Faith, the principle of missions

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♦ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. }j

FAITH,

THE PRINCIPLE

OP

MISSIONS.

BY

THOMAS SMYTH, D. D.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

No. 821 Chestnut Street.

1?V'

0^

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857,

By JAMES DUNLAP,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.

CONTENTS.

Page
Preface 5

Fundamental Facts 9

Faith, the Principle of Missions 11

The Faith of Isaiah in the conversion of the world.. . 15

The Faith of Patriarchs in the conversion of the

world 23

Our Faith provoked to exercise, not only by that of

former ages, but also of heathen nations 33

Faith in the conversion of the world sustained by
invariable prophecy and practice, and by ever
augmenting evidences 40

This Faith essential to Christian life, and is guided
only by the authority, requirements, and pro-
mises of Christ 51

PREFACE.

The following argument and appeal may be con-
sidered as a sequel to "The Conversion of the World ;
or, How are the Heathen to be Converted?" published
by the Board. In that, the purpose of God and the
agency of man were exhibited. The union of Christ
and his people is the divine instrumentality for the
conversion of the world— an agency by which God is
glorified, and man exalted. God in Christ, as repre-
sented in sinful, guilty, and perishing sinners, gives
"to every creature in all the world," a divine, an
irresistible claim upon the sympathy, the love, and
the labours of every faithful, loving, and obedient
heart. And every zealous and self-denying believer,
representing Christ, and faithfully exemplying his
covenant and promise, is consecrated by an unc-
tion from on high, which at once makes him a
king and a priest unto God, a co-worker, and an
ambassador of the Prince of Peace. For in his hand

Is put the writ of manumission, signed
By God's own signature ; to drive away
From earth the dark infernal legionry
Of superstition, ignorance, and hell;
High on the pagan hills, where Satan sat,
Encamped, and o'er the subject kingdoms throws

b PREFACE.

Perpetual night, to plant Immanuel's cross,

The ensign of the gospel, blazing round

Immortal truth ; and, in the wilderness

Of human waste, to sow eternal life ;

And from the rock, where Sin, with horrid yell,

Devours its victims unredeemed, to raise

The melody of grateful hearts to heaven.

Such and so great, such and no less than this, is
every Christian.

What then is the principle by which, in this holy
and heavenly task, the Christian is sustained? That
principle is faith ; and the delineation of this truth
is the one object of the present treatise.

The term "missions" is of Latin, and not of scrip-
tural origin. It is therefore delusive, by leading
many to imagine that the enterprise it expresses is of
human, and not of divine appointment. The word,
however, is only a brief translation of scriptural
terms which indicate the chief end and work of
the Church and of every believer. These are both
"sent" into the world, prepared and delegated by
God to propagate the gospel, and to evangelize the
world.

How to begin, how to accomplish best,

This end of being on earth, this mission high,

should be to every man his one great business here.
For even as the Father sent Christ into the world, so
has Christ sent every disciple of his into the world,

With holy trembling, holy fear,
His utmost counsel to fulfil.

PREFACE. 7

Every believer, therefore, is one sent, that is, he is a
missionary. He is sent on a mission. And to make
this calling sure, and to endure to the end in every
good word and work, is to take up his cross and
follow Jesus.

The Church, therefore, is a mission, and every
Christian is a missionary. The object of this mission
is the conversion of the world. The end to be secured
is glory to God by the salvation of them that are lost.
The means to be employed is the gospel. The
principle is faith.

It is thus obvious that the field of this mission is
"all the world," embracing "every creature;" and
that there can be no Home and Foreign Missions.
These terms are purely relative and conventional.
The centre of the missionary field is in every coun-
try, every state, every neighbourhood, and its cir-
cumference is that which is distant from it. What
is a home mission in one place, and in one country,
is foreign to every other; and what is more, it has
a reference to, a bearing upon, and a connection
with, every other. The Church is one. The mis-
sion of the Church is one. The mission of every
believer is one. The end contemplated, prayed for,
laboured for, by every Christian, is the progress,
the permanence, and the power of Christianity,
throughout the whole world. For this he is com-
missioned. This is the tenor of his "orders." Every
dispatch from his Leader and Commander bears upon
its face this impress, and looks to this result. Whe-

8 PREFACE.

ther, therefore, the Christian is male or female, young
or old, a private member or an officer, a deacon, an
elder, or a minister, a Sabbath-school teacher, a col-
porteur, an editor, an author, or a publisher, he is to
live, and labour, and give, and pray, and do all to the
glory of his divine Saviour, in the universal diffusion
of the glorious gospel of the blessed Jesus. To live and
labour for self, or family, or home, or church alone,
is to turn renegade, to violate orders, to repudiate his
commission, to circumscribe what is universal, to
write corban on what is for the good of all, and to
transform apparent obedience into resistance, and
partial duty into disobedience and selfishness.

"Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief." And
whatsoever I do, help me to do it as unto thee, and
for that world of which thou art the Saviour. And
may I rejoice that I am counted worthy to be a mem-
ber of thy universal kingdom, thy Church throughout
the earth ; to feel that all I do is done to it, and con-
ducive to its interests ; and that in all its glory and
its shame, its conquests and defeats, its promises and
prospects, I am a partaker.

Blest Spirit which with love imbued,

Not seeking recompense,
Turns to the Giver of all good

From things of sight and sense.

How great is thy reward in store,

To whom e'en now 'tis given,
Christ to receive in His own poor,

And make thy home a heaven.

FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE OF MISSIONS.

FUNDAMENTAL FACTS.

I:sr a little volume, entitled " The Conver-
sion of the World; or, How is the World to
be Converted?" it was shown that the king-
dom of Christ is destined to an absolute
universality ; that this universality is to be
accomplished through the agency of man;
that for this agency man is naturally and
spiritually endowed; that the diffusion of
the gospel — that is, the good news of salva-
tion— is a solemn trust, with which, under
all dispensations of the Church, men have
been invested ; that the holiness and happi-
ness of believers have ever been dependent
upon their fidelity to this trust ; and that we
are therefore impelled to self-denying energy
and devotion in the cause of Christ, by what-
2

10 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

ever of obligation and of love we owe to him
as our Redeemer, and by all that we desire
and hope for from him, for the increase of our
faith and the consummation of our joys.

The whole theory, power, and prosecution
of Missions, Home and Foreign, therefore,
rest upon the great fundamental truth of
the supreme Divinity, paramount authority,
infinite wisdom, illimitable resources, and
boundless sovereignty of our Lord and Sa-
viour Jesus Christ.

Christ, as Head over all things, Lord of
lords, and King of kings, has dominion over
the nations, as truly and as fully as over the
Church. The sovereignty of Christ over the
kingdoms of the world is not less fully nor
less clearly taught in Scripture, than his
dominion over the Church; neither is it less
essential, or less full of encouragement and
assurance to his believing people. The de-
cree, ratified with the oath of God, that to
Christ the heathen shall be given as an inhe-
ritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
as his possession; that to him every knee
shall bow, and every tongue confess, and that

OF MISSIONS. 11

his kingdom shall rule over all, is thus ren-
dered infallibly certain, not only because
God has decreed it, but also because the
government is upon his shoulders, to whom
is given all power in heaven and on earth,
and one jot or tittle of whose omnipotent
will cannot fail.

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

To him shall endless prayer be made,
And endless praises crown his head;
His name, like sweet perfume, shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.

People and realms of every tongue
His love shall praise with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Loud hallelujahs to his name.

FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE OF MISSIONS.

The principle of Missions, that is, of all
Christian enterprise, is therefore faith —
faith in the authority, and wisdom, and
power, and unchangeable purposes of God
in Christ.

12 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

Faith, to her royal standard ever true,
Leading on high the bright and ordered line,
And raising with firm hand her Master's sign,
Around her throws a stole of heavenly blue,
The cross her sceptre, and her victory too.

As a scheme of universal philanthropy, and
of self-denying, self-sacrificing expenditure,
the gospel scheme for the conversion of the
world, justifies itself only to God's children.
It appeals not to the wisdom, or valour, or
pitiful compassion of unsanctified humanity.
In its estimation it is folly. As it regards
its object, its instrumentality, its motives,
and its achievement, it is as high above
the thoughts of impenitent and unbelieving
men, as are the heavens above the earth.
It can only be understood, so as to be fully
appreciated, and heartily believed, and per-
severingly sustained, where there is a spiri-
tual discernment.

Faith guides us through the dark to Deity,

Whilst without light we witness what she shows :

God in his word, as well as works, we see,
And trace the course of empires to their close.

Faith is illimitable in its source and object.
Its weakness is lost in infinite strength, its

OF MISSIONS. 13

ignorance in boundless wisdom, its narrow
sphere in omnipresence, its partial vision in
omniscience, its evanescent life in eternity.
It is almighty in the mightiness of God, in-
vincible in his power, unerring in his fore-
sight, indomitable in his resources, confident
in his immutability, and happy in his hap-
piness.

Lord, now thou art ascended high,

And from thy temple gone,
Let faith her eagle-wings supply,

And see thee on thy throne ;
Her mystic touch still feel thee here,
And in each heart thine altar rear,
Till thou in glory shalt return,
And earth with heavenly love shall burn.

That the heathen will be converted, and
the whole world brought into subjection to
Christ; that as a Christian I am bound to
labour for their salvation; that my feeble
and limited cooperation can be of important
help in the furtherance of such a glorious
work; that in any event such labours of love
shall receive a full recompense of reward; —
this is just as truly a matter of faith, founded
exclusively upon the testimony and authority
2*

14 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

of God, as is any one of all the other doctrines
of the Bible. They all stand or fall together.
They are component parts of the same reve-
lation, and of the same plan of redemption*
They must be received or rejected together.
If one be true and of infinite moment to be
believed and obeyed, not less so is every
other; and not less is this great doctrine and
duty of the world's conversion. For He who
said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved," also said, "Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature." If therefore the one saying be
true, the other cannot be less veritable; and
if he that believeth not the one shall be
damned, he that disobeys the other must, in
like manner, be condemned, because he hath
not believed on the only begotten Son of
God.

"Go preach my gospel," saith the Lord;
"Bid the whole earth my grace receive:
He shall be saved, who trusts my word,
He shall be damned, who wont believe.

" Teach all the nations my commands;
I'm with you till the world shall end :

OF MISSIONS. 15

All power is trusted in my hands,
I can destroy, and I defend."

He spake, and light shone round his head;

On a bright cloud to heaven he rode :
They to the farthest nations spread

The grace of their ascended God.

THE FAITH OF ISAIAH IN THE CONVERSION OF THE
WORLD.

So it was from the very beginning. Let
us revert to the prophecy of Isaiah, uttered
nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, that
"the glory of the Lord should be revealed,
and that all flesh should see it together."
This was clearly one of those "words of God
which came of old time," through prophets
who understood not the things that they
uttered, though they searched diligently
what, or what manner of time, the Spirit
that was in them did signify when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should follow. The prophecy was
therefore more a matter of faith and obedi-
ence to Isaiah and his contemporary believ-
ers, as resting more exclusively on the author-
ity and power of God for its accomplishment,

16 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

than it is to us in these last days. How this
prophecy was to be fulfilled, no man at that
day could possibly conjecture. But a very
limited portion of the inhabitants of the
globe, constituting "all flesh," was then
known to the dwellers in Palestine. They
were not entirely ignorant ; but what they
knew was little more than enough to make
it certain that far more remained unknown.
Many portions of the world, of which they
had acquired some information, were beyond
all ordinary or safe means of access. The
opportunities of intercommunication were
very limited, expensive, and hazardous. The
means for diffusing information, and inter-
changing ideas, were also of the most imper-
fect and unsatisfactory character. The pro-
duction of a single volume was a work of
industry for years, and of heavy expenditure.
And thus also the arts and manufactures,
which now elevate and refine society, which
impart comfort, which induce to the cultiva-
tion of a fixed and permanent home, and which
secure opportunities for instruction and learn-
ing, were then but very partially developed^

OF MISSIONS, 17

and very laboriously carried on. And in ad-
dition to all these insuperable obstacles to
the possible accomplishment of the promise,
the work itself was, humanly speaking, among
the most impossible of all impossibilities; for
even then it had become a proverb, that no
nation had ever changed its gods. Jer. ii. 11.
The prophecy was therefore believed to be
divine, and to be a future certainty to the
prophet Isaiah and contemporary believers,
only because it was the fiat of Him whose
will is power, whose power is infinite, whose
infinity is wise, whose wisdom is omniscient,
whose omniscience is omnipresent, and whose
existence is an eternal now — the same yes-
terday, and to-day, and for ever.

One adequate support for Zion's hopes,

Whose towering height seemed built on nothingness,

"Was laid — one only ; an assured belief

That the procession of her fate, howe'er

Sad or disturbed, was ordered by a Being

Of infinite benevolence and power ;

Whose everlasting purposes embrace

All accidents, converting them to good.

The event foretold through Isaiah had as yet
no existence, no being, no substance ; nothing

18 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

that could be either seen or handled. Dark*
ness still shrouded in moral chaos the greater
portion of the earth, and the foretold revela-
tion of the glory of God, and the universal
diffusion of spiritual light, was then as incre-
dible and mysterious as the foretold creation
of a new world out of the original chaotic
void would have been to beings who preceded
it. The present certainty and infallible as-
surance felt by the prophet, and believers of
that age, that this event, as yet invisible and
future, would nevertheless be literally accom-
plished somehow, and at some time, was
therefore founded solely upon the testimony
of God that such should be the case. That
testimony was believed, embraced, and con-
fided in by them with undoubting confidence.
This was their faith. The same principle
which enabled them to believe, in opposition
to all the theories of philosophy, that the
heavens and the earth were made out of
nothing by the word of God's power, led
them to believe also, that a new moral
heavens and earth would arise out of the
chaotic ruins of this sin-cursed and polluted

OF MISSIONS. 19

world. " God," they said, "hath spoken it,
and let God be true, though his truth should
make every man's wisdom and philosophy a
lie. With man it is impossible, but with God
nothing is impossible; and having determined
upon it, he will surely bring it to pass."

Here truly is something marvellous, and
well deserving our most earnest considera-
tion. Let us turn aside and contemplate this
wonderful sight.

Oh, how great was the faith then exercised
by the prophet and his believing country-
men ! It was nothing less than the substan-
tial embodiment, in actual reality, of the long
distant consummation so devoutly hoped for;
and the evidence, plain and irrefragable, of
the things not yet seen. It brought, with
telescopic eye, the distant near, the future
present, and the invisible within the range of
sight. It caught the triumph from afar, and
rejoiced in hope of the glory to come. Its
glimmering light penetrated the gloom of
centuries, and seeing Christ's day afar off, it
was glad. It laughed at impossibilities, and
boldly said to every intervening mountain,

20 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

"Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the
sea." The unscalable mountains became a
plain before it, the valleys were exalted, the
rough places became smooth, and a glorious
highway was constructed, on which the cha-
riot of the gospel was beheld rolling onward,
in its victorious march, conquering and to
conquer. Against hope they believed, and
against all the weakness and imbecility of
man's nature, to which these events were
utterly impossible, they were strong in faith,
knowing that what to man was impossible,
was possible and easy to God ; that a thou-
sand years were to him as one day, and one
day as a thousand years; and that what he
has determined shall be, is as real and as
certain as what already exists. They said,

Therefore, if thou canst fail,
Then can thy truth and cause. But while rocks stand,
And rivers run, thou canst not shrink or quail :
Yea, when both rocks and all things shall disband,
Then shalt thou be our rock and tower,
And make their ruin praise thy power.

How does this faith, this hope in despair,
this love for Christ unseen, this work for

OF MISSIONS. 21

Christ's kingdom, though yet unestablished,
and all this manifested by those to whom
Christ, "the glory of the Lord/' was yet
unrevealed and his work unfinished — oh ! how
does this faith of a prophetic age rebuke and
put to shame our littleness of faith in the
universal extension of that kingdom which
" the glory of Jehovah," manifest as our incar-
nate Saviour, has actually established by his
finished sacrifice and death, and over which
he now ever presides in all the glory and
the power of his infinite attributes! Why,
oh, why are we so faithless and unbeliev-
ing! With all that was most inconceiv-
able to the mind of man in the early pro-
mises of redemption, brought to pass in the
wondrous life and expiatory death of the
divine Deliverer, why should we limit the
high and mighty Ruler of this divine king-
dom, or question the promise of his coming,
or hesitate to live and act in view of the
ultimate success of all his decrees, and the
literal fulfilment of all his prophecies ? What
though there are difficulties, insurmountable
by human wisdom, in the way ! What though
3

22 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

but partial success has thus far resulted from
past achievements and expenditure! What
though clouds and darkness are round about
the Christian host, and envelope the move-
ments of the Captain of their salvation ! He
who is our Leader and Commander, has all
times and seasons, as well as all hearts in
his hands, and in his own measure and man-
ner will surely perform all that he has pur-
posed, and all that he has promised.

All hail, triumphant Lord !

Heaven with hosannas rings,
While earth, in humble strains,

Thy praise responsive sings :
Worthy art thou, who once was slain,
Through endless years to live and reign.

Gird on, great God, thy sword,

Ascend thy conquering car,
While justice, truth, and love,

Maintain the glorious war:
Victorious, thou thy foes shalt tread,
And sin and hell in triumph lead.

Make bare thy potent arm,

And wing the unerring dart
With salutary pangs,

To each rebellious heart ;
Then dying souls for life shall sue,
Numerous as drops of morning dew.

OF MISSIONS. 23

THE FAITH OF PATRIARCHS IN THE CONVERSION OF
THE WORLD.

But there is a sight even more wonderful
and more overpowering than this wondrous
faith of a prophetic age. For great as was
the faith of Isaiah and his contemporary be-
lievers in the future universality and triumph
of the kingdom of Christ, it was not as great
as that of previous ages. Isaiah had an earlier
testimony on which to fall back. Other pro-
phets— Nahum, Hosea, Micah, Amos, Joel,
Solomon, David, Samuel, Moses, Jacob,
Abraham, Enoch — had all preceded him,
and had kindled beacon lights along the
coasts of time, and left memorials of God's
wonderful works already performed, as sure-
ties of the mightier marvels yet to be accom-
plished. God had thus, at sundry times and
in divers manners, spoken in past times the
glorious things in store for his Church. The
light of prophecy and promise was kindled
even in Eden, when God announced the
coming Deliverer, and complete redemption to
fallen man. It was more brightly illumined
by the establishment of the Church in the

24 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

family of Adam, and among " the sons of God"
in the ante-diluvian dispensation. It was
kept burning with bright hope, in the ark,
amid the raging waves of a deluged world.
It was again rekindled on Ararat, and in the
bow of promise. The stars of heaven com-
bined their effulgence to increase its signifi-
cance to Abraham, and to his believing seed
in all generations. And thus had the shining
light shone more and more clearly and con-
vincingly, as the perfect day of full and final
completion drew on.

A wanderer through the vale of years,
Faith westward bent her pilgrim feet,
And here hath made her blest retreat.
A wondrous key her shoulder bears,
The blue of heaven the stole she wears.
When angels left sad Eden's seat,
She staid, fallen man's companion meet:
Again his downcast head she rears,
And seeks the lost to calm their fears.
'Twas she at Jordan vigils kept,
And by Euphrates sat and wept :
To those who still her secret prove,
A hidden power she doth disclose,
A word that may the mountains move.

Now on all this series of fulfilled prophecy

OF MISSIONS. 25

and developed providential events, all cor-
responding parts of the one great prophecy,
and all conspiring to its consummation, Isaiah
could fall back. To this law and testimony
he could bring his own revelations. In its
light he could see to read their obscure and
doubtful interpretation. He could compare
the one with the other; and finding them
exactly accordant in principle, and only dif-
fering in form and degree, he could confirm
and strengthen his faith by looking to what
was already done, while anticipating with
undoubting assurance what was yet dark and
distant.

The course of Providence, in the great
work of redemption, resembles a boundless
ocean; the distance between the commence-
ment and the termination of whose onward
flow is as far as from the beginning to the
end of time. Innumerable are the bays and
inlets, the shoals and quicksands, the rocks
and tempests, that interrupt and shape its
course. And often, in the thick fog, and the
murky night, and the lowering storm, and
when the lights burn dim, the future has
3*

26

seemed to be a dreary blank. But in Isaiah's
time the divine chart of prophecy had hitherto
guided the vessel of the Church safely and
prosperously through many a fearful tempest,
and had thus inspired her brave mariners with
implicit confidence in steering right onward,
amid every future vicissitude. The anchor
they well knew was within the veil, invisible
to mortal eyes, but sure-fastened to the eter-
nal throne. Every new promise, and every
fresh interposition and fulfilment, were so
many impregnable chains fastened to it, and
reaching out into the present and visible, so
as to be both seen and handled and again
made fast, by the invincible links of faith, to
every drifting voyager. To these links there-
fore, Isaiah and the believing hearts of his
age could cling, and be thus held fast and
made buoyant with hope, in all time of their
darkness and despondency, until the day-star
should arise, the promised morn appear, and
the glorious day of the world's redemption
shine forth in its meridian splendour.

Let the storms ply their deep and threat'ning bass,
The Bow of Promise shall the shade illume,

OF MISSIONS. 27

Brightly descried in Faith's eternal glass,
E'en like an angel's many-coloured plume
Waving in tempest — pledge that in her bloom,
Nature, emerging from the stormy mass,
Will keep her time and order. Let them pass —
The wicked and their plottings ; 'mid the gloom,
The Church surveys her covenant sign, and smiles;
And 'neath her solemn rainbow's dripping arch,
A mystic wing spreads o'er her daring march,
And forth she goes, on heavenly work the whiles,
Though weeping, sure that Christ in joy shall bring
Earth's gathered sheaves at harvest-moon to sing.

But to Adam and Eve, to Abel and Enoch,
and to the early seed of the woman — the sons
of God, the true believers — these promises,
these prophecies, and these fulfilments, were
all future. Satan had triumphed. Man was
cursed. The earth groaned, being burdened.
Cain, who was himself the hoped-for Deli-
verer,* was already a murderer, and the child
of succeeding promise, the first bloody victim
of all-conquering death. As men multiplied
sin increased, and irreligion, ungodliness, and
apostacy abounded. And yet to them and
their believing posterity was still held forth

* Eve said, " I have received Him, even Him who will
be ! The promised One ! The longed for!"

28 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

and reiterated the glorious promise of an
ultimate and universal establishment of the
kingdom of Christ, the Jehovah who was to
come, that, as the Mighty God, he might
destroy the works of the Devil, spoil princi-
palities and powers, making a show of them
openly, and bring in an everlasting right-
eousness, and a kingdom that should not be
moved.

How great then was the faith required of
these primitive and patriarchal believers, to
live, and labour, and endure, and suffer, and
hope unto the end, for the promise to be real-
ized to themselves and all future ages, while
they had no other foundation to stand upon
than the simple word, and promise, and com-
mand of God ! How childlike, how beautiful !
How touchingly inspiriting, and yet reproving
to us, is the confidence with which they laid
hold of that one rope thrown out to them from
above as they struggled against the floods of
unbelieving and ungodly men, amid the whirl-
winds of temptation and delusion, and relied
upon the anchor of their hope, clung to the pro-
mise and prophecy, and held fast to God, to

OF MISSIONS. 29

duty, and to a joyful expectation ! Oh ! how
long was that vista through which the eye of
their faith had to pierce ! How dark the vault-
ed labyrinth of ages and empires, of floods and
fires, of revolutions and dynasties, of progress
and decay, of victories and defeats, of eclipses
and returning light, of persecutions and tri-
umphs, through which their faith had to wind
its darkling way to the glorious but far dis-
tant future ! How faintly did the lamp of
prophecy burn, when it cast its flickering sha-
dows and transient beams of light upon the
waves of future ages, as these, like tides, rose
and fell, ebbed and flowed, and what time
they broke in fury on the shore ! For let it
be remembered, that the whole scheme of
redemption, and its accomplishment and
final triumph, were all, to the faith of these
primitive believers, future, invisible, indefi-
nite, obscure, known only in part, and seen
only as through a glass darkly. And yet they
believed. They counted Him faithful who
had promised. They staggered not through
unbelief. They had not obtained the pro-
mises; but they saw them afar off, and were

30 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

glad. They rested in hope. They endured,
as seeing Him who, though invisible, was
sure to come, and to take to himself his great
power, and reign. They took God at his
word. They esteemed that word as of more
certainty and might than all the treasures of
earth, all the armaments of power, and all
the wisdom and politic strategy of statesmen.
They counted the cost. They calculated the
chances. They weighed all consequences in
the scales of eternity, and estimated their com-
parative value by the arithmetic of heaven.
And esteeming an interest in this kingdom,
and in its ultimate glory, as of more import-
ance than all material and sublunary things,
they denied themselves for its sake, separated
themselves from the world, and consecrated
themselves, and all they possessed, to the
promotion of the cause of Christ, and to
the overthrow of the cause and kingdom of
Satan.

It was the saddest time e'er lowered on earth,
As sin and sorrow woke in Paradise,
When mercy's voice mid frighted nature's cries,
Broke forth, and pledged a Saviour's birth.

OF MISSIONS. 31

Then faith in Adam's heart heard the glad cry,
And the dark clond which had his soul begirt,
Was loaded with glad prophecy, and bright
With the eternal Saviour nigh.

Oh! when we contemplate these ancient
disciples of the same faith, and see them
going forth in the grey misty morning of
the world's sad apostacy, to contend not
merely against flesh and blood, against unbe-
lieving, scoffing men, and against potentates
and rulers, but also against principalities and
powers, with no promise of a present victory;
when we picture them to our minds, sowing
the seed of the word for a distant and future
harvest; when we behold them thus toiling
and sacrificing, not for themselves, but for
us, who have entered into their harvest;
when we hear Enoch proclaiming the coming
of Christ's final and glorious kingdom to an
unbelieving generation, and Noah preaching
the same glad tidings, and Job exulting in
the anticipated incarnation of a manifested
God; when we look in upon the dying Jacob,
and see him lifting up his eyes to this star of
hope, and dying peacefully under the light of
its promised salvation; when we contemplate

32 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

Moses preferring self-denial, and sacrifice,
and death itself in the cause of Christ, to
the pleasures of sin, and the splendour of a
throne; and Daniel and his compeers testi-
fying for the supreme authority and dominion
of a coming Messiah, in the fiery furnace and
the lions' den; — oh! with what shame and
confusion of face should we be filled, when we
contrast our unbelief, our unfaithfulness, and
our cold and lukewarm service, and our selfish
covetousness, and our easy, self-indulgent
benevolence! How shall we stand in judg-
ment with them ! How will they convince,
and accuse, and condemn us! And how far
will they transcend our measure of reward,
if, with our poverty of faith and works, we
are even thought worthy of any place in their
blest society — who, out of their deep poverty
both of motive and of means, abounded to
the greatness both of faith, and hope, and
charity.

Unto the East we turn — from the cold bourne
Of our dull Western cave Faith's pensive mood
Sets there her tranced eyelid, gathering food
Of solemn thoughts, which make her less forlorn,
While back to patriarchal men she's borne.

OF MISSIONS. 33

There, mid her evening and dim solitude,
She joins the companies of the wise and good,
Who walked upon the Gospel's glorious morn ;
Their dwarf dimensions of mortality
Seeming to grow upon the golden sky,
So great, so high their heart's fidelity!

OUR FAITH PROVOKED TO EXERCISE, NOT ONLY BY
THAT OF FORMER AGES, BUT ALSO OF HEATHEN
NATIONS.

Isaiah provoked his carnal, worldly, and
unbelieving generation, by holding up, in
contrast with their unbelief and want of zeal,
the faith and devotion of them that were no
people by covenant, but to whom, by mis-
sionary effort, the word of God had been
revealed, and by whom that word, with its
exceeding great and precious promises, had
been believed and acted upon, as indeed the
word and testimony of God. And, oh! how
should we now be provoked, when we find
nations that until recently lay in midnight
darkness, awaking to the call of the gospel
trumpet, and not only themselves receiving
the gospel, but, clothing themselves in its
4

84 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

panoply, becoming the heralds and mission-
aries of the cross to their benighted fellow-
men.

The Queen of Rarotonga, an island in the
South Pacific Ocean, having about four
thousand inhabitants, who are converted to
Christianity, addressed recently the follow-
ing letter to the Treasurer of the London
Missionary Society.

"Dear Sir — Love to you through the
Lord Jesus the Messiah, You know that
ours is a land of poverty, and that we have
no gold holes here. Firewood, sweet pota-
toes, and poultry, are the only means by
which we can obtain money.

" At the annual meeting of 1855 we found
that our subscriptions did not amount to
what we intended; and we urged one another
to increased diligence that our subscriptions
might be more next year. One of our num-
ber got up and said, 'The bag for this year
is not full. Let us try if we cannot choke
it up before we talk about next year.' Then
we began to search our pockets, and by some
means or other we got up to what we pro-

OF MISSIONS. 35

mised, and we were very happy, and thanked
God for giving us the means.

"We are prospering spiritually and tem-
porally. Men and women are imitating the
good ways of you foreigners, who have come
to us with the blessings of the gospel, and
whose customs were never before known
in this land. We are planning to get more
money for the coming year, and we have
already obtained something toward it. This
is my word to you, Mr. Moneyholder. Do
not be cast down; you have hitherto had
much, and I hope you will yet have more.
We will do what we can, and would do more;
but we have no hole here where gold is found.
These are our desires, that the word of God
may increase among us, and spread through-
out the world. The amount of our sub-
scription for 1855 is two hundred and thirty
dollars. Signed, Na Makea.

October 4, 1855."

The report of the London Missionary
Society for 1856, states that the donations
to that Society for the previous year, from
its missionary stations, wTas £14,773 8s. 5c?.,

36 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

or about $71,000; and speaking of the in-
habitants of Rarotonga, Dr. Van Camp,
American Consul in the Islands, remarks :

" It is also interesting to notice how anx-
ious they are, both men and women, old and
young, to contribute to the missionary cause
abroad. They have regular missionary socie-
ties, and at their meetings make interesting
speeches, and get up contributions for the
relief of the poor naked heathens of the
West, who have not had the light of the
gospel among them. This is done by a
people who wear no clothing except two
yards of common cotton wrapped around
their loins, and on Sunday some wear a
shirt besides. These people contribute lib-
erally to the London Missionary Society;
they have one day in the year which they
call the 'neay ;' when they form in large pro-
cessions, and carry their donations, which is
generally of money, to the missionary house.
They also contribute food and useful articles
for the noble barque John Williams. On
her arrival they also form a procession miles
long, each carrying some article. Some

OF MISSIONS, 37

have pigs strung on a pole, others chickens,
fish, yams, bread-fruit, &c."

How does such a faith in the purpose and
power of God, and in the success and sure
recompense of every effort made for the
advancement of his kingdom, as exhibited by
such people, in circumstances of such deep
and abounding indigence, shame the poverty
of our contributions offered out of the abund-
ance of our wealth, and in great weakness
of faith, notwithstanding the clearness of the
evidence on which we are permitted to rest,
and the positive command by which we are
required to give and labour and pray for the
universal extension of the gospel and king-
dom of Christ !

Let us then stir up our hearts to the

consideration of this subject. The principle

of Foreign Missions is not enthusiasm, nor

fanatic zeal, or the authority of any man nor

of any church. It is not sectarian prose-

lytism or denominational ambition. No, it

is none of these. It is, as we have seen,

nothing more nor less than that faith which

lies at the foundation of all religion — faith
4*

38 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

in the Bible as God's word — faith in the
promises and prophecies of God contained in
the Bible — faith in the power of God to ,
accomplish all his purposes — faith to believe
that our efforts, however feeble and inade-
quate, are mighty through God to the pull-
ing down of the strongholds of sin and
Satan, and that they will secure for our-
selves a recompense of glory. It is that faith
which confers not with flesh and blood, with
selfishness, or even with prudence. It looks
for no present and temporal reward. It
asks not if the result is probable, or even
possible. It is impeded by no difficulties or
dangers. It shrinks from no toil or sacri-
fice. It measures results by no scale of
economy and penurious outlay. It only
asks for the word and promise and command
of God. This is enough. This is all that it
wants. And planting itself firmly on this
rock of ages, it consecrates body, soul and
spirit, wealth and influence, to the glorious
work of the evangelization of the earth.

This principle animates the Queen and
people of Rarotonga and many other mis-

OF MISSIONS. 39

sionary churches. This principle animated
Isaiah and all believers that preceded him.
This principle sustained Zephaniah, Habak-
kuk, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, in labour-
ing for, and expecting those future glories
of Messiah's kingdom, of which they were
the inspired prophets. This principle also
gave life and love and power to the apostles
and primitive Christians, and made them con-
querors, and more than conquerors against
the combined forces of earth and hell. And
this is still the principle and the only princi-
ple which can originate, and sustain, and
carry on, through evil and through good
report, in prosperity and adversity, when
successful and unsuccessful, and in the face
of all other apparently conflicting claims of
home and country and kindred, the cause of
Foreign Missions. Take away the command
of Christ, and it is madness. Leave that
command as it is, and it is as simple, as plain,
and as positive a duty as that of faith and
repentance towards God. Remove that com-
mand, and its accompanying promise, and

40 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

belief in this enterprise is fanaticism; but
with these both before us, unquestioned, and
unquestionable, unbelief in this cause is sin,
indifference to it is treason; and the neglect
of it for the avowed purpose of advancing
other objects, however good in themselves, is
to become wiser than God, and to impute to
Him either folly or imperfection, or Utopian
impracticable schemes.

"Ye haughty mountains, bow
Your sky-aspiring heads;
Ye valleys, hiding low,

Lift up your gentle meads,
Make His way plain
Your King before:
For evermore
He comes to reign."

FAITH IN THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD SUSTAINED
BY INVARIABLE PROPHECY AND PRACTICE, AND BY
EVER AUGMENTING EVIDENCES.

Let it then be remembered that neither
the cause nor the principle of Foreign Mis-
sions is peculiar to the Christian dispen-
sation of the Church of God, or to Chris-
tian believers. They have both, as we have

OF MISSIONS. 41

seen, existed from the beginning. They
took their rise at the same epoch. They ori-
ginated' together in the fall of man and the
proclamation of a coming and a divine Re-
deemer, through whom, and by faith in whom,
sinners might be saved, and an apostate
world be again restored to their rightful
and only happy and honourable allegiance.
Faith in this cause and cooperation in its
advancement have ever, therefore, constituted
the very character and life of the sons of God,
as opposed to the sons of men, of those who
served the Lord, as opposed to those who
served Baal. They constitute, in fact, the
life and the activity of the Church of God.
Faith is the crowning grace, and this devotion
the paramount duty, of religion. Faith rely-
ing simply on the word, authority and power
of God, and giving itself wholly to the accom-
plishment of his will, is of all possible exer-
cises of humanity, the most glorifying to
God, and the most noble, exalted, spiritual,
and divine prerogative of man. It is there-
fore blessed with a preeminent benediction,
in proportion as it believes, confides, acts,

42 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

and ventures everything, without having sight
or sense to assure its certainty — knowing
that blessed are they who having not seen
yet believe, and who, not wearying in well-
doing, persevere through every discourage-
ment, assured that in due time they shall
reap if they faint not.

To us the prophecy of Isaiah and the
whole purport of the divine oracles, of which
that prophecy is but an epitome, is, to a
great and glorious extent, yet unfulfilled.
We are yet in the wilderness as was Israel
in the time of Moses. The land of promise
is yet unentered and in reversion. But,
like those Israelites, we have left the Egyp-
tian land of darkness and of bondage. We
have seen many signs and wonders, and
mighty works wrought by our divine Leader,
the Captain of our salvation. Many enemies
have been overcome, and many impossibili-
ties removed out of the way. Greater mira-
cles than the dividing of the Red Sea, the
water from the rock, and the manna from
heaven, have been performed in our day.
The Roman empire, that colossal range of

OF MISSIONS. 43

impassable mountains, reaching to the very
heavens — the let* which hindered the success
of apostolic preaching — has been taken out
of the way, overthrown, and ground to pow-
der, by the little stone cut without hands.
The Mohammedan empire, the next greatest
adversary to the progress of Christianity,
has been undermined and weakened, and is
tottering to its fall. All the other systems
of false and superstitious idolatries are weak,
and ready to perish. India, and China, and
the islands of the sea, are opening their arms
to the welcomed reception of the gospel. The
ice-bound shores of the northern regions of
the earth have caught the rays of the Sun of
Righteousness, and are now verdant with the
flowing streams and the green pastures of
salvation. f

* 2 Thess. ii. 7.

f " The labours of the Lutheran and Moravian mission-
aries have been so far successful among these people,
that but few of them are now without the pale of pro-
fessed Christianity; and its reforming influences have
affected the moral tone of all. Before the arrival of
these self-sacrificing evangelists, murder, incest, burial
of the living, and infanticide, were not numbered amongst

44 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

The vast territory of Australia is now
teeming with a flooding tide of Christian
population, and is supplying the very means
for its own further and full evangelization.
This whole continent, embracing nearly half
the surface of the earth, has been reclaimed

crimes. It was unsafe for vessels to touch upon the
coast; treachery was as common, and as much honour-
ed, as among the Polynesians of the Eastern seas.
Crantz tells of a Dutch brig that was seized by the
natives at the port of Disco, in 1740, and the whole
crew murdered; and, two years later, the same fate
befel the seamen of another vessel that had accidentally
stranded. But for the last hundred years, Greenland
has been safer for the wrecked mariner than many parts
of our own coast. Hospitality is the universal charac-
teristic, enjoined upon the converted as a Christian
duty, but everywhere a virtue of savage life. From
Uppernavik to Cape Farewell, the Esquimaux does not
hesitate to devote his own meal to the necessities of a
guest. The benefits of the missionary school are not
confined to the christianized natives; and it is observ-
able, that the virtues of truth, self-reliance, and gener-
ous bearing, have been inculcated successfully with
men who still cherish the wild traditionary superstitions
of their fathers. Some of these are persons of strongly-
marked character, and are trusted largely by the Danish
officials." — Dr. Kane's American Exploration.

OF MISSIONS. 45

from barbarism, and is fast brightening with
the promise of a glorious harvest. The
superhuman system of Popery, built up and
supported by all the machinations of earth
and hell, though still powerful, and in some
respects making progress, is filling up the
measure of its iniquity, is decaying at its very
root and heart, and only awaits the lifting
up of the axe which has long lain at its roots,
to call forth the universal cry of exulting
nations, " Babylon is fallen, is fallen. "

Much, very much, therefore, has been
accomplished towards the full and final tri-
umph of Christianity. Generations have
been instructed, trained, and made ready for
the coming of the Lord in his great power
and might. All the preparations for a great
and successful campaign have been manifestly
going forward. The discovery of the mari-
ner's compass has converted the impassable
gulf of the ocean into the means of safe
and easy intercommunication, whitened every
sea with the sails of commerce, and thus
bound country to country by all the ties of
interest and convenience. The printing
5

46 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

press, which soon followed in the march of
providence, has given wings to thought, and
multiplied tracts and books as the leaves of
the forest, or the sand upon the sea-shore.
The application of steam to the various pur-
poses of navigation, manufactures, and even
printing, has accelerated, perfected, and
indefinitely multiplied the resources of human
wisdom for the furtherance of the civiliza-
tion, refinement, and christianization of the
earth. The discovery of the telegraph has
annihilated time and space, or at least brought
them within the comprehension and control
of men. The power-loom and the cotton-gin
have given impulse to the cultivation of a
plant which can supply decent and beautiful,
and at the same time cheap, clothing to all
the inhabitants of the globe. Slavery, how-
ever it may be denounced as imperfect, and
attended with evil, has been employed by
the same unerring wisdom and over-ruling
Providence as an instrument for the preserva-
tion, elevation and conversion of millions
who would have lived and died in heathen
ignorance, superstition and cruelty. War,

OF MISSIONS. 47

that most fell of all bloody and ferocious de-
mons, has been converted into a source of
peace, its spears turned into pruning-hooks
and its swords into ploughshares, and its very
blood made to fructify barren lands, and to
bind together in amity and peace the ene-
mies of many past generations. The spirit
of evangelization has been awakened in the
Christian churches throughout the world,
who are now provoking one another to love
and zeal, and devotedness in this work of the
Lord, this mission of the Church. Even now
the heathen world is brightened here and
there by many a blaze of gospel light, kin-
dled amid its savage wastes. The spires of
Christian churches are seen rising amid the
domes of mosques, the splendour of heathen
temples, or amid the wild wastes of the unre-
claimed forest. Missionaries are counted by
thousands, and their schools, and scholars
and disciples by hundreds of thousands. The
Bible is translated and published, and tracts
and volumes issued in some one hundred and
fifty languages.

48 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

God, therefore, is evidently preparing the
way for a final entrance into the land of pro-
mise. All things are becoming ready. The
world ere long will be traversed by lines of
steamers, railroads and telegraphs. Many
will run to and fro, and knowledge be increased.
Notwithstanding all the evil reports of spies
and traitors, of recreants and cowards, "the
sacramental host of God's elect" will be
gathered together for the combat. The
order will be given to go forward. The pillar
of cloud will precede them by day, and the
pillar of fire by night. The Jordan will be
crossed. Jericho will be surrounded, be-
sieged, and fall. Every enemy will be en-
countered and overcome. The land will be
given to the people of the saints of the Most
High, and the kingdoms of this world will
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it, and it shall surely come to pass.

Throughout the older world, story and rite —
Throughout the new, skirting all clouds with gold —
Through rise and fall of destinies manifold,
Of pagan empires — through the dreams and night

OF MISSIONS. 49

Of nature, and the darkness and the light, —

Still young in hope, in disappointment old

Through mists which fallen humanity enfold, —

Into the vast and viewless infinite

Rises the eternal city of our God.

Her towers the morn with disenchanting rod

Dimly and darkly labours to disclose,

Lifting the outskirts of th' o'ermantling gloom;

Bright shapes come forth, arch, pinnacle and dome,

In Heav'n is hid its height and deep repose.

We, brethren, shall die, like Moses and
the Israelites, before the land is entered, and
the conquest achieved. But, like Moses, God
has called us up to Mount Nebo, and shown
us, outstretched before us, in all its beauty
and magnificence, the goodly land of pro-
mised inheritance. Like Moses, we can lie
down and die in triumphant hope and joy,
and with our last breath cry "Victory !" and
"Onward!" The work will not perish with
us. Other generations will take it up, and
with a better spirit, and a more heroic zeal,
fight valiantly, and contend earnestly, even
unto blood, until every jot and tittle of all
that God has said shall be accomplished.
5*

50 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

a

Ye springs and fountains, stream and lake.

That fill our world below,
And bear your warrant forth to go,
A garden here on this bad world to make,

A thirst of life to slake.

Ye from the secret sea of Love,
Spring forth amid the wilderness,

In varied forms ye move :
Mountains and vale with beauty dress,

And all things living bless.

Flow on, flow on, thou mighty main,

And send thy thousand rills,
Through all thy secret stores which strain,

Through dark prophetic hills,
And wheresoe'er thy waters flow,

The gladdening banks between ;
Let trees in varied order seen,
Trees of the Lord stand fresh and green,
Till earth blooms Paradise below.

The voice of the Lord is on the waters — lo, it soundeth;

He only doeth wonder :
The voice of the Lord is on the waters — it aboundeth,

Above, around, and under,
Proclaiming the beloved — the Son beloved proclaiming

In living thunder ;
And heaven, and earth, and sea, are witness to thy
naming.

OF MISSIONS. 51

The waters saw thee, and were troubled,
And now through watery deeps the living lightnings

spring ;
Deep calls to deep in echoing sounds redoubled :
Go tell it forth, the Lord is King!
The Lord sits o'er the waterfloods,
And o'er the watery multitudes
His Spirit broods.

THIS FAITH ESSENTIAL TO CHRISTIAN LIFE, AND IS
GUIDED ONLY BY THE AUTHORITY, REQUIREMENTS,
AND PROMISES OF CHRIST.

Shall we not, then, like Moses and Isaiah,
and every other servant of God in every age,
believe and obey, live and act, labour, and
give, and pray, for this full and final glory
of the gospel? The testimony, the evidence,
the prophecy, the promise, the fulfilment, the
preparation, the actual progress and success,
are to us immeasurably greater than to them.
Proportionably great, therefore, ought to be
our faith; for to whom much is given, of
them much shall be required.

Without faith we cannot be Christians.
Christians live, walk, and rejoice by faith.
Faith in Christ, in his word, his Spirit, his
providence, and his living, loving, and all-

52 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

powerful presence, is the element in which
a Christian lives, and moves, and has his
being. But faith has no existence, can have
none, knows nothing, believes nothing, hopes
nothing, works nothing, and ceases' from
working anything, — beyond the word and
authority of God. The life that a Christian
lives is lived only by the faith of the Son of
God. And this faith, let it be remembered,
looks to the word of God for its knowledge of
the Church and its mission, as much and as
implicitly as for its knowledge of Christ and
his mission. We might as well determine,
by our own reason and opinions, what Christ
is, and what salvation is and ought to be, as
what the Church is, and what she ought to
be and to do, in order to be and to do what
was intended by her divine Head and Founder.
And for any man, therefore, to say what a
church ought to be, and what it ought to do,
in order to grow in grace, and spirituality,
and power, beyond or beside what Christ
teaches, is infinite presumption and folly. It
is to substitute human testimony for divine,
our reason for God's omniscient wisdom, and

OF MISSIONS. 53

our selfishness and self-will for God's supreme
and infinite authority.

The Church, and every Christian as a
member of it, by the very fact of his faith, is
that, and all that, and only that, which Christ
ordained that they should be, and has taught
us that they are. Now what the Church is,
Christ plainly teaches, when he says, "who-
soever believeth shall be saved/' and that of
this belief he shall by baptism make a public
profession, and become a disciple. The
Church therefore is the whole number of
Christ's professing disciples. This is what
Christ teaches us the Church is. What
the Church ought to do, Christ as plainly
teaches, when he gave it as its great com-
mission, its charter, and its unalterable pur-
pose, the command, " Gro into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature."
The Church is therefore to preach, and to
make disciples of all men in all nations; to
train and instruct them ; and to fit and pre-
pare them to do, and actually and energeti-
cally to perform all things whatsoever Christ
has commanded.

54 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

This, then, is the life and work to which
every Christian, by the very nature of Chris-
tian life and character, is consecrated, set
apart, and made a new creature in Christ
Jesus. To believe otherwise, and to act
otherwise, is to believe and act, not as a
Christian, but as one who denies Christ, and
rejects Christianity. It is to remain igno-
rant of the primary and fundamental teach-
ing of Christ, and to repudiate the primary
and fundamental duty which Christ enjoins
upon every believer in him. Such a man
cannot have true faith, because he believes
not the teaching of Christ, but rejects it.
Such a man cannot be "a disciple indeed,"
because he refuses to enlist in the very ser-
vice Christ prescribes and commands. And
for such a man to expect to become holy and
happy, here and hereafter, and for a Church,
acting in such a spirit, to expect this, is to
expect that which Christ promises to obedi-
ence to his command, and faith in his teach-
ing, and cooperation with his Church and
people, — while living in the self-willed, self-
opinionated belief that what Christ com-

OF MISSIONS. 55

mands may be disobeyed; that the Church
is not what Christ ordained and teaches that
it is ; that the great end and mission of the
Church is not its extension and glorious
increase, but merely the personal salvation
and sanctification of individual members.

And yet is not the Church full of this
infidelity? Are not professing Christians
to be found everywhere, who believe, and
live, and act, as it regards the Church and
the heathen, and their time, talents, money,
prayers, and influence, as if Christ had given
no command, and founded the being and the
well-being of his Church upon no definite
charter, and no special promises?

Brethren, the principle of Missions, Home
and Foreign, is the principle of faith — the
very essence of Christian life, and power,
and progress. This cause lives or dies, pro-
gresses or declines, is paramount or second-
ary, is honoured and loved or undervalued
and disregarded, just as the principle of faith
exists or is wanting, is alive or dead, is strong
or feeble, works or sleeps. This cause cannot

56 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

die until Christianity expires. It cannot fail
until Christ's words fail, and Christ himself
becomes faithless, and there is no longer faith
upon the earth. And it will grow and multi-
ply, and be more and more taken home to
our business and bosoms, be incorporated
with our very hearts, and thoughts, and
affections, and enter into all our plans and
deliberations, our calculations and expendi-
ture, just in proportion as the faith within
us is alive, and active, and assimilating, and
sanctifying.

Oh, that my prayers ! mine, alas !
Oh, that some angel might a trumpet sound,
At which the Church, falling upon her face,
Should cry so loud, until the trump were drowned;
And by that cry from her dear Lord obtain,

That her first love might come again.

Then might we behold the signs in heaven
and on earth appearing, which shall prefigure
the restoration of our disordered and sin-
cursed earth, and lifting up our heads amid
the fears and shakings of convulsed empires,
we might be able to rejoice, because redemp-
tion's consummated glory was at hand.

OF MISSIONS. 57

'Tis done! Has breathed thy trumpet blast!
Earth's tribes at length have wept their last!
On rolls the host ! from land and wave
The earth sends up its ransomed slave :
There rides no glittering chivalry,
No banner purples in the sky ;
The world within their hearts hath died;
The Spirit's sword has slain their pride !
The look of pale remorse is there,
The lip-involuntary prayer;
The form still marked with many a stain —
Brand of the soil, the scourge, the chain;
The serf of Afric's fiery ground;
The slave by Indian suns embrowned ;
The weary drudges of the oar,
By the swart Arab's poisoned shore,
The gathering of earth's wildest tract, —
On bursts the living cataract !
What strength of man can check its speed?
They come — the nation of the freed.
Who leads their march? Beneath His wheel
Back rolls the sea, the mountains reel !
Before their tread His trump is blown,
Who speaks in thunder and 'tis done!
King of the dead ! Oh, not in vain,
Was thy long pilgrimage of pain;
Oh, not in vain arose thy prayer,
When pressed the thorn thy temples bare;
Oh, not in vain the voice that cried,
To spare thy maddened homicide !
Even for this hour thy heart's blood streamed,
They come! the Host of the Redeemed!
6

58 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

What potentate
Sits there, the King of Time and Fate,
Whom glory covers like a robe,
Whose sceptre shakes the solid globe,
Whom shapes of fire, and splendour guard ?
There sits the Man whose face was marr'd,
To whom archangels bow the knee —
The Weeper of Gethsemane!
Down in the dust ye nations kneel ;
For now earth's withered heart can feel I
Now let thy wan cheek burn like flame,
Fired by the lustre of His name,
Foretold in Eden's blest abode,
And now enthroned thy Saviour God!

Yes, faith fixes itself, forms its opinions,
draws its conclusions, and regulates its con-
duct in giving, in praying, and in acting,
only by the word, and promise, and command
of Christ. It goes not beyond these, either
to the past or the future, to the present or
the near, to the visible or the personal, to
wisdom or philosophy. It denies self, and
looking at home and kindred as only parts of
the great field, it prays that Christ's kingdom
may come in the whole earth, even as it is in
heaven; and it does good to all men as it
has opportunity and ability.

OF MISSIONS. 59

Thus acted patriarchs, and prophets, and
apostles, and thus will we act. And leaving
the future in God's hands, and leaving all
results to his providence, every man that has
a true, and a trusting, and a working faith —
and any other is dead — will, by every means
in his power, as God enables and prospers
him, according as he hath, and out of the
very first fruits of all his increase, unite in
sending the gospel to every creature, in
making disciples of all nations, and in teach-
ing them all things whatsoever Christ has
commanded.

Faith is the substance of our hopes,

Unseen by mortal eyes ;
Faith is the key of prayer, that opes

The treasures of the skies :

Faith is the dawn of heavenly light,

That cheers the doubting soul,
And drives away those clouds of night,

That round her vision roll.

Faith is the rising of the morn,

The sun's full blazing rays,
When heavenly grace shall earth adorn,

And fill the world with praise.

60 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

Faith heaves the mountain from its base,

And hurls it in the sea !
Faith is the consummated grace,

Prepared, blest Church, for thee.

What then though darkness cover the earth,
and thick darkness the people ! What though
the idolatry of India still towers liks its Him-
alaya mountains to the unscalable heights
of heaven ! What though China repairs and
rebuilds her mouldering wall of exclusive
defiance to the gospel ! What though Africa
lies buried in the yet undiscovered mystery
of her untrodden wastes! That darkness
shall be dispersed, those mountains shall
become a plain. Those walls shall be thrown
down, and those "everlasting" gates wide
opened, and even Africa shall unveil her
mystery, hidden as it has been for ages
past, and her desert wastes become fruitful
as a garden, and blossom as the rose. The
mouth of the Lord hath declared it, and the
Spirit of the Lord hath wrought faith, and
hope, and expectation in a believing chosen
generation, to believe, and live, and labour
for these glorious results.

OF MISSIONS. 61

Thou, whom in tranced ecstacy,

The prophets dimly scann'd,
Wert once beheld by mortal eye,

And borne by mortal hand :
Oh, in thy power once more appear,
And waken every ear to hear.

A clergyman, devoted to his work, re-
marked recently that his hopes of the African
Mission had declined. The remark made a
deep impression, and, considering the cha-
racter of the author, a somewhat saddening
one. It occurred that possibly more might
feel in the same way than those who express
their feelings.

That we have had a trial of our faith in
this Mission is not to be denied. But, as
has been well said, true faith will bear a
great trial and yet live.

Deaths on missionary ground need no
more discourage the hearts of beholders,
than did the deaths of the ancient martyrs.
So far from it, the effect is often precisely
the opposite. Instead of repelling, they
attract. What has been the dying testi-
mony of all the missionaries in Africa? from
6*

62 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

that of Mrs. Savage to that of Mrs. Hoff-
man ? Another now comes up from the same
field — a voice as sweet and as triumphant as
that which we hear in the last notes of the
trumpet of the first Apostle to the Gentiles.
The Rev. Mr. Adams, of the American
Board, died at the Gaboon, a few months
ago, after labouring for a year and a half,
in full faith, in a new field of great and pe-
culiar trials. Passing over the account of his
labours and his success, we give only his last
experience and testimony when his work was
done. While the power of God continues to be
seen in such measures, not only in the hearts
of the heathen, but of the missionaries them-
selves, the contest for Christianity in this
and every other field will be carried on until
it shall be crowned with victory.

About ten o'clock, Sabbath evening, he
experienced another paroxysm of chill, which
seemed to shake his system to its centre.
This was followed by great exhaustion and
considerable fever. As soon as he was able
to speak, he remarked that he did not know

OF MISSIONS. 63

how his disease would terminate, but that he
felt entire resignation to the will of his
Heavenly Father, and an unshaken confi-
dence in his Saviour. During the night he
slept some, and was in a gentle perspiration
most of the time.

The following morning, as he could re-
tain the medicines which were administered,
notwithstanding the malignant symptoms,
we hoped the disease might soon yield. But
in this we were disappointed. About four
o'clock in the afternoon, a sinking paroxysm
came on, which was probably the crisis in his
disease. His limbs became rigid, his breath-
ing difficult, and we supposed him sinking in
the arms of death. By the most active
means, however, we succeeded in restoring
him to consciousness, and in a short time he
was able to speak. He was then informed
that we considered his recovery quite doubt-
ful, and asked if he had any message for his
friends in case he should be called to depart.
He replied that he had not, except to send
them his love, and urge them all to be faith-
ful, and prepare to meet him in heaven; and

64 FAITH, THE PKINCIPLE

tell them that he loved to abase self and
exalt Christ, and that he had no other trust
but Christ.

About eleven o'clock, Tuesday morning,
he sunk into another paroxysm, and we again
thought him dying; but after about an hour,
he revived, and lay for some time in a quiet
state, during which he seemed to be engaged
in silent prayer. Then suddenly starting
up, with great animation he exclaimed, "I
hear music — beautiful music — the sweetest
melodies! I see glorious sights; I see
heaven. Yes, the gates are open, let me
go. I want no more of earth; detain me
no longer, let me go ! I started once, but I
saw demons. I saw the chains of hell and
was afraid ! But now I see another view.
Oh, how beautiful ! Oh, wonderful, wonder-
ful views I have! Oh, the love of Christ,
the love of Christ, to save such a sinner as I
have been ! I have been very unfaithful to
him, and yet he gives me such sweet visions
of glory as these."

Addressing those who stood arouni his
bed, he said in tender accents, UI see you

OF MISSIONS. 65

now, and my tongue is unloosed. I see you
wiping your eyes. Weep not for me. I am
happy. I am sorry for you, brethren, to
leave you to toil on alone. Would that you
could be with me here. Be faithful, and
God will bless you. I have been praying
most earnestly for this Mission, and trying
to gain evidence that it will not be broken
up. I had hoped still to enjoy seasons of
prayer and of labour with you, and to have
lived to see the salvation of this people. "

Starting again, he exclaimed with em-
phasis, "Yes, God has showed me — I knew
he would — what he is going to do for Africa.
Africa shall be redeemed! Brethren, glo-
rious times are coming! These people will
be converted, and all this land shall be the
Lord's. These hills back here shall all be
holiness unto the Lord! Go on, brethren,
be not discouraged, for I see glorious things
in reserve for this mission. It will be sus-
tained. Tell Christians in America that it
will. Oh, why will they not cease wrangling,
and wake up, and know the blessedness of
engaging in this work? But if God should

66 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

raise me up, and send me back to America,
to tell them the visions I have seen, I fear
they would not believe; no, not even if one
should rise from the dead."

The boys belonging to the school coming
in, arrested his attention, and he raised his
voice and cried out, " Oh, banabame, bishambe,
bishambe, bishambe, (my children, beautiful,
beautiful, beautiful !') Then, addressing them
in English, he said, " I want you all to become
Christians, and go and teach your country-
men. " "Why do I linger? I am going, I
am going; the chords of life are breaking;
Oh, the pain — no, the bliss of dying ! There
is no pain! Blissful, blissful, blissful! Who
would have thought that I should have had
these glorious views! Wonderful, wonder-
ful, wonderful things I see !" A cup of water
was handed to him, and he remarked, "You
are very kind. A cup of cold water, given
in the name of Christ, shall not lose its re-
ward. I am satisfied; my thirst is quenched
with the waters of life. Sweet waters ! Beau-
tiful fountains are there!" Naming the dif-
ferent members of the Mission he said: "I

or missions. 67

love them all. But my brothers and sisters.
I fear my brothers are not Christians. Oh,
that they were here to see me die! Tell
them to prepare for this." "Do go and see
Bezia, and tell him I have prayed for him,"
referring to a poor boy who is condemned for
witchcraft, and expects to be tortured to
death. "Why do I linger?" It was re-
marked, "Perhaps to teach us how to die,
and to comfort us, by your words of encour-
agement." He replied, "No; it is because I
have been so unfaithful. But I shall soon
go. I shall be the first missionary buried at
Nengenenge, and I am glad it is so ; I hope
my ashes will be the seed of a church here.
I rejoice that I came to Africa! How won-
derful that I should have been permitted to
engage in this work, and then be brought to
enjoy such visions of glory as these! The
bliss of this hour alone, is a recompense for a
life of toil and suffering. I am going, I am
going, but I have no fears, all is right!"

It was said, "We feel that we can hardly
spare you. Would you not be willing to
remain and labour for these poor heathen,

68 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE

if it was your Heavenly Father's will?" He
replied, " Oh, yes, certainly ; go or stay ; but
surely he would not show me all this glory,
and then send me back to earth again ? Oh,
wonderful, that such a sinner as I have been
should be brought to this, and with tongue
unloosed, and the bonds of sin broken, see
and describe such scenes as these! But I
am going. Farewell. Give my love to all
the brethren and sisters, and to all Christians,
and urge them to live for Christ. Remember
what I have told you. I am going. My
speech on earth is finished."*

Yes, departed brother, we will remember
what thou hast told us, and hearing in thy
dying testimony and its shout of victory the
echo of the prophecy and the promise of God,
we will "live for Christ," nothing doubting
but that He who was in the beginning reveal-
ed as He who will come, and who in the full-
ness of time did come, and who still de-
clares himself to be "Him who is to come,"
will come, and taking to himself his mighty
power, reign King of nations as he is King
of saints.

* See the Parish Visitor, and Missionary Herald.

OF MISSIONS. 69

To Abraham, it was said, " In thy seed
shall all the families of the earth be blessed ;"
and to Moses, it was said, " Truly as I live,
the whole earth shall be filled with the glory
of Jehovah !" To Isaiah, it was also said,

"A voice crying: —
In the wilderness, prepare ye a way for Jehovah !
Make straight in the desert, a highway for our God !
Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill

shall be made low ;
And the crooked places shall be made straight, and the

rough places plain !
And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together: —
For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken.

■* * * * * *

Oh Thou that tellest glad tidings to Zion, get thee up

into the high mountain !
Oh Thou that tellest glad tidings to Jerusalem, lift up
thy voice with strength !
Lift it up! — Be not afraid!
Say unto the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
Behold the sovereign Jehovah shall come with strength!
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them

in his bosom •
And shall gently lead those that are with young."

70 FAITH, THE PRINCIPLE OF MISSIONS.

"J, Jehovah, and no Goo besides me,

A just God, and a Saviour, none beside me :
Look unto Me, and be ye saved,
All the ends of the earth,
For I am God, and none else,
I have sworn by Myself: the word is gone out of my
mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return :
That unto Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall swear.
Of me it shall be said
< Surely in Jehovah is righteousness and strength;'
Unto Him shall they come, and all who scorn him shall

be confounded.
In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified and
shall glory."

Through all climes His glory plant!

Through all ages chant!
Sing praise and honour jubilant,

As is and aye hath been !
All worship, all dominion,
To Him who all things holds in one,

The triune God unseen!

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