope for our imperiled civilization is the outpouring of the Spirit, and the cementing, healing, harmonizing influence of powerful revivals of religion. Without this, the child is yet to be born who will see the end of our troubles. The triumph of our arms I have never doubted. All can now see that it is very near. But the triumph of our religion, of Christian peace and confiding brotherhood, is more doubtful and much further off. That will depend upon the presence of Christ among us, and the outpouring of his Spirit upon our churches. Every good our heart or hope ever craved ; every blessing in the present or in the future, for the individual or the nation, must depend upon the fulfillment of this great promise : “ Lo ! I am with you alwav.” Brethren ! have I read this promise aright ? Does its fulfill- ment depend upon our obedience to the command : “ Go teach all nations V Then the money you give, the prayers you offer, the labor you bestow upon Foreign Missions, reacts most powerfully upon every interest, sacred, social and civil here at home. This is the very hey that unlocks the treasures of grace — the great covenant . condition of every blessing which God confers — “ I will be with you.” That Presence is life and power. With it, our solemn assemblies sway and bend before the “ rushing, mighty wind.” The word sparkles with holy fire. Prayer and praise float as cloud-chariots to carry our beatified spirits up to the very throne of God. That Presence brooded over the old chaos and light shot through it ; order and beauty arose upon the dead confusion, and this living creation, over which the morning stars sang together, sprang into vivid being and harmonious activity. That Presence penetrates the chaotic darkness and dismal ruin of a dead soul, and another creation, outrivaling the stellar spheres, 22 SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY CONDITIONED unfolds to the light of morning stars ! Peace broods over the turbulent spirit. Hope, love, joy, burst as a moral sunlight ; mercy, gentleness and compassion blossom on the spiritual landscape, sweeter than earth ever witnessed outside of Eden. If Christ be with us. our war-clouds will roll into view a bow of promise, that no such destructive deluge shall ever afflict us again. Moral harvests shall cover our deep desola- tions quicker and greener than the fattened grass above our heroic graves. Bitterness shall melt into brotherhood, and all our hot strifes calm into Christian zeal and w r orthy emula- tion in cross-bearing for Christ’s sake. Oh, brethren ! testify your belief in Jesus’ veracity ; express your valuation of his presence by what you are willing to do to “ disciple the nations,” and the promised redemption shall make haste. Increased enthusiasm in the missionary cause would carry a wave of health and vigor to our exhausted brethren who are doing our work in heathen lands. It would lift the weary “ hands that hang down, and the feeble knees.” It would give a more certain sound to the Gospel itself, even in Pagan ears, and swell the gladdening streams of purity and joy which are changing the face of the nations. These streams shall yet cover all the earth with verdure, and scatter summer glories over the thick glooms of sinful continents. What we need is a great increase of volume. Like the type stream seen by the prophet issuing from the temple at Jerusalem, the Gospel should constantly gather depth and copiousness as it pushes out into the deserts of sin. It will sink in the sand or evaporate in the hot air, unless we pour through the rugged channel constantly augmenting streams of saving influence, “ To the ancles, to the knees, to the loins, waters to swim in — a river that cannot be passed over,” is the symbol of those influences which are to recover the desert and heal the Dead Sea itself. Pour abroad the waters of life with such constant augmentation, and this bar- ren and blasted world shall be transformed into a paradise. UPON THE MISSIONARY WORK. 23 Fadeless vegetation, all manner of fruits, sure and specific medicines, beauty, abundance and health — all bloom about these healing streams. The Gospel enthusiastically published shall purify all the noxious institutions and governments of men, pour life through stagnant populations, and cause songs to break out on the heavy gloom of every dead human sea. The work has begun. Many a wilderness has already “ blossomed as the rose.” Many a blasted heart has swelled and bloomed and borne precious fruit. Many a community has arisen to a new life and vigor. Over half the heathen world already has this stream rolled, washing the bloody temples of Paganism, quenching the fires on horrid altars, and refreshing thirsting, dying men in many a community. It has lifted whole nations from the debasement of the brute to the dignity of the sons of God. It has assuaged ferocious passions, silenced the clan- gor of arms, and swelled into life a thousand blessed charities. It shall have a glorious future ! The missionary age has but just burst upon us. The ripe summer has hardly dawned. The songs of the reapers and the golden sheaves shall yet gladden a universal harvest-home. He that sitteth on the throne has declared, “Behold, I make all things new” — new heavens and a new earth, new men and new emotions, a new world and a new destiny ; till he shall look down from that throne and “ see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied till “ The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks Shout to each other; and the mountain tops, From distant mountains, catch the flying joy; ’Till nation after nation, taught the strain, Earth rolls the rapturous hosannah round.” Brethren ! this old song of hope and triumph has been set to new music. “ Can ye not discern the signs of the times V 7 Can ye not read the significance of this new civilization which illumines our epoch ? The world moves ! The chariot of sal- 24 SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY CONDITIONED. vation has made a sudden advance ! The footsteps of Im- manuel are majestic ! Religious toleration in Turkey, the extinction of serfdom in Russia, the abolition of slavery in America ! three continents awaking from the stupor of gloomy centuries; three powerful empires rising together and clap- ping their hands l The grand chorus of their music and mo- tion is clearly this : “ Peace on earth, and good will toward men.” Yes, the world moves ! the Church moves ! the mil- lenial morning “ stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.” It shall never go back again to midnight. This is no night fire that counterfeits the dawn. It is the sun of righteousness. His broad disc clips the horizon ; his arrowy beams scatter life and joy and sweet harvests through all the realms of moral night. We hail thee, O Sun ! joy of the morning, her- ald of the day that shall never go down l