{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_26062/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_26062","id":"gutenberg_26062","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26062","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Missions -- Theory"],"text":"E-text prepared by Anne Folland, Juliet Sutherland, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nTHOUGHTS ON MISSIONS.\n\nby the Late\n\nREV. SHELDON DIBBLE,\n\nMissionary in the Sandwich Islands.\n\n\n     Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every\n     creature.--MARK 16:15.\n\n     Go--teach all nations.--MATT. 28:19.\n\n     Prove all things--hold fast that which is good.--1 THES. 5:21.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPublished by the\nAmerican Tract Society,\n150 Nassau-Street, New-York.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE TRUE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS.\n                                                            PAGE.\n\nLowliness and condescension, like our Saviour's, essential\nto missionary character,                                     18\n\nThe true Missionary is ready, like Christ, to endure\nsuffering for the good of others,                            21\n\nThe true Missionary, like his Master, waits not to be\nurged and entreated,                                         24\n\nThe true Missionary, like the Saviour, feels no less\ncompassion and love to the heathen on account\nof their ingratitude and enmity towards him,                 26\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nCHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP.\n\nAll we have belongs to God,                                  32\n\nTo occupy all our powers for God, we must equal\nthe engagedness and enterprise of worldly men,               34\n\nHow much faithful stewards may consume on themselves\nand children,                                                40\n\nThe best use of a large capital,                             46\n\nMoney not the main thing needed,                             50\n\nThe luxury and honor of being God's stewards,                56\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nGUILT OF NEGLECTING THE HEATHEN.\n\nProspects of the heathen for eternity,                       64\n\nPeculiar advantages of the American churches to\ncarry abroad the Gospel of Christ,                           69\n\nDo we pray for the heathen as much as we ought?              73\n\nDo we give as much as we ought to evangelize the\nheathen?                                                     75\n\nDo we go and instruct the heathen as we ought?               81\n\nWhy are the heathen lost?                                    85\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE SAVIOUR'S LAST COMMAND.\n\nExcuses of Christians for not doing more to evangelize\nthe heathen,                                                102\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nLAYMEN CALLED TO THE FIELD OF MISSIONS.\n\nLabors of the first disciples, dispersed from Jerusalem\nby persecution,                                             111\n\nTo elevate all nations requires a great variety of\nlaborers,                                                   116\n\nFeasibility,                                                126\n\nReasons why laymen should engage in the work of\nMissions,                                                   130\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nCLAIMS OF MISSIONS ON MINISTERS OF INFLUENCE.\n\nSeparation of Barnabas and Saul for the Missionary\nwork,                                                        134\n\nThe present distribution of ministers anti-apostolic,        141\n\nInsufficient excuses of pastors for remaining at\nhome,                                                        147\n\nOther excuses of pastors that have weight, but are\nnot sufficient,                                              155\n\nNecessity that some pastors of influence and talent\nshould become Missionaries,                                  161\n\nSome excuses common to pastors and to candidates\nfor the ministry,                                            169\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nIMPORT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION.\n\nResponsibility not peculiar to Missionaries,                178\n\nThe fallacy of endeavoring to convert the world by\nproxy,                                                      181\n\nNo cheap or easy way of converting the world,               191\n\nSome rules that may be of use in agitating the question\nof becoming Missionaries,                                   194\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTRIALS TO BE MET.\n\nDifficulties in the way of training children on heathen\nground,                                                     201\n\nReasons in the minds of Missionaries for not sending\ntheir children home,                                        210\n\nOther thoughts about Missionaries' children,                218\n\nEntire consecration of children, not a duty peculiar\nto Missionaries,                                            222\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY LETTER.\n\nTO MY CLASSMATES IN THEOLOGY.\n\nDEAR BRETHREN IN CHRIST:--Few periods of our lives can be called to mind\nwith so much ease and distinctness, as the years which we spent together\nin theological studies. The events of that short season, and the\nsentiments we then indulged, are clothed with a freshness and interest\nwhich the lapse of time cannot efface.\n\nAmong the questions that occupied our thoughts, no one perhaps was so\nabsorbing, or attended with such deep and anxious feeling, as that which\nrespected the field of labor to which each should devote his life. And\nmany of us then, I remember, made a mutual engagement, that if spared\nand permitted for years to labor in different portions of the vineyard\nof the Lord, we would communicate to each other our _mature_ views in\nregard to the claims of different fields.\n\nThirteen years have elapsed; and I propose to fulfil my engagement, by\nexpressing, in the form of the present little volume, the views which I\nnow entertain in regard to the claims of foreign lands. To you, my\nbeloved classmates, the book is specially addressed; and if I use a\nfrankness and freedom, which might possibly be construed into presumption,\nif I were addressing strangers and elder brethren, I am sure that I\nshall fall under no such imputation when communicating my thoughts to\nyou. I wish to express my thoughts familiarly, as we used to do to each\nother, and at the same time with the earnestness and solemnity which one\nought always to feel when pleading for the perishing heathen.\n\nA free, full, and earnest discussion of such sentiments as those\ncontained in this book, had no small influence, under God, in preparing\nthe way for that extensive work of grace at these islands, which has\nbeen denominated the Great Revival. At the General meetings of the\nmission in the month of May of 1836 and 1837, the main doctrines of this\nvolume were thoroughly canvassed, and with deep effect upon every member\npresent. Our feelings were enlisted, our hearts were warmed, and our\nthoughts were absorbed by the great topic of the world's conversion. The\ntheme, in all its amazing import and solemn aspects, was allowed to take\npossession of our souls. It gave importunity to prayer, earnestness and\nunction to our conversation and sermons, and zeal, energy, and\nperseverance to every department of our work; and the result was soon\napparent in the wide-spread and glorious revival.\n\nIt can almost be said, therefore, that the main sentiments of this\nvolume have received the impress of the Divine approbation.\n\nIn the fall of 1837, I was constrained by family afflictions and the\nfailure of my own health, to embark for the United States. As I began to\nbreathe the bracing air of Cape Horn, my strength in a measure revived,\nand having no other employment on board ship, I sketched the outlines of\nmost of the chapters of this little volume. My heart was full of the\ntheme in the discussion of which I had taken part before my embarkation,\nand I penned my thoughts freely, amidst the tossings of the ship and the\ncare of two motherless children.\n\nOn my arrival in the United States, I revised and filled up the outlines\nI had sketched, and delivered them, in connection with various historical\nlectures, at several places, as Providence gave me opportunity. Now,\nhaving returned to these islands, I have thought best to give the\nchapters a second revision, to dedicate the whole to you, and with the\nhelp of the press to send you each a copy, accompanying it with my\nprayers and my most affectionate salutations. And may I not expect,\nbeloved classmates, that you will read the book with candor, weigh well\nits arguments, admit its entreaties to your hearts, as those of your\nformer associate, and act in accordance with the convictions of duty?\n\nAmong the considerations that have prompted me to the train of thought\ncontained in this book, as well as to the views interwoven in my history\nof the Sandwich Islands, I may mention, as not the least weighty and\nprominent, a dutiful respect and filial obedience to the instructions\ndelivered to me, in connection with others, by the wise and devoted\nEVARTS, on the eve of our embarkation for the foreign field. The\ndelivery of those instructions was his last effort of the kind, and they\nmay therefore be regarded as the parental accents of his departing\nspirit. On that occasion of interest, to which memory can never be\ntreacherous, a part of the charge to us was in the following words:\n\n\"From the very commencement of your missionary life, cultivate a spirit\nof enterprise. Without such a spirit, nothing great will be achieved in\nany human pursuit; and this is an age of enterprise, to a remarkable and\nunprecedented extent. In manufactures, in the mechanic arts, in\nagriculture, in education, in the science of government, men are awake\nand active; their minds are all on the alert; their ingenuity is tasked;\nand they are making improvements with the greatest zeal. Shall not the\nsame enterprise be seen in moral and religious things? Shall not\nmissionaries, especially, aim at making discoveries and improvements in\nthe noblest of all practical sciences--that of applying the means which\nGod has provided, for the moral renovation of the world?\n\n\"There are many problems yet to be solved before it can be said, that the\nbest mode of administering missionary concerns has been discovered.\nWhat degree of expense shall be incurred in the support of missionary\nfamilies, so as to secure the greatest possible efficiency with a given\namount of money; how to dispose of the children of missionaries, in a\nmanner most grateful to their parents, and most creditable to the cause;\nin what proportion to spend money and time upon the education of the\nheathen, as a distinct thing from preaching the Gospel; how far the\npress should be employed; by what means the attention of the heathen can\nbe best gained at the beginning; how their wayward practices and habits\ncan be best restrained and corrected; how the intercourse between\nmissionaries and the Christian world can be conducted in the best\nmanner, so as to secure the highest responsibility, and the most entire\nconfidence; and how the suitable proportion between ministers of the\nGospel retained at home, and missionaries sent abroad, is to be fixed in\npractice, as well as in principle: all these things present questions\nyet to be solved. There is room for boundless enterprise, therefore, in\nthe great missionary field, which is the world.\"\n\nI have not attempted to discuss all the topics here named, but have\nendeavored to cultivate in some degree, as enjoined in the paragraph, a\nspirit of _enterprising inquiry_.\n\nIf this book shall impart any light on the interesting topic of\nChristian duty to the heathen, and be owned by the Saviour, in the\ngreat day, as having contributed, though but in a small degree, towards\nthat glorious consummation of which the prophets speak, and to which we\nall look forward, I shall be richly rewarded.\n\nYour affectionate classmate,\n\nSHELDON DIBBLE.\n\nLAHAINALUNA, _Feb. 17, 1844_.\n\n\n\n\nTHOUGHTS ON MISSIONS.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE TRUE SPIRIT OF MISSIONS.\n\n\nThe apostles, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, uniformly enforce\ntheir exhortations by tender appeals to the example, sufferings, and\ndeath of their ascended Lord. Is humility inculcated? the argument is,\nChrist \"humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death\nof the cross.\" Is purity of life enjoined? the plea is, Christ \"gave\nhimself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify\nunto himself a peculiar people.\" Is liberality required? we are pointed\nto Christ, who, \"though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that\nwe through his poverty might be rich.\" Is entire consecration to Christ\nenjoined? the appeal is, \"he died for all, that they who live should\nnot henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and\nrose again.\"\n\nIn like manner, in gaining a true idea of the spirit of missions, the\nproper course evidently is, to look at once at the missionary character\nof the Lord Jesus Christ. He was indeed a missionary. He came to save\nthe lost. He was a missionary to _us_. He came to save _us_.\n\nWe had wandered and were lost. We were guilty and condemned. We were in a\nstate of despair. Nothing within the compass of human means could avail\nin the least to avert the impending wrath of God. All wisdom became\nfoolishness. All resource was futile. Not a ray of hope remained--not\nthe least flickering gleam. Whichever way the eye turned, there was\ndarkness--horror--despair. But Christ came, and hope again visited the\nearth. It was when we were helpless--hopeless--justly exposed to the\nhorrors and agonies of the world of woe, that Jesus undertook his\nmission, and appeared for our relief.\n\nThis truth cannot be too deeply impressed upon us, here, at the very\nthreshold of our inquiries in regard to the spirit of missions; and to\nspread it out distinctly before our minds, let us take a simple\nillustration.\n\nYou are a captive in a foreign land, and have long been immured in a\ndeep, damp, and gloomy dungeon. Sorrow, sighing, and tears have been\nyour meat day and night. Anguish, gloom, and a fearful looking for of\ndeath, combined with hunger, cold, and a bed of straw, have induced\ndisease, wasted your flesh, destroyed every energy, and entirely drank\nup your spirits. Sentence of death is pronounced against you, and the\nday fixed for your execution. The massive walls and iron grating look\ndown sternly upon you, and rebuke at once all hope of escape.\nEntreaties, tears, and the offer of gold and silver have been tried, but\nin vain. Effort and means have given place to horror and despair. The\nprospect before you is the scaffold, the block, a yawning grave, and a\ndread eternity. In this extremity a friend appears, and offers to be\nsubstituted in your place. The offer is accepted. You, pale, emaciated,\nand horror-stricken, are brought from your dungeon to behold once more\nthe light of day. The irons are knocked off from your hands and\nfeet--your tattered garments exchanged for cleanly apparel--and a ship\nis in readiness to convey you to the land of your birth and the bosom\nof your friends. The vital current of your soul, so long chilled and\nwasted, now flows again with warmth and vigor; your eyes are lighted up,\nand tears of joy burst forth like a flood. But, in the midst of your\njoy, you are told of your deliverer. You turn, and behold! the irons\nthat were upon you are fastened upon him--he is clothed in your tattered\ngarments--is about to be led to your gloomy dungeon--lie on your bed of\nstraw, and thence to be taken in your stead to the scaffold or the\nblock. You throw yourself at his feet, and entreat him to desist; but\nwhen you find his purpose fixed, you finally wish you had a thousand\nhearts to feel the gratitude you owe, and ten thousand tongues to give\nit utterance.\n\nThe Lord Jesus Christ has done for us all this, and unspeakably _more_.\nWe were under condemnation. The sentence of God's righteous law was\nagainst us. The flaming sword of Divine vengeance was unsheathed. All\nabove and around us were the dark frowns of the Almighty and the red\nlightnings of his wrath. Beneath us was not merely a damp dungeon, but\nthe bottomless pit yawning to receive us, and its flames ascending to\nenvelope our guilty souls. There was no escape. The prospect was\nweeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth--the agony of Jehovah's frown\nforever. In this extremity the Saviour appeared--substituted himself in\nour stead--bare our sins in his own body on the tree--received upon his\nown agonized soul what was our due, and thus delivered us from the\nuntold horrors of eternal death, and opened before us the gate of\nheaven.\n\nTo save the lost, then, was the spirit of Christ. The apostles imbibed\nthis spirit. _It is the spirit of missions._ The heathen are in a lost\ncondition. If we have the spirit of Christ we shall do what we can to\nsave them. The spirit of missions is not something different from, or\nsuperadded to, the Christian spirit, but is simply, essentially, and\nemphatically _the_ spirit of Christ. It is compassion for the perishing;\nand such compassion as leads the possessor to put forth strenuous\nefforts, and to undergo, if need be, the severest sufferings.\n\nAs we shall look somewhat in detail at the manifestations of the spirit\nof Christ, we shall see very evidently the great outlines of what alone\nis worthy to be called the true spirit of missions.\n\nLook at the _condescension_ of Christ, and learn a lesson of duty\ntowards the destitute and degraded of our race. The Son of God, by whom\nwere all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,\nwhether they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers; who\nupholdeth all things by the word of his power; before whom ten thousand\ntimes ten thousand and thousands of thousands prostrate themselves,\nascribing power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and\nglory, and blessing; of whom it is said, \"Every knee shall bow to him,\nof things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the\nearth\"--the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God: this\nInfinite Being empties himself of his glory, and comes down to toil,\nsuffer and die--and for whom? For us worms of the dust, insects that are\ncrushed before the moth.\n\nIf the Saviour had come to our relief, clothed with the glory of heaven\nand surrounded by his holy angels, even that would have been a stoop of\namazing condescension. But look at the babe of Bethlehem, born in a\nstable, and cradled in a manger; follow him to Egypt, and then back to\nNazareth. What humility, lowliness, and condescension! Look at the\nSaviour in his public ministry. You find him oftenest among the _poor_,\nand always so demeaning himself as to be the one that was \"meek and\nlowly in heart.\" His chosen walk was such, that it could be said with\nemphasis, \"to the poor the Gospel is preached.\"\n\nSuch was the spirit of Christ and such his condescension! Such was the\nspirit of the apostles. They took much notice of the poor, and charged\nPaul and Barnabas, when going forth on their mission, especially to\nremember them. What else, I ask, is a missionary spirit, but to be\nwilling to labor with self-denial and perseverance to elevate and save\nthe low and the vile? Natural men, in the pride of their hearts, are\ninclined to look down upon the wretched--to regard them with that kind\nof loathing and disgust which disinclines them to make sacrifices in\ntheir behalf. This dislike is such that I have often thought it to be a\nfavor to the heathen, that they are far off and out of sight; for if\nthey were near and directly around many professed Christians, with all\ntheir defilement and ugliness in full view, much of the apparent\nsympathy for them which now exists, would be turned into contempt and\ncold neglect. But if such had been the superficial and ill-founded\ncharacter of Christ's compassion, where should we have been at this\npresent hour? There is not a wretch now wallowing in the deepest mire of\nsin, who is so vile and low in our eyes, as we all were in the eyes of\ninfinite purity. Yet the more wretched we were, the more deeply did\nChrist feel for us. _This spirit of Christ is the only true spirit of\nmissions_--the only spirit that will make self-denying, continued, and\npersevering efforts to save the heathen.\n\nThere is no romance in the practical and every-day duties of a\nmissionary. The work is of a humble form, and emphatically _toilsome_.\nThere is but little true missionary spirit in the world. It is not the\nsympathy of an hour, nor an enthusiasm awakened by romance, but the pure\nlove of Christ in the soul, constraining the possessor to pray earnestly,\nand to labor cheerfully without notice or applause, for the lowest human\nobjects; and which finds a rich and sufficient reward for a life of toil\nin leading one ignorant slave, one degraded outcast, or one vile heathen,\nto accept the offers of salvation. My observation in the field for\nthirteen years testifies to the fact, that no sympathy or enthusiasm\nwill come down to the arduous details of missionary work, and persevere\nin it for years, that does not flow from such genuine and permanent love\nas our Saviour manifested when here upon earth. The more we become like\nChrist, the more shall we possess of the true missionary character.\n\nHow slow we are to make _real sacrifices_ for the good of others! It was\nnot so with Christ. He chose, for our good, to become a man of sorrows\nand acquainted with grief--to be rejected, despised and hated--to become\na mark for the bitterest rage and the finger of scorn.\n\nGo to the garden of Gethsemane. There behold, what even the pencil of\nthe angel Gabriel cannot fully portray. There, in the stillness of the\nnight, the Saviour retires to give vent to the bursting emotions of his\nsoul. Deep sorrow, keen anguish, and excruciating agony roll in, like\ncontinuous surges, upon his tender spirit. His strength fails. Low he\nlies on the cold earth, and the drops from his pale and agonized\nfeatures, like the clammy sweat of death--no, \"like drops of\nblood\"--fall to the ground.\n\nBut the agony of his spirit does not perturb the submission of his soul,\nnor shake the steadfastness of his purpose. The furious mob arrive, and he\ncalmly yields himself to their disposal. See him in the judgment-hall\n--meek under insults, forgiving under buffetings and abuse, submissive\nand quiet under the agonizing scourge. Then behold him, as faint from\nhis gashes and his pains, and sinking under a heavy cross, he slowly\nmoves towards Calvary. Look on, if your eyes can bear the sight. The\nrough spikes are driven through his feet and his hands--the cross is\nerected--the Lord of glory hangs between two thieves:--there, his torn,\nbleeding, writhing and excruciated body is to wear out its vitality in\nprotracted agony. But all this suffering was as a drop in his cup of\nanguish. O the deep--fathomless, untold agony of his soul, when under\nthe hidings of his Father's face he exclaimed, \"My God, my God, why hast\nthou forsaken me!\"\n\nAll this suffering and agony the Infinite Son of God endured, that we\nmight be saved. He had a vivid and perfect view of all this, and yet\nvoluntarily assumed it that we might live.\n\nIn view of such an example, what shall we say? If the Lord of glory\nshrunk not from ignominy and scorn, untold agony, exquisite torture and\nthe most cruel death, can any one possess much of his spirit, and yet\nconsider it too much to forego some of the comforts and delights of this\nfleeting life, and to labor and toil with perseverance and self-denial\non a foreign shore, to instruct the destitute and the dying--to\nenlighten the millions and hundreds of millions of heathen, who have\nnever heard the precious name of Jesus, and are entirely ignorant of the\nconsolations of his grace? Is it too much, even to expose one's self to\nan early grave in a sultry clime, if necessary, that some ray of hope\nmay break in upon the gloom of the benighted and perishing nations? God\nbe praised, that the prospect of death did not daunt the spirit of the\nself-denying Jesus!\n\nO, how has a feeling of shame and deep humiliation come over my spirit,\nas I have heard the objection, that \"Missionaries and missionaries'\nwives especially go forth to die!\" Thanks to the continued grace of God,\nthat some of this spirit of Jesus--the self-sacrificing spirit, the\nspirit of devotement, even unto death--still exists on earth. Let the\nobjector inquire seriously, whether much of it reigns in his own bosom;\nand whether in proportion as he is destitute of it, he be not lacking\nnot only in the spirit of missions, but in the spirit of Christ, without\nwhich it is impossible to be a disciple. For it is true not only of\nmissionaries, but equally of all Christians, that they are not their\nown--that they are bought with a price; and are under obligations of\n_entire consecration_, each in his appropriate sphere, that are as high\nas heaven and as affecting as the scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary. And\nwe are bound, equally with the early disciples, to count it not only a\nduty, but \"all joy\" to labor, suffer and die, if necessary, for Christ's\nsake, and in the good work which he has given us to do.\n\nDid we become sensible of our lost condition? Did we with one accord\nlift up our penitent and broken-hearted cries to the God of mercy, that\nhe would provide a way for our salvation? Did the angels intercede in\nour behalf that the Saviour would come? No: _self-moved_ he appeared for\nour relief. He beheld us wedded to our sinful courses; unwilling to be\ntaken from the pit into which we had plunged ourselves, and clinging\nwith unyielding grasp to the very instruments of our ruin--strangely\nenamored with the very vampires that were preying upon our souls. The\nmore disinclined we were to sue for mercy, the more the Saviour pitied\nus; for our very unwillingness to supplicate showed the depth of our\nruin.\n\nIn like manner, the more indisposed any heathen nation may be to receive\nus to their shores, admit the light of the Gospel and partake of its\nblessings, the more deeply should we feel for them, and the more\nzealously labor for their salvation. That a nation has not called for\nour aid, but is resolutely determined to keep us at a distance, is a\nstrong argument for being deeply interested in their behalf. Their very\nblindness and maniac disposition should call forth the deep\ncommiseration of our souls. Such was the spirit of Christ. Such is the\ntrue spirit of missions. It is but a small measure of compassion to aid\nthose who supplicate our assistance. The very blindness, guilt, madness\nand vile degradation of a people, should be to us a sufficient voice of\nentreaty. They were so to the heart of the precious Saviour, or he never\nwould have undertaken the work of our redemption. O, when shall it be,\nthat Christians and ministers of the Gospel shall arise _self-moved_, or\nrather moved by the spirit of Christ within them, and exert all their\npowers for the good of the perishing? when they shall not need appeal\nupon appeal, entreaty upon entreaty, and the visit of one agent after\nanother, to remind them of duty, and to persuade them to do it?\n\nIt was not a world of penitents that the Saviour pitied, but a world of\n_rebels_--proud and stubborn rebels, ready to spurn every offer of\nreconciliation. He saw us, not on our knees pleading for mercy, but\nscorning the humble attitude of suppliants, and raising our puny arms\nagainst the authority of Heaven. He beheld us, not as the Ninevites once\nwere, in sackcloth and ashes, but recklessly violating all his holy\nlaws. It was in view of all the deformity, bitterness, rage and\nheaven-daring impiety of our naked hearts, that Christ left his throne\nof glory and died on the cross. It was for such beings that he\nvoluntarily endured humiliation, toil, self-denial and death. He toiled\nand died for the ungodly. He came, though men despised his aid. He died\neven for his crucifiers.\n\nAre the heathen guilty--covered with blood and black with crime? Do they\nexhibit many traits that are repulsive and horrid? Would our visit to\nthem fill them with rage and bitterness, and tempt them to crucify us?\nWhat then? are we to relax our efforts for them, because they are\nungodly? So did _not_ Jesus Christ. Let us learn from his example, and\nimbibe his spirit. That man, who may be called a missionary, and yet is\ncapable of being alienated in his feelings by ill-treatment, contempt,\nabuse and rage from the heathen, is not worthy of the name. That\nprofessed Christian, in whatever land he may reside, who loves a sinner\nless on account of the personal abuse he may suffer from him, has not\nthe true missionary spirit, or, in other words, the spirit of Christ.\n\nAnd here I would repeat the remark with emphasis, in accordance with all\nthat I have said, that _there is nothing peculiar_ in the spirit of\nmissions, except what peculiarity there may be in the spirit of\nChrist--that it is what all must possess to be disciples, and without\nwhich no one can enter heaven. It is a spirit humble yet elevating,\nself-sacrificing yet joyful, intensely fervent yet reasonable, meek and\nyet resolute. It is all this indeed, but yet nothing more than what is\nrequired of every Christian; and therefore no excuse can be more absurd\nand contradictory in terms, than that sometimes made, \"It is not my duty\nto go to the heathen, for I never had a missionary spirit;\" for one\nprofesses to be a Christian, and yet excuses himself, on the ground of\nnot having a missionary spirit, or in other words, of not being a\nChristian--of not being in possession of a fair title to heaven. O,\nremember, Christian reader, that the least desire to be excused shows a\ndeplorable lack of the spirit of Christ.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nCHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP.\n\n\nOn account of heavy domestic afflictions, and the failure of my own\nhealth, I was induced, a few years since, to visit the United States.\nFull well I remember my feelings when returning to my native land. I had\nbeen laboring among a heathen people, and impressions by the eye are\ndeep and affecting. I had seen degradation and vileness, destitution and\nwoe. I had a vivid impression of the urgent claim of the destitute and\nthe dying; and I had formed some conception of the greatness of the\nwork, if we would put forth the instrumentality needed to elevate and\nsave them. And during a long voyage, I had time, not only to think of\nthe Sandwich Islanders, but to cast my thoughts abroad over the wide\nworld. The millions and hundreds of millions of our race often came up\nfresh before me, sunk in untold vileness, covered with abominations, and\ndropping one after another, as fast as the beating of my pulse--twenty\nmillions a year--into the world of woe. Painful as it was, I could not\navoid the deep and certain conviction, that such was their end.\n\nThen I thought of the greatness of the task, if we would be the means,\nunder God, of saving them from perdition: that we have idol gods without\nnumber to destroy--a veil of superstition forty centuries thick to\nrend--a horrible darkness to dispel--hearts of stone to break--a gulf of\npollution to purify--nations, in God's strength, to reform and\nregenerate. With such thoughts the conviction forced itself upon me,\nthat the work could not be done without an immense amount of means, and\na host of laborers.\n\nThink, then, how chilling and soul-sickening the intelligence that met\nme as I landed on my native shores, (in the spring of 1838,) that\nChristians were disheartened by the pressure of the times, and were\nreceding from ground already taken: that the bread of life must not\nissue from the press, though millions were famishing for lack of it;\nthat thirty heralds of salvation then standing on our shores must not\nembark, though the woes and agonies of dying souls were coming peal\nafter peal on every wave of the ocean; that they must be turned aside\nfrom the perilous yet fond enterprise to which the love of Christ had\nconstrained them, and that future applicants must be thereby\ndiscouraged--that missionaries abroad must be trammelled in their\noperations for want of means; and that multitudes of children and youth,\nthe hope of the missions, gathered with much care, and partially\ninstructed and trained with much expense of time, strength and money;\nthe centre of solicitude, love, and interest; the adopted sons and\ndaughters of the missionaries, must be sent back--in Ceylon three\nthousand in a day--to wallow again in pollution, bow down to gods of\nwood and stone, and wander, stumble and fall on the dark mountains of\nheathen superstition; a prey to the prowling monsters that lie thick and\nready to devour in all the territory of Satan. Surely, thought I, (and\nhad I not grounds for the thought?) Christians in America must be\ndestitute of the common comforts of life: nothing but the direst\nnecessity can induce them thus to surrender back to Satan the ground\nalready taken and the trophies already gathered, and to put far off the\nhope of the latter day glory.\n\nI looked abroad and made inquiries. I found indeed a derangement of\ncurrency and a stagnation of business. But did I find, think you, that\nChristians were destitute of the ordinary comforts of life? that they\nwere in a distressing emergency for food and clothing? that their\nretrenchments had been made _first_ in personal expenditures, and last\nin efforts to save souls? Alas! it was evident that the principal cause\nof the retraced movement was not found in the reverse of the times. It\nwas found to lie deeper; and to consist in wrong views and wrong\npractice on the great subject of Christian stewardship. To this subject,\nthen, my thoughts for a time were much directed, and I tried to look at\nit in view of a dying world, and a coming judgment. The subject, I\nperceived, lay at the foundation of all missionary effort; and my\nposition and circumstances were perhaps advantageous for contemplating\nit in a just and proper light. Be entreated, therefore, Christian\nreader, to look at the subject in the spirit of candor and\nself-application.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA little heathen child was inquired of by her teacher, if there was\nanything which she could call her own. She hesitated a moment, and\nlooking up, very humbly replied, \"I think there is.\" \"What is it?\" asked\nthe teacher. \"I think,\" said she, \"that my sins are my own.\"\n\nYes, we may claim our sins--they are our own; but everything else\nbelongs to God. We are stewards; and a steward is one who is employed to\nmanage the concerns of another--his household, money or estate. We are\nGod's stewards. God has intrusted to each one of us a charge of greater\nor less importance. To some he has intrusted five talents, to others\ntwo, and to others one. The talents are physical strength, property,\nintellect, learning, influence--all the means in our possession for\ndoing good and glorifying God. We can lay claim to nothing as strictly\nour own. Even the angel Gabriel cannot claim the smallest particle of\ndust as strictly his own. The rightful owner of all things, great and\nsmall, is God.\n\nTo be faithful stewards, then, we must _fully occupy_ for God all the\ntalents in our possession. A surrender, however, of all to God--of time,\nstrength, mind and property, does not imply a neglect of our own real\nwants. A proper care of ourselves and families enters into God's\narrangement. This is not only allowed, it is required of us; and if done\nproperly and with a right spirit, it is a service acceptable to God.\nThis is understood then, when we say, that all our talents must be\noccupied for God. With this understanding, there must be no reserve.\nReserve is robbery. No less than all the heart and all our powers can be\nrequired of us--no less can be required of angels.\n\nIt is our reasonable service. We require the same of the agents we\nemploy. Suppose a steward, agent or clerk, in the management of your\nmoney, your estate or your goods, devotes only a part to your benefit\nand uses the rest for himself, how long would you retain him in your\nemployment? Let us beware, then, that we rob not God. Let us be faithful\nin his business, and _fully occupy_ for him the talents intrusted to us.\nGod has an indisputable right to everything in our possession; to all\nour strength, all our influence, every moment of our time, and demands\nthat everything be held loosely by us, in perfect obedience to him. For\nus or for angels to deny this right, would be downright rebellion. For\nGod to require anything less, would be admitting a principle that would\ndemolish his throne.\n\nNo less engagedness certainly can be required of God's stewards, than\n_worldly men exhibit in the pursuit of wealth and honor_. Let us, then,\nlook at their conduct and learn a lesson. They are intent upon their\nobject. They rise early and sit up late. Constant toil and vigorous\nexertion fill up the day, and on their beds at night they meditate plans\nfor the morrow. Their hearts are set on their object, and entirely\nengrossed in it. They show a determination to attain it, if it be within\nthe compass of human means. Enter a Merchants' Exchange, and see with\nwhat fixed application they study the best plans of conducting their\nbusiness. They keep their eyes and ears open, and their thoughts active.\nSuch, too, must be the wakefulness of an agent, or they will not employ\nhim. Notice also the physician who aspires to eminence. He tries the\nutmost of his skill. Look in, too, upon the ambitious attorney. He\napplies his mind closely to his cause that he may manage it in the best\npossible way.\n\nNow, I ask, shall not the same intense and active state of mind be\nrequired of us, as God's agents or stewards? Can we be faithful\nstewards, and not contrive, study, and devise the best ways of using the\ntalents that God has intrusted to us, so that they may turn to the\ngreatest account in his service? Is not the glory of God and the eternal\nsalvation of our ruined race, an object _worthy_ of as much engagedness,\nas much engrossment of soul and determination of purpose, as a little\nproperty which must soon be wrapped in flames, or the flickering breath\nof empty fame? Be assured, we cannot satisfy our Maker by offering a\nsluggish service, or by putting forth a little effort, and pretending\nthat it is the extent of our ability. We have shown what we are capable\nof doing, by our engagedness in seeking wealth and honor. God has seen,\nangels have seen, and we ourselves know, that our ability is not small,\nwhen brought fully into exercise. It is now too late to indulge the\nthought of deceiving either our Maker or our fellow men on this point.\nWe can lay claim to the character of faithful stewards, only as we\n_embark all our powers_ in serving God, as worldly men do in seeking\nriches, or a name.\n\nThen, too, to be faithful, we must be as _enterprising_ in the work that\nGod has given us to do, as worldly men are in their affairs. By\nenterprising, I mean, bold, adventurous, resolute to undertake. Worldly\nmen exhibit enterprise in their readiness to engage in large\nprojects--in digging canals, in laying railroads, and in sending their\nships around the globe. No port seems too distant, no depth too deep, no\nheight too high, no difficulty too great, and no obstacle too\nformidable. They scarcely shrink from any business on account of its\nmagnitude, its arduousness, or its hazard. A man is no longer famous for\ncircumnavigating the globe. To sail round the world is a common trading\nvoyage, and ships now visit almost every port of the whole earth. A\nbusiness is no longer called great, where merely thousands of dollars\nare adventured; but in great undertakings, money is counted by millions.\nSuch is the spirit of enterprise in worldly matters.\n\nNow, I ask, are we not capable of as much enterprise in using the means\nordained by Christ for rescuing souls from eternal burnings, and raising\nthem to a seat at his right hand? Had the same enterprise been required\nof men in some former century, they might have plead incapacity. But it\nis too late now to plead incapacity. Unless we choose to keep back from\nGod a very important talent, we must put forth this enterprise to its\nfull extent in the great work of the world's conversion.\n\nSuch enterprise is needed. If the latter day glory is to take place\nthrough human instrumentality, can it be expected without some mighty\nmovement on the part of the church? Can a work of such inconceivable\nmagnitude be effected, till every redeemed sinner shall lay himself out\nin the enterprise, as worldly men do in their projects? If the promises\nof God are to be fulfilled through the efforts of men, what hope can\nthere be of the glorious day, till men are resolute to undertake great\nthings--not for themselves merely, but for God, their Maker and\nRedeemer.\n\nIs it not a fact that will strike us dumb in the judgment, that it is\nthe love of money, and not zeal for God, that digs canals, lays\nrailroads, runs steamboats and packets, and, in short, is the main\nspring of every great undertaking? The love of money has explored the\nland and the seas, traced rivers in all their windings, found an\nentrance to almost every port, Christian or heathen, studied the\ncharacter of almost every people, ascertained the products of every\nclime and the treasures of the deep, stationed agents in all the\nprincipal places, and in not a few ports, a hemisphere distant, erected\nshops, factories, and even sumptuous palaces.\n\nMen exhibit no such enterprise in serving God. How many ships sail the\nocean to carry the Gospel of Christ? And in ports where one magnificent\nExchange after another is reared, stretching out its capacious arms,\nand towering towards heaven, how difficult it is to sustain a few humble\nboarding-houses for wandering seamen. Worldly enterprise is bold and\nactive, and presses onward with railroad speed. Shall, then, Christian\nenterprise be dull and sluggish, deal in cents and mills, and move along\nat a very slow pace? The thought is too humiliating to be endured.\n\nSuppose angels to be placed in our stead, would they, think you, be\noutdone by the seekers of wealth in deeds of enterprise? No: their cars\nwould be the first in motion, and their ships the first on the wing.\nThey would be the first to announce new islands, and the first to\nproject improvements, and _for what?_ that the Gospel might have free\ncourse and be glorified. Enterprise and action would then be exhibited,\nworthy of our gaze and admiration. \"O! if the ransom of those who fell\nfrom heaven like stars to eternal night, could only be paid, and the\ninquiry of the Lord were heard among the unfallen, 'Whom shall we send,\nand who will go for us?' hold they back? No: they fly like lightning to\nevery province of hell; the echo of salvation rolls in the outskirts as\nin the centre; a light shines in the darkest dungeon; the heaviest\nchains are knocked off, and they rest not till all is done that angels\ncan do, to restore them to their former vacated seats in the realms of\nthe blest.\"\n\nBut if angels would act thus, we too, as the stewards of God, ought to\nbe the first in enterprise. God's work is infinitely more important than\nwealth or honor. And how shall we, in the judgment, be found faithful,\nif the seekers of wealth or the aspirants for renown are suffered to\noutstrip us on every side.\n\nIt is not faithfulness for any one to consume _on himself or his\nchildren_ more of God's property than he really needs. Suppose you hold\nin your hand an amount of property. It is not yours you remember, for\nyou are merely a steward. God requires that it be used to produce the\ngreatest possible good. The greatest possible good, is the promotion of\nholiness in yourself and in others. Luxury, pride and vanity can lay no\nclaim. Speculative knowledge, taste, and refinement must receive a due\nshare of attention, but be kept in their place. Our real wants, of\ncourse, must be supplied. But what are our real wants--our _wants_, not\nour _desires_--our _real_ wants, not those that are artificial and\nimaginary?\n\nWe really need for ourselves and families what is necessary to preserve\nlife and health; we need a mental cultivation answerable to our\nprofession or employment; need the means of maintaining a neat, sober\nand just taste; and we need too, proper advantages of spiritual\nimprovement. Things of mere habit, fashion, and fancy may be dispensed\nwith. Luxuries may be denied. Many things, which are called\nconveniences, we do not really need. If provision is to be made for all\nthings that are convenient and pleasant, what room will remain for\nself-denial? Things deemed comfortable and convenient may be multiplied\nwithout limit--consume all of God's wealth, and leave the world in\nruins. If the world were _not_ in ruins, then it might be proper to seek\nnot only the comforts, but even the elegancies of life.\n\nTake a simple illustration: In the midst of the wide ocean I fall in\nwith a crew floating on the few shattered planks of a hopeless wreck. I\nhave a supply of water and a cask of bread, but the poor wrecked\nmariners are entirely destitute. Shall I keep my provisions for my own\ncomfort, and leave these sufferers to pine away with hunger and thirst?\nBut suppose I have not only bread and water, but many luxuries, while\nthe men on the wreck are perishing for the want of a morsel of bread and\na drop of water? And then, suppose I have casks of bread and other\nprovisions to dispose of, and intend with the proceeds to furnish myself\nwith certain of the conveniences and elegancies of life; and my mind is\nso fixed upon obtaining them, that I refuse to relieve the poor tenants\nof the wreck, and leave them to the lingering death of hunger and\nthirst. O, who of you would not shudder at the hardness of my heart and\nthe blackness of my crime!\n\nBut the world dead in sin is surely a wreck. Millions upon millions are\nfamishing for the bread and water of life. Their cry--their dying cry\nhas come to our ears. Shall we then take that which might relieve them,\nand expend it in procuring conveniences, elegancies, and luxuries for\nourselves? Can we do it, and be guiltless of blood?\n\nBut, perhaps here, some one may have the coolness to thrust in the\ncommon objection, that a man's style of living must correspond with his\nstation in society. It is wonderful to what an extent this principle is\napplied. A man, it is said, cannot be a governor of a state, a mayor of\na city, a member of Congress, or hold any high office, unless his house,\nhis equipage, his dress and his table, exhibit some appearance of\nelegance and wealth; and if a man live in a large and opulent city, he\nmust be somewhat expensive in his style of living, that he may exert an\ninfluence in the higher walks of society. Then, country towns, and small\nvillages, take pattern of the large cities, and the plea goes down\nthrough every rank and every grade. Scarcely a Christian can be found,\nwho is not familiar with the doctrine. It is a very convenient doctrine.\nIn a _qualified_ sense it may be true, but in its unlimited\ninterpretation it may be made to justify almost every article of luxury\nand extravagance.\n\nIt seems to be conformity to the world, and the world has always been\n_wrong_. The principles of the Gospel have always been at variance with\nthe maxims and customs of the world. _Conformity is always suspicious._\n\nAgain, the doctrine cannot be applied to all places. Suppose a\nmissionary conform to the society around him. Instead of raising up the\nheathen from their degradation, he would become a heathen himself. The\ndescent to heathenism is easy. The influence of comparing ourselves with\nourselves, and measuring ourselves by ourselves, is felt by those living\namong barbarians as well as at home, though the insidious influence\nleads in another direction. If there is a man on earth, who, more than\nany other, needs to cultivate neatness, taste and refinement, both in\nhis mind and in his whole style of living, it is the man who is\nsurrounded by a heathen population. Here, then, the rule contended for\nfails. Travel round the world, and how often will it fail?\n\nLet us turn away, then, from this fickle standard, and look to reason\nenlightened by the Word of God. Shall we not then find, that\nsubstantially the same style of living that is proper in one latitude\nand longitude, is proper in another; _substantially_ the same, paying\nonly so much regard to the eyes of the world, as to avoid unnecessary\nsingularity and remark; and that this rule, founded on the principles of\nthe Gospel, makes a proper provision for health, mental cultivation, and\na neat, sober and just taste? Are not these the real wants of men\nallowed by the Gospel, whether they live in London or in Ethiopia?\n\nBut the ground on which I choose to rest this inquiry more than any\nother, is the perishing condition of our dying race. Is fashion,\nsplendor and parade, appropriate in a grave-yard, or in the chamber of\nthe dead and dying? But the whole world is a grave-yard. Countless\nmillions lie beneath our feet. Most of our earth, too, is at this moment\na chamber of dying souls. Can we have _any relish_ for luxuries, folly\nand needless expense, amidst the teeming millions commencing the agonies\nof eternal death?\n\nI erect a splendid mansion; extend about it a beautiful enclosure;\nfurnish it with every elegance; make sumptuous entertainments, and live\nin luxury and ease. In the midst of it, the woes and miseries of my\nruined race are brought vividly before me--their present wretchedness\nand eternal agonies. And it is whispered in my ear, that these woes\nmight have been relieved by the expense I have so profusely lavished. O!\nhow like Belshazzar must I feel, and almost imagine that the groans of\nlost souls are echoed in every chamber of my mansion, and their blood\nseen on every ornament!\n\nLet us have the love of Christ in our hearts, and then spread distinctly\nbefore us _the world as it is_--calculate the sum total of its present\nwretchedness and eternal woes. In such a world and as God's stewards,\nwho can be at a loss in regard to the course of duty? When twenty\nmillions of men every year are entering upon the untold horrors of the\nsecond death, and we are stewards to employ all means in our power for\ntheir salvation, O, away with that coldness that can suggest the\nnecessity of _conforming_ to the expensive customs of the world. May we,\nin heaven, find one of these souls saved through our instrumentality,\nand we can afford to forego all we shall lose by a want of conformity.\nThere is a nobleness in taking an independent stand on the side of\neconomy, and saving something to benefit dying souls. There is a\nheavenly dignity in such a course, infinitely superior to the slavish\nconformity so much contended for. It is an independence induced by the\nsublimest motives; a stand which even the world must respect, and which\nGod will not fail to honor.\n\nBut how shall those possessing _large capitals_ best employ them as\nstewards of God? I speak not of the hoarding of the miser; that would be\na waste of breath. I speak not of property invested in stock that\nhabitually violates the Sabbath. No remark is necessary in so plain a\ncase. But I speak of large capitals, professedly kept to bring in an\nincome for the service of the Redeemer. The subject is involved in many\npractical difficulties; and they who are business men have some\nadvantages of judging in the case which I have not. I will therefore\nmerely make one or two inquiries.\n\nIs not the practice in many cases an _unwise investment_ of God's funds?\nIs there not a reasonable prospect that one dollar used now, in doing\ngood, will turn to more account than twenty dollars ten years hence? A\nBible given now may be the means of a soul's conversion; and this\nconvert may be instrumental in converting other souls, and may\nconsecrate all his powers and property to God; so that when years shall\nhave passed away, the one dollar given to buy the Bible may have become\nhundreds of dollars, and, with God's blessing, saved many precious\nsouls. One pious young man trained for the ministry _now_, may be\ninstrumental, before ten years shall expire, in bringing into the Lord's\nkingdom many immortal souls, with all their wealth and influence; and so\nthe small sum expended now, become ten years hence entirely inestimable.\nThe same may be said of a minister sent now to the heathen, instead of\nten years hence; and the same, too, may be said of every department of\ndoing good. It would appear then, that, in all ordinary cases, to make\nan immediate use of funds in doing good is to lay them out to the\ngreatest possible interest; that by such a course we can be the means of\npeopling heaven faster than in any other way. We can hardly appreciate\nhow much we save by saving _time_, and how much we lose by losing it.\nWorldly men, in their railroad and steam-packet spirit of the present\nday, seem to have caught some just sense of the importance of time, and\nwe, in our enterprises to do good, must not be unmindful of it.\n\nAgain, is not the expenditure of property in the work of doing good, not\nonly the most advantageous, but also the _safest_ possible investment of\nGod's funds? Whilst kept in capital, it is always exposed to greater or\nless risk. Fire may consume it. Floods may sweep it away. Dishonest men\nmay purloin it. A gale at sea may bury it. A reverse of times may ingulf\nit. But when used in doing good, it is sent up to the safe-keeping of\nthe bank of God; it is commuted into the precious currency of heaven; it\nis exchanged for souls made happy, and harps and crowns of gold.\n\nAgain, A. keeps a large property in capital, and therefore B. resolves\nto _accumulate_ a large property, and then give the income. But whilst\naccumulating it, he not only leaves the world to perish, but also runs\nthe risk of ruining his own soul--the awful hazard which always attends\nthe project of becoming rich. And the result is, in ninety-nine cases\nout of a hundred, that the summons of death arrives before the promised\nbeneficence is paid in.\n\nIn view of such considerations, would it not be _wiser, safer, and very\nmuch better_, in most instances at least, that the greater part of large\ncapitals should be made use of at once in the service of the Redeemer?\n\nIt is said of Normand Smith, that \"he dared not be rich;\" and that \"it\nbecame an established rule with him, to use for benevolent distribution\n_all the means_ which he could take from his business, and still\nprosecute it successfully;\" and that he charged a brother on his dying\nbed, to do good with his substance while living, and not suffer it to\naccumulate to be disposed of, at the last extremity, by will. Sound\nadvice. A few other such men there have been in the world, and they are\nthe SHINING LIGHTS. Their example is brilliant all over with true\nwisdom.\n\nIt is not acting always as faithful stewards, merely to accumulate\nwealth to promote the cause of Christ; for there may be more need of our\n_personal service_ in disseminating the Gospel, than of any pecuniary\nmeans we can contribute. Christians are not faithful stewards, merely\nwhen they labor for Christ, but when they do _that_ by which they may\nmost promote the cause of Christ. The dissemination of Gospel truth is\nthe great end to be aimed at, either directly or indirectly. Now, it is\nevident that many must further this object by accumulating the pecuniary\nmeans; but the danger is, that too many, far too many prefer this\ncourse. Many conclude, with perfect safety and justness, that in\npractising law or medicine, or in selling goods, in tilling a farm, or\nin laboring in a shop, they are doing as much to further the object as\nin any other way; but some, it is believed, come to such a conclusion\neither from mistaken views or mistaken motives. The fact that so large a\nproportion of God's stewards resort to the notion of operating by proxy,\nand that so few choose to engage in the direct work, shows that there is\ndanger existing. Not only the fathers, but a vast majority of the middle\naged and the young, prefer to advance the cause of Christ by\naccumulating the pecuniary means. Now, why is there such a rushing after\nthis department of the great work?\n\nThe Saviour calls for a great army of preachers, to carry his Gospel\neverywhere, and to proclaim it to all nations, kindreds and people. In\ntruth, you need not go beyond the limits of the United States to feel\nthe force of this remark. Look at the destitutions in the more newly\nsettled states and territories, and see if there is not need of men to\npreach the Gospel. But notwithstanding this need, only a small number,\ncomparatively, offer themselves to the work. Almost all young men, even\nthe professedly pious, slide easily into lucrative occupations; but to\nbring them into the direct work of making known Christ, they must be\nurged and persuaded by a score of arguments.\n\nIt is needed, too, of lay members of the church, to do much in searching\nout the destitute and the dying, who exist in multitudes, even about\ntheir own dwellings; to give here a word of warning, and there a word of\nconsolation; to add here a helping hand, and impart there the restoring\neffect of sympathy and kindness; in short, to employ some hours in the\nday in going everywhere, as the early disciples did, from house to house\nand street to street, and in communicating, in an appropriate way, the\nsimple truths of Jesus. Laymen, too, are needed in great numbers in\nthe foreign service. There are reasons numerous and urgent, which I\ncannot here name, why lay members in the church should go abroad.\n\nBut notwithstanding this call for personal effort, it is too often that\nwe meet with church members who are completely engrossed, from early\ndawn to the close of day, in accumulating wealth; and who deny\nthemselves the luxury of spending either hour of the twenty-four, in\nconversing with souls, and leading them to Jesus. Such persons will give\nsomewhat of their substance, when called upon; and press on, almost out\nof breath apparently, in the cares of the world, not thinking to say to\nthis man or that, on the right hand and the left, that there is a heaven\nabove and a hell beneath, and death is at the door. You would almost\nimagine, from the conduct of some, that they would like to commit to\nproxy even their own faith and repentance. Now this entire engrossment\nin worldly cares, even though professedly for Christ's sake, will never\nillumine the dark recesses of the earth--will never usher in the\nmillenial day.\n\nIt is not so much, after all, an accumulation of wealth that is needed,\nas the personal engagement of Christians in making known everywhere, at\nhome and abroad, the precious news of Jesus. The disposition to go\neverywhere, regardless of wealth, and with Jesus on our lips, must be\nthe spirit of the church, before we can expect much good either at home\nor abroad. The world will not be covered with the knowledge of the Lord\nas the waters cover the sea, till men to make known that word are\nscattered like rain on all the earth--not only in heathen lands, but in\nthe streets and lanes of large cities, and throughout the Western\ndesolations. \"So long as we remain together, like water in a lake, so\nlong the moral world will be desolate. We must go everywhere, and if the\nexpansive warmth of benevolence will not separate us, so that we arise\nand go on the wings of the wind, God, be assured, will break up the\nfountains of the great deep of society, and dashing the parts together,\nlike ocean in his turmoil or Niagara in its fall, cover the heavens with\nshowers, and set the bow of hope for the nations, and the desert shall\nrejoice and blossom as the rose. God is too good to suffer either Amazon\nor Superior to lie still, and become corrupt, and the heavens in\nconsequence to be brass and the earth iron.\" God is too benevolent also,\nin the arrangements of the moral world, to allow his people to be\ninactive--to have here a continuing city, and be immersed in the cares\nof the world as though here were their treasure, while thousands about\nthem are dying for lack of instruction, and the heathen abroad are going\ndown to death in one unbroken phalanx. The church must take more\nexercise, and the proper kind, too, or she will become frail and sickly,\ntoo weak in prayer, and too ignorant in effort to usher in the millenial\nday.\n\nIt is a possible thing to seek wealth _honestly_ for God; but he that is\ncalled to such a work, has more occasion to mourn than to rejoice: he\nhas occasion to tremble, watch, and pray; for to be a faithful steward\nof God's property, requires perhaps more grace than to be a faithful\nsteward of God's truth. We find many a faithful preacher of the Gospel\nwhere we find one Normand Smith, or Nathaniel R. Cobb, or one firm of\nHomes & Homer. The grace needed is so great, and the temptations to err\nso many, that almost all prove defaulters, and therefore it is that the\nworld lies in ruins: not because the church has not wealth enough, but\nbecause God's stewards claim to be owners.\n\nHow small the sum appropriated by a million and a half of God's stewards\nto save a sinking world! The price of earthly ambition, convenience and\npleasure, is counted by millions. Navies and armies have their millions;\nrailroads and canals have their millions; colleges and schools have\ntheir millions; silks, carpets and mirrors, have their millions; parties\nof pleasure and licentiousness in high life and in low life have their\nmillions; and what has the treasury of God and the Lamb, to redeem a\nworld of souls from the pains of eternal damnation, and to fill them\nwith joys unspeakable? The sum is so small in comparison that one's\ntongue refuses to utter it.\n\nThere must be a different scale of giving; and the only way to effect it\nis, to induce a different style of personal consecration. Let a man give\nhimself, or rather let him have a heart that cannot _refrain_ from\ntelling of Jesus to those who are near, or from going to those who are\nmore remote, and the mere item of property you will find appended, as a\nmatter of course, and on the plain principle that the greater always\nincludes the less. We must learn to devote, according to our vows, time,\ntalents, body, soul and spirit. Bodies and minds are wanted; the bones\nand sinews of men are required: these more substantial things are\nneeded, as well as property, in arduous services at home and still more\nself-denying labor abroad; and no redeemed sinner can refuse either the\none or the other, and continue to be regarded as a faithful steward of\nJesus. _Money, though needed, is by no means all that is required of\nus._\n\nThough God has devolved upon us, as stewards, a responsible work, the\nweight of which is fearful, and sufficient to crush us unless aided\nfrom on high, yet the employment is one of _indescribable delight_. It\nis a pleasant work. Angels would rejoice to be so employed.\n\nIs there any professed Christian who does not relish the idea? To such\nan one I would say, Your condition is by no means enviable. You deny\nyourself all true happiness. If you do not delight in the thought of\nbeing God's steward; of holding not only property, but body, soul and\nspirit at God's control, then you know not what true luxury is. There is\npleasure in doing good; there is a luxury in entire consecration to God.\nThe pleasures of this earth are empty, vain and fleeting; but the\npleasure of doing good is real, substantial and enduring. The pleasure\nof doing good is the joy of angels; it is the thrill of delight which\npervades the soul of Jesus; it is the happiness of the eternal God. In\nnot wishing to be God's steward, you deny yourself this luxury; you\nrefuse angels' food and feed on husks. O, there is a richness of holy\njoy in yielding up all to God, and holding ourselves as waiting servants\nto do his will. This fullness of bliss you foolishly spurn from you,\nand turn away to the \"beggarly elements of the world.\" Do you feel that\nthe principles of stewardship contained in the Bible are too\nstrict--that too entire a devotement is required of you? Angels do not\nthink so. Redeemed saints do not think so. The more entire the\nconsecration, the more perfect the bliss. In heaven devotement is\nperfect, and joy of course unalloyed. Blot out this spirit of\nconsecration, you blot out all true happiness on earth; you annihilate\nheaven.\n\nBut it is not only a luxury, but _an honor_ to be the stewards of God.\nWhat honor greater than that of continuing the work which Jesus\ncommenced; of being employed in the immense business of saving a ruined\nrace? What work more glorious than that of being the instruments of\npeopling heaven? What employment more noble than to rescue immortal\nsouls from endless agonies, and to raise them to eternal joys; to take\ntheir feet from the sides of the burning lake, and to plant them on the\nfirm pavement of heaven; to rescue victims from eternal burnings, and to\nplace them as gems in the diadem of God? Would not Gabriel feel himself\nhonored with a work so noble and glorious? Were a presidency or a\nkingdom offered you, spurn it and be wise; but contemn not the glory of\nbeing God's stewards.\n\nRemember, too, whether these are your views or not, the work of God will\ngo on. The world will be converted. The glorious event is promised.\nAlmighty power and infinite wisdom are engaged to accomplish it: all the\nresources of heaven are pledged. The God of heaven, he will prosper his\ntrue servants, and they shall arise and build; but those who do not\nrelish the idea of being God's stewards, can have no portion, nor right,\nnor memorial in Jerusalem. The wheels of God's providence are rolling\nonward: those wheels are high and dreadful. Will you, being a professed\nChristian, dare to oppose the march of God? \"Ah! we do not _oppose_,\"\nsay you. But I reply, There can be no neutrality; you must either help\nonward his car of victory, or you do really stand in the way--will be\ncrushed by his power, and ground into the earth by the weight of his\nchariot. Take then, I entreat you, this warning, which is given you in\nearnestness, but in the spirit of love.\n\nJoy, glory and immortality, to all who will cordially assent to be\nco-workers with Jesus. They shall ride with him in his chariot from\nconquering to conquer, and shall sit with him on his throne in the day\nof triumph.\n\nBe entreated, then, professed Christian, first to give your own soul to\nthe Lord, and with your soul all you have, all you are, and all you hope\nto be. Make an entire consecration. You will never regret having done\nso, in time or in eternity.\n\nMay God give us all grace to imbibe wholly the true principles of\nstewardship. Not the principles popular in the world, but the principles\nof the Bible; those principles which hold out the only hope of the\nlatter day glory--of means commensurate with so great an end.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nGUILT OF NEGLECTING THE HEATHEN.\n\n\nDuring all the years that I have been allowed to labor for the heathen,\nmy mind has been led to contemplate, constantly and intensely, the\nobligations of Christian nations towards those who sit in darkness;\nobligations arising from the command of Christ, and the principles of\nthe Gospel. And I shall, therefore, in this chapter, freely, fully, and\nsolemnly express the sentiments which have been maturing in my mind, on\nthe _great guilt_ which Christians incur in _neglecting the heathen_.\n\nThe heathen world, as a mass, has been left to perish. And by whom? Not\nby the Father of mercies; he gave his Son to redeem it: not by the\nSaviour of sinners; look at Calvary: not by the Holy Spirit; his\ninfluences have been ever ready: not by angels; their wings have never\ntired when sent on errands of mercy. All that Heaven could do has been\ndone, consistently with the all-wise arrangement of committing an\nimportant agency to the church. The church has been slothful and\nnegligent. Each generation of Christians has in turn received the vast\nresponsibility, neglected it in a great measure, and transmitted it to\nthe next. The _guilt_ of this neglect who can estimate?\n\nThat such neglect is highly criminal, the Bible everywhere testifies. It\nsays, \"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and\nthose that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it\nnot; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that\nkeepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?\" And shall not he \"render to\nevery man according to his works?\" This solemn interrogation needs no\ncomment. The obvious import is, _If our fellow men are perishing, and we\nneglect to do what we can to save them, we are guilty of their blood_.\nBut this testimony does not stand alone. What does God say to the\nprophet, who should see the peril of the wicked, and neglect to save him\nby giving him warning? \"His blood will I require at thy hand.\" What does\nGod say of the watchman of a city who should see the sword come, and\nblow not the trumpet? \"If the sword come and take any person from among\nthem, his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.\"\n\nBut this is not only the sentiment of the Bible, but the voice of common\nsense.\n\nA neighbor of mine is drowning in the river. With a little exertion I\ncan save his life, but neglect to do it. Shall I escape the goadings of\nconscience and the charge of blood-guiltiness?\n\nA house is in flames. The perishing occupants, looking from a window,\nimplore of me to reach them a ladder. I have some little affairs of my\nown to attend to, and turn a deaf ear to their cry. The flames gather\naround them: they throw themselves from the window, and are dashed in\npieces on the pavement. Who will not charge me with the loss of those\nlives?\n\nTo-day, a raging malady is spreading through the streets of a large\ncity. The people are dying by hundreds. I know the cause; the fountains\nof the city are poisoned. From indolence, or some other cause, I neglect\nto give the information, and merely attend to my own safety. Who would\nnot load me with the deepest guilt, and stamp me as the basest of\nmurderers?\n\nBoth Scripture and common sense, then, concur in establishing the\nsentiment, that if our fellow men are perishing, and we neglect to do\nwhat we can to save them, we are guilty of their blood. But if this\ndoctrine be true, its application to Christians, in the relation which\nthey sustain to the heathen world, is irresistibly conclusive and\nawfully momentous. The soul shudders, and shrinks back from the fearful\nthought: If six hundred millions of our race are sinking to perdition,\nand we neglect to do what we can to save them, we shall be found\naccountable for their eternal agonies.\n\nIf such a charge is standing against us, we shall soon meet it. The day\nof judgment will soon burst upon us. Let us look, then, at the subject\ncandidly, prayerfully, and with a desire to do our duty.\n\nThe conditions on which the charge impends are simply two: that the\nheathen world are sinking to perdition, and that we are neglecting to do\nwhat we can to save them. If these two points are substantiated, the\noverwhelming conclusion is inevitable. It becomes us, then, to look well\nat these points--to examine them with faithfulness and with honesty.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIs it true, that _the heathen world are sinking to perdition_? As fast\nas the beating of my pulse, they are passing into the world of\nretribution, and the inquiry is, What is the doom they meet? Do they\nrise to unite with angels in the songs of heaven? or sink in ceaseless\nand untold misery?\n\nCertain it is, that they are not saved through faith in Christ; for\n\"how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?\" It is also\nclear that God, in his usual method, does not bestow the gift of\nrepentance and eternal life where a Saviour is not known. \"It pleases\nGod by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.\" Those\nwho are saved, are said to be \"begotten by the word of truth\"--\"born of\nthe word of God.\" As the heathen nations, therefore, are not furnished\nwith the appointed means of salvation, it follows inevitably that, as a\nmass at least, they are sinking to perdition. They are the \"nations\nwhich have forgotten God,\" and \"shall be turned into hell.\"\n\nIt is unnecessary to enter into the inquiry, whether it is possible, in\nthe nature of the case, for a heathen unacquainted with the Gospel to be\nsaved. It is sufficient to know the FACT, that God has ordained the\npreaching of the Gospel as the means of saving the nations; and that\nthere is probably no instance on record, which may not be called in\nquestion, of a heathen being converted without a knowledge of the true\nGod and of his Son Jesus Christ.\n\nBut the consideration, solemn and conclusive, which needs no other to\ncorroborate it or render it overwhelming, is the _character_ of the\nheathen. Look at their character, as portrayed by the Apostle Paul in\nthe first chapter to the Romans. Read the whole chapter, but especially\nthe conclusion, where he describes the heathen as \"being filled with all\nunrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness;\nfull of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, back-biters,\nhaters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things,\ndisobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers,\nwithout natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.\" This description is\nnot understood in Christian lands, neither can it be; but missionaries\nto the heathen, who are eye-witnesses of what is here described, place\nan emphasis on every epithet, and would clothe every word in capitals.\n\nThe character of the heathen is no better now than in the days of Paul.\nIt is _worse_. It is impossible that such a state of society should\nremain stationary. A mortal disease becomes more and more malignant,\ntill a remedy is applied; a sinking weight hastens downwards with\ncontinually accumulating force; and mind, thrown from its balance,\nwanders farther and farther from reason. It is thus with the disease of\nsin, the downward propensities of a depraved nature, and a soul revolted\nfrom God. Besides, Satan has not been inactive in heathen lands. He has\nbeen aware that efforts would be made to save them. And night and day,\nyear after year, and age after age, he has sought, with ceaseless toil\nand consummate skill, to perfect the heathen in every species of\niniquity, harden their hearts to every deed of cruelty, sink them to the\nlowest depths of pollution and degradation, and place them at the\nfarthest remove from the possibility of salvation. It is impossible to\ndescribe the state of degradation and unblushing sin to which the\nnations, for ages sinking, have sunk, and to which Satan in his\nundisturbed exertions for centuries has succeeded in reducing them. It\nis impossible to give a representation of their unrestrained passions,\nthe abominations connected with their idol worship, or the scenes of\ndiscord, cruelty and blood, which everywhere abound. I speak of those\nlands where the Gospel has not been extended. Truly darkness covers such\nlands, and gross darkness the people. Deceit, oppression and cruelty\nfill every hut with woe; and impurity deluges the land like an\noverflowing stream. Neither can it be said, that the conduct of the\nheathen becomes sinless through ignorance. From observation for many\nyears, I can assert that they have consciences--that they feel\naccountable for what they do.\n\nWill, then, God transplant the vine of Sodom, unchanged in its nature,\nto overrun his paradise above? Will he open the gates of his holy city,\nand expose the streets of its peaceful inhabitants to those whose heart\nis cruelty, whose visage is scarred with fightings, and whose hands are\nred with blood? \"KNOW YE NOT, THAT THE UNRIGHTEOUS SHALL NOT ENTER INTO\nTHE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN?\" Where, then, is the hope of the unconverted\nheathen? If there were _innocent_ heathen, as some men are ready to\nimagine in the face of God's word, and in the face of a flood of facts,\nthen indeed they might be saved without the Gospel. But this mass of\npollution, under which the earth groans, must disgorge itself into the\npit of woe. We cannot evade the conclusion, painful as it is, that the\nmillions of this world of sin are sinking to perdition.\n\n_The American churches have peculiar advantages_ to carry abroad the\nGospel of Christ; and ability in such an enterprise is the measure of\nour duty. \"If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to\nthat a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.\" \"To whom much\nis given of him will much be required.\" And to determine whether\nChristians in the United States are _doing what they can_ to save the\nheathen from their awful doom, the second point of inquiry proposed, it\nis necessary to look at their unparalleled advantages.\n\nIt may be said then, that Christians in America are not trammeled in\ntheir efforts to do good by any governmental restrictions, or\necclesiastical establishment. The remark is trite, but no less true,\nthat the genius of our free constitution is eminently propitious to call\nforth energy and enterprise. And the remark applies with no more force\nto worldly matters, than to the business of doing good. The religion of\nChrist courts no extraneous influence, and is dependent for its power on\nno earthly aid. Under our free government, uncontrolled, unrestrained\nand unsupported, it is left to exert its own free and native energy. We\ncan plead, therefore, no arbitrary hindrance of any kind in the work of\npropagating the Gospel. And we can carry the Gospel, too, disconnected\nfrom any prejudicial alliance with political interests. This is the\nfree, disencumbered, and unshackled condition in which the Gospel is\npermitted to have free course in our beloved land; and it is a talent\nput into our hands to be improved.\n\nAgain, no country possesses such advantages of education as the United\nStates. In no land is knowledge so generally diffused throughout the\ndifferent grades of society, and in no land do such facilities exist for\nacquiring a thorough education. Schools, colleges and seminaries, are\nopen equally to the high and to the low, to the rich and to the poor;\nand only a good share of energy is required, to rise from any grade or\ncondition of society, to eminence in general learning or professional\nstudy. The general intelligence of the community is such, that nothing\nbut _disinclination_ can prevent men from being acquainted with the\nwants of the world, and their duty to evangelize it; and the facilities\nfor fitting themselves for the work are such, that nothing but criminal\ndelinquency can hold back a very large army from entering the field.\nThis is an immense advantage committed to the American churches, for\npropagating the religion of Christ. It is another very precious talent\ncommitted to their trust, which if they fail to improve, they treasure\nup guilt.\n\nAgain, the American churches possess a great advantage in the facilities\nso generally enjoyed for accumulating wealth. The road to comfort and to\naffluence is open to all; and notwithstanding all reverses, the remark,\nas a general one, is still true, that the prosperity of the United\nStates--of the whole mass of the people--is altogether unexampled, and\nthat enterprise is vigorous and successful. In the greatest strait, how\nmuch retrenchment has there been in the style of living? And as we look\ninto the future we see, (God's providence favoring,) that wealth is\ndestined to flow in upon the land like a broad and deep river. Look at\nthe extent of territory, bounded only by two rolling oceans; and at the\nresources which from year to year are developed--varied, unnumbered, and\ninexhaustible. If then unto whom much is given, of them will much be\nrequired, what may not God justly demand of American Christians?\n\nAnother advantage which the American church possesses, is the Spirit which\nhas been poured out upon her from on high. God has been pleased to bless\nher with precious revivals. The Holy Ghost has come down frequently and\nwith power, and gathered in multitudes of souls. What God has wrought\nfor the American Zion has been told in all lands, and every one applies\nthe Saviour's injunction, \"Freely ye have received--freely give.\" One\ngreat reason, perhaps, why the blessings of the Spirit are not now more\nrichly enjoyed, is the neglect of Christians to make this return, and to\nlabor gratefully for the destitute and the dying. It _was expected_, and\njustly too, that the land of apostolic revivals would be the first to\nimitate the apostles in the work of saving the heathen. A failure to do\nthis may bring a blight upon the churches, if it has not brought it upon\nthem already.\n\nSurely, if there is a nation on earth to whom are intrusted many talents,\nours is that nation. Our ability is not small. We must come up to a high\nmeasure of Christian action, before it can be said with truth, that we\nare _doing what we can_ to save our ruined race. The United States, a\nnation planted by God, enriched by his providence, nourished by his Holy\nSpirit, and brought to the strength of manhood in this solemnly momentous\ntime of the nineteenth century, seems to have committed to her in a\nspecial manner the work of the world's conversion. Who knoweth but that\nshe is brought to her preeminent advantages for such a time as this--for\nthe interesting period preceding the latter day glory; and now if she\nprove herself unworthy of so lofty and responsible a trust, and neglect\nto put forth her strength to usher in the glorious day, deliverance will\nbreak out from some other quarter, but she, like a third Babylon, may\nsink in the bottomless abyss. An immense responsibility rests upon us. O\nthat God would give us grace to act worthy of our trust--_to do what we\ncan_ for a dying world!\n\nLet us inquire, then, Do we _pray_ for the heathen as much as we ought?\nWere one duly impressed with the condition of perishing millions,\ncertainly no less could be expected of him, than to fall on his knees\nmany times a day, and to lift up his cry of earnest entreaty on their\nbehalf. Filled with the love of Christ, and having distinctly and\nconstantly before his mind the image of millions of immortal souls\ndropping into perdition, surely he could not refrain from an agony of\nprayer. Under such a sense of the wants and woes of our perishing race,\na sense true to facts, he would have no rest.\n\nBut what prayer has actually been offered to the Lord for benighted\nnations? Is it not a fact, that many professed Christians do not remember\nthe heathen once a day, and some not even once a month? Let the closet,\nthe family altar, and the monthly concert testify. Prayer-meetings for\nthe heathen--how thinly attended! what spectacles of grief to Jesus, and\nto angels! And if that prayer only is honest which is proved to be so by\na readiness to labor, give, and go, there is reason to fear that few\nprayers for the heathen have been such that Christ could accept them,\nplace them in his golden censer, and present them before the throne.\n\nSince such is the case, what wonder is it that a million and a half of\nChristians in the United States should be so inefficient? Inefficient, I\nsay, for what do this million and a half of professed Christians\naccomplish? By their vows they are bound to be as self-denying, as\nspiritual and devoted, as though they were missionaries to foreign\nlands. If we should send abroad a million and a half of missionaries, we\nshould expect that, under God, they would soon be the instruments of\nconverting all nations. But what, in fact, does this vast number of\nprofessed Christians--or in other words, of the _professedly missionary\nband_ of Jesus Christ, accomplish in the narrow limits of the United\nStates? O, there is a deplorable lack in the churches, of the deep\ndevotion and missionary character of our ascended Saviour.\n\nAgain, Do we _give_ as much as we ought to evangelize the heathen? It\nwould perhaps be a liberal estimate to say, that a million and a half of\nprofessed Christians in the United States give, on an average, year by\nyear, to save the heathen, about twenty-four cents each, or two cents a\nmonth. There are other objects, it is true, that call for contributions;\nbut put all contributions together, and how small the amount?\n\nThe Jews were required to give to religious objects at least one-fifth\nof their income. One-fifth of the income of a million and a half of\nChristians at seven per cent., supposing them to be worth on an average\nfive hundred dollars each, would be ten and a half millions of dollars.\nThis is merely the income of capital of which we now speak. A fifth of\nthe income from trade and industry would probably double the amount, and\nmake it twenty-one millions. Is anything like this sum given by American\nChristians to support and propagate the religion of Jesus? What\nChristians have done, therefore, is by no means a measure of their\nability.\n\nTo see what men can do, it is necessary to look away from Christians, to\nthose whose ruling principle is a thirst for pleasure, for honor, and\nfor gain. How vast a sum is expended at theatres--on fashionable\namusements and splendid decorations--not to mention the hundreds of\nmillions sunk by intemperance, and swallowed up in the deep dark vortex\nof infamous dissipation! Men are lavish of money on objects on which\ntheir hearts are set. And if the hearts of Christians _were set_ on\nsaving the heathen, as much as wicked men are set on their pleasures,\nwould they, think you, be content with the present measure of their\ncontributions?\n\nLook, too, at what men can do who are eager in the pursuit of wealth.\nUnder the influence of such an incentive, railroads, canals, and\nfortresses spring into being, and fleets bedeck the seas like the stars\nof the firmament. Money is not wanting when lucrative investment is the\nend in view. Even professed Christians can collect together heavy sums,\nwhen some great enterprise promises a profitable income. They profess,\nperhaps, to be accumulating money for Christ; but, alas, to what a\npainful extent does it fail of reaching the benevolent end proposed!\nWorldly men accomplish much, for their hearts are enlisted. Professed\nChristians, too, accomplish much in worldly projects, for their minds\nbecome engrossed. What then could they not accomplish for Christ, if\ntheir feelings were equally enlisted in his cause? They might have, in\nserving Christ, intellects as vigorous, muscles as strong, and this\nadvantage in addition, a God on high who has vouchsafed to help them.\n\nTake another view of the case. The child that is now sitting by your\nside in perfect health, is suddenly taken sick. Its blooming cheeks turn\npale, and it lifts its languid and imploring eyes for help. You call a\nphysician, the most skillful one you can obtain. Do you think of expense?\nA protracted illness swells the bill of the physician and apothecary to\na heavy amount. Do you dismiss the physician, or withhold any comfort\nfor fear of expense?\n\nYour child recovers, and becomes a promising youth. He takes a voyage to\na foreign country. The ship is driven from her course, and wrecked on\nsome barbarous coast. Your son becomes a captive, and after long anxiety\nyou hear that he is alive, and learn his suffering condition; and you\nare told that fifty dollars will procure his ransom. I will suppose you\nare poor, have not a dollar at command, and that the sum can be raised\nin no other way than by your own industry and toil. Now, I ask, how many\nmonths would expire before you would save the sum from your hard\nearnings, and liberate your son? But what is an Algerine dungeon? It is\na heaven, compared with the condition of the heathen. In the one case,\nthere are bodily sufferings; in the other, present wretchedness and\neternal agonies.\n\nI once fell in company with a man of moderate circumstances, with whom I\nused the above argument. He promptly replied, \"It is true. Three years\nago I thought I could barely support my family by my utmost exertions.\nTwo years since, my darling son became deranged, and the support of him\nat the asylum costs me four hundred dollars a year. I find that with\nstrict economy and vigorous exertion I can meet the expense. But if any\none had said to me three years ago, that I could raise four hundred\ndollars a year to save a lost world, I should have regarded the remark\nas the height of extravagance.\"\n\nNow, I ask, ought not men to feel as much in view of the eternal and\nunspeakable agony of a world of souls, as a parent feels for a suffering\nchild? God felt MORE. He loved his only Son with a most tender\naffection--inconceivably more tender than any earthly parent can\nexercise towards a beloved child. And yet, when the Father placed before\nhim, on the one hand the eternal ruin of men, and on the other the\nsufferings and death of his beloved Son, which did he choose? Let\nGethsemane and Calvary answer. Can Christians then have much of the\nspirit of God, and not feel for the eternal agonies of untold millions,\nmore than for the temporal sufferings of a beloved child? But if\nChristians felt thus, what exertion would they make--how immense the\nsum they would cheerfully raise, this present year, to evangelize the\nheathen! Feeling thus, a few of the wealthy churches might sustain the\npresent expenditures of all foreign operations. Yet all the American\nchurches combined, _feeling as they do now_, fail to send forth a few\nwaiting missionaries, and suffer the schools abroad to be disbanded. The\ntruth is, in the scale of giving, the church as a body (I say nothing of\nindividuals or of particular churches) has scarcely risen in its feeling\nabove the freezing point. What they now contribute is a mere fraction\ncompared with their ability.\n\nMillions are squandered by professed Christians on a pampered appetite,\nin obedience to fashion, a taste for expensive building, a love of\nparade, and on newly-invented comforts and conveniences, of which the\nhardy soldiers of Jesus Christ ought ever to be ignorant.\n\nThen, again, some who are economical in their expenditures, have little\nconception of what is meant by total consecration to God. There must be\nan entire reform in this matter. Every Christian must feel that his\nemployment, whether it be agriculture, merchandise, medicine, law, or\nanything else, is of no value any farther than it is connected with the\nRedeemer's kingdom; that wealth is trash, and life a trifle, _except_ as\nthey may be used to advance the cause of Christ; and that so far as they\nmay be used for this purpose, they are of immense value. Let every\nChristian feel this sentiment--let it be deeply engraven on his heart,\nand how long, think you, would pecuniary means be wanting in the work of\nthe world's salvation?\n\nAnd do we _go and instruct_ the heathen as we ought? This is indeed the\nmain point. To pray, formally at least, is quite easy; to give, is a\nlittle more difficult; but to go, in the minds of most persons, is\nentirely out of the question. Satan understood human nature when he\nsaid, \"All that a man hath will he give for his life.\" Speak of going,\nand you touch the man, his skin and his bones. To go, requires that a\nman have such feelings as to begin to act in earnest, as men do in other\nmatters. Men act in person, when they are deeply in earnest. In the case\nsupposed of a sick child, does the mother simply express a desire that\nthe child may recover? does she merely give money, and hire a nurse to\ntake little or no care of it? No: in her _own person_ she anticipates\nits every want, with the utmost attention and watchfulness. When a son\nis in bondage on a barbarous coast, does the father merely _pray_ that\nhis son may be redeemed? does he merely send _money_ for his ransom? No:\nhe chooses, if possible, _to go in person_ and carry the sum, that no\nmeans may be left untried to accomplish the object he has so much at\nheart. Men who are deeply interested in an important matter, where there\nis much at stake, cannot be satisfied with sending; they choose to _go\nthemselves._ This remark is true in all the enterprises and transactions\nof life the world over.\n\nIf then, after all, the measure of going is the true measure of\ninterest, to what extent, I inquire, have Christians of America gone to\nthe heathen? Alas! the number is few, very few.\n\nLook at the proportion of _ministers_ who go abroad. In the United\nStates the number of preachers, of all denominations, is perhaps not far\nfrom one to a thousand souls. This is in a land already intelligent and\nChristian; in a land of universities, colleges, and schools; in a land\nof enterprise, of industry, and of free institutions, where the arts\nflourish, and where improvements are various and unnumbered; and more\nthan all, in a land where more than a million and a half of the people\nare professed Christians, and ready to aid the ministers of Christ in\nvarious ways. On the other hand, even if missionaries from all\nChristendom be taken into the account, there is not more than one\nminister to a million of pagan souls, with almost no intelligent\nChristians to assist as teachers, elders, catechists, and tract\ndistributers; no physicians, artists, and judicious legislators, to\nimprove society and afford the means of civilized habits; no literature\nworthy of the name; no colleges, or even common schools of any value; no\nindustry and enterprise, and every motive for it crushed by arbitrary\nand tyrannical institutions: the mind degraded and besotted,\ninconceivably so, and preoccupied also with the vilest superstition, the\nmost inveterate prejudices, and the most arrogant bigotry. Who can\nmeasure the vast disproportion? What mind sufficient to balance extremes\nso inconceivably immense? On the one hand a minister to a thousand\nsouls, with many helpers and a thousand auxiliary influences in his\nfavor; on the other, one minister to a million of souls, with no helpers\nand no auxiliary influences, finding out an untrodden track amidst\nunnumbered obstacles, and penetrating with his single lamp into the dark\nand boundless chaos of heathenism. This is the manner in which\nChristendom shows that she loves her neighbor as herself; and in view of\nit, judge ye, whether American Christians go as much as they ought to\ninstruct and save the benighted nations.\n\nWe said, that the number of missionaries to the heathen population is\nabout one to a million of souls; but let not the conclusion be drawn,\nthat every million of heathen souls has a missionary. By no means. The\nfew hundred missionaries preach to a few hundred thousand souls. The\nmillions and hundreds of millions of heathen, are as destitute of\npreaching as though a missionary had never sailed, as destitute of the\nScriptures as though a Bible were never printed, and as far from\nsalvation, I was about to say, as though Jesus Christ had never died.\nMen speak of operating upon the _world_. Such language is delusive. The\npresent style of effort, or anything like it, can only operate on some\nsmall portions of the earth. To influence materially the _wide world_,\nChristians must awake to a style of praying, giving, and _going_ too, of\nwhich they have as yet scarcely dreamed. The work of going into all the\nworld and preaching the Gospel to every creature, has scarcely been\nundertaken in earnest. And how vain it would be to expect to make any\nmaterial impression on the world, as a whole, when so small a company\nfrom all the ministers in the United States go abroad, and a less number\neven of lay members from the vast body of a million and a half.\n\nThe heathen are not lost because a Saviour is not provided for them.\n\"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.\" The\npreaching of the cross is \"the power of God and the wisdom of God\" both\nto the Jew and the Greek. Facts show, that in every nation, however\nbarbarous and degraded, the Gospel of Jesus has power to convert,\npurify, elevate and save. These facts are irresistible.\n\nNeither are the heathen lost, because the ocean separating them is\nrarely passed. For the sake of gain, men can visit the most distant and\nsultry climes. To solve a question of science or merely to gratify\ncuriosity, they can circumnavigate the globe, or penetrate far into the\nicy regions of the poles. The improvements in navigation and the\nextension of commerce have united the two continents in one. The\nAtlantic ocean no longer separates you from Africa, nor the Pacific from\nChina. The amount of intercourse between the seekers of wealth from\nChristian lands and almost every heathen country, is absolutely immense.\n\nWhy then are the heathen left to perish? There is a lack of earnestness\nin the church in the work of the world's conversion. What does the\npresent earnestness of the church amount to? They contribute on an\naverage two cents a month each, and they find that the pittance of money\nwill more than suffice for the small number of men: and then the cry is\n\"More money than men.\" A few men are obtained and then the pittance of\nmoney fails, and \"More men than money\" is the cry. A year or two\nafterwards the supply of men is gone, and the cry again is reversed. As\nif, in repairing the wastes of the New-York fire, the citizens collect\ntogether a small quantity of brick, and then find they have more brick\nthan workmen. So they employ a few more men, and then find they have\nmore men than brick. Was this the rate at which the ravages of the great\nfire were so soon repaired? Was this the measure of their engagedness in\nrebuilding the city?\n\nSome derangement takes place in the Erie Canal: a lock fails, an\naqueduct gives way, or a bank caves in. Is business stopped on the canal\ntill the next season, because the times are hard, and it is difficult to\nobtain money to make repairs? Some derangement takes place in a\nrailroad: is travelling postponed till next year? But in the work of\ndoing good, the reverse of times is regarded as a sufficient excuse to\ndetain missionaries, disband schools, and take other retrograde steps.\nWe coolly block our wheels, lie still, and postpone our efforts for the\nworld's conversion till more favorable times. Men are earnest in worldly\nmatters: in digging a canal, in laying a railroad, or in repairing a\ncity; but in God's work--the work of saving the nations--their efforts\nare so weak that one is at loss to know which is most prominent, the\nfolly, or the enormous guilt.\n\nIs it not a fact, that in our efforts for the heathen we come so far\nshort of our ability, that God cannot consistently add his blessing.\nCan it be that the service rendered by the church as a body is\nacceptable to God? It is not according to that she hath--it forms an\nimmense and inconceivable contrast to that measure of effort which lies\nfully within her power. Is it not, then, as though an imperfect\nsacrifice were offered to the Lord--a lamb full of blemish? If the\nchurch were weak, and it were really beyond her ability to do more than\nshe does at present, then God would accomplish great victories by the\nfeeble means. He can save by few as well as by many. He would make the\n\"worm Jacob to thresh mountains.\" But since God has blessed the American\nchurch with numbers, and with great and peculiar advantages, he requires\nof her efforts that accord with her ability. The poor widow's mites\naccomplish much; but the wealthy man's mites, or the wealthy nation's\nthousands, when she is fully able to give millions; and her very few\nsons, when it would even benefit her to spare a host of her ablest men;\nwhat shall we say of such an offering? The reason why God blesses the\nefforts of the American church may be, that there are _some widows_, and\nsome others too who do what they can--who honestly come up to the\nmeasure of their ability. For the sake of these God may add his\nblessing, just as for the sake of ten righteous men he would have spared\nSodom. But no very great and conspicuous blessing can be expected to\nattend the labors of missionaries, such as the conversion of China, or\nof Africa, till the church begins to _pray_, _give_ and _go_, according\nto her _ability_; till she begins to come up to the extent of her powers\nin her efforts to save the heathen. Then, when she renders according to\nthat she hath, her service will be accepted; it will be a sweet savor\nbefore God; his throne of love will come near the tabernacle of his\nsaints, and the noise of his chariot soon be heard among the ranks of\nthe enemy. The church then, with Christ at their head, shall go on\nrapidly from conquering to conquer, till all nations, tongues and\npeople, shall bow the knee before him. As soon as the church shall put\nforth all her strength so as to render an acceptable service to God, it\nis of little consequence whether she be weak or strong, few or many, the\nblessing will descend; the mountains will break forth into singing, and\nthe trees shall clap their hands for joy; God will come, take up his\nabode with the saints, and verify all that is expressed by \"the latter\nday glory.\"\n\nIt is plain, then, not only that Christians come far short of doing what\nthey can to save the heathen, but that if they would come up to the\nmeasure of their duty they might, under God, rescue the dying nations\nfrom their impending doom. If they would engage in earnest, pray with\nfervency and faith, and prove their zeal by giving and by going, then\nthe providence of God would not leave a bolt or a bar in their way,\nexcept what might be necessary to test their perseverance. Let every\nambassador of Christ, and _every Christian too_, possess the unreserved\nconsecration of Paul, and manifest that burning zeal which carried him,\nas on the wings of an angel, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable\nriches of Christ; let every redeemed sinner, minister or layman, stand\nready, not merely to contribute of his substance, but to traverse with\ncheerful step the burning plains of Africa or the icy mountains of\nGreenland: then the darkness that now envelopes the earth would soon be\ndispelled, the torch of Revelation be carried to the most distant lands,\nand its light be made to penetrate the most gloomy abodes of men; the\nradiance of heavenly truth would be poured around the dying bed of every\npagan, intelligence now in to us from every quarter, not only of\nindividuals, but of nations converted to God, and the shout of triumph\nwould soon be heard, \"The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom\nof our Lord.\"\n\nIt seems to be true, therefore, that the heathen are sinking to\nperdition; and true, also, that we might, under God, be the means of\nsaving them. Shall we not then be found _accountable_ for their eternal\nagonies? O Christian, pause and look at this thought! Look at it\ndeliberately, for we shall be obliged to do so at the judgment day. No\none can plead exemption from it, unless he does _what he can_ to save\nthe heathen. O my soul, how much blood, how much weeping, wailing and\ngnashing of teeth, will stand at thy account in the day of judgment!\n\nI appeal to each one of you, examine yourselves in the light of this\ntruth. Call up your prayers, your contributions, and your personal\nefforts. Compare what you have done with what Jesus did for you. I\nentreat you, open your ears, and hearts too, to the groans of a dying\nworld. Listen to the notes which, like the noise of seven thunders, peal\nafter peal, are rolling in upon your shores.\n\n\"Hark! what mean those lamentations,\n  Rolling sadly through the sky?\n'Tis the cry of heathen nations,\n  'Come and help us, or we die!'\n\n\"Hear the heathen's sad complaining,\n  Christians! hear their dying cry;\nAnd, the love of Christ constraining,\n  Haste to help them, ere they die!\"\n\nYes, reader, haste to help them. Confer not with flesh and blood. Meet\nall vain excuses with a deaf ear and a determined spirit. Let pity move\nyou, the love of Christ constrain you, and a sense of responsibility\nurge you, to take that precious Gospel on which your hopes rely, and to\ncarry it, without delay, to the perishing nations.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE SAVIOUR'S LAST COMMAND.\n\n\nLet us suppose that all kindreds and people of the earth are assembled,\nand that the inhabitants of Africa, Asia, the Isles of the Pacific and\nthe wilds of America, are called upon to speak, and to give in their\ntestimony _how far the Saviour's last command has been obeyed_.\n\nThe inquiry is first put to Africa:\n\n\"Africa, to what extent and for what purpose have people from Christian\nlands visited thee, and thine adjacent islands? What have they carried\nto thy shores? And what is the treatment thou hast received from them?\nTell the whole truth: let it be known to what extent the Saviour's last\ncommand has been obeyed in respect to thee.\"\n\nTo this inquiry Africa replies:\n\n\"The truth I can tell, but the _whole_ truth cannot be told. I have\nindeed been visited by people from Christian lands. Thousands and\nhundreds of thousands from those lands have visited my shores. Some\nhave come to measure the pyramids, and to gather relics of ancient\nliterature and decayed magnificence; some to search out the sources of\nthe Nile and the course of the Niger; some to possess the best of the\nsoil; and a vast multitude have come, with a cruelty that knows no\nmercy, to tear the husband from his wife and the wife from her husband,\nparents from their children and children from their parents, brother\nfrom sister and sister from brother--to crowd them together without\ndistinction of age or sex in the suffocating holds of their ships, where\na large proportion of them die, and to convey the remainder far away to\nspend their lives in degrading servitude. They have brought beads and\ntrinkets; they have brought _instruments of death_, such as muskets,\npowder, knives and swords; and they have brought, too, full cargoes of\n_liquid poison_. The navies of Christian, lands have fought in my\nharbors, and their armies upon my shores. Their money by millions has\nbeen lavished, and their blood has run in torrents.\n\n\"A few individuals, however, of a different character, have found their\nway hither. They have come in the spirit of benevolence and of peace,\nand have brought in their hands the precious treasure of the Gospel of\nChrist. But their number is so small as to be almost lost among the\nmultitude. For one who has taught righteousness, purity, truth and\nmercy, thousands have taught, by their example, rapacity, drunkenness,\nlewdness and cruelty. For one who has led us in the path of life,\nthousands have led us in the paths of destruction. For one who has\nbrought the Bible, thousands have brought rum. For one whose example has\nbeen salutary, the intercourse of thousands has left a loathsome\ndisease, which with sure and rapid progress is depopulating the land.\nSuch is the sum of my testimony. Days and nights would be required to\ngive the detail.\"\n\nThis testimony of Africa being finished, the same inquiry is put to\nAsia:\n\n\"Asia, to what extent have the nations of Christendom visited thee, and\nthy numerous islands? What have they carried to thy shores? and what has\nbeen their deportment towards thee?\"\n\nTo which Asia replies:\n\n\"The vast number, either of men or of ships from Christian lands, that\nhave visited my shores, cannot be told. I know full well the\nenterprise, the energy, and the perseverance of Christian lands; yes,\nverily, and traits too of less honorable name. Large portions of my\nterritory acknowledge the control of their armies. Their thundering\nnavies lie in my harbors and sail along my coasts. Ships without\nnumber--mighty ships whose masts pierce the clouds, have come for my\nteas, my crapes, my silks, my spices and other precious merchandise.\nTheir consuls, superintendents, officers of various kinds, and merchants\nin great numbers, dwell in almost every port, and have erected in those\nports stores, shops, offices and sumptuous dwellings. Many things\npleasant and useful have been brought hither, but many things also that\nare ruinous: full cargoes of ardent spirits; and immense quantities of\nopium too, a means of destruction no less sure.\n\n\"Among the multitudes who have come to my shores, some few, indeed, have\nbrought the Gospel of Christ, made known its truths and exemplified its\nspirit; but the thousands and tens of thousands have inculcated by their\nexample, worldliness, drunkenness, lewdness, war, violence and\ntreachery. If needful, a volume of details might be given; but this is\nthe sum.\"\n\nNext, the inquiry is put to the Isles of the Ocean:\n\n\"Great Pacific, to what extent has the last command of Christ been\nobeyed by Christian lands, in respect to thy numerous islands?\"\n\nThe reply is as follows:\n\n\"Thousands of ships from Christian lands continually cruise upon my wide\nwaters, and visit my numerous groups of islands. They have exchanged\nwith my ignorant and destitute inhabitants, beads, trinkets, and a few\ninches of rusty iron hoop, for the best produce of the islands. They\nhave sold to them guns, powder and rum. Many of their ships have been\nfloating grog-shops--floating exhibitions too of Sodom and Gomorrah.\nFrom some, on slight provocation, broadsides of cannon have been fired\non my heedless inhabitants, strewing the deep with the dead and the\ndying. Rum and disease have been introduced. The one has slain its\nthousands, and the other has slain, and is still slaying its tens of\nthousands. Many useful things indeed have been introduced, but in\nconnection with a host of evils! A few individuals too, bearing the\nGospel of Jesus Christ, have visited some of my numerous islands; but\nwhat are they among the multitude?\"\n\nAfter this testimony of the Isles of the Ocean, the inquiry is last\naddressed to America:\n\n\"America, what is thy testimony? From Bhering's Straits to Cape Horn,\nwhat treatment have thy native inhabitants received from Christian\nnations?\"\n\nAmerica replies:\n\n\"Alas! scarcely enough remain of my miserable inhabitants to return an\nanswer. They have been swept away by the same causes which are now\nsweeping away the inhabitants of the Pacific. The rapacity of those\ncalled Christians, which has not scrupled at any means of conquest and\nextirpation, and the rum and diseases introduced, have laid my numerous\npopulation in the grave. Have I been visited by those who bear the\nChristian name? Yes, verily, they now possess the best portions of my\nterritory, and have grown into vast nations on my soil. Even my veriest\nwilds have been repeatedly traversed by them in search of furs; and the\ntracks they have made been too often marked with drunkenness, lewdness,\nand treachery. Few, very few indeed of all that have come to this vast\ncontinent, have come to instruct my ignorant inhabitants in the precious\nGospel of Jesus Christ, and lead them in the paths of righteousness and\npeace. Few who explore my wilds, explore them for this purpose. Alas! a\nfar different object prompts their enterprise, their energy, and their\nperseverance. This is the sum of my testimony.\"\n\nNow, reader, let us look well at this testimony of Africa, of Asia, of\nthe Isles of the Ocean, and of America. Is it not overwhelming? Take,\nthe Encyclopedia of Geography, or McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce, or\nHowitt's Colonization and Christianity, and carefully examine the facts.\nAre they not enough to strike us dumb? To what a vast extent heathen\nnations have been visited by those who bear the Christian name. What\nobscure island, or what obscure nook or corner of the earth has not been\nvisited? What immense multitudes have gone forth. AND, ALAS! FOR WHAT\nPURPOSES. How few, how very few have gone forth to make known the\nGospel! What a powerful motive among men is the love of earthly gain,\nand how weak a motive is love to Christ and regard to his last command.\nThe command reads, \"GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO\nEVERY CREATURE.\" Christian nations, ye have not failed in great\nmultitudes to \"GO INTO ALL THE WORLD;\" scarcely have ye failed to visit\n\"EVERY CREATURE;\" but for what purpose have ye gone forth? Has it been\nmainly to make known the precious name of Jesus? Be entreated to look at\nthe case as it is, for a day of impartial retribution is at hand.\n\nMany of you indeed, who go forth to heathen shores, do not profess to be\nthe disciples of Jesus; but imagine not, that on that account your guilt\nis diminished. Ye who reject the Saviour, and disobey his commands--who\nthrow away your own souls as worthless, and are reckless of the souls of\nyour fellow men, what can you say in the day of Christ's appearing? If\nye had only destroyed your own souls, then your case would be more\ntolerable; but since you withhold from the millions of ignorant heathen\nthe knowledge of salvation, which has been imparted to you--not only\nrefusing to enter the kingdom of heaven yourselves, but denying the key\nto those who might be disposed to enter;--and not only do this, but in\nyour intercourse with the heathen, which has been very abundant, confirm\nthem in their evil practices by a pernicious example, and hurry them by\nthousands to the grave by means of _deadly poison_ and _deadly\ndisease_--Oh! how will you endure the keen remorse and fearful looking\nfor of judgment, which may ere long overtake you? When the impartial\nJudge shall appear, and your eyes shall meet his eye, what agonies must\nrend your souls!\n\nBut some of you have the vows of God upon you. To such I would say, Be\nentreated to look at the case as it is. As ye have gone forth on voyages\nof just and honorable traffic, and on voyages of discovery, have you\nmanifested in all the heathen ports where you touched, that to make\nknown the Saviour was the great and absorbing desire of your hearts?\nAlas! are there not some among you who, either as owners, masters or\nagents, are connected with ships that sail from port on the Sabbath, or\ndo other unnecessary work on that day, and who thereby teach the\nheathen, wherever those ships go, to disobey God when their gain or\nconvenience require it? Are there not also some among you, who, in one\nway or another, are connected with ships whose outfits are wholly or in\npart, beads, trinkets, guns, powder, rum and opium? and who thereby\nteach the heathen injustice, cheating, drunkenness, lewdness, and\nrecklessness of life? Why is it that ye bear the name of the peaceful\ndisciples of the benevolent Jesus, whilst ye are concerned in scattering\namong the heathen \"fire-brands, arrows and death\"--in teaching them\nevery species of iniquity, and in rearing a wall of prejudice strong and\nhigh to the progress of the Gospel?\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut most of my readers stand pure from all this crime; and of such I\nsimply inquire, with deep concern and affectionate earnestness, Why,\ndear brethren, have ye not obeyed the Saviour's last command? Why have\nye not made known the Gospel of Christ to every creature? Each one of\nyou has doubtless some excuse at hand, or he could not escape the\ngoadings of conscience. Let us then, in the spirit of candor and\nhonesty, look at some EXCUSES.\n\nPerhaps some one may be inclined to say, \"The work enjoined by the\nSaviour's last command is a very great work, and there has not been\ntime enough to perform it.\"\n\nTrue, I reply, the work is great; but how does it appear that there has\nnot been sufficient time to accomplish it? _Not sufficient time!_ What\nhas been accomplished in the pursuit of wealth and honor during the same\nperiod of time? What has been done at home in railroads, canals,\nsteamboats, manufactures, and in other departments of enterprise and\nindustry? What has been done abroad? Look at the testimony of Africa,\nAsia, the Isles of the Pacific, and the wilds of America. There has been\ntime to carry rum to every shore. There has been time to introduce\ndiseases among every barbarous people, which are hurrying them to the\ngrave by thousands. There has been time to kidnap thousands and hundreds\nof thousands of the degraded Africans. There has been time to extirpate\nmost of the native population of North and South America. There has been\ntime to wage war, till the blood of human beings has flowed in torrents.\nAnd then, in regard to just and honorable traffic, compute, if human\narithmetic be competent to the task, the amount of merchandise brought\nfrom India, and from other distant lands. There has been time for all\nthis. Now I ask with great plainness, for it is a solemn and practical\nsubject, Had you exhibited the same enterprise, energy and perseverance,\nin making known the Gospel to all nations, as has been exhibited in\nworldly pursuits, would not every human being, long ere this, have heard\nthe word of life? Will you not, Christian reader, look at this question,\nweigh it well, and deal honestly with your own soul?\n\nHere, I am suspicious that some may be inclined to excuse themselves\nwith a vague thought secretly entertained, which, if expressed, would be\nsomewhat as follows:\n\n\"True, we have not exhibited as much zeal in teaching all nations as has\nbeen exhibited by the worldly, and by many of ourselves even, in the\npursuit of wealth. But we claim not the praise of a holy, self-denying\nand apostolic life. We are content with an _humble_ walk in the\nChristian course, and a _low_ seat in heaven. Entire consecration, in\nthe sense urged, is what we never _professed_.\"\n\nYour standard, then, it appears is very low--too low, it may be, to\nadmit you even to that humble seat in the courts above which you\nanticipate. You claim not the praise of an apostolic life, and I\nseriously fear that you will not obtain even the testimony of being a\ntrue Christian. But how does it appear, that you never professed an\nentire consecration to Christ of all your powers of body and soul? It is\ntrue, the conduct of some would seem to say, that they put on a form of\nreligion to silence their fears, to cheat themselves with a delusive\nhope, and to enjoy a comfortable state of mind on earth. But what,\nreally, are the vows that rest upon you? What else than to seek by\nprayer and effort, as your supreme aim, chief desire, and all-engrossing\nobject, the promotion of Christ's kingdom--the salvation of souls for\nwhom he died?\n\nBesides, what is the great purpose for which the church was instituted?\nCertainly, not to promote in its members a delusive comfort and quietude\nof mind; neither mainly nor chiefly to secure their own ultimate\nsalvation; but _to take advantage of union of strength to convert the\nworld._ The church--the whole church, without the exception of any of\nits members, is by profession, not merely a missionary society, but a\n_missionary band:_ the minute-men of the Lord Jesus, ready to do his\nwill, at home or abroad, with singleness of aim, and with a spirit of\nentire devotion.\n\n\"But,\" you say, \"were we thus to live, the world would verily believe we\nwere deranged.\"\n\n_Deranged!_ it would be the right kind of derangement. Were not the\napostles thought to be deranged? And the Reformers--Luther, Melancthon,\nCalvin, Knox and others--were not they thought to be enthusiasts and\nzealots? Why? Because they were somewhat in earnest in the cause of\nChrist. Worldly men toil and strive night and day, in collecting\ntogether a little of the pelf and dust of the earth, and think\nthemselves wise in doing so; but if the disciples of Christ show zeal or\nearnestness, in pursuits as much higher than theirs as heaven is higher\nthan the earth, and as much more important as the immortal soul is more\nvaluable than corruption and vanity, they call them enthusiasts and\nfanatics! But, alas! how few of us who profess to be the disciples of\nChrist, have manifested such zeal in his service as to be called by such\nepithets. Such persons alone God calls wise; and those worldly men, who\nare mad in the pursuit of wealth, God calls \"fools.\" The wisdom of God\nand the wisdom of the world are utterly at variance. O that all who\nprofess to love Christ, manifested such zeal in obeying him as to be\nstrange and singular men! How soon would every human being hear his\nGospel! But since such zeal is not manifested, the heathen are left to\nperish; and where, I ask affectionately and solemnly, where rests the\nguilt?\n\nBut, here it may perhaps be replied, \"Our sin is a sin of ignorance. We\nhave not been acquainted with the full import of the Saviour's last\ncommand, nor with the extent of our obligations to Christ. Neither have\nwe been acquainted with the wretched and guilty condition of the heathen\nworld, nor with the exertions necessary to turn it from darkness to\nlight, from the power of Satan unto God. God will wink at our sin, if we\nbe indeed guilty, for we have not been enlightened on this subject.\"\n\nI answer. Does ignorance of the laws of any nation excuse those who\ntransgress those laws; or is it not considered to be the duty of all\nsubjects to inform themselves in respect to the laws of their country?\nAnd should it not be so in the kingdom of Christ? The requirements of\nChrist in their full extent are contained in the New Testament, and are\nexpressed in language that need not be misunderstood. If any one has\nmistaken their import, is it not on account of a self-seeking,\nmoney-getting, or slothful disposition? Let such a one search his own\nheart, and inquire with concern, \"Did I desire to know my duty? Was not\nmy blindness a matter of choice; no infirmity, no misfortune, but my\nguilt? If there had been a desire, nay, even a willingness to be\ninstructed, could I have mistaken such plain and unequivocal precepts of\nthe Gospel?\"\n\nThe condition too of the heathen, their guilty and wretched condition,\nis fully made known in the New Testament, especially in the first\nchapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. Besides, accounts of their\nguilt and wretchedness have been presented before the Christian\ncommunity in Heralds, Chronicles, reports and newspapers, till they have\nbecome too familiar to make an impression. Can ignorance at this day be\nany other than a criminal ignorance--an ignorance of fearful\nresponsibility?\n\nAnd, I ask again, Can it be an excuse to many Christians that they are\nlaymen and not preachers of the Gospel? Can they make it appear that\nmany of their number were not called to the office of preaching the\nGospel? Did they take the proper means to ascertain that point? How, I\nanxiously inquire, did such persons determine so readily, when a world\nwas sinking to perdition for want of preachers of the Gospel, that they\nwere called to be lawyers, physicians, statesmen, merchants, farmers and\nmanufacturers? Can it be fairly shown that hundreds of laymen have not\nrejected an office to which they were _called_--SOLEMNLY CALLED, by the\nwoes and dying groans of six hundred millions of their fellow men? Is\nthere not reason to fear, that it was from a carnal choice and selfish\ninclination, rather than a sense of duty, that so great a majority slid\nso easily into their present occupations?\n\nBesides, how does it appear that only preachers of the Gospel are\nrequired to labor directly for the destitute at home, and to go forth to\nthe heathen abroad? It was far otherwise in the days of the apostles.\nThen the whole church--driven out, indeed, by persecution--went\neverywhere making known the Saviour. And at the present hour, not only\nare ministers needed in propagating the Gospel in destitute places at\nhome, and in raising up heathen nations from their deep degradation, but\nthere are needed also, in their appropriate spheres, teachers,\nphysicians, mechanics, farmers--in short, men of every useful profession\nand employment.\n\nBesides, much is to be done at home in sustaining those who go abroad.\nHas there been no lack in this part of the work? Alas! there are facts\nto meet such an inquiry, facts too well known to be named: disbanded\nschools, detained missionaries, and deserted monthly concerts: facts\nthat stand registered on a book that shall hereafter be opened. Dear\nbrethren, I speak earnestly and boldly of your obligations, not\nforgetting my own; and I would entreat you, by all that is affecting in\nthe death of souls, and by all that is constraining in the love of\nChrist, to admit freely to your hearts, without subterfuge or excuse,\nthe full import of the Saviour's last command, and to commence at once a\nlife of sincere obedience. O! let us deal _honestly_ with ourselves, in\na matter of such immense moment.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nLAYMEN CALLED TO THE FIELD OF MISSIONS.\n\n\nIn Acts, 8:4, it is said, _Therefore they that were scattered abroad,\nwent everywhere preaching the word_. And from the previous verses it\nseems that these persons, who were scattered abroad, were lay members of\nthe church. The history is instructive.\n\nAfter the day of Pentecost, the number of converts to Christianity\namounted to several thousands. They were Jews, and had strong feelings\nof attachment to the city of Jerusalem, to the temple, and to the land\nof their fathers. They therefore clung to Jerusalem, and seemed inclined\nto remain together as one large church. But it was the design of the\nLord Jesus, that the Gospel should be preached _everywhere_: such was\nhis last and most solemn command. As, therefore, the disciples seemed in\na measure unmindful of this command, the Saviour permitted a persecution\nto rage, which scattered them abroad, and they went \"everywhere\npreaching the word.\" The term _preaching_, in this place, means simply\nannouncing or making known the news of salvation. This must be the\nmeaning, for they that were scattered abroad were laymen. As they went,\nthey told everywhere of Jesus Christ, and of the life and immortality\nwhich he had brought to light. This subject engrossed their thoughts;\ntheir hearts were full of it, and out of the abundance of their hearts\ntheir mouths spake. It is clear from this history, that in early times\nlay members of the church, in great numbers, were led, in the providence\nof God, to go forth and engage personally in the work of propagating the\nGospel. And the more closely we look at the history, the more we shall\nbe impressed with this fact.\n\nNotice the _time_ chosen by God for the first remarkable outpouring of\nhis Holy Spirit. It was on the day of Pentecost, when multitudes were\npresent, not only from all parts of Palestine, but from the surrounding\nnations. There were present, \"Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and\nthe dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus and\nAsia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Lybia about\nCyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and\nArabians.\" Upon this multitude, assembled from all the nations round\nabout, the Holy Ghost was poured out with such power, that three\nthousand souls were converted in one day; and on succeeding days many\nwere added to the church. Many of these converts would naturally return\nto the different nations and places from which they came, and make known\nthe Saviour far and wide. It was by the return of these converts to\ntheir places of residence, that the Gospel was early introduced into\nmany places quite remote from Jerusalem, among which may be reckoned, in\nall probability, the distant city of Rome. The first propagation of the\nGospel in that metropolis of the world, can be traced to no other source\nwith so much probability, as to the strangers from Rome who were present\nat Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. It seems evident, therefore, that\nin the time chosen by God for this remarkable outpouring of his Spirit,\nhe had an eye to an extensive and rapid propagation of the Gospel by lay\nmembers of the church.\n\nAgain, as hinted before, when the great body of the first converts chose\nto remain at Jerusalem, God saw best to _drive them thence by\npersecution_. This persecution began with the stoning of Stephen, and\nraged with such violence, that it is said that all the church at\nJerusalem were scattered abroad, except the apostles. They were not only\na few individuals who were driven out, but so many as to justify the\nexpression, \"all the church.\" By thus dispersing the great body of the\nchurch, the Saviour propagated rapidly and extensively his precious\nGospel. For this multitude of lay members--and there were several\nthousands of them--went everywhere preaching the word; announcing in all\nplaces, in a way appropriate to their station, the news of salvation\nthrough a crucified Redeemer. They propagated the Gospel throughout\nJudea and Samaria; and some of them travelled as far as Phoenice and\nCyprus, and laid the foundation of the church at Antioch. It was not\ntill the apostles had heard of the success of these lay members at\nAntioch, that they sent thither Barnabas to help in the work. It\nappears, then, that the rapid and extensive propagation of the Gospel,\nin early times, was accomplished in a great measure by the spreading\nabroad of the great body of the church; by an actual going forth and\npersonal engagement of a great multitude of lay members.\n\nAgain, the treasurer of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, seems to have been\nconverted on his return home, not simply out of regard to his own\npersonal salvation, but as a means of making known the Gospel in the\ndistant place of his residence; for soon after, we find in that region a\nflourishing church of Christ.\n\nAgain, look at the example of Aquila and Priscilla, who labored\nzealously at Corinth and at Ephesus. Look, too, at the whole list of\nPaul's fellow travellers, and those whom he salutes in his letters as\nhelpers in the Gospel.\n\nFrom all these facts it is evident, that in early times God made use of\ncommon Christians in propagating the Gospel. Did he not so overrule\nevents in his providence, as to show it to be his design that lay\nmembers of the church should go forth in great numbers, and engage\npersonally, in ways appropriate and proper for them, in the work of\nmaking known Christ? We have then the force of primitive example--of\nprimitive example, too, brought about by the manifest overrulings of\nGod's providence. This example is not equivalent, indeed, to a \"Thus\nsaith the Lord;\" yet does it not strongly favor the sentiment, that lay\nmembers of the church in great numbers are called to go forth and assist\nin evangelizing the heathen?\n\n_To elevate all nations requires a great variety of laborers._ In\nillustrating this point, I cannot expect to present it with all the\nclearness and force which are due to it. To appreciate fully its truth\nand its weighty import, it is necessary to live in the midst of a\nheathen people, and actually to witness the great variety and amount of\nlabor which must be put forth, in order to elevate and improve them. The\nwork of raising up a people from barbarism to Christianity is not only\nan immense work, but emphatically a _various_ work--a work which\nrequires a great diversity both of means and of laborers. The minister\nof the Gospel must perform a prominent part, but he must not be expected\nto labor alone. His unaided efforts are altogether insufficient for the\ntask.\n\nThere is special need of other laborers, since the number of ministers\namong the heathen is likely to be so small; but the need would exist,\neven though the number of ministers were very much increased. Labors\nanalogous, both in respect to measure and variety, to those bestowed\nupon a Christian congregation, must be expended on a congregation of\nheathen. In Christian countries, a thousand important labors are\nperformed by intelligent and praying men and women in the church, as\ndirect aid to the minister in his arduous work; and a thousand offices\nare performed by schoolmasters, physicians, lawyers, merchants, farmers,\nmechanics and artisans, which, though in most cases not aimed directly\nat the salvation of men, are, notwithstanding, most intimately connected\nwith the world's improvement and renovation. But while ministers at home\nare assisted in their work, shall the missionary abroad receive little\nor no help in his direct labors? And in respect to all improvements in\nsociety indirectly connected with his main work, must the task of\nintroducing them and of urging them on, devolve entirely on him alone?\nWhy should not the various means of civilizing and improving society at\nhome, be brought to exert their influence upon the heathen abroad? Why\nshould not the aid enjoyed by the minister in Christian lands, from\nintelligent members of his church, be afforded to the missionary among\nthe heathen? How, indeed, shall the world be converted, unless there be\na going forth to heathen lands from among all classes of Christians?\n\nBut I fear that these remarks are too general to be distinctly\nunderstood. To make my meaning, then, a little more clear, I will\nsuppose a case.\n\nA missionary goes forth to a barbarous nation, and locates himself in a\nvillage of four thousand souls. He learns the language of the people,\nand soon succeeds in giving them a superficial knowledge of the great\ntruths of the Gospel. God blesses his labors. The people throw away\ntheir idols; many sincerely embrace the Lord Jesus; and the community at\nlarge acknowledge Christianity as the religion of the land.\n\nNow, a superficial thinker might imagine that the work of elevating the\npeople was almost done; but, in truth, it is but just commenced. The\nmissionary looks upon his people, and wishes them not only to be\nChristians in name, but to exhibit also intelligence and good order,\npurity and loveliness, industry and enterprise; in a word, a deportment\nin all respects consistent with the religion of Jesus. But what is\ntheir state? The government is despotic, and the principles of its\nadministration at variance with Scripture and reason. This takes away\nall motives to industry and thrift. Then again, the people are ignorant;\nhave no mental discipline, no store of useful knowledge, but their minds\nare marked with torpor, imbecility, and poverty of thought: while at the\nsame time they are full of grovelling ideas, false opinions, and\nsuperstitious notions, imbibed in childhood and confirmed by age. The\nchildren, too, are growing up in ignorance of all that is useful and\npraiseworthy. Entirely uninstructed and ungoverned by their parents;\nthey range at large like the wild goats of the field. The people know\nnot the simple business of making cloth, of working iron, or of framing\nwood; and have but a very imperfect knowledge of agriculture.\n\nOf course, men, women and children, are almost houseless and\nnaked--destitute of everything but the rudest structures, the rudest\nfabrications, and the rudest tools and implements of husbandry. A large\nfamily herd together, of all ages and both sexes, in one little hut,\nsleep on one mat, and eat from one dish. From irregularity of habits and\nfrequent exposure, they are often sick; and with the aid of a\nsuperstitious quackery, sink rapidly and in great numbers to the grave.\n\nThe missionary looks upon his four thousand villagers, though nominally\nChristian perhaps, yet still in this state of destitution, degradation\nand ignorance. He sees, that to elevate them requires the labors not\nonly of a preacher of the Gospel, but the labors of the civilian, the\nphysician, the teacher, the agriculturist, the manufacturer, the\nmechanic and the artist. Can all these professions and employments be\nunited in one man? Can one missionary sustain all this variety of labor?\nYet all these departments of labor are absolutely indispensable to the\nimprovement and elevation of society. They are necessary in a land\nalready Christian. Still more indispensable are they in the work of\nraising up a people from barbarism.\n\n_Teachers_ are needed. To raise a people from barbarism, the simple but\nefficient means of common schools must be everywhere diffused; and\nhigher schools too must be established, and vigorously conducted. To\nteach the hundreds of millions of adult heathen in week-day schools and\nin Sabbath-schools, and more especially to instruct and train the\nhundreds of millions of heathen children and youth, cannot be done by a\nfew hands. We forbear to make a numerical estimate: any one may estimate\nfor himself. The number must be great, even though we look upon them\nrather as a commencing capital than as an adequate supply, and expect\nthat by far the greater part of laborers are to be trained up from among\nthe heathen themselves. It is preposterous to think of imposing all this\nlabor on a few ministers of the Gospel.\n\n_Physicians_ are needed. They are needed to benefit the bodies of the\nheathen; for disease, the fruit of sin, is depopulating with amazing\nspeed a large portion of the heathen world. The nations, many of them at\nleast, are melting away. Let physicians go forth, and while they seek to\nstay the tide of desolation which is sweeping away the bodies of the\nheathen, let them improve the numerous and very favorable opportunities\nafforded them of benefiting their souls. The benevolent, sympathizing,\nand compassionate spirit of Christ, led him to relieve the temporal\nsufferings of men, while his main aim was to secure their eternal\nsalvation. Unless we show, by our exertions, a desire to mitigate the\npresent woes and miseries of men, how shall we convince them that we\ntruly seek their eternal welfare? Physicians must throw their skill in\nthe healing art at the feet of the Saviour, and be ready to use it when\nand where he shall direct. The number who should go to the heathen\ncannot, and need not, be named.\n\nIt is unnecessary to remark that _printers_, _book-binders_, and\n_book-distributers_ are needed to carry on the work of the world's\nconversion.\n\n_Civilians_ too are needed: men skilled in laying the foundation of\nnations and guiding their political economy. Should such men go forth,\nand evince by a prayerful, godly, and disinterested deportment and\ncourse of procedure, that their sole aim was to promote the happiness of\nthe people, both temporal and eternal; there are many barbarous\ncountries where they would readily acquire much influence, and be able\nin a gradual manner, by friendly and prudent suggestions to the rulers,\nand in other ways, to effect changes that would be productive of\nincalculable good. Many changes, with pains-taking and care, could be\nmade to appear to the rulers to be really for their interest, as well as\nfor the interest of the people; and more light and knowledge, without\nthe intervention of any new motive, would soon introduce them.\n\nA few years since, the king and chiefs of the Sandwich Islands sent a\nunited appeal to the United States for such an instructor, to guide them\nin the government of their kingdom, and offered him a competent support.\nWhile the nation had improved in religion and morals, the government had\nremained much as it was--keeping the people in the condition of serfs.\nThe system was wrong throughout: of the very worst kind, both for the\ninterests of the rulers and of the subjects. The chiefs began to see\nthis, and asked for an instructor. Such an instructor was not obtained;\nand one of the missionaries was constrained, by the urgent necessity, to\nleave the service of the mission board, and to become a political\nteacher to the king and chiefs. His efforts have been crowned with great\nsuccess.\n\nCivilians might do good also, not only in the way of their profession,\nbut by a Christian example, and by instructing the people, as\nopportunity should offer, in the knowledge of Christ.\n\n_Commercial men_ also, actuated by the same benevolent and disinterested\nspirit, might develope the resources of heathen lands, and apply them in\na wise manner for the benefit of those lands; promote industry, and\nafford the means of civilized habits; increase knowledge, by expediting\ncommunication; and in this way, indirectly, though efficiently, aid the\nprogress of the Gospel. By exhibiting also in their dealings an example\nof honesty, uprightness, and a conscientious regard to justice and\ntruth; by showing practically the only proper use of wealth, the good of\nmen and the glory of God; by conversing daily with individuals, as did\nHarlan Page and Normand Smith, at their houses and by the wayside, on\nthe great subject of the soul's salvation; and by presenting in\nthemselves and in their families examples of a prayerful and godly life,\nthey might exert a powerful influence, and perform a very important part\nin Christianizing the world.\n\nThere is also much need of farmers, mechanics, manufacturers and\nartisans. They should go forth like other laborers in the field, _not\nwith the selfish design of enriching themselves_, but with the\ndisinterested intention of benefiting the nations. Private gain must be\nkept strictly, carefully, and absolutely _subordinate_, or immense evil\nwill be wrought and no good be done. They should be men who cheerfully\nthrow themselves and their property on the altar of _entire\nconsecration_, and go forth to labor and toil so long as the Saviour\npleases to employ them, with the _lofty design_ of doing good to the\nbodies and souls of their perishing fellow men. Going forth with such a\nspirit, and with emphasis I repeat, allowing _no other_ to intrude, they\ncould do much in raising up the nations from their deep degradation. In\nthe first place, they could do much good by communicating a knowledge of\ntheir several employments. Not only is a reform in government necessary,\nbut an introduction of the useful arts also, to raise up the people from\ntheir indolence and filthy habits, and to promote thrift, order,\nneatness and consistency. Look at a heathen family as above described.\nHow can you expect from them refinement or elevation of soul? How can\nyou expect from them the proprieties and consistencies of a Christian\nlife? Even though they may attend the sanctuary, and be instructed in\nschools; and even though the government be reformed, and hold out\nmotives to industry; yet will not something else be wanting? Unless the\nvarious useful arts and occupations be introduced, how is the land to be\nfilled with fruitful fields, pleasant dwellings, and neatly clad\ninhabitants? And to introduce these improvements, _men must go forth for\nthe purpose_. Such men too might do good, by exhibiting in themselves\nand in their families habits of industry, domestic peace and strict\neconomy; by holding up the hands of Christ's ministers, and by\nscattering the word of life in their appropriate spheres.\n\nThat laymen of every useful occupation are needed in heathen lands, is\nby no means the opinion of one alone. In looking over the periodicals\nand papers of the last few years, I find that such is the sober and\ndeliberate opinion of many foreign laborers. I find urgent appeals for\nsuch helpers from at least five important missionary fields. Would such\nappeals be made if the enterprise were not a feasible one?\n\nLook too at the fact, that _there is scarcely a nation on the globe\nwhere men do not go, and permanently reside for the purpose of making\nmoney_. It is absolutely amazing to what an extent this is the truth.\nWhy then cannot men go forth, and while they obtain a livelihood, make\nit their ultimate and chief aim to do good?\n\nBut the inquiry arises, In what way should laymen go forth? It may not\nbe desirable that they should go forth, to any great extent, under the\ncare of missionary boards at present existing, lest the objects of those\nboards should become too numerous and complicated. And it may not\nperhaps be desirable, or necessary, to have any other organization for\nthe purpose. I am not wise enough to give an opinion; but would suggest,\nthat men of some pecuniary means take those means, and emigrate to\nheathen lands, just as some good men have gone to the far West. May\nthere not also be small combinations of men, not to help others, but\n_each other_ into the field, just as there is in worldly enterprise?\nWhen once established in the field, it is supposed that their trades and\noccupations will afford them, with trials, hardships and reverses, an\nadequate subsistence, and open before them a wide door of usefulness.\n\nSome have suggested, that ministers of the Gospel should go forth and\nsustain themselves abroad. That is a far different question. If\nministers of the Gospel ought not to sustain themselves in Christian\ncountries by laboring with their hands, still less should they attempt\nsuch a course in foreign fields. They have _other work_ to do--enough to\noccupy all their time.\n\nBut for laymen to go forth, and sustain themselves in this way, is it\nnot both proper and appropriate? and have not such enterprises, to some\nextent, been already entered upon with success? Different fields, of\ncourse, present greater or less obstacles; but what undertaking is\nwithout its difficulties? Perplexities, embarrassments and sufferings,\nwould be a matter of course; but no greater and perhaps far less than\nthose Christians endured, who, being scattered abroad from their beloved\nJerusalem, went everywhere preaching the word.\n\nIt may perhaps be objected, that should many from all classes of\nChristians thus go forth, to live and labor abroad, they would soon\npossess the land, while the heathen would melt away before them. Let us\nlook at this point. And first, where is the evidence of such a result?\nWhen and where has the experiment been tried to justify such a\nsupposition? When and where have individuals or companies gone forth\nwith the sole design of benefiting the heathen, and yet proved their\nextermination? The settlers of New England are not an example in point,\nfor the improvement and salvation of the heathen was not their main aim.\nIt was indeed an idea in mind, but not fully and prominently carried\nout. It is _yet to be proved_ that a company of persons, however\nnumerous, of disinterested views, aiming solely to save the nations, and\ndirecting all their energies of body and of mind to that end, would\nprove the extermination of the heathen, instead of their salvation.\n\nNeither can it be presumed that the descendants of such persons,\ntrained, as ought to be supposed, with faith and prayer, would possess a\nspirit so selfish and different from that of their fathers, as to prove\nthe extermination of the heathen. And if such is the necessary event,\nwhat is the conclusion at which we must arrive? It seems certain, that a\nmere handful of missionaries cannot put forth the instrumentality which,\naccording to God's usual providence, is necessary to save them: that a\ngreat number and variety of laborers are needed to do the work. Let us\nbe slow, therefore, to trust in the objection; for if it must be\nadmitted, the lawful inference will not necessarily be, that Christians\nof all classes and in great numbers should not go forth to the heathen;\nbut the inquiry will arise, whether heathen nations as nations must not\ncease to exist, and remnants of them only be saved--a painful and dread\nalternative, from which every benevolent heart must instinctively\nrecoil.\n\n_There are other reasons why laymen should engage in the work of\nmissions._ The work of the world's conversion is too great, too\nmomentous and too pressing, to admit of exemption simply on the ground\nof profession or employment. When the liberties of a people are at\nstake, how few are excused from the field of battle? But now the\nquestion is not one of temporal liberty: it is whether six hundred\nmillions of the human race shall be won to the company of the redeemed\non high, or left to sink in the untold agonies of the world of woe. In\nthis unparalleled emergency, when the question is, whether the destiny\nof a world shall be heaven or hell, who can be excused on so slight a\nground as that of profession or employment? A few ministers cannot do\nthe work. It is too great. It is presumptuous to expect, that a speedy\nand complete triumph is to be effected by a few missionaries of the\nright stamp going through the length and breadth of Satan's extensive\nand dark empire, and sounding as they go the trumpet of the Gospel\naround his strong fortifications and deep intrenchments. Such an\nexpectation places an immeasurable disparity between the means and the\nend. It supposes it to be so easy to effect a transformation of heathen\nsociety, heathen habits, heathen minds, and heathen character, and to\nraise them up from a degradation many ages deep, that a few sounds only\nfrom the herald of salvation, as he passes on his way, are sufficient.\n\"Leviathan is not thus tamed.\" The prince of the power of the air is not\nthus vanquished.\n\nNeither can the work be effected by a small number of preachers,\nstationed at different posts, in the midst of the wide domains of\ndarkness and death. Like specks of light, few and far between, how can\nthey illumine the broad canopy of darkness? To commit the work of the\nworld's conversion to a few missionaries is, in effect, to leave the\nheathen to perish. A large company of preachers must go forth, and a\nlarge company too of other laborers. There must be among the whole body\nof Christians, not only an interest in the work, but to a greater extent\nthan is imagined, _a personal enlistment_--an actual going forth to\nforeign lands.\n\nAgain, laymen must go abroad; for no less a movement than this will\nconvince them that the work of saving the heathen presses upon them\nindividually, and with all its weight and responsibility. Mere giving\ndoes not seem to answer the purpose. Very few laymen at home seem to\nimagine that they, individually, are as responsible for the life and\ndeath of the heathen, as the laborers abroad. Many seem to act only as\nthey are acted upon. This _passive_ state will not answer: there must be\na more general feeling of personal responsibility. And how is such a\nfeeling of equal and individual responsibility to be induced, till\nlaymen in great numbers begin to go abroad? Till then, there will be a\nspirit of luxury in the church; a spirit of worldly-mindedness, and a\nspirit of committing the world's conversion to other hands. To destroy\nthis spirit, which is evidently eating out the piety of the churches,\nlaymen must be urged to arise; to break off their luxuries, to bury\ntheir covetousness--to make an entire devotement of body, soul and\nspirit, to the _direct_ and arduous work of saving the heathen.\n\nOnce, I remember, after urging laymen to go forth, and to assist in\nevangelizing the heathen, a father in the church said to me, \"Your\nreasons are just and weighty, but it is of no use to present them before\nthe churches: they have not _piety_ enough to act upon them. If you can\nclearly show that men can accumulate wealth, that they can really make\nfortunes by going to heathen lands, then your appeals will succeed.\nBring this selfish principle to operate, and colonies will quickly\nscatter over the world. But to go forth with a spirit of self-denial,\nrunning the risk of trials and straitened circumstances, and with merely\nthe prospect at best of obtaining a comfortable livelihood and doing\ngood, is a measure not adapted to the present standard of piety in the\nchurches. Until the spirit of devotedness shall rise many degrees in the\nchurches, the course you urge will be looked upon as entirely\nvisionary.\"\n\nAlas! can the church be so low in grace? If it be a fact, it is painful\nand humiliating. If it be true, then the church is lacking in the most\nessential qualification required of it--is unfitted for the main design\nof its organization; and is there not reason to fear that God may cast\nit away, as he has the Roman church, and raise up another after his own\nheart, that shall do all his pleasure? Christian reader, can you calmly\nentertain the thought of being set aside by the Lord as unworthy of his\nemployment--of being rejected on the ground of not fulfilling the\npurpose for which you were called?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nCLAIM OF MISSIONS ON MINISTERS OF INFLUENCE.\n\n\nIn early days, ministers of the greatest influence were called to the\nwork of missions. To prove this assertion, let us read the first verse\nof the 13th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. \"Now there were in the\nchurch that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas,\nand Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen,\nwhich had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they\nministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me\nBarnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them.\" Paul had\nbeen at Antioch a whole year, and Barnabas a still longer time. Their\nlabors there had been blessed. The word had been attended with the\ndemonstration of the Spirit and with power, and many people had turned\nto the Lord, so that a large church had been gathered in that great and\nopulent city. Believers there became so conspicuous for their numbers,\nas to be designated by a particular name: \"The disciples were called\nChristians first in Antioch.\"\n\nThere were laboring in that city, besides Paul and Barnabas, three other\nministers; \"Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and\nManaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch.\" The Holy Ghost\nsaw that this city, though very important for its numbers, wealth and\nenterprise, could not claim the labors of five ministers, while the\nworld at large was entirely destitute of the Gospel. Therefore, on a\ncertain occasion, when the church were worshipping before the Lord and\nfasting, the Holy Ghost said, \"Separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the\nwork whereunto I have called them.\"\n\nThe Holy Ghost did not say, \"Separate me Simeon, and Lucius, and\nManaen,\" but, \"Separate me BARNABAS and SAUL\"--the spiritual fathers,\nand main pillars of the church. Had the church been allowed to vote, it\ndoubtless would have spared its sons, rather than its fathers: they\nwould have stated their fond attachment to their first instructors;\nwould have plead the great influence of these two fathers in the church,\nand the irreparable injury which would be sustained by their leaving it;\nand would have said, If we must part with some of our teachers, take\nSimeon, and Lucius, and Manaen, but bereave us not of our spiritual\nfathers. The question however was not left to their decision. The demand\nis stern and solemn from the Holy Spirit, with whom there is no selfish\nbias, \"Separate me BARNABAS and SAUL.\"\n\nIn reflecting on this narration, do we not come to the conclusion, that\nMEN OF TALENTS AND INFLUENCE ARE CALLED TO THE WORK OF MISSIONS?\n\nIf this sentiment be true, it is one of immense and practical\nimportance; one that not only ministers, but churches also ought fully\nto understand. Let us, then, dwell a moment longer on the practice of\nearly times.\n\nThe instance to which we have alluded is a striking one; it contains,\ndistinctly and impressively uttered, the mind of the Holy Spirit. It is\ninfallible authority that speaks, and what does it declare? The\nparamount claim of missions to the ablest, holiest, and most experienced\nmen. If Antioch was required to spare her two ablest men, what may not\nbe required of such cities as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and\nBaltimore? And judging too from this case of Antioch, what is the mind\nof the Holy Ghost in regard to the twelve thousand or more evangelical\nministers in the United States? Can it be his will that they should all\nquietly remain where they are?\n\nAgain, God in early times made known his mind on this point, not only by\nthe express admonition of the Holy Ghost, but also by the _overrulings\nof his Providence_. Take the account of the first dispersion. The\nSaviour ascended from the Mount of Olives, and the disciples returned to\nJerusalem. The day of Pentecost arrived, and three thousand converts\nwere added to their number. This multitude of believers was daily and\nrapidly increased. Here, then, was a very large city, the capital and\npride of the nation, and a place of immense resort from all the nations\nround about. And in this city were many thousands of Christians, who\nwere in peculiar need of constant care and faithful instruction, and had\nthey been divided out to the pastoral care of the twelve apostles, would\nhave made perhaps as large churches as any twelve in the city of\nNew-York. Jerusalem then presented to the apostles a vast amount of\npastoral care, and a field of labor unequalled perhaps in religious\ninfluence, considering the world as it then was, by any city that can be\nnamed within the limits of Christendom. The apostles were inclined to\nremain in Jerusalem, and considering the call for labor there, it is not\nwonderful that they were thus inclined. They seemed for a time to have\nforgotten the last command of their ascended Lord, and to have chosen a\nwork more resembling that of settled pastors. But the Saviour allowed a\npersecution to rage in the city, till first the great body of the\nchurch, and afterwards all the apostles, except James, were scattered\nabroad. So the great Jerusalem was left with but one apostle. Eleven of\nthe twelve, who had become in a measure settled there, were driven\nabroad; and not from Jerusalem only, but without the limits of\nPalestine. Such is evidently the _fact_. Let every one draw from it the\ninstruction it affords. To my mind it clashes irreconcilably with the\npresent distribution of ministers.\n\nTake another case. Paul had been laboring at Ephesus two whole years,\nand had collected a very large church in that city. This city was the\nemporium of Asia Minor; a place of much resort, and greatly celebrated\nthroughout the known world. The large number of disciples there, who\nneeded a pastor to warn them day and night with tears, and the wide door\nwhich was there opened for preaching the Gospel, presented such strong\nclaims to the mind of Paul, as seemed likely to fix there his permanent\nabode. What pastor of the present day can urge stronger reasons for\ncontinuing his charge, than Paul might have urged for continuing his\nrelation to the large church at Ephesus? For in addition to a large city\nand a large church, the converts had been but lately gathered from\nheathenism--were but babes in Christ--and needed constant instruction\nand unwearied care. Yet God was pleased to allow Demetrius to excite an\nuproar, and thus to sever Paul from his church and congregation, and\nsend him abroad into Macedonia. This is another _fact_--a STUBBORN FACT,\nwhich we ought to bear in mind, and weigh well. If God saw best thus to\nbreak tender ties, separate Paul from a large city and a large body of\nsuch converts as, above all others, needed special care, and to leave\nthe important post almost destitute, _can it be_ his will that all the\npastors of the present day should stay in their places, and that none of\nthem should go forth to the heathen? If the city had been Boston, with\nits thousand means of grace, the case would have been comparatively\nweak; but it was Ephesus, a heathen city, and depending almost entirely\non the living voice of Paul, and yet this one preacher must become a\nmissionary. Let us look at this fact, and each one for himself draw\nconclusions; not those that are wild and extravagant, but such as are\n_true and sober_.\n\nWe have here a commentary on the last command of Jesus. It was commented\nupon by the providence of God, separating the apostles from Jerusalem,\nAntioch, and Ephesus. It was commented upon by the direct admonition of\nthe Holy Ghost in a particular case. It was commented upon by the\npractice of the apostles. Let us beware that we substitute not, for this\ncorrect commentary, any worldly-wise interpretation of our own. Let us\nadmit it just as it comes to us from early days, fresh and unmodified,\nand allow it to govern our lives.\n\nThere are but few who do not admit, that the present distribution of\nministers is anti-apostolic--that many, who are now pastors, ought to\nhave become missionaries before they were settled. And can the mere fact\nof being settled have produced such a vast change in the question of\nduty, as to place it forever at rest? If the clustering together of\ntwelve thousand ministers within the bounds of the United States, where\na thousand means of grace and improvement exist besides the voice of\nthe living teacher, is a very different thing from going into all the\nworld, and preaching the Gospel to every creature--an egregious\ndisproportion to the wants of the world--must we stifle all emotion and\nall inquiry, in taking it for granted that it is now too late for\nchange? And yet there seems to be a tacit understanding, that any other\ndistribution than that now existing, of the _present generation_ of\nministers, is a point not to be agitated. At least, many a pastor quiets\nhimself with the thought, that no change is to be contemplated in his\nparticular case, for the care of a church is on his hands. Almost by\ncommon consent, pastors are excused; and missionaries are looked for\nfrom the young men and the children; and the hope of the heathen amounts\nto this, that some young men may be kept from imitating the example of\ntheir fathers and elder brethren, and be prevailed upon to enter the\nmissionary work before they _become pastors_. For if the mere fact of\nbeing a pastor places the question at rest, young men will feel\nthemselves relieved as soon as they enter that office.\n\nI have known young men whose minds were goaded on the question of going\nto the heathen, like the conscience of a convicted sinner, till a call\nwas presented to some important church; and then they succeeded in\nlaying the subject at once and entirely aside. Like the pursued ostrich,\nwho thrusts her head into the sand, and vainly imagines that she is\nconcealed from her pursuers, so, I fear, some endeavor to elude the\nconvictions of conscience. I put the question to your own good sense,\nyour candor, and your pious feelings: Can the mere fact of being a\npastor excuse a man from going to the heathen, when perhaps he became a\npastor in violation of the Saviour's command?\n\nIt is acknowledged, that many pastors ought to have become missionaries\nbefore they were settled--that the present amazing disproportion between\nsettled ministers at home, and missionaries abroad, ought never to have\nexisted. To argue so plain a case would be a waste of breath. How then\ncan the fact of having wandered from duty excuse one from the\nperformance of it? To-day, it is the duty of Jonah to go to Nineveh.\nTo-morrow, he has engaged his passage to Tarshish, has paid his fare,\nhas gone down into the sides of the ship, and is quietly at rest. Is he\ntherefore excused? To-day, the command of Christ presses upon me the\nobligation to go to the heathen. To-morrow, leaving out of mind this\ncommand, which still applies in all its force, I enter into an\nobligation with a particular church to take upon me its pastoral care:\nwhich obligation is binding? The last, do you say? Can I then thus\neasily thrust aside the Saviour's last and most impressive command? Can\nI, by such a course, shield myself effectually from its further\napplication? I have yet to learn, that by any change of place or\ncircumstances we can free ourselves from the weight of the Saviour's\ninjunction. I mean not to assert, that all who ought to have become\nmissionaries before they were settled, ought to become so now. Some have\nentirely hedged up their way; and though they may have been disobedient\nin doing so, yet deep regret and sincere repentance is all the\nreparation they can now make. But those who ought to have gone to the\nheathen, and before whom the door is still open for going, _such_ should\nstill become missionaries, and on the obvious principle, that it is\nbetter to do our duty late than not to do it all. The mere plea of being\na pastor is not a sufficient excuse; and it is losing too, continually,\nmore and more of its force. It is a wonder that it should be relied upon\nso much as a _quietus_, since, in the present age, the residence of a\npastor is very transient and uncertain.\n\nAgain let me say, it is a great thing, a good thing, and a rare thing,\nto be entirely honest in the sight of God. Let us endeavor to be so. It\nis to be feared, that there may be some who exempt themselves from\nbecoming missionaries on the ground of being pastors, who are not\naltogether honest in their excuse. Are there not some individuals, who\nmake it, who would manifest but little hesitation in leaving the\npastoral office to take the oversight of a college, to become a\nprofessor in a theological seminary, or to take charge of some prominent\nreligious periodical? When urged to become a missionary, the pastor\npleads his attachment to his people; their affection for him, which\ngives him great influence; and his acquaintance with their prejudices,\nopinions, habits, and whole character, so as to adapt his instructions\nto their particular case. He mentions these, and the like\nconsiderations, and concludes very readily that he can be more useful in\nhis present situation than in any other. But when a presidency, a\nprofessorship, or a more influential church is offered, the reasons\nbefore urged seem to lose something of their force; and through the\nintervention of some new light, which I shall not account for, the\nconclusion is formed that another situation would be more _useful_. The\nmotive for a change is a good one; but it is to be remembered that this\nsame motive, that of being more useful, could not prevail upon them to\nbecome missionaries.\n\nFacts of this kind could be collected, I think to a considerable extent;\nand they lead me, however unwilling, to suspect that, in some cases, the\nhonest reason why ministers do not become missionaries is not that they\nare pastors, but something quite different.\n\nAnother fact, too, makes me suspicious that there is some lack of entire\nhonesty. A pastor says he cannot become a missionary, for he has the\ncare of a church. In a few months, for some cause or other, he is\ndismissed from his church and people. What does he do? become a\nmissionary? I have one in my eye who was a pastor of a church in a large\ncity. He told me, that nothing but his relation as pastor in that city\ncould keep him a moment from the missionary work. Soon after, he was\ndismissed from his church and people; and think you he became a\nmissionary? You would betray a very limited knowledge of human nature to\nthink so.\n\n\"But,\" says one, \"I am opposed to fickleness and change.\" Ah! indeed;\ndoes it betray fickleness to leave a church to become a missionary? Did\nGod favor fickleness and change when he prevented the permanent location\nof the apostles in Palestine, by a voice from heaven, and by violent\npersecutions? Did the Saviour favor fickleness in his last command? When\na presidency, a professorship, or a more prominent and influential\nchurch is offered you, then speak of fickleness--the excuse may possibly\nbe in place; but never, never in place, while untold millions of our\nrace are dying for lack of vision, and our commission reads, \"GO YE INTO\nALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne pastor excuses himself, by saying, \"The attachment between me and my\npeople is very dear, and this attachment gives me great influence with\nthem.\" I reply, Was not the attachment very dear between the apostles\nand the disciples at Jerusalem, and also between Paul and the converts\nat Antioch, and at Ephesus? What language of affection and solicitude\ncan equal that of Paul for his converts? He calls them his \"joy and\ncrown\"--the \"little children for whom he travails in birth, till Christ\nbe formed in them.\" He says to them, \"I live, if ye stand fast in the\nLord.\"\n\nAnd had not the apostles great influence in the churches in which they\nlabored? Had not Paul and Barnabas great influence in the church at\nAntioch? Did not the church love and respect them, and hang in\nbreathless silence upon their lips, and look upon their departure as an\nirreparable loss? Yet, though entwined into the hearts of the people,\nand possessing every advantage to instruct them which intimate\nacquaintance and unbounded influence could give, the Holy Ghost,\nnotwithstanding, said, \"Separate me BARNABAS and SAUL.\"\n\nAttachment is your plea; but the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of\nself-denial, and requires us not only to forsake church and people, but\nalso father and mother, brother and sister, son and daughter, and to\nhold our own lives loosely. Those persons to whom attachment is\nstrongest, and who _can't be spared_ on that account, are the best\nfitted for missions.\n\nYou plead the _influence_ which you possess with your church and people.\nThis, instead of being a reason for remaining at home, is a powerful\nargument for going abroad. In that very influence you possess an\nadvantage and qualification for the missionary work, which very few\nmissionaries enjoy. It is greatly to be lamented that the church has but\nlittle acquaintance with her missionaries. It was not so in primitive\ntimes. On this account there is room for the question to arise, Whether\nthere ought not to be less of the home minister for life, and the exile\nfor life; a narrower gulf between the two, and more passing and\nrepassing, as the apostles were wont to do; a breaking up of caste,\ngrade and condition among ministers, as regards various fields--a more\nliteral compliance with the precept of \"going into all the world, and\npreaching the Gospel to every creature.\" Be this however as it may--for\nthere is much that can be said on either side of the question--it is\nmost certainly true, that the pastor possesses one very great advantage:\nthat by going to the heathen he can wake up, in one church at least,\nthe spirit of doing good--the enterprising and benevolent spirit of\nChrist and his apostles. He may take with him, as helpers, some of its\nmost intelligent and active members, and call forth the contributions\nand enlist the prayers of those who may remain.\n\nIt seems, that nothing less than such means as the separation of pastors\nfor the work of missions, can avail to awake the slumbering churches,\nand to lead them to begin in earnest to seek the salvation of the\nheathen; to feel that the work presses upon them individually, and\ndemands all their energies and their personal enlistment. For it is a\nsober and humiliating fact, as I have had some opportunity of judging,\nthat there are few churches comparatively, in our land, who seem to have\ndrunk deeply into the missionary spirit. There is need, therefore, of a\nmovement on the part of pastors, to arouse the churches from their\nguilty slumbers.\n\nA pastor possesses much influence with his church and congregation. The\nLord then has given him five talents, and he can easily make them ten:\nby going abroad he can benefit his church perhaps as much as by\nremaining their pastor, and, at the same time, be the instrument of\nsaving many heathen souls. \"There is that scattereth, and yet\nincreaseth;\" and \"he that watereth shall be watered also himself.\" God's\nblessing distils upon the liberal soul, and the liberal church. The\nperformance of duty is attended with the Saviour's smiles and a rich\nreward. Who does not see, that a pastor could in no way so effectually\nawaken in his church a spirit of benevolent feeling and action, as by\nexhibiting it in his own person; by rising up, and going forth to the\nheathen, urging a part of his flock to accompany him, and the rest to\nsustain him in the field? Who doubts, that by such a course he would do\nmore to arouse the pure and active religion of Jesus Christ and his\napostles, than he could possibly do in any other way; that he would give\nan impulse to his church in favor of primitive piety and practice, that\nshould add vastly to its strength, its glory and its numbers, and be\nfelt in all time to come. Let not the pastor, then, excuse himself from\nthe missionary work, because he has acquired influence in his church and\ncongregation; for that very fact is a powerful argument for going\nabroad.\n\nFor the same reason, no one can excuse himself because he fills a _post\nof vast importance_. He is the pastor of an influential church, a\npresident of a college, a professor in a theological seminary, the\neditor of a religious paper of immense circulation, or the secretary of\nsome society: his station is one of vast responsibility, and he imagines\nthat he is therefore excused from becoming a missionary. But was not\nJerusalem an important place? more prominent, compared with other cities\nof that time, than any city in the United States? And yet all the\napostles, except one, were required not only to leave that city, but to\ngo without the limits of Palestine. Was not Antioch as important as\nBoston or Philadelphia? Yet Paul and Barnabas were not suffered to\nremain there.\n\nBesides, is not the work of a missionary a difficult, important, and\nresponsible work? The Holy Spirit thought so in apostolic times. When a\nman was needed to preach to Cornelius and his household, a man of no\nless ability and influence than Peter was chosen. When a man was called\nto go to Antioch, Barnabas was sent, a man of great piety and influence.\nAnd when two of the five preachers at Antioch were called to go to the\nheathen, the Holy Ghost did not choose Simeon, or Lucius, or Manaen, but\nsaid, \"Separate me BARNABAS and SAUL;\" the men of the greatest ability,\nexperience, piety and wisdom. Thus the Holy Spirit seemed to declare\nthat the work of a missionary required greater talents, more mature\nwisdom, and deeper piety, than the work of a pastor in the largest and\nmost influential churches.\n\nAnd is not this doctrine, while it accords with the instructions of the\nHoly Ghost and the practice of primitive times, also a dictate of common\nsense? Would you choose weak men to penetrate into the very midst of the\nenemy, and to grapple with the Anaks of the land, and keep those who are\nstrong in a garrison at home? Would you select indifferent statesmen to\nsettle the affairs of revolutionary France, or to reduce to order the\nchaotic mass of the South American states; and employ the able, the wise\nand talented, in governing a country already quiet and peaceful? Did it\nrequire less wisdom to lay the foundation and form the constitution of\nour good government, than it requires to manage the state on principles\nalready established? Does it require less skill to draft the plan of a\ncapitol, than to work at the building when the plan is mature? Does it\nrequire less wisdom to govern a camp in a state of mutiny, than when in\nsubjection and at peace? Look, then, at the work of missions. Does it\nrequire less talent to deal with minds clouded by ignorance, perverted\nby superstition, and barred by arrogance, bigotry, and pride, than to\ninstruct the unbiassed, the willing, and intelligent? Does it require\nless wisdom to tear up the foundations of heathen society, and lay it\nanew on the principles of the Gospel--to change society morally,\nreligiously, and socially, than to preserve in a good condition a people\nalready intelligent, industrious, and Christian? Surely, if talent is\nneeded anywhere in the kingdom of Christ, it is in the missionary work.\nThat minister, whose talents and piety make him so useful at home that\nhe _cannot be spared_, that is the minister who is needed abroad. The\nforeign field calls for no laborers who can be conveniently spared.\n\nThen, is the church of a pastor wealthy and influential? It is the very\nchurch that needs to be aroused by his leaving it. Or is he connected\nwith a literary, or theological institution? Some thus connected are\nneeded to go, to produce the best impression on the young men who are in\ntraining. The more important and influential then one's place is, the\nmore like a rushing flood do reasons crowd upon him to arise and go.\n\nIt is very common for men to excuse themselves from the work of\nmissions, on the ground, that they are somewhat _advanced in years_.\nThere is weight in this excuse. That person would exhibit the want of a\nproper balance of mind, who should urge all indiscriminately, whatever\ntheir age and however circumstanced in life, to go forth to the heathen.\nBut still the excuse of age ought to be looked at cautiously.\n\nAge implies experience, authority, dignity, and wisdom--the very\nqualities most wanted in the difficult work of missions. The work of\ntearing up and laying anew the foundations of society, moral, religious,\nand social, is a task that ought by no means to be committed to the\nyoung and inexperienced. It is preposterous to commit altogether to\nnovices in the ministry a work so new, so complicated, so beset with\ndifficulties, on the right hand and on the left, and so momentous, too,\nin its responsibilities. Can Satan be driven so easily from his own\nterritory, that none but raw troops are needed for the contest? Can the\nbroad and deep intrenchments of Paganism, Mohammedism, and Romanism be\nso easily taken, as not to need men of age, experience and skill, to\ndirect the assault? Can the snares in which the heathen are held; which\nare laid with all the subtlety of the arch-fiend, be so easily divested\nof their specious character, and traced into their thousand windings, as\nnot to require the wisdom and experience of age? A minister has age: he\nhas then one great qualification for the work. \"Paul the aged\" had none\ntoo much experience, dignity and wisdom, for the work of a missionary to\nheathen lands.\n\nBut age, it is said, is a great barrier in acquiring a foreign language.\nThere is force in this remark; but let us be cautious, that we do not\ntrust too much to it. A great amount of labor may be performed on\nheathen ground without a knowledge of the language. Much can be done in\nthe English language, and much, too, can be done through interpreters.\nAll that David Brainerd accomplished was in this way.\n\nBut how certain is it, that persons somewhat advanced cannot acquire a\nforeign language? This plea is not peculiar to those who have been some\ntime in the ministry. No excuse is more frequently offered, and with\nmore appearance of honesty, even in the college and the theological\nseminary. It is difficult to place the mark of age where this excuse may\nbe properly offered, and where it may not. Shall we place it at\nthirty-five? Some missionaries now in the field entered on the work at\nthat age, and acquired the language without much difficulty. It may be\nremarked, too, that men of traffic abroad, from youth to gray hairs,\nusually learn so much of a foreign language as to answer their purpose.\nLet us beware, then, _how much_ we depend on the excuse of age; and be\ncautious, too, _how far up_ the scale of years we place the mark.\n\nAnother excuse which has some weight is this: \"I must remain at home _to\ntake care of my aged parents_.\" So said one to Christ: \"Lord, I will\nfollow thee, but suffer me first to go and bury my father.\" Jesus\nanswered, \"Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the\nGospel.\" I leave to the reader to determine the precise meaning and\nforce of this reply of our Saviour. This much it certainly means, that\nsome _may_ excuse themselves from preaching to take care of their\nparents, when the excuse is not valid. I will not say, that the excuse\nis not sufficient in some cases; but I am inclined to think that such\ncases are rare. A parent must be _very_ dependent upon a son, to be\nliable to such inconvenience and suffering from his absence, as can\nreasonably weigh in the balance against the claims of the hundreds of\nmillions of dying heathen.\n\nBut the excuse which seems to be the most valid, is this: \"My going to\nthe heathen is out of the question, for _I have a family of children_.\"\nThis is indeed a tender point. God has given me some experience on this\nsubject, and I know how to appreciate the excuse. But the Saviour says,\n\"He that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.\" This\ndeclaration means nothing, unless it requires us to make great\nsacrifices in regard to our children. So far as we can at present see,\nthe world cannot be converted without great self-denial on this point.\nPrecisely what sacrifices are to be made in regard to children, is a\nquestion which is not, as yet, fully determined.\n\nBut let us look at the excuse. If a minister may _stay_ at home because\nhe has children, may not the missionary who has children _return_ home?\nA pastor has one child, and cannot go. Then may not the missionary who\nhas one child, come back? A pastor has six children, and cannot go. Many\nmissionaries have six children, shall not they return? The mere\ncircumstance of being already abroad cannot have much weight; and the\nsacrifice of a voyage in such a question, and among a multitude of other\nweighty reasons, is scarcely worth being named. If children then are an\nexcuse, let missionaries return. No, you say; missionaries who have\nchildren must not return on that account. What then shall they do with\ntheir children? Keep them, and train them up to be helpers in the work?\nLet pastors then take their children into the field, and train them up\nfor that purpose. You certainly have hearts too noble to impose a burden\non the shoulders of others which you would not bear yourselves. Your\nchildren would have the advantage of the children of missionaries,\nhaving been thus far trained in a Christian land. As to future\nadvantages of education, they will have the same with the children now\nabroad. You certainly cannot complain of equality.\n\nBut, you say, let missionaries send their children home. Then let\npastors leave their children at home and go abroad. Ah, you say, pastors\ncannot endure the thought; it would be a shock to their parental\nfeelings that they cannot sustain. But, I ask, have missionaries no\nfeelings? have their hearts become hard, like blocks of wood and pieces\nof rock? Does love to Christ, and compassion for the heathen, tend to\nmake men and women obtuse in their feelings, so that a father or mother\non heathen ground does not feel as intensely for the present and eternal\nwelfare of a child, as a parent who has never gone to the heathen? Ah!\nhad you seen what my eyes have witnessed, facts then should speak and I\nwould be silent. Missionaries, indeed, are trained to cast their care\nupon God; their feelings are chastened and disciplined, but at the same\ntime deep and intense. To a thousand dangers, toils and hardships, they\nmay be inured; but when the separation of children is thought of, they\nshow full well that they are no proof against an agony of feeling.\nCertainly, then, you will not plead for exemption. You would not place\nupon others this burden, and pull away your own shoulders from it. You\nhave souls too generous and benevolent to do that. You cannot find it in\nyour hearts to offer to the lips of others a cup more bitter than you\nwould drink yourselves. You can choose guardians for your children far\nbetter than the missionaries can who are abroad, and your children shall\nhave the same provision for their support and education as theirs have.\n\nWe have glanced at some excuses. Many others there are in this\nexcuse-making age. Be entreated to look at them with the command of\nChrist, a sinking world and a coming judgment, in your eye, and as far\nas they have weight and _no farther_ be influenced by them. Where\nexemption cannot honestly be pleaded, the command in all its force is\nbinding.\n\nThat some pastors of influence and talent should become missionaries,\nseems necessary; for _how otherwise can the means be raised to sustain\nmissions abroad, and to send forth young men who may offer themselves_?\nIt is well known, that operations abroad have been and are still\nexceedingly crippled. It is well known, too, that quite a company of\nyoung men have at different times been waiting, for want of requisite\nfunds to send them forth to the heathen.\n\nNow this is the state of things, not because there is not money enough\nin the hands of Christians--no one imagines that such is the fact--but\nbecause Christians, as a body, are not aroused to duty. What means shall\nbe taken to arouse them? I, for one, am inclined to think that there\nwould be hope, if some influential and prominent pastors would enter the\nmissionary work. In such a case, I should indeed have strong hope that\nthe impulse, falling in with the spirit of primitive practice and the\nwill of the Holy Ghost, would be such as to bring forth the funds needed\nto sustain the operations now begun, send forth waiting young men, and\ncarry themselves also into the field. I feel quite confident, that the\nmeasure would soon clear the seaboard of all who might be detained, and\nplace their joyful feet on foreign soil.\n\nThe great body of professed Christians are becoming luxurious in their\nmodes of life. One cannot go through the churches, after the absence of\nseveral years, without being forcibly impressed with this fact. They\npress forward after wealth, and profess to be accumulating it for\nChrist; but in the end, spend it on themselves and on their children.\nNow what, under God, shall break up this covetousness, and luxurious\nmanner of life? What shall bring them back to the pure and unadulterated\nprinciples of the Gospel--to live, labor, and die for Christ, as did the\nprimitive disciples? Let pastors, like the apostles, go into all the\nworld and preach the Gospel to every creature. There is reason to hope\nthat the church members would likewise imbibe the right spirit, and act\non right principles. Then we should hear no more of schools disbanded\nand missionaries detained, but troops of heralds would be carrying out\nthe news of salvation and sending back tidings of success. There is much\nphilosophical and Bible truth in the proverb, \"Like people like priest.\"\nO, what responsibility rests on the ministers of Christ!\n\nAgain, if all settled ministers of talent and influence remain at home,\nhow can such a number of missionaries be secured as seem needed for the\nworld's conversion? If many of those already in the sacred office do\nnot go, it is absolutely certain, that the present generation of heathen\nmust die without the Gospel. The angel of death continues hovering over\nthe dying nations, mowing down his twenty millions a year; and before\nministers can be raised up from among the youth and children, will be\ndrawing a stroke at the last man of all that are now heathen. The\npresent generation of ministers must preach the Gospel to the present\ngeneration of mankind. It will be the duty of the next generation of\nministers to preach to the inhabitants that shall be then on the globe.\nTo look for missionaries from among the young alone, is making no\nprovision for the present generation of heathen. If the heathen are to\nbe left till missionaries can be trained up, they are to be left--the\nsoul shudders at the thought--till they shall be in hell! By making this\npostponement, the churches, in effect, though certainly without\nintending it, sign the death warrant of a great portion of the present\nsix hundred millions of perishing heathen; relinquish all effort for\nthis vast multitude, and only dream of saving the next generation--of\nwhom it would be a mercy never to be born, unless there shall be more\nhope of their salvation than can be seen at present--_dream_, I say, of\nsaving the next generation; for to think much of raising up the young to\nbe missionaries, without going ourselves, is little better than\ndreaming.\n\nTo induce young men, to any great extent, to become missionaries, when\ntheir fathers and elder brethren do not, is hopeless. Precept must\nbecome more powerful than example, before such a result can take place.\nHow can you so blindfold the young, stop their ears, and wall them off\nfrom surrounding influences, as to expect such a result? If their eyes\nare left open, what do they see? They see their fathers and elder\nbrethren settled at home, and some of them in quiet, comfort and honor.\nIf their ears are left open, what do they hear? They hear various\nexcuses for remaining at home, and among others, the specious idea of\ntraining up children to be missionaries. And what will they do? They\nwill dream of training your grandchildren for missions, and your\ngrandchildren dream of training the next generation, and so on, as the\nsixty generations past have done, from the time of the Saviour down. But\nthe fire of God's Spirit shall burn up this chaff. The world shall not\nbe cheated out of its millenium. The judgment trumpet shall not sound\nbefore the arrival of the latter day glory.\n\nTo become a missionary, in the present state of things, is sailing\nagainst wind and tide; so that those who find their way to the heathen,\ncompared with the number who ought to go, are very few indeed. To urge a\nlarge number into the field is hopeless. Bonaparte might as well have\nurged his soldiers over the Alps without leading them. We cannot expect\nthe nature of things to change, and precept to become more powerful than\nexample. A portion of the more talented of the settled ministry must\nlead the way. Then there shall be found a resuscitating principle; our\neyes shall beam with joy, and we shall fondly cherish a rational hope of\nthe world's renovation.\n\nAgain, many pastors should become missionaries, for all things await\ntheir personal enlistment in the service. God, in his providence, is\ncausing a state of preparation in the world which calls for some mighty\nmovement on the part of the church. A door is opened into almost every\nnation on the earth, and ships are ready to carry us to almost every\nport. Now is the time for a great effort. All the elements are ready for\naction, and need only to be brought to bear on the glorious cause of the\nworld's conversion. To effect this, there must be a high stand of\nprayerful enterprise on the part of the present generation of ministers.\nThe Lord has brought us to the ministry for such a time as this; and\nsurely my brethren will not prove themselves unworthy of so vast a\nresponsibility, but come up joyfully to the work, and reap the harvest\nof the world.\n\nAnd here let me say, that the millions of souls already lost are\nimmense; and it would be awfully presumptuous in Christians to neglect\nthe millions and hundreds of millions of the present generation. Century\nafter century has rolled along, ingulfing generation after generation,\ntill one would think that Satan himself would be satisfied with the\nenormous havoc. Eighteen centuries have passed away, and sixty\ngenerations, five hundred millions each--thirty billions of immortal\nsouls left to perish since Christ gave command to evangelize them. Are\nnot thirty billions enough? Shall we, by any guilty neglect, suffer the\npresent generation, six hundred millions more, to be added? O, let the\nbillions of souls already lost suffice. O, let us arise, and go and\npreach the Gospel to the nations, that the generations that remain\nbetween this and the judgment may be saved.\n\nLet me suggest, too, that nothing would so readily produce _union among\nministers at home_, as to divert all their powers of body and mind into\nsome all-absorbing and self-denying enterprise. Now, what angel of\nheaven has not wept over the contentions and jealousies that cloud the\nglory of the American churches. How has the heart of Jesus bled over the\ndissensions and strife of his own ministers! And is there no remedy? Let\npastors become so engrossed in fulfilling their commission as to obey\nits literal import, and arise and go; and I mistake much, if the\nmovement would not make a material impression on their contentions and\njealousies. They would feel that they were doing a great work, and could\nnot come down. For contention they would find neither time nor\ninclination. It would be difficult to state, in a foreign tongue, their\nmetaphysical distinctions, so as to make a difference. Higher and nobler\nobjects would engross the soul. Be entreated to try this course. Then\nthe recording angel shall not be compelled, with aching heart and\nstreaming eyes, to inscribe \"ICHABOD\" on our American Zion; but, with\nwilling soul and ready hands, shall write in fairer lines, \"BEAUTIFUL\nFOR SITUATION, THE JOY OF THE WHOLE EARTH.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut it is often said, \"I never _felt_ it to be my duty to go to the\nheathen: I never had any such impression.\"\n\n_No such impression!_ Did then the command of our ascended Lord, his\n_last_ command, delivered under the most solemn circumstances, make no\nimpression upon you? Did the temporal and eternal miseries of six\nhundred millions of your fellow men make no impression upon you? Did\ntheir groans and sighs, which came over the waters like the voice of\nseven thunders, peal after peal, make no impression upon you? And could\nyou remain at home with comfort and peace of mind, with the weeping and\nwailing of millions of dying souls in your ears, backed up with the\ncommand of Christ to go and seek their salvation? While Jesus plead,\n\"Lo, I died for them, go, preach my Gospel to them, that they may\nlive;\" could you remain unimpressed and unmoved? And have all these\nconsiderations, and a hundred more, been urged upon you for years, and\nyet failed to make an _impression_? Alas! of what is your heart made,\nthat it does not feel? Look for no _supernatural_ impression.\nMissionaries have none. There is no need of any. He that can live and\nnot be impressed, may well tremble for his own salvation. It appears\nthat you are easily impressed that it is your duty to remain at home.\nThe motives, I fear, that come before your mind are well suited to make\nan impression. You quickly perceive a _call_, when country, home,\nfriends, the endearments of society, and the like considerations crowd\nupon your mind. O, dear brethren, let us be _entirely honest_, as we\nexpect soon to meet the Saviour and the world of perishing souls for\nwhom he died.\n\nAnother similar excuse is often made: \"Did I possess the requisite\nattainments in holiness, I should delight to go abroad. But as the case\nis, I cannot become a missionary: I have not piety enough.\"\n\n_Not piety enough!_ Then be entreated to become more pious without\ndelay. As you value the souls of dying men, defer not to become more\nholy. Through your want of piety the heathen may be left to perish. But\nwhat is holiness? Is it not obedience to the commands of Christ? Obey,\nthen, his last command: _that will be becoming more holy_. Go forth to\nthe heathen from love to Christ: that will be becoming more pious. \"NOT\nPIETY ENOUGH!\" Will you presume to offer that excuse to the Lord Jesus,\nwhen you shall stand before him to render account for the blood of the\nheathen? And when you shall see multitudes of the heathen sinking into\nhell, whom, under the blessing of the Spirit, you might have saved; and\nhear their weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; will it ease your\nmind, and quiet your conscience, that you had not piety enough to go and\nmake known to them the way of life? This is a solemn subject. Let us\ntry, dear brethren, to look at it as we ought.\n\nAllied to this excuse is the following: \"I have never thought myself\nqualified for the work of missions. It is a work which in my view\nrequires rare endowments. Did I possess the requisite qualifications, I\nshould delight to engage in so glorious a work.\"\n\nTo this excuse I would say, There is room in the wide field of missions\nfor every grade and variety of talent. Such is the universal testimony\nof those who have gone forth. Neither could it be otherwise in so\nvarious and vast a work as that of converting all nations, many of whom\nneed to be instructed in the simplest arts of civilized life, and in the\nvery alphabet of knowledge. But the excuse you render is entirely at\nvariance with the facts in the case. If the work of missions be deemed\nworthy of the greatest talents, why is it that a large number do not go\nforth from among the more prominent and influential in the sacred\noffice? The plea of disqualification is a popular one. There is in it\nmuch appearance of humility and self-depreciation. But facts testify,\nthat many who plead their want of talent do not hesitate, if invited, to\ntake upon them the care of a college, or of a large and opulent church.\nIf the conduct of men is to be regarded as a just interpreter of their\nsentiments, then the great body of the Christian ministry, instead of\nregarding themselves unfit for the work of missions, consider themselves\ntoo well qualified to enter it. They really think, that those of\ninferior qualifications will do for missions; while those of superior\nminds and brilliant talents must be reserved for important stations at\nhome.\n\nIt is said again, \"_All_ cannot go abroad.\"\n\nI reply, Do not use the word \"all\" till there shall be some need of it.\nThere is no danger _yet_ that the home company will be comparatively too\nsmall.\n\nThere is another excuse which is worthy of more notice. One says, \"My\nown country claims my first attention. It presents a field of vast\nextent, and demands a vast amount of labor. Its schools, colleges and\nseminaries, must be sustained. Its religious periodicals must be edited.\nThe churches must be watched over, and brought up to a higher standard\nof piety. Revivals must be promoted. But passing by these claims for\nlabor, look at the wide-spreading desolations of the West, where\nignorance, infidelity, and Romanism prevail, and threaten, at no very\nfuture day, to be the overthrow of our government--the extinguishment of\nour dearly-bought and precious inheritance. All our exertions must be\nput forth to save our country; for the progress of light and knowledge\nthroughout the world depends on its existence. The overthrow of our\ngovernment would put back the dial of the moral world ten centuries. Our\nown nation lost, and what would become of the heathen? when would the\nmillenium arrive? Our present attention must be directed to the\nsalvation of our own country, and our missionary exertions must be\nconcentrated on the West.\"\n\nThe excuse does not stop here; but a citizen from Great Britain would\nsay, \"I too must speak in behalf of my country--a country whose\npossessions encircle the globe. The existence and religious prosperity\nof a nation whose commerce is so great, and whose dominions embrace a\nlarge portion of the heathen world, cannot but be intimately connected\nwith the universal prevalence of light and peace. It is of the first\nimportance, that the _heart_ of such a nation should beat with a healthy\npulse; that much effort should be made to promote a high standard of\nvital godliness in the universities and churches at home. But more than\nthis, look at the vast body of laboring men in England and Ireland, who\nare living in ignorance and in sin. They call loudly for teachers and\nfor preachers of the Gospel, and ought to receive, for the present at\nleast, all we can educate and all we can support.\"\n\nIn reply to this excuse I would first say, Let us look a moment at the\nconclusion to which we are reduced. \"The United States cannot furnish\nmissionaries, for the present at least; far less can Great Britain; and\nstill less the Continent of Europe.\" The inevitable conclusion is, that\nthe present generation of heathen must be left to perish. Six hundred\nmillions of our race must be deliberately relinquished to endure the\nagonies of eternal death. But what is the plea that so readily leaves\nthe millions of ignorant heathen to hopelessness and despair? \"We must\ngo to the West.\" \"We must direct our efforts to the laboring class of\nEngland and Ireland.\" Then, I say, be consistent, and actually _do_ what\nyou profess. As yet, how many of the learned, the eloquent and\ninfluential of the ministry, have become missionaries at the West? Some\nhave gone to the West, to be presidents of colleges there; but how many\nhave gone to engage in the more appropriate duties of the _missionary_?\nAnd in Great Britain, how many have left their professorships in the\nuniversities, and their wealthy churches, to labor as _missionaries_\namong the ignorant class of society in England and Ireland? O! the West,\nand the ignorant class in England and Ireland, would lift up their\nhearts to God in gratitude if you would go forth to the heathen: for the\nreflex influence of such a course would scatter among them the means of\ngrace as thick as the stars of heaven, and as bright as the sun in his\nglory. I could almost assert, from personal observation, that every\nmissionary to the heathen sends ten to the West. If men are pressed to\ngo to China, they cannot stop short of the West. Besides, have you\nforgotten the nature of benevolence? If you wish to strengthen it, to\nincrease it and expand it, so as to be the means of saving the United\nStates, and of saving Great Britain, then bring it into exercise. Let\nthe church impart liberally of what she has, both of men and money. She\nwill have the more left, paradoxical as the assertion may at first seem.\nLet the principle of benevolence be aroused in the churches, and it is\nliterally inexhaustible in its resources, both of money and of men; for\nthe more it exhausts the more it still possesses. This is not mere\nmissionary philosophy, but Bible doctrine; and so plainly inculcated,\nthat he that doubts it is a novice in the Scriptures, and a babe in the\nschool of Christ. There is a backwardness, an apathy and deadness in the\nministry, and in the churches; and it is THEREFORE that infidelity and\nRomanism prevail at the West, and that the ignorant class in England and\nIreland remain in wretchedness. The great thing needed is that the\nspirit of benevolence, the spirit of Christ, or in other words true\nreligion, be aroused in the churches. And in no way can you so\neffectually do it as by giving yourself to the missionary work. God's\nwisdom is very much at variance with the cold, calculating,\nshort-sighted and sin-blinded wisdom of man. Let us follow heavenly\nwisdom, as laid down in the Bible: \"GIVE,\" \"GO,\" and thereby save\nourselves, our country, and the world. _That nation that obeys God_\nshall prosper. Let us try the Bible philosophy of saving the United\nStates and Great Britain, BY OBEYING GOD--by going forth and teaching\nall nations.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nIMPORT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION.\n\n\nThe Founder of the church was a missionary. The church is a _missionary\nband_, professedly aiming to carry out the design of its Founder, in the\nwide field of the WORLD. The commission to the apostles is the\ncommission to Christ's ministers in every age. This commission, it is to\nbe feared, is losing much of its force from misinterpretation.\n\nThat a construction somewhat incorrect is placed by some ministers on\nthe commission which they hold, seems to be evident; for how otherwise\nshould an impression obtain, that there is something _peculiar_ about\nthe office of the missionary--that his commission is quite different\nfrom that of other ministers of Christ.\n\nLet the commission of both the minister at home and missionary abroad be\nexhibited and read. The terms, word for word, are the same. It is\nunhappy, extremely so, that a _peculiarity_ is thrown about the word\n_missionary_, since the New Testament authorizes no such distinction.\nBoth ministers at home and those abroad claim to be successors of the\napostles or first missionaries, whose letter of instructions, short but\nexplicit, reads thus: \"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel\nto every creature.\" This is the commission of every ambassador, and no\none, at home or abroad, can consistently hold his office any longer than\nhe continues to act in accordance with its import.\n\nThe Saviour is all-wise, and knew precisely what commission to give. He\ncarefully chose every word in which it is expressed. The apostles showed\nby their conduct how they understood it--that they knew what was meant\nby \"all the world\" and \"every creature.\" Now, I ask, how can such a\nconstruction be placed on these obvious phrases, as to make it\nconsistent for about eleven thousand eight hundred ministers out of\ntwelve thousand to stay in the United States, and about the same\nproportion in Great Britain? The apostles showed by their conduct what\nthey understood by the word \"Go.\" By what reasoning, I ask, has it been\nmade to mean, in fifty-nine cases out of sixty, _send, contribute_,\n_and educate young men_? If an inhabitant of another planet should visit\nthis earth, and see ministers clustered together in a few favored spots,\ncould you make him believe that they hold in their hands the commission\nfirst delivered to the apostles?\n\nWould it be thought dutiful, in military officers, to treat the orders\nof their commander-in-chief as we do the command of our Master; or in\nmercantile agents, to interpret thus loosely the instructions of their\nemployers? The perversion, however, has become so familiar to us, that\nwe are insensible of it; and the fact may be numbered among other\nwonders of a like kind, which the experience of a few past years has\nexhibited. A few years since, good men were in the use of intoxicating\ndrinks without dreaming it a sin; and so now we may be shaping our\ncourse very wide from the command of our Saviour, and yet think not of\nthe guilt we incur.\n\nThe misconstruction has become so universal, and so firmly\nestablished--the true and obvious interpretation buried so deep in the\nrubbish of things gone by--that all books written on ministerial duty,\nwhich I have seen, take it for granted that the persons addressed, for\nthe most part at least, are to preach and labor among a people who have\nlong had the Gospel. And may I not inquire--and I would do it with due\ndeference and respect--Do not lectures on pastoral theology in the\nschools of the prophets take it too much for granted, that the hearers\nare to labor in Christian lands? Is not the business of going into all\nthe world, and preaching the Gospel to every creature, regarded,\npractically at least, as an _exception_, for which there need be no\nprovision in books or lectures? If Paul were to write or lecture on\npastoral theology, would he not give more prominence to the duties that\nmight devolve upon his students in foreign lands? Would he not, indeed,\nmake the work of missions stand forth as _the_ work, and not as an\nexception or a peculiarity?\n\nFew men, in these last days, can quiet their consciences, and yet live\nin entire neglect of the heathen. Almost all professed Christians feel\nthat they must have some interest in the great enterprise. To begin to\nact just as the last command of Christ requires, in its plain literal\nimport, as the apostles understood it, would be a hard and self-denying\nservice. What then shall they do? Will they operate _by proxy_? This is\nthe charming suggestion, by which often conscience is lulled to sleep\nand the heathen are left to perish.\n\nIt is true that many, and perhaps most, must aid in the work by\nproxy--by training up others, by sending them forth, by encouraging\nthem, and by furnishing the necessary means. But the error is, that all,\nwith the exception of perhaps one minister out of sixty, and one layman\nout of three thousand, are inclined so to act. It is wonderful with what\nelectrical rapidity the soothing suggestion has spread abroad. It is so\ninsidious and speciously good, that it has found its way, like an angel\nof light, to the best hearts and holiest places. Indeed, it is a point\nvery difficult to be determined; and many judge no doubt with perfect\ncorrectness, when they decide to act in this way. The danger consists in\nthe eager rush and universal resort. To be sensible that there is such a\nrush, begin and enumerate. Directors and officers of various\nsocieties--and they are not few--of theological seminaries too, and of\ncolleges, think they are employed in furnishing the requisite men, the\nrequisite means, and the requisite instrumentalities, and so are\npreaching to the heathen by proxy. Among ministers, the talented and\neloquent, the learned and the influential, think they must labor in the\nimportant field at home; keep the churches in a state to operate upon\nthe world, and so preach to the heathen by proxy. Ministers generally,\nabout eleven thousand eight hundred out of twelve thousand, are zealous\nfor training up young men, and think in that way of preaching to the\nheathen by proxy. Pious men of wealth, and those who are in\ncircumstances to acquire wealth, or imagine that they have a talent to\nacquire it, profess to be accumulating the necessary means, and to be\nthus preaching to the heathen by proxy. Sabbath-school teachers, fathers\nand mothers, are fond of the notion of raising up children to be\nmissionaries, and of thus preaching by proxy. Proxy is the universal\nresort. Now _some_ proxy effort, and much indeed, is proper and\nindispensable; but must it not strike every mind, that such a universal\nand indiscriminate resort to it is utterly unreasonable?\n\nHow often do we hear the exhortation, \"Let mothers consecrate their\nchildren to the missionary work in their earliest infancy. Let them be\ntaught, as they grow up, that to labor among the heathen is the most\nglorious work on earth. Let teachers in Sabbath-schools impart such\ninstructions, and ministers in their pulpits. Let ministers and elders\nsearch out young men, urge them to engage in the work of missions, and\nlet the churches educate them for that end, and pray for them that their\nzeal fail not. Let no pains be spared and no efforts be wanting, to\nraise up and send forth a large body of young men to labor for the\nheathen.\"\n\nNow in regard to such an effort, every reflecting mind can see that it\nmust be insufficient, if not hopeless. To succeed thus, as I have\nalready said, precept must become more powerful than example. Commit the\nwork of converting the world to your children, and they will commit it\nto your grandchildren. Try instruction in the nursery, try instruction\nin the Sabbath-school, try instruction from the pulpit: it will fall\npowerless as a ray of moonlight on a lake of ice, while contradicted by\nthe _example_ of mothers, of Sabbath-school teachers, and of ministers.\nUrge young men into the missionary field without going yourselves? A\ngeneral might as well urge his army over the Alps without leading them.\nConsecrate them to the work? Would it not be an unholy consecration--a\nconsecration at the hands of those who were not themselves consecrated?\nThe command does not say, _send_, but \"Go.\" Let us then go, and urge\nothers to _come_. We shall find this mode of persuasion the most\neffectual.\n\nLet us commit to proxy that work which is pleasant and easy, and betake\nourselves in person to those kinds of labor that are more self-denying,\nand to those posts that are likely to be deserted. This is the only\nprinciple of action that will secure success in any enterprise within\nthe range of human efforts. Suppose the opposite principle is acted\nupon--that every one seeks for himself the most easy and pleasant work,\nand the most delightful and honorable station, and leaves for others the\nmost obscure, the most self-denying, and the most perilous. Discover\nsuch a spirit in any enterprise, secular or religious, and it requires\nnot the gift of prophecy to predict a failure. Practical and business\nmen understand full well the truth and force of this remark. The true\nmethod is this: if there is a work that is likely to be neglected on\naccount of its obscurity or self-denial, let every one, first of all,\nsee that _that_ service is attended to. And if there is a post likely to\nbe left deserted on account of its hardships or its perils, let every\none be sure, first of all, that _that_ post is occupied. Let there be an\nemulation among all to do the drudgery of the service, and to man the\nThermopylae of danger. Then you shall read in the vigor and nerve of the\naction the certainty of success.\n\nIn this way Bonaparte conquered Europe. If a portion of his army was\nlikely to fall back, there the general pressed forward in person,\ninspiring courage and firmness. If all others shrunk from the deadly\nbreach, thither he rushed, at once, with the flower of his army.\n\nThis principle of action is not more indispensable in the conquests of\nwar, than in the great enterprise of the world's conversion. And how\ntruly glorious, how sublime by contrast, to exhibit this principle of\naction, not in destroying mankind, but in laboring for their salvation!\nLet all Christians be filled with this spirit, let every redeemed sinner\nadopt in practice this rule of action, _to do the most self-denying, the\nmost difficult and perilous work in person, and to commit the easiest to\nproxy_, then there would be a sight of moral sublimity that earth has\nnot seen--all the elements in action that are needed, under God, to\nusher in the millenial day.\n\nO, if to angels were committed the instrumentality of the world's\nconversion, where would Gabriel speed his way if not to the post of\nperil, and to the post of self-denying and toilsome drudgery? I mistake\nhis character much, if he would not betake himself at once to the most\narduous service. O, how he would delight to come down and labor with the\nlowest being on New Holland or New Guinea, and be the instrument of\nraising him up to the throne of Jesus! But to angels is not committed\nthe stewardship of propagating that precious Gospel, which God has\nordained for the world's renovation. The infinite treasure is placed in\nour hands, the immense responsibility is thrown upon us. O, let us prove\nourselves worthy of such a trust, and not become traitorous to the\ncause, by falling into the general spirit of operating by proxy.\n\nBut, in truth, how far do we act on the principle named, that of\nperforming in person the most arduous service, and of leaving the most\npleasant work for others? Look over the desolate and secluded parts of\nthe United States; look over the heathen world, and make out an answer.\nLet facts speak. Is a residence in Arkansas preferred to a residence in\nNew-York, or a voyage to New Guinea before one to Europe?\n\nOur blessed Saviour and his apostles did not feel inclined to shrink\nfrom the more self-denying service, and to shift it upon others. If they\nhad felt so, then we should have continued in a state of darkness, and\nhave known full well the import of present wretchedness and eternal woe.\n\nLet us suppose, for a moment, that the apostles had made the discovery\nof obeying by proxy the Saviour's last command. But I hesitate to make\nsuch a supposition, lest the force of such an immense contrast should\nmake it to be regarded as a caricature upon the operations of the\npresent age. In other words, our efforts to convert the world become so\nclumsy, slow and inefficient, from a lack of the right spirit and enough\nof it, in ministers and in the churches, that to impute the same kind\nand degree of effort to the apostles and primitive Christians, might\nexcite a smile, rather than a sigh; and be deemed an attempt to\nridicule what is at present done, rather than an earnest, serious, and\nsolemn expostulation. Such a result I should deplore. But if my readers\nwill believe me to be aiming simply, with weeping eyes and an aching\nheart, to illustrate with force my own defects and their short-comings\nin duty, by detecting and tracing out a wrong principle of action, I\nwill venture cautiously to make the supposition.\n\nThe words of the last command have fallen from the lips of the ascended\nSaviour, and the apostles assemble to deliberate how they shall carry\nthem into execution. In the first place, Peter delivers an address. It\nis an able and thrilling discourse. He seems impatient to wing his way\nto foreign lands. After the discourse, they form themselves into a\nsociety. Arrangements being made, and the machinery being complete, they\nsend forth John to solicit funds. He finds the disciples willing to\ncontribute on an average, after much urging, about twenty-four cents\neach. A pittance of money is obtained, and then they search for a man.\nThey thought Peter would be ready to go, from the speech he delivered,\nbut he wishes to be excused: he has a family to support. They then fall\nupon various plans: some think of training up young men to go forth,\nand others exhort parents to infuse a missionary spirit into their\nchildren. At length, however, it is found that one of the twelve begins\nto feel that he has a call to go--but this would be at the rate of one\nthousand from the twelve thousand ministers in the United States. This\none man is sent forth to \"go into all the world, and to preach the\nGospel to every creature.\" The rest of the apostles sustain the various\noffices of the society, and have charge of important posts in Jerusalem,\nand in the cities and villages round about. They meet yearly, to\ndeliberate upon the missionary enterprise. Some feel much, and humbly\npray, and some say eloquent things about the glorious cause, and tell\nhow they have found a fulcrum, where to place the lever of Archimides to\nelevate the world.\n\nNow I ask most solemnly, and in a spirit of grief and humiliation, how\nsuch a course of conduct would have appeared in the apostles? Would it\nhave evinced a spirit of obedience? Believe me, in early times, a\nreadiness to obey supplied a great deal of machinery. Bring back into\nthe ministers of the present day the spirit of the apostles, and into\nthe churches the spirit of the early disciples, and operations at once\nwould be more simple and more efficient. A backwardness in duty--a\ndisposition, if we do anything for the heathen, to do it by proxy,\n_this_ is it that makes the wheels so ponderous and encumbered. \"The\nletter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.\" Give us the spirit, and\nannihilate the notion of operating so much by proxy, and we shall soon\nsee a multitude of angels flying in the midst of heaven, having the\neverlasting Gospel to preach to the nations.\n\nThere is _no cheap or easy way of converting the world_. It is to be\nfeared that some fall into the contrary notion, because they do not wish\nto believe that _all_ they possess is needed in the work of the Lord,\nand that there is absolute necessity that they themselves go to the\nheathen. It is to be feared, that it is for this reason that so many are\nready to imagine that the work is to be done by a few men, and a small\namount of means. It would seem they expect to form lines of these few\nmen, and encircle the globe in various directions; to place them on\nprominent points, like light-houses, and leave each with his single lamp\nto dispel the darkness of a wide circumference. They seem to imagine\nthat nations can be elevated from a degradation many ages deep, and\nthoroughly transformed, religiously, morally, mentally and socially, by\nthe influence of a few missionaries, scattered here and there on some\nhigh eminences of the earth: that a single missionary, under a withering\natmosphere, is to be preacher, physician, teacher, lawyer, mechanic, and\neverything that is necessary in raising a whole community from the\ninconceivable degradation of heathenism, up to the elevation of an\nindustrious, intelligent, and Christian people.\n\nNeither are the expectations formed by many, of mission seminaries, less\nvisionary. A school, with two or three teachers, limited accommodations\nand small funds, with all its school-books to make, and the whole\nliterature to form, is expected to accomplish all the work of the\nacademy, college, and theological seminary, and speedily to transform\nuntutored savages into able preachers of the Gospel.\n\nAnd it is expected, by not a few, of the wife of the missionary--though\nliving under a burning sun, in a house of poor accommodations, with\nunfaithful domestics, or none at all; that notwithstanding, she will\nnot only attend to the arduous duties of the household and educate her\nown children, but teach a school among the people, and superintend the\nfemale portion of the congregation--a task which a minister's wife in a\nChristian land, and under a bracing air, does not often attempt.\n\nNow, would it be really a benefit to the church thus to flatter her\nindolence and her avarice, and convert the heathen with a fraction of\nwealth and a handful of men? Be assured, God loves the church too well\nthus to pamper a luxurious and self-indulgent spirit: he will allow no\ncheap and easy way of accomplishing the work. The object is worth more:\nworthy not only of the combined wealth of Christendom, but worthy also\nof the energies, the toil, and the blood if necessary, of the greatest\nand holiest men. It will not be in consistence with God's usual\nprovidence that a victory so noble should be achieved, till the\ntreasures of the church shall be literally emptied in the contest, and\nthe precious blood of thousands and tens of thousands of her ablest and\nbest men poured out on the field. The work has already cost the blood\nof God's only Son; and the prosecution and finishing of it shall be\nthrough toil, self-denial, entire devotement, and obedience even unto\ndeath.\n\n_Some rules that may be of use in agitating the question of becoming\nmissionaries._\n\n1. Guard against an _excuse-making_ spirit. This is an age of excuses.\nThere is no need of seeking for them; they are already at hand, and of\nevery variety, size and shape. They are kept ready for every occasion.\nIf one will not suit, another may be tried. Be admonished then, that a\ndisposition to be excused is not much different from a disposition to\ndisobey.\n\n2. Guard against _antinomianism_ on the subject of missions. There is a\ngreat tendency in these days to _say and do not_. The thrill of the\nmissionary theme, like an exhilarating gas, is pleasant to many; but the\nsober and humble business of engaging in the work is not so welcome. A\ndisposition to say much and do little is a feature of the most alarming\nkind. It shows an obtuseness of conscience.\n\n3. Remember that Divine direction is better than human wisdom. We are\nvery much inclined to argue the question, \"Where can I do the most\ngood?\" Be assured we can do the most good by _obeying_ the Saviour: by\ncarrying out the spirit of his last command. Let us keep _close_ to that\ncommand: it is safer than to determine by our own dark and biased\nreasoning, and by our very limited foresight, where we can be the most\nuseful.\n\n4. The nearer you live to Jesus, the more hope will there be of your\ncoming to a right decision. There is a process of conviction and\nconversion before a man becomes a missionary--a serious conflict.\nNothing but nearness to the Saviour will prepare a man to pass through\nsuch a conflict, and keep safely on the side of truth and duty.\n\n5. If, after examining thoroughly and prayerfully the question of\nbecoming a missionary, the mind waver between conflicting reasons, it\nwill be safest to lean to the side of the greatest self-denial.\n\n6. In selecting the place of the greatest usefulness in the wide field\nof the world, the best rule is, to fly to the post most likely to be\ndeserted.\n\n7. A kindred principle is, to do in person the more difficult and\nunpleasant work, and to commit the more easy and delightful to proxy.\n\n8. Remember the time is short. A few days more, and we shall meet our\nSaviour in the presence of a world of souls.\n\n9. Keep in mind the conduct of our blessed Saviour, and be imbued with\nhis spirit. Feel as he felt, and do as he did, when he beheld us in\nmisery and in sin.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTRIALS TO BE MET.\n\n\nCommon trials need not be named: we allude only to a few of those that\nare most severe. Take then first, the trial of leaving friends. The\nSaviour says, \"He that loveth father or mother more than me is not\nworthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not\nworthy of me.\" The plain meaning is, to be Christians, our love to\nChrist must be supreme. Now, if it is supreme, it will show itself to be\nso in our conduct. There is full room, even at the present day, for a\npractical test of this condition of discipleship. Not only is the\n_spirit_ of this passage required, but in many cases, a _literal\ncompliance_ with the identical things named in it. This saying of our\nSaviour has been too much forgotten. Like some other important sayings\nof our Lord, it has been virtually expunged. It has been regarded as\napplying only to apostolic times--to times of persecution. This is a\nwide mistake. If all nations are to be enlightened by the use of means,\nthere must be a practical exhibition among Christians at the present\ntime, and in all time to come, of a love to Christ superior to the love\nwhich we owe to father, mother, son or daughter. And this love is not\nspoken of as a high attainment in piety, but as an indispensable\ncondition of discipleship. The missionary enterprise presents many\ninstances of stern necessity to test and exhibit this principle.\n\nThe occasion most familiar to the general reader, and the one best\nappreciated by him, is the time when missionaries go forth to the\nheathen. They are compelled to break away from almost every tie. The\nstrength of attachment to all that is dear on earth, is a feeling that\nmay be experienced, and can be imagined too, in part, but can never be\ndescribed. There are a thousand ties, and tender ties too, that must be\nsundered. The loved scenes of childhood and youth, and scenes of sacred\npeace and pleasure that cluster about the sanctuary, the conference-room\nand the praying circle, must all receive a parting thought.\nFriends--dear friends and connections, must receive a last adieu and a\nlingering look. But O how keen the sensation when the last sigh, the\nlast tear, and the last embrace is to be exchanged with father and\nmother, brother and sister--when all the touching associations of\nkindred and home are for once revived to be dismissed forever!\n\nImagine not that the sensibilities of missionaries are less exquisite\nthan those of other persons. The pangs they endure are indeed alleviated\nby soothing considerations drawn from the Gospel; but they are,\nnotwithstanding, deep--deeper than the looker-on may at first suppose.\n\nThere may be some persons--I have heard of such--who misrepresent the\nfeelings and motives of missionaries in leaving their friends; who\nimpute to them cold hearts and a bluntness of sensibility; who say that\nthey are wanting in filial devotion, and can therefore leave aged\nparents to droop and die: that they have a small share of fraternal\naffection, and that it is therefore they can break away from the embrace\nof brothers and sisters, and leave them in anguish and in tears. All\nthese remarks are sometimes made, and perhaps oftener secretly indulged,\nthan openly expressed. It is often that the missionary is not allowed to\ntake his leave merely with a bleeding heart and a soul gushing with\nemotion, but is compelled to endure a keener anguish: that of knowing\nthat the course he is taking, agonizing as it is, is imputed by some to\na want of sensibility; to a destitution of the finer, tenderer, and more\ndelicate feelings, that adorn society, and that make families lovely and\nhappy. Here then are trials: such, however, as he must cheerfully meet\nfor Christ's sake.\n\nBut the separation from home, with its numerous and nameless\nendearments, and at the risk of misrepresentation, is but the first\nlesson of obedience. That person whose love to Christ is so weak as to\nfail here on the threshold, would give but poor evidence of being\nprepared for similar and severer trials in prospect. The _main_ occasion\nfor exemplifying the spirit of the Saviour's words to which we have\nalluded, is on heathen ground, when stern necessity calls upon parents\nto make the best disposition in their power in regard to their own\nchildren. This is an occasion not so well understood by the Christian\ncommunity as the one I have noticed. The difficulties in the way of\nproperly training children on heathen ground are not clearly seen;\nneither are all the objections appreciated which attend the usual\nalternative, that of sending them to a Christian land. These are the\noccasions of trial, compared with which all other sufferings of the\nmissionary are scarcely worthy of being named. They are trials, however,\nthat must be met, not evaded; for the Saviour says, \"He that loveth son\nor daughter more than me is not worthy of me.\" They must be cheerfully\nmet, and counted \"all joy,\" or we cannot claim the spirit of the first\ndisciples.\n\nThere are those, I know, who would relieve this subject at once by\nproposing the celibacy of missionaries; but the argument of such persons\ncan hardly be deemed worth considering, till they shall know a little\nmore \"what they say, and whereof they affirm.\" Celibacy for ministers\nat home would be a much more proper and expedient arrangement, than for\nmissionaries in most foreign fields. And one would think that the\nexperience of the church, from the days of the apostles till now, had\ntaught us enough to silence at once any such proposition, and to place\nit forever at rest. Were it in place for me, I could give reasons here\nto the heart's content: but I deem it more prudent to forbear.\n\nThe DIFFICULTIES in the way of training children on heathen ground,\ncannot all be named; and fewer still can be justly appreciated by those\nwho have never made the attempt. What I shall say will apply\nparticularly to barbarous and degraded nations, such as the Sandwich\nIslanders once were; for it is to such nations that the missionary's eye\nshould be specially directed.\n\nI shall mention first, _the difficulty of keeping children from the\npollutions and vices of the heathen_. Children have eyes, and among the\nheathen what do they see? I need only refer you to the knowledge you\nalready possess of the naked condition, vile habits, and gross vices of\na barbarous people. There is much in heathen society which cannot be\ndescribed, but which children must more or less witness. The state of\nthings, in this respect, is very much improved at the Sandwich Islands;\nbut I refer to that condition in which they once were--to that condition\nin which all barbarous nations are, without the light of the Gospel.\nImagine then to yourself this feature of heathen society, and then\nrepeat the inquiry, What do children see?\n\nAgain, children have ears, and they cannot be so effectually closed as\nto be kept from learning in some measure the language of the heathen.\nAnd if they become acquainted with the language of the heathen, what do\nthey hear day after day? In many a pagan country they are liable to hear\ndisputes, contentions, revilings, execration and blasphemy; but what is\nmore, they are liable to hear in familiar, unblushing and open\nconversation, words and phrases which are not so much as to be named.\nThe heathen have no forbidden words in their language. Every term is\nliable to be brought into public and frequent use without the least\nsense of impropriety.\n\nOn account of this pernicious example and vile conversation, many\nmissionaries, where it is practicable, make walls about their houses,\nand endeavor by strict inclosures to prevent their children from having\nintercourse with the natives. This can be done in some places, and to\nsome degree, while children are young; but when they are somewhat grown\nup, it is preposterous to think of keeping them within inclosures. And\nas soon as they are out of their inclosures, there are a thousand\npitfalls ready for their feet, on the right hand and on the left. How\nmuch solicitude was felt by Abraham and Isaac for their children, on\naccount of the heathen population which surrounded them. This pernicious\ninfluence, better imagined than described, and still better seen than\nimagined, is one of the reasons which lead missionaries to undergo the\nagony of separation, and to send their children to a Christian land.\nThis evil at the Sandwich Islands is much diminished, but not so much so\nas may at first glance be supposed from the progress in Christianity\nwhich has been made, and from the powerful revivals which have here been\nexperienced.\n\nAgain it must be remarked, that children trained up on heathen shores\nare in danger of _contracting habits of indolence_. The heathen, as a\ngeneral remark, exert themselves no oftener and no longer than they\nfeel the pressure of present want. They are far from being industrious,\nand farther still from anything like enterprise. Those nations that are\npartly civilized exhibit more or less industry, and are acquainted with\nsome of the arts; but barbarous nations are acquainted with none of the\nimprovements that elevate society, and exhibit a state of lounging\nindolence and torpid inactivity. If there be noise, it is not the rattle\nand whirl of business, or the hum of industry; but the noise of giddy\nmirth, boisterous and unmeaning laughter, or fierce and angry\ncontention. If there be stillness, it is not the peace and quiet of\nwell-ordered society, but the gloomy and deathlike stillness of\nindolence, sensuality, and beastly degradation. Now, who does not know\nthat children are likely to be much influenced by the aspect and\ncharacter of the society by which they are surrounded? Who does not know\nthat they are likely to imbibe the spirit of the nation in which they\nlive, whether on the one hand it be that of industry and enterprise, or\non the other, that of sensual ease and torpid indolence? Let a youth be\ntrained up in a village of intelligence, active industry and stirring\nenterprise; let his ears be filled with the noise of business from\nmorning till night; let him travel in stages, in steamboats and on\nrailroads, and it will be next to impossible for him to be indolent and\nsluggish. But in heathen society, the whole atmosphere is entirely\ndifferent; it is a choke-damp to all activity, and it falls on the\nsenses with a benumbing and deadening influence.\n\nBut more than this, missionaries have no business in which to employ\ntheir children; and if it were possible to devise business in which to\nemploy them, there is no one to superintend their labor. Missionaries\nhave no time for the purpose, and no other persons, among most pagan\nnations, can be found who are trusty and competent. This is a stubborn\nfact, and stands in the way as a very great obstacle. Neither, in most\ncases, can the children of missionaries be kept industrious in the\nacquisition of knowledge. Their fathers and mothers cannot devote so\nmuch of their time to their children, as to keep their minds\nindustriously employed in the pursuit of knowledge; and as to schools,\nmost missions are not thus favored. Missionaries then, if they keep\ntheir children on heathen ground, run the risk of seeing them grow up\nin habits of inactivity and indolence. This, if a risk, is a fearful\none; for missionaries ardently wish their children to be useful when\nthey themselves shall be dead. But indolence and usefulness are the\nopposites of each other; whereas indolence and vice are closely allied.\nTo prevent then this deadly evil, of having their children grow up in\nindolent habits, is one of the strong reasons why missionaries resort to\nthe heart-rending alternative of parting with their children, with but\nlittle probability of seeing them again this side the grave.\n\nAgain, as the state of things now is, the children of missionaries, if\nkept on heathen ground, can possess but _very limited advantages for\nmental improvement_. Their mothers cannot be depended upon to instruct\nthem much in literature and the sciences. Under the influence of a\nwithering atmosphere, often sick, with no help in many countries in\ntheir domestic affairs but untrusty domestics, and often with none at\nall, and obliged to attend to many calls from the people, or run the\nrisk of giving offence, how can they be expected to find much time and\nstrength for disciplining the minds of their children, and storing them\nwith useful knowledge? They may succeed in giving them an acquaintance\nwith the branches of common education, but to carry them into the higher\nbranches is, as a general remark, entirely out of the question. Such a\ntask is by no means expected of a minister's wife at home, much less can\nit be expected of the wife of a missionary.\n\nNeither can their fathers be depended upon to give a thorough education.\nMinisters at home would find it a great encroachment upon their time to\nspend several hours each day in instructing their own children; but they\nhave _vastly_ more leisure to do so than the foreign missionary. To\ninstruct a class of three or four requires the same apparatus, the same\npreparation in the teacher, and the same number of hours each day, as\nwould be required for a class of thirty or forty. But should a\nmissionary devote such an amount of time and means to his own family, it\nmust be to the neglect of other labor. The most economical, and the most\nefficient course by far, evidently is, to collect together a sufficient\nnumber of missionaries' children to form a school, and devote a\ncompetent number of teachers entirely to that work.\n\nBut even where such schools can be enjoyed, they must be attended with\nmany risks and privations, and be only preparatory in their nature.\nThose scholars, who may need a thorough education, must be still under\nthe necessity of visiting a Christian land. It is too of great, and\nperhaps indispensable importance, that youth who are trained for active\nlife should see the industry, enterprise, and intelligence of a\nChristian land, and so far, at least, partake of its character and\nimbibe its spirit.\n\nMissionaries, then, must either suffer their children to grow up with a\nvery limited education, or submit to the alternative sooner or later of\nsending them to a Christian land. But missionaries see the want of\nlaborers in the great field of the world, and ardently desire that their\nchildren may be qualified to take part in the work. They choose\ntherefore the present anguish of separation, bitter as it may be, that\nthere may exist a reasonable prospect that their children, at some\nfuture day, may be eminently useful in the vineyard of the Lord.\n\nOne other difficulty I must name, and that is, that missionaries'\nchildren, if kept on heathen ground, will have _no prospect of suitable\nemployment when old enough to settle in life_. They will have no trades.\nTo be merchants they will not have means. They will not be acquainted\nwith agriculture, and in many countries will not be able to obtain land\nto cultivate. Some, who are fit for the work, may become preachers and\nteachers, but will not command the influence that they would if they\nwere educated in a Christian land. Thus the prospect of suitable\nemployment is very dark, and is a fact in the case of much weight.\n\nThese reasons and others that might be named, possess in the minds of\nmissionaries immense force--force enough, in many instances, to induce\nthem to tear from their embrace the dear objects of their love, and to\nsend them over a wide ocean to the care of friends, and often to the\ncare of strangers. They do not lead all parents to this result; for on\nthe other hand, there are strong, very strong objections to such a\ncourse. The trial in either case is great; but it is one that must be\nmet, not evaded. It is wise to count the cost, but it is treason to be\nfaint-hearted; for the trial, after all, cannot weigh much in the\nbalance against the eternal interests of the dying heathen. HOW MUCH\nWORSE IS THE CONDITION OF MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF HEATHEN CHILDREN!\n\nThe first OBJECTION in the minds of missionaries against sending their\nchildren home, is, that _such a measure seems unnatural_. That it is a\nviolation of nature, all parents not only admit, but most deeply _feel_.\nGod has implanted feelings in the breast of natural parents, which\npeculiarly fit them to take care of their own children. No other persons\ncan precisely take their place, and feel the same interest, the same\nunwearied concern--the same unprovoked temper and unchangeable love\nthrough good report and through evil report. In a word, no other\npersons, however good and worthy, can be _natural parents_. Guardians\ncan be found, who will feel a warm interest in those children who are\nbright, interesting, well-behaved and pious. But to feel properly for\nchildren that are dull, uninteresting and wayward, requires a _parent's\nheart_.\n\nThat this is the state of the case, is too true to be denied. For\nparents, then, to violate this provision of nature, is causing a sword\nto pierce through their own bosoms, and the bosoms of their children: to\ndo it without sufficient reasons, is to act at variance with the God who\nmade them. In the feelings implanted in the breasts of parents towards\ntheir children, God has established a general rule: has made known his\nwill, his law, and indelibly inscribed it on the parent's heart.\nMissionaries must be able to plead an _exception_ to this general law,\nor they will be found to be opposing the will of their Maker. That the\nvery strong reasons they can urge really justify an exception, is plain\nto the minds of many, but not to the minds of all.\n\nAnother objection arises from the command binding upon parents to train\nup their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is clear\nto the minds of some missionaries, that the spirit of this and similar\ncommands is complied with when they make provision, according to the\nbest of their judgment, for the religious education of their children.\nBy others it is thought, that these explicit commands of God cannot be\nobeyed by any arrangement which commits the work to proxy; that there is\nrisk in committing the work to others; that fully to obey God, parents,\nif not removed by death, must _in person_ pray with their children and\ninstruct them in the truths of the Gospel; and that they must do this,\nnot only through the period of childhood, but also through the season of\nyouth, or till their children are old enough to think and act for\nthemselves. It is admitted by all, that it is _desirable_ that parents\nshould do this interesting and responsible work in person. No one else\ncan do it with the feeling and unction natural to parents. All not only\nadmit this to be true, but _feel_ it, too, to the very centre of their\nsouls. But some think that it is not only very desirable, but altogether\nindispensable--that any other course is an unwarrantable substitution of\nhuman wisdom for the explicit direction of the all-wise God. The reader\nmust judge whether this position is tenable or not.\n\nThere is another objection: If missionaries' children are sent home,\nthen one very important _influence of a missionary's family upon the\nheathen_ is in a great measure lost. Among the heathen, the family\nconstitution is in ruins. The state of society is almost a perfect\nchaos. It is of immense importance, therefore, not only to inculcate the\nprinciples of domestic peace, but actually to bring before their eyes\nliving examples of well-ordered and happy families. They need to see,\nnot only young children well governed, but also the mutual interchanges\nof love, affection and duty, between young people and their aged\nparents. But this they cannot see if children are sent home. A\nmissionary's family, who sends his older children home, and keeps with\nhim only those that are quite young, is not like a tree adorned with its\nnatural and well-proportioned branches, but presents the aspect of a\ntree closely trimmed, and with only a few twigs left at the very top.\nAnd when all his children are sent away, his family presents the aspect\nof a trunk without branch, shoot, twig or foliage, standing alone in an\nopen field. This is unnatural, blighting to much of the comfort and\ncheerfulness of the parental abode, and is not the example which it is\ndesirable to hold up before the eyes of the heathen. One important\nreason, then, why a missionary should have a family, is lost in sending\nhis children home.\n\nI mention as another objection, the dangerous influence to which\nchildren are more or less exposed on a _long voyage at sea_. From some\nof the missionary fields, the voyage must be five, six, or seven months.\nI speak not of what are called the dangers of the deep, or the hardships\nof a sea life for six or seven months. These are of little account. The\ndanger of which I speak is, the pernicious influence to which for that\nlength of time they are exposed. This is an objection which, though not\nof sufficient weight in itself to determine one's course, may yet come\nin as an item in making up the account.\n\nOn the supposition that children are sent, they go of course without\ntheir parents. In some cases the protector to whom they are to be\nintrusted may not be altogether such as could be desired. Even in case a\nparent accompanies the children, he will find it a great task to keep\nthem from many pernicious influences during a long voyage. In very many\nships they will hear more or less profane, low, vulgar and infamous\nlanguage, both in conversation and in song. They will see exhibitions of\nanger, impatience, fretfulness, boisterous laughter and giddy mirth.\nThey will see the holy Sabbath made a day of business, or at best a day\nof lounging and idleness. They will be likely on the one hand to\nreceive such caresses as to make them vain and self-important; or, on\nthe other hand, to be so treated as to chafe their tempers and injure\ntheir dispositions. In short, for six or seven months, they must be\nthrown into a strange family; into a family confined to the narrow\nlimits of a ship's cabin and deck; into a family over which the parent\nof the children has no control; into a family, too, composed of the\nvariety of character and disposition of those who sail on the ocean.\nThus circumstanced, children inevitably suffer much, even under the\nvigilant eye of a parent, and still more would they suffer under any eye\nless careful and attentive. This moral danger to which children are\nexposed at sea, though not an objection of the strongest kind, is yet an\nitem worthy of being noticed. Missionaries think of it when sending away\ntheir children, and dread it far more than tempests and tornadoes.\n\nAnother objection is, that _no adequate provision is made for the\nsupport and education of missionaries' children_, if sent to a Christian\nland. The provision that is made by the American Board of Commissioners\nis $60 a year for a boy till he is eighteen years of age, and $50 a\nyear for a girl during the same period. Now, every one sees that this is\na sum scarcely sufficient to furnish them with food and clothing,\nwithout provision for sickness or means of education. It may be said,\nthat they must be thrown much upon the spontaneous charities of\nChristians and of friends. But such a dependence must be uncertain,\nespecially as few Christians appreciate the reasons and feelings of\nmissionaries in sending home their children. Who of my readers in\nChristian lands would be willing to throw his own child on such a\nprecarious subsistence?\n\nBut the strongest objection, in my opinion is this: _If no other course\ncan be adopted than that of sending the children home, it is to be\nfeared that the number of missionaries will never be so increased as to\nafford a rational prospect of the world's conversion._ While the plan of\nsending children home is cherished, it will seem so incompatible with a\nlarge number of laborers, that it will tend to perpetuate the\ndestructive notion, that the nations are to be saved by the labors of\nmerely a few hundred men. But if means are to be employed in any measure\ncommensurate with the end in view, a few men cannot put forth the\ninstrumentality needed to elevate all nations. To commit the work to a\nfew is in truth to relinquish it. If, then, the measure of sending\nchildren home should tend in the least to favor this destructive notion,\nit must, if possible, be avoided. This tendency is disastrous; and is,\nof course, an objection of immense force.\n\nIt is clear that there are, on the one hand, very strong reasons for\nsending children home, and on the other hand, very strong objections to\nsuch a course. Missionaries, then, are reduced to a very trying dilemma.\nWhichever course they choose, it is equally distressing. Whichever way\nthey turn, they find enough to rend their hearts with anguish. There are\ntwo cups, mixed indeed with different ingredients, but equally bitter,\none of which they must drink. Their only comfort is to look upward, pour\ntheir sorrows into the ear of God, and cast their cares on him who\ncareth for them. This is a trial, the sting of which cannot be\nappreciated except by those who have felt it. It is by far the greatest\ntrial of the missionary, and probably greater than all his other trials\ncombined. The pain of leaving one's kindred and country is nothing\ncompared with it.\n\nBut if the cup be of such a mixture, can there be found those whose\nhearts are so insensible as to throw in other ingredients to make the\ndraught more bitter? If missionaries keep their children, and ask for\nthe requisite means of education, shall they be called extravagant? If\nthey send them home, shall they be regarded as possessing but a small\nshare of natural affection?\n\nHere, then, are trials; but however great, they are to be met, not\nevaded--met by the churches, met by missionaries; and however severe and\nagonizing such trials, they are nothing in the balance against the dying\ncondition of the heathen. The situation of our children, trying as it\nis, is unspeakably better than that of three hundred millions of heathen\nchildren and youth. The Saviour commands--the world is dying--and he\nthat loveth son or daughter more than Christ is not worthy of him.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe inquiry is worth notice, Whether the situation of missionaries\ncannot be so altered as to change very materially the state of the\nquestion, in regard to their children? Would not such a change be\neffected by the going forth of laymen in great numbers, and of all the\nuseful professions, arts and employments, so as to form little circles\nhere and there over the earth?\n\nA great part of the heathen world is open for such classes of men.\nAppeals for such men have been sent from Africa, Asia Minor, Siam, the\nSandwich Islands, and in short from almost every mission. They would of\ncourse labor under greater or less disadvantages; but these\ndisadvantages should only have the effect to call forth the more energy,\npatience and perseverance.\n\nBut it will be asked, How would the going forth of such classes of men\nbetter the condition of missionaries' children?\n\n1. They would afford society, form a public sentiment, and thus serve in\na measure to keep children from the influence of a heathen population.\nIt is already found on heathen ground, that where there are several\nfamilies of missionaries, the children form a society among themselves;\nbut where there is but one family, the children are more inclined to\nseek society among the degraded objects about them.\n\n2. Again, if men of various useful employments should be located with\nthe missionary, there would be held up before the children examples of\nChristian industry and enterprise; whereas, in their present isolated\ncondition, the children suffer from an atmosphere of indolence and\nstagnation.\n\n3. The going forth of such men to introduce the different arts and\noccupations, would afford suitable employment for the children and youth\nof missionaries, and furnish them to some extent with permanent\nsituations in mature life.\n\n4. If there were such little circles of laymen as we suppose, they would\nhave at whatever sacrifice, as the Pilgrims of New England did,\ninstitutions of learning among themselves, where children and youth\nmight receive a suitable education.\n\nUnless some arrangement of this kind can be made, the trials of\nmissionaries must remain unrelieved and unmitigated. And even with such\nan arrangement, the trial would be only in part removed. Even then the\nchildren of foreign laborers would by no means receive all the\nadvantages of a Christian land, neither would they be shielded from all\nthe evils of a heathen community. But it is worthy of thought, whether\nby such an arrangement they would not be so far shielded, and possess\nadvantages to such an amount, as to change the preponderance of\nargument.\n\nThen, in addition to this or some similar arrangement, should not\nChristians _be more liberal in affording means and facilities for\neducation, and expect of missionaries to devote to their children more\nof their time_?\n\nI have now brought before your minds the greatest of all missionary\ntrials; and yet I urge many of you, ministers and laymen, and urge you\nconsiderately and solemnly too, to enter the work. I have not hesitated\nto state freely the whole difficulty, for I am in no wise unwilling that\nyou should count the cost. And I would say with Gideon, \"Whosoever is\nfearful and afraid, let him return and depart early.\" God desires no\nfaint-hearted men in his service. He desires men that shrink from no\nself-denial for his sake. For after their trials are over--and they will\nbe but short[*]--he wishes to crown them with glory, and place them at\nhis own right hand as partners of his throne. He will place no\nunbelieving, faint-hearted men there. He will place none there who are\nnot \"worthy of him.\" And remember that he said, \"He that loveth son or\ndaughter more than me, is not worthy of me.\"\n\n[Footnote *: The author, soon after writing this appeal, was called to\nenter into the joy of his Lord.]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn looking at the embarrassment of missionaries in regard to their\nchildren, a thought something like this is apt to arise: missionaries\nare by profession a class of self-denying persons, and this trial is\nonly in consistency with the life they have chosen. Now, where in the\nBible do you find, that a spirit of self-denial and of consecration is\nenjoined peculiarly upon missionaries more than upon others? Where do\nyou find it intimated, that a missionary spirit is a thing superadded to\nChristian character? An entire consecration of our children to Christ is\nnot a test of missionary spirit, but a test of discipleship. Not the\nmissionary, but \"_He_, that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not\nworthy of me.\"\n\nThe spirit of this injunction requires _all_ parents to train up their\nchildren in that way in which they may be of the greatest service to\nChrist; and not only to be willing--that would be but a small measure of\nChristian feeling--but earnestly and constantly to pray, that they may\nbe employed in that part of his vineyard, and in that kind of work,\nwhere they can be instrumental of the most good, even though it be on\nsome distant shore, teaching the alphabet to the ignorant and degraded.\n\nBut is this the spirit which prevails in the churches? I have seen it\nstated that, of twenty or more young men in a theological institution,\nwho were at the same time agitating the question of their duty to become\nmissionaries, _all but two were discouraged by their parents, and these\ntwo were the sons of widows_. Many other facts of a similar kind might\nbe added, if it were best to name them. Many parents give their children\nto the Lord when young, and talk of locating them on the shores of\nJapan, or New Guinea; but the very manner of educating them--in\nsoftness, delicacy and helplessness--shows at once the inefficacy of\nsuch a profession. Many parents are quite ready to consecrate their\nchildren before they become pious. \"O, if the Saviour would only convert\nmy child, I would readily yield him to go to any part of the world, and\nto perform any service for which he might be fitted.\" The child becomes\na Christian, and proposes to go to the heathen. The parents cling,\ndissuade, and throw every consideration in the way to keep him at home.\n\nAt the judgment day, if I mistake not, we shall see a great deal of our\nconduct in a different light from what we do now.\n\nThe spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of self-denial for the sake of\nChrist. The Saviour is worthy of our highest love, and no earthly\nattachment can be allowed to come in competition with the supreme\naffection which we owe to him. This love to Christ must be manifested by\nobeying his commandments. To yield strict obedience to Christ in this\nworld, disordered and confused by sin, it is frequently necessary to\nsunder some of the tenderest ties on earth. Keen as is the sensation, it\nmust be endured. A child must not cling unduly to a parent, nor a parent\nto a child, but each cling with more ardent feelings and firmer grasp to\nJesus Christ and his cause. This world is not our rest. Neither is it a\nplace to give much indulgence to many of the fond affections of the\nsoul. There is no time for it. We live in a world of sin--a confused,\ndisordered and chaotic world--in a revolted territory, among a crowd of\nsinners dying an eternal death. The main point then is, to save our own\nsouls and the souls of as many as possible of our fellow men, before the\ngrave shall close upon us. The indulgence of many of our tenderer\nfeelings of love and fondness must be postponed to a more peaceful\nabode. While in a world of dying souls, self-denial and laborious effort\nare most in place. Parental and filial affection should be deep and\nardent indeed, but under the control of judgment. Love to Christ and to\nsouls must predominate and govern our conduct.","title":"Thoughts on Missions","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":44627}