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Robb, Alexander.
The heathen world and the
duty of the church

THE HEATHEN WOEED

THE DUTY OF THE CHUKCH.

Ajcnr^'i

i

THE HEATHEN WORLD

THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH.

BY THE S

REV. ALEXANDER KOBB, A.M.,

MISSIONARY, OLD CALABAR,
AUTHOR OF " THE LIFE OF REV. W. JAMESON."

" Go ye into all the world, and

EDINBURGH :
ANDREW ELLIOT, 15 PRINCES STREET.

1863.

PEEFACE.

The following thoughts and appeals are meant for
the consciences and hearts of christians. If any
of them be led to pray, to work, and to give more,,
that the gospel of the kingdom of heaven may soon
be preached to every man, the Author's end will
be gained. He deems it unnecessary to apologize for
thus urging his fellow-christians to attempt vastly
greater things, that Jesus may possess all the king-
doms of the world, and the glory of them. Were
excuse needful, he would offer only this one, that,
being on the eve of returning to the Coast of
Guinea — spiritually one of the darkest, and to
health one of the most unkindly, regions in the
world — to labour with others in preaching Christ,
he does not urge fellow-believers to make greater
sacrifices for the glory of our Lord, than he himself
is willing to make.

VI PREFACE.

This little book has no pretension to literary
excellence. And were it far better than it is, both
in matter and execution, it would not make up for
the want of earnest and faithful missionary teach-
ing, on the part of the ministers of the churches.
If it is as much the duty of a christian to publish,
as it was, to receive, and as it is, to stand in, the
gospel, — if it is as unchristian to be non-missionary
as to be immoral, — if a church-member who does
not all he can to evangelize the world, disobeys
Christ, as much as one who breaks any other of
His commands, then, the pulpit dare not overlook
missions without keeping back part of the counsel
of God, and a part, too, that is very profitable
to believers in Jesus. Against some ministers
there is brought a charge of keeping back vital
doctrine. Are others not as guilty of keeping
back paramount and pressing duty ? The Author
judges no man : He that judgeth us all is the
Lord.

Such as it is, he commends his little volume to
the friends of Christ, and seeks for it the approba-
tion and blessing of the Great Master.

CONTENTS.

SECTION I.

PAGE
THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN, ... 1

SECTION II.

NO SALVATION FOR THE HEATHEN WITHOUT THE

GOSPEL, ...... 23

SECTION III.

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE ? " . . . . 56

SECTION IV.

THE WORK WITH WHICH THE LORD HAS CHARGED

HIS PEOPLE ON EARTH, .... 70

SECTION V.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED, .... 127

SECTION I.

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN.

In estimating the vile, sunk, and wretched moral
condition of the heathen, it matters not whether
we look to China, Japan, Burmah, or Hindostan,
lands in which a barbaric civilization has existed
alongside of the most childish superstition, or to
Africa, whose negro tribes have, since the days of
their father Ham, kept on sinking, from age to
age, unaided, until now a dreary and bloody feti-
chism has swallowed up all, and made them the
lowest of beings that are called men. Look where
we will in heathen lands, we behold the same
ghastly scene of death — the same vision of dry
bones — and infidelity, in a tone of mockery, and
piet}', in a tone of sadness, together exclaim, "Can
these bones live 1 " Those who have seen what
heathens are, do not wonder either that the un-
believer mocks, or that the christian, now and
then, loses hope of their conversion from sin to
A

2 SECTION I.

God. We must take God's lamp in our bands,
and go down into the pit in which they lie in
death and darkness, and there see with our own
eyes, and hear with our own ears, before we can
know the length, and breadth, and height, and
depth of heathen wickedness and misery.

One element in the misery of the heathen is
their ignorance of all that is needful for well-
being and well-doing.

A creature of God is necessarily unhappy, if he
do not know his father who made, who owns, who
upholds him, and with whom he has so much to
do. The very soul and body, the very ground and
top of man's happiness, in this world and in the
world to come, yea, all that is folded up in the
words ' eternal life,' is to " know the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent." The want
of this knowledge is to man what the want of
sunlight would be to the earth — darkness and
death.

Look, then, at a heathen tribe on the coast of
Africa, They have a native name for the Supreme,
by which they swear, not so much in solemn, for-
mal oath, as in common talk or sport, just as bad
men in christian lands take the holy name in vain.
Now and then, they pray to this name for some

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 5

earthly good on which their hearts are set. But
they know nothing aright of what God is in him-
self, or of what they have to do with him, or of any
of his laws. In their fables they ignorantly speak
of him who is great, holy, just, and good, as if he
were like themselves, as married and having chil-
d re n, as engaged in trade, as being j ealous, rev engef ul,
lustful, and unjust. The closest search discovers
not a trace of trust in, or love to, or fear of, our
heavenly Father, who is light, and love, and truth.
In these fables they speak of one God wrho sur-
passes all, and of others who are less mighty, less
wealthy, and, therefore, of less importance, bear-
ing to the former the same relation that a poor
and powerless man bears to a man of rank and
influence. Their fancy peoples the

"Forest, and slow stream, and pebbly spring,
And chasms, and watery depths,"

the creek, the palm-shaded dell, and spreading
tree, with beings whom they more dread, and from
whom they look for greater good, than the Su-
preme.

The heathen do not know, and they are very
unwilling to believe, that God takes anything to
do with what befalls them. They put the fetich
in his place, to it look for help, from it dread evil,

4 SECTION I.

to it pay homage: and thus fetichism is one of
the lowest kinds of idolatry. They do not know
the providence of our Father, who " givcth to the
beast his food, and to the young ravens that cry,"
who " opens his hand, and satisfies the desire of
every living tiling." The malady, which threatens
them with death, and has arisen from their own
sensuality, or from old age, they trace not to the
hand of God, who has bound all effects to their
own causes, and leaves man, made in his own
image, a free choice to do or not to do; but to
the charm, or to some secret power, as witchcraft,
derived from an evil source, and used for evil
ends. Error and ignorance thus lead to crime and
cruelty, which could not exist under the light of
truth.

Need we add that the heathen know nothing
of the truth about the future world 1 They ex-
pect to live in a disembodied state, but very much
as they live here. In the town of the dead they
will marry, eat, drink, trade, and play ; perhaps they
will be born again, and come back new men. None
more firmly believe in the life after death ; but of
the Bible hell with its woe, and pain, and dark
despair, and of the Bible heaven with its holiness,
and joy, and endless safety, they have no knowledge.

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 5

The people of that part of Africa of which we
speak, have no trace of a thought that their future
destiny is shaped by their character and life. And
hence their ideas of the unseen world, so far from
checking vice and fostering virtue, lead to some of
their bloody and inhuman customs.

And how can it be otherwise? How can it be
better with men in such circumstances ? Dark,
indeed, must a people be who inherit the gathered
darkness of all the generations before them. The
very light that is in them being darkness, cannot
give forth one ray to guide them aright. Unless
light dawn upon them from without, by the ris-
sing of the Sun of Righteousness, their night
must deepen into thicker gloom. Left to them-
selves, heathens can only lose, but never gain any
religious ideas that are true. Their death-sleep
can but wax deeper and deeper, from age to age,
unless Jehovah's voice arouse them, and the Spirit
of life enter into their souls.

The character of men thus ignorant of God and
of all truth is just what we must look for in such
a case.

Heathenism is a school in which man's heart,
a quick scholar, learns

" Sly circumvention, unrelenting hate,

Mean self-attachment, and scarce aught besides."

6 SECTION I.

What wonder, then, that the children of Ham, in
their wanderings from the first abodes of the hu-
man family, soon became wholly idolatrous, and,
as they spread westward and southward across
the continent, waxed more ignorant and more
wicked, until now it is vain to search for anything
but the faintest lines of the law written on their
hearts !

God's own picture of the heathen is at once
deeply humbling and true to the life : — " The fool
hath said in his heart, There is no God. They
are corrupt : they have done abominable works :
there is none that doeth good. The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of nun,
to see if there were any that did understand, and
seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all
together become filthy : there is none that doeth
good, no, not one."*

And, again, see in the first chapter of the
Epistle to the Romans a picture of heathenism
from the pencil of inspiration, and as life-like to-
day, as it was when first drawn. The heathen
heart, with all its affections, and passions, and ap-
petites— with all its active powers — is evil, wholly
and for ever evil. It is, and cannot but be, a habi-
* Psalm xiv. 1—3.

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 7

tation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,
swayed by evil lusts, given up to vile affections.

" Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornica-
tion, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness : full
of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity : whis-
perers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful,
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobe-
dient to parents, without understanding, cove-
nant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful."*

And the same is the tenor of the following: —
" This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gen-
tiles walk, in the vanity of their mind: having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in
them, because of the blindness of their heart:
who, being past feeling, have given themselves
over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness
with greediness." t

The testimony of the Lord is true, that the only
things which the heathen care about are, " What
shall we eat? What shall we drink? What
shall we put on ? " It is truly so. Meat, drink,

* Horn. i. 29—31. f Eph. iv. 17-19.

8 SECTION I.

and covering — the things that affect only the
body — are the objects of their chief concern.

In the heathen waste we search in vain for
one flower of heaven, one tree of God's planting,
one fruit of holiness. There is little that wears
even the likeness of virtue. When theft and
lying are condemned, it is not because they are
evil in the sight of God, but rather because they
are hurtful to those who suffer by thein. Among
heathens "all men are liars." Selfishness is the
soul of the little that looks like virtue. Lust and
blood, lies and selfishness thus mark heathen
society beyond what can be conceived or told.
'Hie purity and truthfulness, the love of fellowmen,
and the regard for human life, which always be-
long to a godly character, are unknown, and the
richest graces would not be admired unless they
were the sources of earthly advantage. True god-
liness we should no more expect to find in the
heathen heart, than we should expect to find corn
and wine in a salt and desert land. This arises
not from ignorance alone, but from depravity,
from hatred to the purest and the best of beings.
They do not like to keep him in their knowledge.
When the missionary tells them of the love and
holiness of the true God, they do not welcome

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. (J

the discovery. If their thoughts can be drawn,
for a little, from the earthly and the sensual to
tlic word of God, the truth about him sounds in
their ears as a worthless fable. A trinket or a toy
charms them infinitely more than the doctrine of
the great I AM, with whom they have evermore to
do.

It is true that ungodliness is not peculiar to
heathens, but is common to men in all ages and in
every clime. It is the distinguishing feature of
unrenewed man, whether civilized or barbarous.
Mere outward polish, or good breeding, or mental
training, makes no unregenerate man less ungodly.
But yet the ungodliness of the heathen is peculi-
arly striking : for in them it is not mitigated by
the presence of truth as taught and exemplified by
any who are truly godly.

While we are thus forced to use the darkest
colours in drawing a true picture of the ignorance
and depravity of the heathen, yet must we remark
that there are among them some traces of better
things. There are everywhere the notion of justice
and injustice, the feeling of pity, parental affec-
tion, the love of approbation, the sentiment of
friendship, and sorrow for the dead. 0 yes, the
worst of these ignorant and depraved beings are

10 SECTION I.

men. They have all the appetites, passions, and
affections that belong to the essence of man. But
these their active powers are under the sway of
the flesh and the devil, and bring forth only the
fruits of the flesh.

Look now at the every-day life of these heath-
ens. This is the outcoming of what is in them —
the united effect of their ignorance and depravity.
So far are they from being ruled by God's will,
holy, just, and good, that .sin is their obedience ;
wickedness, their religion ; the vices, their virtues ;
the devil, their god. Crimes of the deepest dye
have lost the hue of crime in their eyes ; and cus-
toms intensely inhuman and wicked, are not only
not disallowed, but are even practices of their daily
life. We must not weary the reader with a long
tale of heathen horrors gathered from all the dark
places of the earth, as these have been told by
faithful eye-witnesses. A few specimens from the
land of Ham will suffice for our present purpose.

The belief in witchcraft is universal throughout
Africa. Every person believes that by an evil
power, which one may have without knowing it,
health, prosperity, or life may be destroyed. And
so thoroughly lias Satan blinded their minds, that
calamity, disease, and death are generally ascribed

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 11

to the malice of enemies working through this
evil power, or through charms, in the might of
which the utmost confidence is placed.

An African chief died in May, 1861, the victim
of intemperance and impurity. His brother had
become hopelessly idiotic. When the former died,
one of his sisters accused another sister of the
double crime of destroying the life of the one bro-
ther, and the reason of the other, by a secret evil
power akin to that which was believed to belong
to witches in the dark days of now enlightened
Britain. The accused was forced to clear herself
by an ordeal. The substance used for this pur-
pose is a deadly poison. And it is believed that,
if the accused has the evil thing within, this sub-
stance will destroy both him and it, but if he has
it not, he will certainly escape unhurt. Those who
are thus tried generally perish, as did the poor
woman above-mentioned, who was, therefore, ac-
counted guilty.

A heathen father, child of dark superstition, is
sick. His disease is old age, or, perhaps, his own
debaucheries are breaking him up. He clings to
life : for although there is little in a heathen's
present life that is desirable, there is yet less in
his future, and no wonder that he shrinks from

12 SECTION I.

the dread leap into the Mack abyss. He tries the

native doctor, and after spending much, finds him-
self no better. Dark thoughts enter his mind.
Who is it that is draining the life out of him ?
Perhaps suspicion arises that his own son has set
greedy eyes on his father's property. He must,
therefore, face the ordeal, and that heathen father
will cause it to be administered. O, what a devil's
engine is this ! How ready a handle does it afford
to revenge, and jealousy, and other evil passions!
A barbarian, bent on being the first man in his
native town, has been known, by means of this
ordeal, to rid himself of those whose rivalry he
feared. He charged them with having caused the
death of his predecessor, they had to undergo the
ordeal, and care was taken to make it fetal. A
town has been almost unpeopled on the death of
its chief, so many were thus accused and tried.
While they profess to believe that the poison or-
deal is an impartial inquisitor, judge, and execu-
tioner, and that it certainly leaves the innocent
unharmed, yet they well know its death-dealing
power, and the darker spirits among them do not
scruple to use it for the purpose of wilful murder.
A chief does not get that respect which lie claims
from a fellow-townsman. The latter is summoned

THE CONDITION OF TIIE HEATHEN. 13

before his peers. The poison is given him as a
quiff us, and if he vomit it, he is otherwise put to
death.

Among Africans there is also a firm belief
in the power of charms. Charms may be seen
everywhere, on the person, in the yard, in the
market-square, at the places where paths meet, in
the provision field, about the canoe, hanging on
the fruit tree, at the river's bank, and at the foun-
tain. They have various forms, according to the
purpose in view, whether to cure or to kill, to
shield from harm or cause injury, to secure profit
in trade, or plenty in the farm, or success in hunt-
ing and fishing, or victory in war, or protection
to a house while its owners are absent, or to a
fruit tree from plunderers. All Africans believe
in the power of charms, and all trust and fear
them. This is a puerile and pestilent supersti-
tion. It is idolatry, for it puts what the Bible
calls a nothing in the place of the great I AM, and
gives to that nothing His glory and His praise.
We find even the more intelligent Africans, who
are, to some extent, freed from other superstitions,
firmly possessed with the fear of the charm. They
fancy that they have seen instances of its deadly
power. This arises, we think, from the fact that

14 SECTION I.

poison is, sometimes, given to persons against
whom charms are made ; and the fatal issue, which
is really due to the poison, is put to the credit of
the charm. It is not to be wondered at, there-
fore, that all are afraid of the charm doctor, see-
ing that he is also a poisoner.

Those who procure charms against the life or
health of others, are frequently put to death. The
victims of this superstition must be myriad in
dark Ethiopia. In some places, even children are
killed. In the year 1860, the writer visited the
island of Corisco. Accompanying an American
Missionary brother to his station, we saw a little
African girl greet him very affectionately on our
arrival. He told us her history. She had been
accused of witchcraft, and doomed, child as she
was, to die by violence. Our brother, hearing of
this, went and ransomed her life by a payment in
goods, and but for his timely interference, she
would certainly have been another victim of this
African Moloch. How unspeakably mournful is
the condition into which men sink when left with-
out the lamp of life !

There are those, in our day, who for these and
kindred barbarities, would root uncivilized tribes
out of the earth. How awfully like one another

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 15

all men are ! There are civilized men who would
surpass even barbarians in barbarity ! What if all
nations that have ever been under the sway of
bloody superstition, had been swept away by their
superiors in knowledge and power ! Is it in our
day, when humanity and religion are favoured to
gain wider and nobler triumphs than ever before,
heralding Christ's world-wide reign, and showing
us the path of progress, that, in this Christian
Britain, men are found harbouring and uttering
hate like this, men who would let slip the hell-
hounds of extermination on any, even the lowest
of our fellow-men ? Let those who are of such a
mind tell us their names, and they will be the ab-
horrence of every human heart. Such sentiments
as these we not unfrequently find in our current
literature ; but we are willing to believe that those
who hold them are few, and we are sure the
day is coming when they will be looked upon as
monsters of inhumanity.

Are we to forget the dark and even bloody
superstitions of our own forefathers ? How easy
would it be to match not a few African barbarities
from the history of Great Britain, as, for instance,
the treatment of persons accused of witchcraft.
In 1708, a poor woman, Elspet Eule, was tried for

16 SECTION T.

witchcraft before the Court of Justiciary, at Dum-
fries, found guilty by a majority of the jury, sen-
tenced to be branded on the cheek, and banished
Scotland for life. Is it to be forgotten that the
last witch-burning in England took place in 1716,
and the last in Scotland, in 1722 ; and that it was
not till 1735 that the penal statutes against witch-
craft were repealed'?* It is thus only 140 years
since in the foremost nation in the world human
life ceased to be sacrificed to a cruel and childish
superstition. While we see a once degraded peo-
ple, and these our own forefathers, rising out of
dark and heathenish superstition, lighted onwards
to humanity, justice, intelligence, and peace, by
the glorious gospel of the blessed God ; let us
magnify the grace that makes us to differ ; let us
prize more highly the priceless benefits which God
has bestowed on us through the gospel ; and let us
be sure that the same grace can, by the same gospel,
raise and save the whole of mankind. The super-
stitions of Africans, at this day, are the growth of
four thousand years, during which, we may say, no
voice from heaven has fallen on their ears, although
God may have kept them from being worse than
they are. The superstitions of Britain and the
* Pictorial History of Scotland, ii. 340, 958—966.

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 1 <

cruelties to which tliey led, existed among a peo-
ple that had for many centuries been nominally
christian and civilized.

Of some other heathen practices let us take a
short notice ; and let the reader observe that these
are the fruits of ignorance and error, which the
word of God alone can remove.

In September, 1858, the Mission family in an
African town were alarmed near the hour of mid-
night, by the arrival of several native women in
breathless terror. For a time, they could not tell
the cause of their terror, although their very faces
shewed that some appalling event had taken place.
At length, one of them faltered out that the chief
was dead. The chief who had just expired was
the master of several thousand slaves. The news
of his death spread like wild-lire ; and all these
slaves banded themselves together, as one man,
for their own protection. Of all whom the chief
had tailed his own, only a few remained to dig
his grave, and these few. were, all but one, new
converts to Christianity, whose conversion had, at
first, been far from pleasing to him.

What was the cause of that turmoil and terror?
Why were the slaves of an African chief dismayed
at his death, when the decease of a European ruler
B

18 SECTION I.

causes not the shadow of a fear? They feared
lest an old and well-known custom should be
followed in this case ; lest hundreds of themselves
should be butchered in cold blood to go with their
dead master to the world of spirits, and serve him
there as they served him here. JSot knowing the
unseen world, which the Bible alone reveals, the
heathen think that it resembles this world, and
that they shall live there as they live here. Their
valuables are put into the coffin; friends bring
presents of cloth and ornaments to bury in the
grave ; several slaves are picked out to be killed ;
and thus the dead man takes with him, or has
sent after him, the best of his possessions. It is
hardly correct to call the persons thus slaughtered
human sacrifices. In this practice there is nothing
of the nature of a sacrifice, beyond the killing.
The idea is that the dead man, still alive, has the
best right to what he owned while here, and should
get at least a good share thereof, that he may have
plenty and honour among the separated spirits.
Ignorance and error about the future state lie at
the root of this custom, and it has become fixed
by the lapse of time. It is a usage that came
down from the dim and distant past, all follow it,
and fashion and custom are less powerful in civil-

THE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 19

ized countries than among the tribes of jSTegroland.
Pride and dislike of change make them cling to
the ways of their forefathers, even after they hear
the truth. But the Spirit of the God of love, who
has promised these tribes to the kingdom of his
Son, can renew their hearts, and lead them into
the light and love of heaven.

Again : * We are entering an African river that
Stretches wide between its low, tree-fringed banks.
As we ascend, we may see canoes sailing along,
with flags flying, and we hear the song of the
paddlemen, and the beat of the African drum.
In one of these canoes sits a woman, dressed and
adorned in barbaric style. By and by, she is
tossed into the stream, and the canoes pull off,
leaving her a prey to the sharks. Why is this ?
Is this woman a criminal, that she suffers a fate
so horrible 1 ISTay : superstition claims another
victim. The African values the white man's trade.
He thinks that his river god can bring the white
man's ship, with its stores of wealth, to his
country. And this is a gift to please the deity of
the stream, that he may use his power on behalf

* This is not an every-day occurrence ; but that this custom
is followed in most, if not in all, the trading rivers, we have
convincing evidence.

20 SECTION I.

of the givers. The poor woman herself is taught
to look upon her fate as a matchless honour.
She believes that she is to be the wife of the
idem or juju* and, as his partner, have store of
wealth. It is said, that, under this belief, and
intoxicated with rum, some cheerfully submit to
this horrible fate.

Again : What unusual noise is this that
greets the ear, in the softening glare of the evening
sun, as we look from the Mission House on the
native village below 1 The telescope shews men
in disguise running about, each with a sharp
weapon in his hand. What means this ? A man
is about to be killed. What has he done 1 No-
thing whatever ; he is guilty of no crime for
which he ought to die. A freeman of the country
lias broken a law, and the penalty is death. But
a freeman's blood must not flow, unless for another
freeman's blood that has been shed. And this is
the substitute of the offender The victim is a
slave ; white men have taught the African that a
slave is nothing, or, at best, only like any other
property which a man buys with his money ; and

* Ju-ju and I-dem (Dem-on ?) ai-e different names for the
tutelary gods in whose existence Africans believe.

TITE CONDITION OF THE HEATHEN. 21

heathen custom allows him to give a fellow-man
to die in his room.

Or we are sailing along a creek, and hear a wail-
ing in the bush, a cry of human anguish. Turn-
ing aside to see the cause, we behold a woman
and two infants bound to a tree. This is a
mother, and these are her twin babes. Supersti-
tion teaches them that the birth of twins is a
calamity, and among some tribes, requires the
death of both mother and infants, while among
others, the infants only are exjiosed, and the
mothers are banished from town and market, and
made to live by themselves. This inhuman cus-
tom prevails among the tribes in the Delta of the
Niger, from the Old Calabar river on the east, to
Lagos on the wrest. The birth of twins among
them, and the dread of twins, lead to untold crimes
of the darkest hue.

We need not dwell on the subject of this
section, and speak of the almost utter absence of
the charities that sweeten life, of the treatment of
woman, of social pollutions, of slavery, of wrongs
done by the strong to the Aveak, of the hard lot of
many orphans and sick persons. Some of these
crimes and evils, being as they are the fruits of
human selfishness, are too common among the

22 SECTION I.

civilized ; but if they are so bad where heavenly
wisdom lifts her voice to rebuke them, what
misery do they cause where Satan has his seat !
Deeply sunk, in themselves helpless, the heathen
find no light and no aid in their heathen state,
and they seek none; yet eloquent should their very
silence be in the ears of christian love. Their
condition itself is reason enough why the people
of God should go and help them.

SECTION II.

NO SALVATION FOR THE HEATHEN WITHOUT THE
GOSPEL.

There are conscientious men who shrink from
this view ; there are others who denounce it.
Though we believe that the "Word of God favours
it, and not the opposite, we may fail in convincing
those who think otherwise. But if, however
some good men are unwilling to take it into their
creed, all good men would make it the rule and
motive of their practice ; would they act as if it
were true, and give, and work, and pray for the
spread of the gospel, as if it were certain that no
heathen can be saved without it, we should not
be very much disappointed even at failing in our
argument. We do not purpose to enter into a
full discussion of this subject, but only to present
a few thoughts, with the desire to urge upon
christian readers the practical conclusion just
mentioned, that they should seek to spread the

24 SECTION II.

gospel with the same zeal as if the very words at
the head of this section were to he found in the
Bible.

This passage in the tenth chapter of Romans,
seems to take the peril of the heathen for granted :
— " For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek ; for
the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call
upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed 1
and how shall they believe in him of whom they
have not heard? and how shall they hear without
a preacher ] And how shall they preach except
they be sent % as it is written, How beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
and bring glad tidings of good things !" * Who-
ever, be he Jew or Greek, believes in, and applies
to, God, " shall be saved." To restore men to a
willing obedience to God is the aim and end of
the Saviour's great enterprise. Men must yield
to God's way of saving, and of their own free
choice apply to him. It does not seem to be

♦ Rom. x. 11-15.

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 25

God's plan to save creatures who have chosen evil,
except by bringing them, through " the working
of the might of his power,"* to make an equally
hearty choice of that which is good. This passage
is plain ; no calling on God, no salvation ; no
faith in the gospel, no calling on God ; no hear-
ing of the gospel, no faith in it ; no preaching of
the gospel, no hearing of it. And, therefore, un-
less the gospel be preached, millions must be shut
out from the only way of salvation. " And how
shall they preach except they be sent1?" Does
not this take for granted that the state of men
without the gospel is perilous 1 And does it not
bring the responsibility to the door of every chris-
tian, who, having the gospel, can send it to every
creature % Says Richard Hooker : " Life and sal-
vation God will have offered unto all ; his will is
that Gentiles should be saved as well as Jews.
Salvation belongeth unto none but such 'as call
upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' which
nations as yet unconverted neither do, nor possibly
can do, till they believe. What they are to be-
lieve, impossible it is they should know till they
hear it. Their hearing requireth our preaching

* Eph. i. 19.

26 SECTION II.

unto them. Sith there is no likelihood that ever
voluntarily they will seek instruction at our hands,
it remaineth that, unless we will suffer them to
perish, salvation itself must seek them, it behov-
eth God to send them preachers, as he did his
elect Apostles throughout the world." *

The Saviour's account of salvation runs thus :
" And this is life eternal, that they might know thee
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent." t Must we not gather from this that
ignorance of God and of Christ is death eternal,
unless there are two ways to eternal life, one for
those who have revelation, and another for those
who have it not, because the Church has not yet
bestowed it on them? These words teach that
salvation is applied to sinners by a process in
which they are brought to know God. If this do
not convince believers that heathens cannot be
saved without the gospel, it will weigh much with
them ; it will be considered a strong reason why
they should seek to multiply the agencies for
spreading the gospel, with as much zeal as if the
peril of the heathen were more distinctly stated in
the Bible.

* Ecclesiastical Polity, Book v., chap. xxii. 9-
f John xvii. 3.

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 27

Again : " Where there is no vision, the people
perish : but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."*
Vision means divine revelation. The word, which
is translated "perish," maybe otherwise rendered ;
but still the great fact lies on the face of the
passage, that there is a gulph fixed between the
condition of those who have the Word of God,
and those who have it not. Says Hooker : " The
people which have no way to come to the know-
ledge of God, no prophesying, no teaching, perish."t
Dr. Wardlaw, commenting on this verse, says that
the spirit of the passage "demonstrates and im-
presses the necessity of divine revelation ; the
need in which men universally stand of it ; seeing
ev°n with it — even where it exerts all its restrain-
ing power — men continue in their state of apos-
tacy and rebellion." J

Again : § " For as many as have sinned with-
out law, shall also perish without law." The law
here is the written law, the will of God as re-
vealed in the Scriptures, and, in that age, revealed
to the Jews only, and those who learned it from
them. This says that the sinner shall perish,
whether he have the Bible or not, whether he

* Prov. xxix. 18. f Eccles. Pol. v. xxii. 11.

X Lectures on Proverbs in loco. § Roin. ii. 12.

28 bection ii.

live amid the christian homes and churches of
Britain, or the heathen hovels and temples <A'

]mlia, or the juju sheds of Africa. But it also de-
clares thai the punishment shal] be as the privi-
lege. The heathen sinner is not so great a sinner,
and he shall not be so great a sufferer, as those
who have the Bible, and love the darkness rather
than the light, and neglect so great salvation.
But, nevertheless, to "perish" is the late of the
heathen sinner. J Lis want of revelation dots ma
render him meritorious, does not cancel his guilt,
does not make him pleasing to God. His doom
shall not be measured out by the written law ;
he shall not be punished for refusing to obey the
gospel which the lnkewarnmess or slothfulness of
the church permitted him not to hear. He shall
perish " without law," — " shall bo tried, con-
demned, and punished, not according to a law
which he has never possessed, but according to the
general principles illustrated in the latter part of
the first chapter, and repeated, in the substance
and spirit of them, in the fourteenth and fifteenth
verses of the second chapter."'* The doom of the
heathen shall be perfectly, unimpeachably right-

* Dr. Wardlaw, Lectures on Kouians, in loco.

NO • WITHOUT IHE GOSPEL. 20

B t still perdition, and not salva;.'
tlj'rir lot, unless it can be

i station, idolatry, cruelty, and
inful in them ; or that tL^ir
want of the Bible makes their wi to be

no wicked]

n U hardly worth while to notice an assertion

frequently made in connection with this subject,

and with the view of shedding a ray of the light of

hope on the dark destiny of the heathen, it is

•aid that those of them who act up to the light

which they have, and do good according to the

re of their knowledge of what good is, must

be proper objects of divine mercy, and

believe that they perish. It is hardly worth

while to examine this assertion, we say, because

we have no proof, either in Scripture, or from ex-

oce, that any do good, in the estimate of

God, who are not previously made good by the

wing oft! Ghost" Nay, this matter

is for i led Ly the unerring and righteous

judgment of God : "There is none that doeth

good, no not one." In the words of L>r. Sibbes,

u This is an undoubted truth, no man ever liced

answerable to hi* rule; and, therefore, God hath

ground of damnation to any man, even for

30 SECTION II.

this, that he hath not lived answerable to the rule
of his own conscience."* Dr. Owen also puts it
down as indisputable, that pagans never obeyed
or served God according to the measure of the
knowledge which they had or might have had, and,
therefore, they are without excuse, t

We add, further, that if the moral state of the
heathen be as we have feebly described it in the
first section, then they have not the holiness
which fits a man for heaven, and "without which
no man shall see the Lord ; " and they lack the
means by which alone God makes men holy, viz.,
" the truth," by which the Holy Spirit purifies
the hearts of true believers, and prepares them for
the place which their Saviour has prepared for
them. Speaking of the salvation of heathens,
Peter said that " God put no difference between
us (Jewish Christians) and them (Gentiles), puri-
fying their hearts by the faith." J Read along
with this the 11th verse of the same chapter:
" But we believe that, through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as

* Sibbes' Works, Vol. i. 380. Nichol's Series.

f Theologoumena, p. 62. Johnstone and Hunter's edition.

j Acts xv. 9.

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL, 31

they,"* wliero " even as they" means not merely
as well as, but in the same manner as\ they.
Peter, doubtless, meant to say that God did not
prefer Jews to Gentiles in the matter of salvation,
but his words imply that God's mode of saving, of
purifying the heart, of making the sinner meet for
heaven, is the same for all, and that, if we except
infants and innocents, no one is sanctified, unless
the truth, which is called the faith, is received and
held by faith.

Another and weighty reason in support of the
proposition, " No salvation for the heathen with-
out the gospel," is furnished by the manner in
which the Epistles speak of the early Christians.
Before they were made Christians they were inex-
pressibly degraded and utterly unfit for true hap-
piness, whether they were born Jews or Heathens.
They had been serving the devil and the flesh ;
they had made a narrow escape from everlasting
destruction ; they had been on the road to hell ;
and the gospel had brought them into light and
life. In that most humbling account of man in
the second chapter of Paul's epistle to the Ephe-
8ians,J the peril of the heathen is taken for granted.

* Acts XV. 11. f K<xd' tv TpblTOV KOLKelvOL.

J Eph. ii. 1 — 3.

32 SECTION II.

Speaking of Jewish believers, he says, "We were
by nature the children of wrath even as others."
" It is every man's case," saith he. He had parted
it before ; some things he had said of the Gentiles :
'You' — you Gentiles — ' hath he quickened, who
were dead in sins and trespasses, wherein in time
past ye walked.' Some things likewise he had said
of Jews : 'Amongst whom we' — we Jews — 'also
had our conversation.' Eut now, in the close of
all, he puts them both, Jews and Gentiles, toge-
ther: 'and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others.'" Again: "Others are children
of wrath, so are we, we Jews, even as the profanest
men in the world."* In the letter to another
church in which there were Gentile converts — the
church at Colosse — the following words occur: —
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon
the earth ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry : For which things' sake the
wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedi-
ence. In the which ye also walked sometimes,
when ye lived in them."t The " children of dis-

* Works of Thomas Goodwin, D.D., vol. ii. 114. Nichols
Standard Divines.

f Col. iii. 5—7. The following also boar on this point :
1 Cor. vi. 9—11 ; 1 Pet. iv- 3 ; Col. i. 21 ; 1 Thos. iv. 5.

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 33

obedience" include all sinners, heathens, as well
as wicked men in a land like ours ; the former as
well as the latter are exposed to the "wrath of
God •" and we must conclude that, inasmuch as
the heathens of those days were saved by means
of the gospel alone, those of our days are not saved
without it. If the polished Heathens of Athens,
Corinth, and Rome, as well as the barbarous Scyth-
ians, nineteen centuries ago, were perishing before
they heard and obeyed the gospel, how can any
dream that the tribes of Xegroland, and the peo-
ple of India and China, who are as wicked, at
least, and as destitute of "the lamp of life," are not
in peril of the same perdition 1

Further, even the heathen love their darkness.
They are not merely the children of misfortune.
When the missionary tells them the story of a
living Saviour, and preaches to them in his name,
salvation and eternal life, without money and
without price, they scorn the message, and in-
finitely prefer the veriest trifle which the messen-
ger can give them. One Lord's day, the author
had gone to an African village, where he was not
a stranger. After he had spoken to the people,
one stood up and said: — "You always come to
speak words to us, words, words, nothing but
C

34 SECTION II.

words. We do not care for your words. If you
wi Mild bring something to sell to us, that we should
like." The same desperate wickedness and su-
preme deceitfulness of heart, the same enmity to
God, the same dislike of his authority, the same
unbelief of the record which he gave of his Son,
the same callousness to his love, the same fixed
ungodliness, which hinder men of all ranks and
classes in Britain from obeying the gospel, also
mark the heathen everywhere, and, if possible, in
a greater degree. An African — a sharp, decided
man — who had learned enough to be able to speak
about the matter, once said to the author: — "I
know the laws of God (going over the ten com-
mandments), and think some of them good. 'Thou
shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet.' These I
like : they are good laws. But others I do not
like. They may do for white men, but we cannot
obey them." In a thousand ways, by actual con-
tact with the heathen mind, and by experience
of its earthliness and ungodliness, the missionary
knows that heathens are, like unconverted hearers
of the gospel, unwilling to have their hearts broken
for sin and from sin, and to yield themselves up
unto God in holy obedience to his blessed will.
And as no hearer of the gospel can escape perdi-

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 35

tion but by a real and entire submission to Jesus
Christ as bis Saviour, so that his whole body,
mind, and spirit may be made perfectly holy, no
more can a heathen who also, and 'not less, hates
God and his law be regarded as a child of mercy,
unless he become one in the ordinary way.

In the Bible we have the feeling with which
God looks on the wickedness of those who are
"without the law," "The wicked shall be turned
into hell, even all the nations that forget God."*
Heathen idolatry incurs the heaviest guilt. It is
absurd and wholly inexcusable. Heathens allow
that God is their Maker ; "Even some of your own
poets have said, For we are also his offspring. "t
If we, men, are his offspring, what folly, yea, what
wickedness is it to think that our Father God "is
like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art
and man's device!" J "They that make them are
like unto them ; so is every one that trusteth in
them."§ The attentive reader of that satire on
idolatry — that always and everywhere true picture
of heathen wickedness, in the 44th chapter of
Isaiah, — must admit that such utter perversion of
reason and high-handed insult to Jehovah's God-
head, are worthy of his wrath, and that such of-

* Ps. ix. 17. f Acts xvii. 28. $ Ibid § Ps. cxv. 8.

86 ribs n.

fenders mu I lie under heavy guilt. They have
mind, I hey know i hat every effect has a can ie, and,
therefore, from the creation of the world God's
eternal power and Godhead ought to have been
clearly seen, and Idolatry ought to have been im-
po Ible. They have been, and are without ex-
cuse, Edolatry caricatures Jehovah in I he most
revolting manner ; and no Length of time can soften
or remove one of its hideous features, or make it
other than an abomination in his sight. For ever
must the idolater be an outcast and a WTetch until
he is turned from these vanities or nothings to
the only living God. It is harder for us to believe
that one who lives and dies an idolater shall be
admitted into heaven, than thai Divine righteous-
ness and goodness require him to be placed in an
abode more Buited to his character and history.

We are, indeed, handling an awful subject. It
Las depths we cannot fathom, and heights we can-
not scale, and a darkness we cannot pierce. All
that the author aims at is to gel christian men to
see I hat I he teaching "I I he Bcripl ures I'm).
;it lea t, favours, rather than gainsays the conclu-
sion: "No salvation for li<;itli<'ns withoul the
gospel." We see uo ground for the opposite view
in tin' Word of God. We fearnol the difficulties

NO'SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 37

with which it brings us face to face, or the charge
ili.il it -'■'■in to impeach the justice and goodness
of God. All these will at length be cleared up;
and, hereafter, we shall know that which we know
not now. It is our duty, Chri humbly

to receive our Father's word, to obey our Father's
command ; and if we cannot fully meet every
charge that is thoughtlessly or wickedly brought
against his character and government, lie himself
will answer it in his own time and way.

The uecessity of personal holiness, in order to
our seeing God — a holiness which God himself
produces by hie Word and Spirit — the chosen and
cherished ignorance, depravity, and wickedness of
all heathens, without exception, and the fact that
one must know Christ, and apply to him, in order
to be saved, force us to this conclusion, at least, as
a ground of christian action in spreading the gos-
pel, that those sinners in China, Kindostan, Africa,
and how many other places! who are at this day
unblessed with the gospel, are being destroyed for
lack of knowledge.

This can be met only by supposing that God
somehow reveals the way of life to the heathen,
and saves them, without their knowing it. We
limit not his power and wisdom. Far be it from

38 SECTION II.

us to speak oracularly upon this subject, and to
pronounce authoritatively that God does not save
heathens in some way unknown to us. We only
hold that the people of Christ ought to spread the
gospel with the same earnestness and enthusiasm
as if they were perfectly sure that no person aide
to know good and evil can escape without it.
Yonder is the stranded ship, and the shivering
crew are gathered on its deck, helpless and des-
pairing. Here, Christians, are you with the life-
boat which can live in any sea, if you have but
the faith to man it. Other life-boat there is none;
other means of escape earth knows not of, and
heaven has not revealed. To what conclusion are
you shut up? Either to man your boat — Heaven's
own — and push off to save them, or belie your
profession. Woe to you, if your earthly, slothful,
selfish, craven spirit permit you either to look with
unconcern on the scene of death before you, or put
your hands into your gloves, and with easy con-
science march away to the comfort of your own
firesides. A wretch, and not a christian, must he
be, who, called to such a rescue, and having the
heaven-prepared means of achieving it in his hands,
can think of his indifference, and not feel a sting
in his conscience, and not, as it were, for ever hear

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 39

ringing in his ears the dying curses of those whom
he allowed to perish. Can he really comfort him-
self with the thought that God may save them
otherwise 1 Woe is unto us if we fail to preach
the gospel, on the bare possibility that God will
save the heathen without it — a possibility for
which we find not the shadow of a warrant in His
Word. We see them following their dark course
to their latest breath, debauched, debased, idolat-
rous, shedding the blood of brother men with as
little concern as the blood of a dog, enslaving one
another, and without a shade of moral purity.
We see them thus on the brink of eternity. We
behold them thus die. And shall we cling to that
dream — without one atom of Bible evidence — that,
just in the article of death, God pardons them, and
makes them, although tenfold children of hell, and
all unconscious of a ray from heaven, meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light ;
saves them just on the confines of the invisible
world, or rather within its confines, and never
gives one of them a moment to say, " Come, my
son, or brother, and I will tell you what the true
God has done for my soul !" Christians ! beware
lest you soothe your consciences with this delusion,
while you supinely sit at ease, neglecting, or but

40 SECTION II.

coldly executing, the great commission of the
Lord : " Preach the gospel to every creature."

The chief objection to the view held in this
section, " No salvation for the heathen without
the gospel," is, that it clashes with our so-called
native ideas of the justice and goodness of God.
By some, who hold their own instincts to be more
trustworthy than the word of Him who can neither
err nor lie, this view, and our advocacy of it, will
be unsparingly denounced. We are not careful to
answer them, as our anxiety is to deal with the
conscience of the true people of God, to whose
charge the spreading of the gospel has been
divinely committed.^ We wish that at least they
should all think thus : " It may be so ; there is
reason to fear that the heathen are in peril of per-
dition; the balance of Scripture testimony leans
in that direction; if they are safe, well ; but if they
are not (and we are far from sure that they are),
what shall we say to our Lord, and what shall we
say to ourselves, when the light of eternity bursts
in upon us, and the only time when we can work
for the salvation of the heathen has for ever
passed, if we leave millions of our fellow-men to
the mercy of a baseless perad venture V Let us
spread the gospel of the kingdom with as much

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 41

zeal and as much self-denial as if we saw it written
with a sunbeam on the sky, ' iSTo soul in heathen-
dom can escape but by the gospel door ! Chris-
tians, to the rescue ! '

The objection to which we refer may be variously
answered. But we content ourselves with the
following. If to allow the heathen to perish in
their darkness, and to drive them away in their
wickedness, to learn of hell by awaking amid its
horrors, and of heaven hy seeing it afar off, beyond
the fixed and impassable gulf — if this clash with
the goodness and justice of Jehovah — if you,
Reader, make a difficulty of it, bethink yourself.
Is it not still more shocking to you that our
righteous and loving Parent has allowed so many
generations, each counted by hundreds of millions
of souls, to sink into, and remain in, a state so
wretched 1 If there be uncertainty about their
future, there is none about their present condition.
The fables about the innocence of heathen tribes
may very fairly be classed with the tales of the
Arabian Nights. There is no doubt now that
heathen lands are Satan's seat; that all there is
vile, and fitter for hell than heaven ■ and that great
transformations — work for Jehovah's hand — are as
necessary there as here to rescue and to bless. If,

42 SECTION II.

then, it is " horrible, most horrible," to cast away
such men and women, what is it to have allowed
them to follow this dark and downward road
without a check ? If it be so inconsistent with
Divine justice and goodness to throw them into
the fire, what is it to have let them wither and dry
up into fuel only fit for it 1 It is, in our view,
more difficult to reconcile the existence of so many
heathens, and the depth to which they have sunk,
with that justice and goodness, than the eternal
death of those of them who are not saved by a
preached, believed, obeyed gospel, and by the ex-
ceeding greatness of Jehovah's power, which uses
that gospel as the means of saving. To allow a
creature, made in His own image, to become so
defaced and so wicked, should be considered more
unlike God than the leaving him to perish in his
sins. Sin, the cause of all suffering, must be a
more hideous thing than any possible suffering.
For any to wonder that God should make ven-
geance to dog the sinner's steps, and at last slay
him, when He let him be a sinner, is just as rea-
sonable as to wonder that a parent who had the
heart to see his child leap into the fire, and try its
temper, when he could easily hinder it, should also
stand by and see him burn. Surely the permission

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 43

of evil is a greater wonder than the punishment of
it. But neither the one nor the other is either
cruel or unjust. Why should a wicked man com-
plain, a man for the punishment of his sins ? God,
having revealed his wrath from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, hav-
ing fixed death as the wages of sin, and given man,
made in his own likeness, the power to stand and
the freedom to fall, must, forsooth, be unjust and
unkind, because his will bends not to the will of
the worm that scorns his goodness and defies his
power ! The conscience of every demon and lost
man in hell, and of every angel and saint in heaven,
no doubt revolts at the charge which the flippancy
and self-conceit of some men on earth insinuate
against the Judge of all. " 0 the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God !
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways
past finding out !"*

^Nay more, Reader, what think you of this in-
spired account of the matter? Read it carefully,
for it triumphantly vindicates the ways of God to
man. " For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteous-

* Rom. xi. 33.

44 SECTION II.

ness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteous-
ness : because that which may be known of God
is manifest in them : for God hath shewed it unto
them. For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being under-
stood by the things that are made, even his eter-
nal power and Godhead ; so that they are without
excuse ; because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful ;
but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. Professing them-
selves to be wise, they became fools, and changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image
made like to corruptible men, and to birds, and
fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Where-
fore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through
the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their
own bodies between themselves : who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature more than the Creator, who is
blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God
gave them up unto vile affections. And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do
those things which are not convenient."* Let

* Rom. i. 18-28.

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 45

none of us, in our little-mindedness, charge God
foolishly. The present distance of the heathen
from Him is not the journey of one day. They
have not, in one age, fallen thus far from God and
the light of heaven. It has been a gradual descent,
chosen and followed, in spite of God's witness for
himself, of the testimony of their own consciences,
and of the work of the law written on their hearts.*
Did Noah know nothing of Jehovah? If that
knowledge was lost by the children of Ham, for
instance, who was to blame ? Jehovah's Spirit
would not always strive with man, would not for
ever be humbled, grieved, and vexed, by man's
chosen and cherished wickedness. Man would
quench him. And so the "Holy Dove" flew
away to its native heaven, leaving men to walk in
their own ways. Each generation served itself
heir of all that was bad in its predecessors, as the
Jews of Christ's time served themselves heirs of
the blood-guiltiness of their fathers who had slain
the prophets, inasmuch as they showed that they
thought well of their fathers' deeds by doing like-
wise, t

* "Work of the law," — the work which the law requires.
Eom. ii. 15.
| Luke xi. 48.

46 SECTION II.

But besides the early revelations thus lost, by
being willfully thrown away, there has been, and
there is, a continual revelation of God in his works.
This is asserted in the 19th and 20th verses
of the first chapter of Romans, which we have
already quoted. "In the works of creation there
have always been exhibited such proofs of the
divine being and perfections, as were enough to
keep intelligent creatures in mind of these import-
ant truths (the existence, and the eternal power
and God head of God)."* The same truth is thus em-
phatically declared : " The living God which made
heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that
are therein, in times past suffered all nations to walk
in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not him-
self without witness, in that he did good, and gave
us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling
our hearts with food and gladness."t

In addition to this revelation, the heathen "are
a law unto themselves," and have "the law written
on their hearts." "Their consciences also bear
witness ; and their thoughts accuse or excuse one
another." J "They are without a written law : —

* Dr. Wardlaw's Lectures on Romans, vol. i. 104.
f Acts xiv. 15 17.

\ Dr. Wardhvw renders the latter clause thus: "Their rea-
sonings among themselves accuse or vindicate."

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 47

but they are not without a law altogether : — they
have certain principles of natural law; they have
these in themselves, written in their hearts. There
the law of the Most High was originally written :
— engraved, ' not on tables of stone, but on the
fleshly tables of the heart.' And although by the
fall the impression has been mournfully defaced
and corrupted, yet it has not been entirely obliter-
ated. By the voluntary erasement of the law of
God from their hearts, deep guilt has been con -
tracted. Still, however, the impression is not
obliterated ; and they continue to * treasure up to
themselves wrath against the day of wrath,' when
they wilfully act in opposition to the remaining
sense of right and wrong which is yet in their
minds."* Disliking their Maker, they let the
knowledge of him slip, yea, as it were, sought to
blot it out of their minds ; and, therefore, are they
given up to their own choice, and wander ever-
more farther from God, and become more wicked
and unhappy. Yea, the heathen " know the judg-
ment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death." Even they cannot be but
" sure that the judgment of God is according to

* Wardlaw, i. 163.

48 SECTION II.

truth against theni which commit such things ; "
and yet they " not only do the same, but have plea-
sure in them that do them." The conclusion of
the whole matter, Paul says, is that we have proved
both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under
sin. Gentiles, without the written revelation, are
" under sin," guilty, exposed to wrath, as well as
Jews who were " in the law," — the former as truly
as, and not less than, the latter, although their
punishment will be measured by a different rule.
God condemns the heathen, and his wrath is re-
vealed from heaven against their ungodliness and
wickedness, as withstanding the truth taught them
by their reason and conscience, and by the Crea-
tor's works around them. And, therefore, he is
just, and good too — good to all his works, in
" rendering to every man according to his deeds,"
— good and kind to his "elect angels" and his
" redeemed from among men," in separating the
wicked from their company, and shutting them up
by themselves in the one prison-house of the uni-
verse,— truly good and just in rendering "unto
them that are contentious, and do not obey the
truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul
of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 4

of the Gentile," whether favoured with the Bible
or not, in measure according to their mercies, those
without the law with few stripes, those in the law,
with many.

It may be said that there are tribes whose ig-
norance has reached such a pitch, that they are
almost below the power of using their reason.
But does this, were it true, make it unrighteous in
God to view them with displeasure 1 Ought His
loathing to be lessened by the growth of their
vileness? Then the more ungodly, inhuman,
brute-like they become, the better, if, therefore,
God dislike them the less. The fitter for hell,
then, the fitter for heaven. The more like devils
or brutes they become, the more likely are they to
share the lot of saints and angels ! This would be
a new meeting of extremes, and show, were it all
right, that light and darkness have communion,
and that Christ hath concord with Belial.

If we needed any proof that the reasoning here
opposed is at once foolish and insincere, we have
that proof in the fact, that such reasoning would
not be tolerated, were it a question between man
and man, and about matters of earthly concern.
Children who surpass wicked parents in wicked-
ness, are not really held to be less amenable to the

D

50 SECTION II.

laws of society the worse they grow. It is just
the very reverse. Previous good character is con-
sidered a palliation of crime. Practised wicked-
ness is counted the more dangerous, and needs the
more punishment. " Habit and repute" is always
an aggravation. Nay, with a strange capricious-
ness, easy to be understood, when the heathen
plunders or annoys the civilised trader or traveller,
those who scoff at the idea of his being an object
of loathing to a holy God, often doom him to
destruction. He may be fit for heaven, but not
for earth. And the ungodly world, that makes
light of this enterprise of mercy, which seeks to
save him from darkness and from death, hounds
on its dogs of war to punish the outbreaks of his
savagery, which the so-called christian aggressor
too often provokes.

Now these things being so, how dare we hope
that the heathen are saved without the gospel. If
it be unjust to leave them to eat the fruit of their
own doings in the eternal world, is it just to let
them sow such deathful seed in this 1 If we see
no change, up to the moment of death, on what
grounds of reason or scripture can we look to find
them in heaven? The Church's only safe ground
of action is, "No salvation for the heathen without

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 51

the gospel." We repeat, that we argue tins ques-
tion from an intensely practical point of view,
being anxious that true believers should act on a
safe principle in a matter so inexpressibly momen-
tous to the bulk of our fellow-men. Acting as if
there were no manner of doubt about our conclu-
sion, if christians err, they will err on the safe
side. The appalling nature of the conclusion must
move every mind that realises it. We reckon
those who have been left without the gospel at
600 or 700 millions. Africa is supposed to have
80 millions, and 200 missionaries. India has 200
millions, and 400 missionaries. China 400 mil-
lions, and less than 100 missionaries, Since the
soul of one pagan child is of more value than the
whole world, the number of souls thus exposed to
misery is fitted to appal. Would to God that
christians were stirred to adequate efforts for the
purpose of sowing this whole field with gospel
seed!

There is too much reason to fear that the belief
or dream that the heathen are safe without the
gospel, is often the excuse of those who do nothing,
or little, or less than they both can and ought, for
their salvation. They lack the love to Christ
which would lead them to give even out of their

52 SECTION II.

poverty, and to pray with the fervency of enthu-
siasm that Jesus might be exalted among the
nations. For anything that they do, every heathen
may go down to the grave and to hell unpitied and
untaught. And the uneasiness of a conscience
which testifies of neglect of duty, indifference to
the honour of God, and unconcern about perishing
souls, makes them catch at the unreasonable and
unscriptural notion, that blinded, superstitious,
idolatrous heathens are saved without the only
means of salvation of which God's Word makes
mention. Jesus commands his people, "Haste
ye! go tell every soul of them the good news
about me, and bid them turn, believe, and live."
Many who profess to be the servants of Christ, sit
down, occupied each with his own affairs. This
man to his farm, that to his merchandise; and the
Lord's great commission is all but forgotten. And
that cause which is so dear to Him, and should be
the chief concern of his people, is put after every-
thing else. And instead of trying how much each
can do to spread the gospel, many, many who pro-
fess to prize it above all worlds, seem to try how
little they can do. And being uneasy about it,
they grasp at the delusion, that notwithstanding
they neglect the duty which Christ gives them to

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 53

do, He himself will, or perhaps will, or perhaps
may, in some other way, save those perishing
fellow-men to whom they ought to have sent the
word of life. That professing christian who keeps
his mind easy over his lukewarmness in, or neglect
of, the cause of God in its world-wide aspect, by a
groundless perhaps, is trilling with his talent, and
had better think of his reckoning with the Master.
Yes, God could save the heathen without us. He
could set up his kingdom by other hands than
ours. But He has put the work into our hands.
And if any one fail to see this in the Bible, or
refuse to come to the help of the Lord, who so
honours us by commanding our service, how can
he think favourably of his own spiritual state?
Is his own soul safe who can look on millions lost,
and soothe his conscience with only the poorest
perhaps that they may, after all, be saved, while
he does nothing, although commanded by Christ,
to give them the means of salvation, or merely
casts a penny into the treasury of the kingdom, as
he would throw a penny to a beggar to silence his
importunity ?

We cannot better conclude this section than in
the words of Dr. Wardlaw : — " We are taught 'by
the sure word of prophecy' to expect a period

54 SECTION II.

when 'the kingdoms of this world shall become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.' Yet
if the heathen may be saved without the know-
ledge and faith of the gospel, we may well in-
quire, whence the rapturous delight which accom-
panies the prophetic visions of its universal d illu-
sion ? Whence the Divine injunction, 'Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature V The supposition of the safety of the
Heathen without the gospel annihilates the most
powerful of all incitements to christian zeal. Why
should we expose our fellow-creatures to increased
peril, by putting it into their power to reject what
is, after all, unnecessary to their salvation? If a
Gentile can be pointed out that is not a sinner, —
that has acted fully up to the light and law of na-
ture,— there were good reason on this ground to
plead for his safety. But such a character is no-
where to be found. All are guilty ; all condemned.
The ground of their condemnation is just; and
the proportions of their punishment will be just.
They shall be judged, not 'by flu- law,* but 'with-
out the law;* and even amongst themselves, when
tried according to their own light, some shall be
beaten with more and others with fewer stripes.
Eut a Saviour they all require. And besides the

NO SALVATION WITHOUT THE GOSPEL. 55

name of Jesus, * there is no other name under
heaven, given among men, whereby either we or
they can be saved.' 'This is eternal life, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent.'"

SECTION III.

"can these bones live?"

Can we expect the Negro race, for instance, to
arise out of their present low estate and become
civilized and Christian ? "Irreclaimable barbari-
ans !" "Destined to extirpation, like the tiger
and the kangaroo!" "Monkeys!" "A pack of
lazy, good-for-nothing savages!" "What have
your missions done among them ?" " How many
have you converted 1 " "What results have you
to show for the money which has been expended?"
"Do you not see that your undertaking is Utopian,
foolish, fruitless, — that it is and must, to the end,
be a miserable failure?" Such are some of the
exclamations, execrations, assertions, and interro-
gations of persons ill qualified and ill disposed
either to judge correctly or to decide impartially
upon a matter of this kind. Yea, even in evan-
gelical churches there are members who share in
the spirit which runs through these expressions

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE ? " 57

and queries. We would fain hope that church
members of this kind are becoming rare and will
soon be unknown. Whether ignorance, or want
of thought, or covetousness, on their own part, or
the lukewarmness, or little-mindedness of their
religious guides, be the cause of such & phenomenon,
it is not the less humbling or less disgraceful, in
any who profess to love Christ to shew indiffer-
ence, not to say hostility, to the enterprise of
mercy with which the honour of the Lord is most
closely connected.

The question at the head of this section can be
shortly and satisfactorily answered to the genuine
christian ; and it is to him, we repeat, that we
desire to speak. The question, when rightly put,
is simply this : — Can God regenerate the African?
And will He regenerate the African? No preacher
ever yet converted a single soul. When a man
speaks of his converts, or when another speaks of
any man's converts, with a conceit of the eloquence,
or earnestness, or power of the man that has done
such great things, surely it must be "as a smoke
in God's nostrils," offensive and worthy of his re-
buke. Converting power is of God, not of man.
God gives the increase. The preaching of the holi-
est, most earnest, and most eloquent of men, can

58 SECTION III.

go no farther than the ear. It is the Holy Ghost
who takes the things of Christ and shews them to
the soul.

Seeing, then, that it is God who begins the good
work in true saints, and who also finishes it, can
He make a poor degraded African a true saint?
No one will say that J le run not, at least none with
whom we care to reason. We shall not take time
to prove that God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, can shine in the darkest
heart on earth, and change the most sunken savage
into a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. This is
already the blessed faith of those whom we ear-
nestly seek to stir up to new zeal in spreading the
gospel.

The following case has happened. A section of
the church begin a mission, and send out their
agents to some unhealthy coast. Disease disables,
death destroys. Others are sent ; but the zeal and
hope of the first movement are greatly cooled.
Ten, fifteen, twenty years pass by ; and the ap-
parent converts are counted only by tens. There
has been no Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit.
The converts are very im perfect christians. Tlii lik-
ing that they were living stones, the missionary
took and built them into Christ's house. But tho

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE ? " 59

fire tried his work ; and the seeming jewels were
seen to be wood, hay, stubble, not gold, silver,
precious stones. The seed of the word never
seems to grow or yield a single sheaf in that salt
and barren wild of heathenism. It appears to be
all love's labour lost. And the good people away
in the christian land, who little know what hea-
thens are, aud to whom mission work is tinged
with the hue of romance, become discouraged at
the poor result of their efforts. The tide now
turns to ebb. Another mission is begun in what
is considered a more promising field, the first love
is accounted a sort of drag, and, if it could be
done without disgrace, it would be cast off. I
firmly believe that a spirit like this will not see
success in any mission whatsoever. Such craven
souls are the cowards and the traitors in the Lord's
army. Far better for themselves and for the
church's work that they had no connection with
her ; they are the cause of disaster and defeat ;
they, and they alone, are her weakness. ISTo mis-
sion will be crowned with success, unless its friends
are determined that Jehovah shall make it succeed.
They must give Him no rest, but pray without
fainting or ceasing, and never bate one jot of heart
or hope* till He cause our enterprises to yield to
* Isa. Lrii. 6. 7.

60 SECTION IN.

himself their harvests of glory in the salvation of
souls.

Indeed the true light in which to put this mat-
ter is the following. The people of God say,
"Lord, what wilt thou have us to do for Thee?"
The Lord answers, "Send the gospel to Patagonia,
to Old Calabar, to Madagascar. Send a mission
to Rajpootana, the Punjaiib, Ceylon. Send
preachers of the Word to Bonny, to Benin, to
Japan, to Kamtschatka." The Church has then
nothing to do but to obey, and at once separate
the best men for the work, and send them to it.
She ought to be sure that the Lord himself, having
commanded her strength, will use her willing,
earnest service, and accomplish that which He
pleases by her means. If He does not convert
the numbers which the Church marks out as her
desire, that is his matter. The Church dare not
say, " Because the Lord has not honoured our
mission, because it has not a great show of fruit,
therefore we shall abandon it." Depend upon it,
there is a reason for this want, or seeming want of
success. Let the preacher do his duty, and he is
unto God a sweet savour both in the lost and in
the saved. God is well pleased with him if he is
faithful: his work is done, his reward is sure,

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE?" 61

whatever may be the number of sheaves which
the Lord gives him to bring with him as the har-
vest of his toils.

God will surely save his flock, but He may
keep some of the sheep in his hiding, lest the
Church should boast of them. When God's people
honour Him more in their mission work, and make
it more their own, and when they are better pre-
pared to see the work of his hand in every atom
of saving result, He will doubtless show them
more. But is there not among us still too much
of that spirit which would boast of success, and
say, Behold the success of our efforts, instead of,
Behold what God hath wrought? And He with-
holds the occasion. He does not show us many
mighty works, because of our unbelief, and because
we are not high enough in our spirituality to give
Him all the glory. May He prepare his Church,
in order that He may prosper his cause among
the heathen.

But there are right-minded Christians, who do
look to God for success, and who give Him all the
praise for what is done by their means. It is well
that they should remember the laws of the king-
dom's progress, and study its history, in order that
they may know what to expect, and be able to see

62 SECTION ITT.

what the Lord has done, lest they either vex Him
hy their impatience, or neglect to praise Him for
the great things which. He has wrought. The
two laws most distinctly taught are these: First,
That there must be a seed-sowing before there can
be a sheaf-bringing ; and second, That the king-
dom begins small, and grows by degrees.

The seed-sowing includes all that is needed to
bring the truth to the ears of men. This pre-
paratory work is often difficult and tedious. In
many cases the unwritten tongues of barbarous
tribes have to be learned. In all cases, Divine
truth has to be taught in tongues which cannot
adequately express some important parts of it. A
footing has to be gained, by which men who cannot
be expected to know what disinterested kindness
is, and who perhaps have never seen it, but the
opposite, in those white men with whom they
have come into contact, may place confidence in
strangers who have neither the means to bribe nor
the power to awe. We should think that the
cases are extremely rare in which the heathen
mind is made to grasp eternal things at once.
The story of the cross sounds at first like a fable,
if it even engages the attention, and really gets a
hearing. The history of all missions bears out

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE?" 63

the opinion we thus express. The rapid conquests
of the gospel in the apostolic age confirm it; for
the Jews, who were always first addressed, were a
people prepared for hearing. The book of the
Acts gives no account of missionary life among
such tribes as the Africans or Polynesians of the
present day. Neither does our opinion favour
that of those who hold the necessity of a civiliza-
tion preparatory to the gospel among modern bar-
barians. The gospel itself is its own best pioneer.
This seed-sowing is a difficult work, but it must
be done, and it requires time, and faith, and pa-
tience, and courage.

Glance now at some of the results. We point
to negro churches in America and the West Indies,
where, amid much that is imperfect, we see not a
little genuine Christianity. There are gold, silver,
and precious stones which have stood, and will
stand, the fire ; and " They shall be mine, saith
the Lord, in the day that I make up my jewels."
We point to South Africa, where we find no less
convincing proofs that men of Ethiopia have
indeed been converted to Christ. We find the
Hottentots substantially a christian race; that is,
with a large proportion of professing christians,
and a fair amount of social morality. We also

64 SECTION III.

see Kafirs at the feet of the Saviour. But even
od the ill-famed coast of Guinea, every christian
mission from the Gambia to the Gaboon has some
genuine fruit to show. The Wesleyan mission at
Bathurst, on the Gambia, which has existed forty
years, had in 18G1 six hundred communicants,
consisting of liberated Africans from all parts of
the coast, and of those who are natives of that
district. At Sierra Leone,* in Liberia, at Lagos,
in Yoruba, at Cape Coast Castle, Old Calabar, the
river Cameroons, the island of Corisco, and the
Gaboon, there are some who seem to be converted
to God. We have seen some die in the faith of
Jesus Christ, after they had confessed Him before
their fellow-countrymen. We see mind after mind
breaking loose from the customs and superstitions
of their ancestors, and, with some evidence of
sincerity, uniting themselves to the followers of
Christ. We see fixed attention to the preaching
of the Word of God, and emotion speaking from
the faces of the hearers, as that Word goes home
to their hearts, and arouses their fears and their
hopes.

* Some account of missionary labour in Sierra Leone will
be found in a Memoir of the Rev. W. A. B. Johnson, pub-
lished by Seeleya. 1852.

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE ?" 05

Your bird of passage, or your resident on the
Coast, who has not kept himself pure from the
vices of the heathen, may say that there is no truth
in all this. Your trader is not always a godly man.
He is not always even a moral man. He has been
known to make light of the Word of God. He has
been known, of set purpose, to use his influence
to make the heathen reject that Word. And yet,
forsooth, he is an authority on the subject of mis-
sionary success ! When did the devil bear true
witness about the brethren? These persons are
unfit to judge what spiritual fruit is. They are
not spiritual men. And, more than this, these
false witnesses do not take any pains to know the
facts. They do not attend mission -churches.
They do not know the language of the tribes.
They do not talk with them about Christianity,
except in blasphemy and mockery. How should
such witnesses be for a moment heard ?

It is true that those who come to the faith of
Christ are few in comparison with those who do
not ; but we think that they are enough to silence
objectors, and to uphold the faith and courage of
the Church of God. It will not do to say that
they are mere exceptions, and prove the rule that
the African race is hopelessly sunk, and unfit to be

1-:

66 EJECTION III.

raised. Nay, but rather arc they the first fruits,
giving promise sure of the full harvest. To what
do we owe these ? Is it not to the Spirit of God
working by the gospel? And has not God the
residue of the Spirit 1 If you see a stalk of wheat
growing on a piece of untilled or fallow ground,
you gather that thousands can grow there ; and
that, if only that soil be ploughed and sown, its
fruit shall shake like Lebanon. If God has con-
verted one negro, can he not convert a thousand %
If he has converted a thousand, can he not con-
vert ten thousand, yea, the whole of the Ethiopian
race?

And will He not do so % Have we not a very
sure word of prophecy, to which we should take
heed, until the gospel day dawn in the earth's
dark regions % Of Ethiopia — the black -faced
family — it shall be said, this man was born there.
Nothing better, nothing greater, nothing more
comforting is said of Zion herself. The despised,
degraded, peeled, and scattered Ethiopia, is written
down in the list of Jehovah's favoured nations,
from among whom he shall gather bis children.
This man shall be born there. From beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia shall Jehovah's suppliants, the
daughters of his dispersed, bring his offering. Yea,

"CAN THESE BONES LIVE V 67

like a little child to its mother, shall Ethiopia
soon stretch out her hands unto God. Bead the
precious oracles that abound in the Word of God,
from the one which foretells that in Abraham's
promised seed all the families of the earth shall be
blessed, down to the great voices that shall be
heard in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever." And
in these enough will be seen to make us sure of
harvest, even before the seed be sown ; sure of
victory, even before the battle be begun. We feel
persuaded that Africa shall be made christian, be-
cause it forms one of the great divisions of the
human family. As surely as Japheth shall be
beautiful with salvation, and Jehovah shall be the
God of Shem, so surely shall the curse be rolled
off from Ham, and God's black child be made
comely. We are sure of this, because, without it,
the kingdom of Christ will not be complete. If
what is, in an important sense, a third part of the
race — the descendants of one of the three post-
diluvian fathers — be left to Satan, how shall that
which is written be fulfilled ?

The ten millions of the Ethiopian race in the
western hemisphere have, to a wonderful extent,

68 SECTION III.

submitted to the Christian religion. Many of
them have found it a comfort under their wrongs.
Oh, how encouraging to the Church of God is it to
see that a race sinned against by civilized, but not
christian men, instead of vowing eternal hate to
their oppressors, and counting the Christian reli-
gion an abomination because it is theirs, have so
extensively yielded to its peaceful and loving sway,
and learned from it to forgive their enemies ! Surely
such a race is not irreclaimably barbarous. Onr
own colonial history gives the lie to those who so
flippantly assert this offensive lie. The love of
Christ shall yet reach, and melt, and change, and
rule the heart of Ethiopia. The Church must not
be conformed to the inhumanity of the world. She
must stamp on that commission which, in her
Lord's name, and at the Spirit's command, she
gives to all her missionaries, this motto; — "The
lowest heathen is a man and brother," in spite of
the world's scoff at the humility of her love. Let
us remember the meeting of Jesus with the naked
demoniac. He did not loathe the poor wretch.
The more miserable the victim was, the greater
glory did He get by curing him. And when Ethi-
opia, throughout her wide borders, shall have cast
away her fetiches and all her childish and bloody

" CAN THESE BONES LIVE ?" 69

superstitions, and shall be seated at the feet of
Jesus, beauteous with holiness, 0, will not our
King Messiah receive as much glory as when it
shall be said, "Lo these from the land of Sinim !"
Methinks He will rejoice more in Ethiopia than in
those races which have higher pretensions. Could
we conceive a christian heartless and thoughtless
enough to scorn Africa on account of her degrada-
tion, we would tell him to go to his closet, and not
leave it till he had obtained a spirit more like that
of his Master.

The question, "Can these bones live?" really be-
comes this: — Has God appointed to his Son a
kingdom ? Is this kingdom to be world-wide ? In
the following section we shall have to deal with
these points, and shall not here enter upon them.
The Bible is full of the doctrine of the kingdom.
The muse of prophecy opens her mouth with the
key-note of a song the burden of which is "the
kingdom;" the anthem rises and swells, till, at the
close, we see that kingdom triumphant, the prince
of this world trodden clown into hell, to dwell
there in eternal chains, and the Prince of Peace
enthroned in glory, on the right hand of the Ma-
jesty of Heaven, the beloved King and Saviour of
redeemed men, " out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation."

SECTION IV.

THE WORK WITH WHICH THE LORD HAS CHARGED
HIS PEOPLE ON EARTH.

In the third section, we have seen that the Lord
both can and will add the heathen nations to his
kingdom. We shall now consider the commis-
sion which he gave to his Church, the work
which that commission pnts into her hands, and
the obligation which it lays on every believer to
spread the gospel in the world.

In saving men from their sins Christ removes
guilt, produces moral purity, and begets willing,
yea, joyful obedience to all the Divine will.
That believers, being justified, may be careful to
maintain good works, that they may be holy and
without blame before him in love, that they may
be purified unto him a people of his own, thus
being saved, at once, from the guilt, the defile-
ment, and the rule of sin, is the great end of re-
demption, as it respects them personally. God's

TIIE.WOIIK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 71

end is not gained, but by making his people a
Milling people, willing to obey, willing to fight,
willing to work. Jesus himself is, in this respect,
a model for his followers ; and, like the refiner of
silver, he sits over them, while they are in the
crucible on the fire of trial, until he sees his own
image clearly reflected from them. The manner in
which he has chosen to bring his people to him-
self is wisely fitted for the end. As his kingdom
in this world consists of subjects who are "a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people ; that they should show
forth the praises of him who hath called them
out of darkness into his marvellous light," so he
gives them a share in the work of extending the
kingdom. In this they are required to work
together with God. Now the part with which
they are charged is vastly important : yea, if the
assertion of the second section is true, viz., 'No
salvation for the heathen without the gospel/ this
part is unspeakably momentous, and the responsi-
bility with which it clothes christians is appalling.
Oh, Christians of every name and section, consider
this matter. In a case of this kind, were it
merely a cpiestion of health or of money, every
man would act on the maxim that it is best to

i '1 i !<>>: jv.

err on the safe side, and to steer well clear of any
risk of mistake or neglect. Is there in the world
a christian that does not need to open his eyes
far more widely to the question of the service
which God's plan for setting up the kingdom of
heaven in all the earth, and which Christ's com-
mand to spread the gospel of that kingdom, re-
quire at his hands %

1. The work to which Christ commands the
strength of his people, could not be more simply
stated than it is in his own words : " Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature." " Teach, or disciple all nations."
Baptize unto the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, those who through grace believe.

At present, many friends of missions, unthink-
ingly mix up other ends which are inferior with
that which should he the one end of our enter-
prise. As if the dignity and advantage of that
cause could he increased by putting among its
aims something which our blessed Lord did not
put there ! In other words, the interests of time
and self are apt to claim that which is due to the
kingdom of God and the spiritual interests of
men. Some would have it that the science and
commerce of maritime and manufacturing nations,

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 73

such as Britain, are objects at whose furtherance
our missions ought to aim. The missionary should
foster trade, and that, as is speciously argued, for
the benefit of the people among whom he labours.
He should aid in cultivating cotton. He should
lead in the introduction of agriculture, and all
useful trades. Science also puts in its claims.
The missionary should turn his hand to the
gathering and preserving of beasts, and birds, and
fishes, and snakes, and beetles. And, withal, he
must explore, and add to the domain of geography.
Now, the missionary of Christianity ought not to
go to heathen lands for these purposes. The
commission which his Lord gives him includes
none of them. No one will, for a moment,
imagine that we undervalue them. They are
good of themselves, and the success of our enter-
prise will further them. Every naked barbarian
who is led to cover his skin becomes a new cus-
tomer of Liverpool and New York. In this way,
missions will tell more and more in favour of our
manufactures and commerce. At present, one
yard of calico makes a dress for many an African
female, and, perhaps, half a dozen for many boys
and girls, while younger children of both sexes go
stark naked. Two and a half yards form the full

74 SECTION IV.

dress of grown men over vide regions. Chris-
tianity requires its children to cover themselves
decently; and, therefore, by promoting this de-
cency, it will greatly and surely benefit trade. On
this we need not enlarge. The gospel is the
great, yea, the only instrument of a true civiliza-
tion. When the beat lien man becomes a chris-
tian, he ceases to be the selfish, brutish, earthly
being that he was before. He follows new ways,
and feels new wants. The 'gospel of the king-
dom' furthers the interests of earth and time,
when the Giver of the increase makes it fruitful :
for the Divine bounty, which provides eternal
salvation, cannot be niggard of that fulness of the
earth which is the Lord's, and which is given to
Christ for his Church's sake. Our own heaven-
favoured country affords a fine instance of a gos-
pel-prospered bind. Missionaries, as educated,
philanthropic, and public -spirited persons, cannot
fail to take a deep interest in the elevation and
prosperity of the people among whom they labour.
He is a poor christian who does not wish to do
good, to the bodies as well as the souls of men.
" So soon as grace entereth into the heart, it
frameth the heart to be in some measure public."
But in so far as they make ends of these secondary

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 75

things, they fall below the top of their commis-
sion, and are not worthy to cany it.

In some places missionaries need to be explorers.
But exploration by itself, or merely for the pur-
pose of filling up a map, can never be their end
or duty. The aim and motive of the Martyr of
Erromanga, for instance, commend themselves to
the christian conscience. He longed, with all the
earnestness of an ardent piety, to pass the boun-
dary of the reef of Baiatea, that he might carry
the gospel to the island groups around. Mr.
Moffat's visits to Mosilikatse, the chief of the
Metabili, in order to introduce the Saviour's name
to a new tribe, was just the kind of explora-
tion that is expected of christian bishops among
the heathen. Suppose a few of these sent to a
tribe on the coast of Africa. It is plainly both
their duty and wisdom, and the way to permanent
success, to bend all their energies to the establish-
ing of a church of Christ there. Their work
among that tribe is not done, unless a church is
gathered, fit to maintain the gospel among them-
selves, and to spread it around them. While
they are working for this end, training for service
those who believe, they should visit neighbouring
tribes, and make known their own existence,

7G BEOTION IV.

work, and aims. They should preach the gospel,
and give out some notes of that pure language
which God has promised to turn to all the tribes of
the earth. They should repeat their visits, and
widen their circle. Thus, the Lord may show
them new centres, which, being occupied, would
give access to other tribes ; and they point out
new spheres to the homo churches, or introduce
into them native workers, or some of them sur-
render their present stations into other hands, and
take the advanced post. But in whatever man-
ner, or at whatever rate of speed, this work is
done, the tendency of a missionary agency, that is
worthy of its name and trust, is ever inward,
upward, forward. Now, this is the true mis-
sionary exploration. It may not make much
noise in the world, but it sows seed unto eternal
life. God may call a missionary to exploration of
a more extensive kind. And far rather would
we see one like Dr. Livingstone engaged in this
work, than those whose chief end and aim are
self, who have no moral earnestness, who are flip-
pant and contemptuous in the pictures, or rather
caricatures, which they give of the barbarians,
their travels among whom become their capital
for fame and place, and who have no feeling for

THE WORK OF THE LOHO S PEOPLE. 77

the moral and spiritual darkness of the tribes
whom they visit. They may add to botany and
some of the ologies, and help to fill up a map,
but this is nearly all the good they do to any but
themselves.

The interests of commerce may safely be left to
the merchants. In many places, commerce lias
gone before missions. It has given the means of
sustaining missionaries in regions which otherwise
could not be so easily reached. Thus, in Divine
providence, the commerce of a christian land is
made to help the kingdom of Him to wrhom the
earth and its fulness belong. And has not Tie
made Britain and America great in ships for this
end ? Let our rich merchants beware of boasting
that the arms of their own skill and enterprise
have done all this. God has assuredly done it, in
order, among other things, to provide means and
afford facilities for the setting up of his kingdom.
But it does not follow from this that the mis-
sionary is to be, in any sense, an auxiliary to the
trader. The less the former meddles with trade,
directly or indirectly, the better is the latter
pleased. We, indeed, do pray that the day may
come when our trading posts in heathen places
shall be held by good men. Christians may w^ell

78 SECTION IV.

pray that God would send out pious men to buy
and sell, as well as to preach the gospel. Pioufl
men, bred to commerce, willing to go abroad, were
it only to keep the lewd and wicked from hinder-
ing the Saviour's cause in our mission spheres,
would do what would make them happy in the
eternal retrospect. The impurity, the violence, the
selfishness, the dishonesty of traders from a christian
country, and their active opposition to the work of
the Most High God, are not more disgraceful to
themselves, and do not more surely treasure up to
themselves a fearful store of wrath, than they help
to steel the heathen against the gospel.

There is a great amount of unconfessed unbelief
as to the use and advantage of preaching the gospel
to barbarous heathens. Many consider it to be a
waste of toil, and energy, and wealth. They say
that such heathens cannot understand gospel truth
until they make some mental progress. Even
among professors of religion, yea, among the true
people of God, there are some who have little hope
of the success of our enterprise ; and, truly, it does
seem to be the foolishness of preaching. "Pro-
phesy upon these bones, and say unto thern, 0 ye
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." What is
more foolish or fruitless than to preach the word

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 79

of God, or any word whatever, to dry bones ? Of
what use is it to bid them hear 1 But this is just
that foolishness of God that is wiser than men, and
that weakness of God that is stronger than men.
The wisdom of men says, Let commerce and the
arts go before to break up the soil and prepare the
heathen for receiving the gospel. The wisdom of
God says, " Son of man, prophesy upon these
bones." The Divine Word reveals the unseen and
the spiritual — things of such surpassing interest
and importance as make it a most fitting instru-
ment for moving men. These unseen and eternal
realities, when fully apprehended, as, by God's
teaching, they may by the poorest human intellect,
cannot fail to melt and change. Poor, half-witted
Joseph, who heard Dr. Calamy preach that there
is salvation for the chief of sinners, apprehended
the very heart and soul of the gospel, when he
reasoned thus with himself, as he trudged along :
— " Christ Jesus, the God who made all things,
came into the world to save sinners like Joseph ;
and this is true, for it is a faithful saying. And
why may not poor Joseph be saved ?" The Word
of God is a lamp — a fire — a hammer — a sword
fashioned and handled by the Holy Spirit. It is
the seed by which God's children are born into his

80 BECTION IV.

family. All these are Scripture figures, and they
teach us that this Word is fitted as an instrument,
in the hand of the Spirit, to turn men " from
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan
unto God," to destroy man's enmity to God, and
to bring him into a new world and a new life.
( )n this it is not necessary to enlarge. "We assure
the people of God who have not had personal
knowledge of heathens, that the gospel of Christ
is as suited to men abroad as to men at home.
There is no argument against its fitness as preached
to barbarians, that may not be brought against it
as preached to the civilized. At the same time, to
obey the command and prophesy upon these bones,
saying, " 0 ye dry bones, hear the word of
Jehovah," requires the highest style of faith, that,
namely, which asks no questions but this one —
What docs our Divine Master order us, his ser-
vants, to do 1 and then runs to do it, leaving the
results in his hand, knowing that, as he is perfect
wisdom and perfect prudence, he can send us on
no bootless or vain emprise.

But the rock of our missionary strength lies in
this, that the power of the Word of God is the
power of God's own Spirit. When the gospel
comes in the demonstration of the Spirit, it comes

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 81

With power, and the darkest become light, and the
most stubborn become willingness itself. Even
enlightened men fail to receive the gospel, or to
realize and receive the Saviour and the life eternal
that is in him, unless the Holy Ghost take the
word into his hand, and come into the heart, and,
by means of it, fill the soul with light. Is it not
in this way that the polished and the learned are
Saved ? Is it not thus also that the poor, the
ignorant, and the vicious are converted? Who
that considers himself a christian indeed, became
one otherwise ? That power which called cosmos
out of chaos, and raised Jesus Christ from the dead,
and set him at God's right hand, can also make
any number of heathens living believers in Jesus.
There can, indeed, be no spiritual breath in a
human soul, unless God's breath breathe in it,
but that breath can come with all the fulness and
force of the winds of heaven, and put life into as
many as he pleases. He that commanded the pro-
phet to " say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God,
Come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe
upon] these slain, that they may live," — he also
promises to put his Spirit into his people, and to
give him to those that ask. Here, then, is our
only encouragement while we carry the gospel into

82 SECTION IV.

the heathen wild. While we preach it to the
bones, Ave expect the coming of the breath. If
that come not, our preaching will be vain; when it
comes, these slain shall live.

The great end of missions to the heathen is the
setting up of the kingdom of God in the earth.
In other words, it is the fulfilling of the condi-
tions necessary for an answer to the prayer, " Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it
is in heaven." The glory of God and of the Lamb
is the end of our enterprise. That the Lord may
see of the travail of his soul, do some of his people,
at his command, go forth with the lamp of life
into the dark places of the earth. This kingdom
is set up by the renewing of souls. Every one
who is born of the Spirit, who is saved by the
washing of regeneration, becomes a subject of that
kingdom, enjoys its safety, and shares in its honours.
When the bulk of mankind shall become thus
truly christian, and "the dominion and the king-
dom under heaven shall be given to the people of
the saints of the Most High," when this true fifth
monarchy shall be established, then, and not till
then, shall the kingdoms of this world become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of his ( Jhrist. God has
appointed this result to be secured by the Holy

THE WORK OF THE LORIES PEOPLE. 83

Spirit ; and the sword which the Spirit uses is the
"word of the truth of the gospel." And the
agency by which God has appointed that gospel
to be preached is that of saved sinners, who, them-
selves knowing it, speak because they believe.
Jesus Christ did not commission angels to this
work, as he might have done, but to his genuine
friends, he says : " Go ye." It is, therefore, a
settled point with us, first, That the kingdom for
whose coming Christ has taught us to pray, is to
be established through the preaching of the gospel
of it. And, second, That it will not be set up
otherwise. Depend upon it, since the King him-
self has made this arrangement, it is perfectly
fitted to secure the end. The weapons of our war-
fare, although so different from those by which the
kingdoms of this world are set up, are, neverthe-
less, mighty, because they are "mighty through
God."

The work to which our Divine Master thus
commands the strength of his Church, is as definite
and comprehensible, yea, as rational and hopeful,
•as it is noble and godlike. To exalt Jesus to his
rightful throne over all the tribes of men, to over-
.urn all the idolatries and superstitions in the
•vorld, and to establish the kingdom of peace on

84 SECTION IV.

their ruins; in other words, to lead all the fami-
lies of the earth to the obedience of the gospel,
thus, at once, and by the same means, bringing
glory to God in the highest, and doing the best
good to men, is, surely, of all objects most worthy
of the strength and riches of the Church of God.
This enterprise is the cream of all benevolent
enterprises ; and those who do most to further it
are the best friends of their fellow-men. What
enterprise is to be named along with that in which
incarnate God is the leader ? It is an enterprise
of conquest, and the victory is sure ! Our warfare
is with the devil and his works, to destroy him
and them. Our weapons are not those of earth's
bloody warfare. Our captain forbids even a staff;
and the only arm he gives us is the salutation of
peace the gospel of his love. And we are to go
forth, whether into the irreligious homes of our
own land, or into the wilds of Africa, with this
one thing : "Hear ye this word of God !" And
he who gives us this commission, gives us also the
promise : " Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." He also promises that
" He shall come down like rain upon the mown
grass ; as showers that water the earth." Thus
beautifully are both the promise and its effects

THE WORK OF THE LORD S PEOPLE. 85

expressed : " For I will pour water upon hirn that
is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will
pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing
upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as
among the grass, as willows by the water-courses.
One shall say, I am the Lord's ; and another shall
call himself by the name of Jacob ; and another
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and
surname himself by the name of Israel." It is
said that water is the only thing needed to turn
the great African Sahara into fruitfnlness. Wher-
ever it wells up through the soil, we see the green
oasis amid surrounding wastes. And we know
also that it needs only the Divine Spirit, to make
the moral deserts of our world possess not merely
their little islands of beauty, but, throughout their
wide extent, to blossom abundantly and rejoice
with joy and singing. Believers in the Word of
God ! Believe ye the truth of our great commis-
sion ! Believe in the almightiness of the Divine
Spirit ! Believe in the existence of the Divine
love ! Believe in the suitableness of the gospel
of Christ, as the instrument for setting up his
kingdom.

Some christians read the prophecies of his com-
ing as if they assured us of a premillennial advent.

8G SECTION VI.

And looking on the power of Satan's kingdom,
and the slow progress of Christ's, they scarcely
hope this shall be set up, and that overthrown,
everywhere, by the present means. As our object
is to call out the strength of the Lord's people to
missions (at which the various denominations are
still but playing), we shun dispute. We presume
all agree that, before the expected and desired
coming, the gospel has to be preached among all
the nations. We dare not trifle with work plainly
marked out, and commanded with all the authority
of Him who is our Master. We are not required
to convert the nations, but to " teach" them. Con-
version is God's work. Ours is the sowing and
watering of the seed. His is the giving of the
increase. With our practical and most urgent
object in view — that of summoning, in our blessed
Master's name, far more of the sons and daughters
of the Church to the help of the Lord against the
mighty, and demanding far more of her silver and
her gold, and of her fervent and effectual prayers —
we feel that to discuss the question between pre-
millennarians and others would be arrant trilling.
God's purpose is not our rule of action. We must
obey his command. Is there not vastly too much
controversy, and vastly too little work? Ho\^

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 87

slowly would masons build a house, if they dis-
puted as much about it as do the builders of God's
house ! Alas, that the dust and the din should be
those of strife as to who knows best, rather than
of earnest labour and generous sacrifice in order to
have the temple soon and firmly built !

Were our missionary agencies to profess that
one of their prime objects is the material develop-
ment of uncivilized regions, they might thereby,
to a greater extent, enlist the aid of some who do
not feel the higher motives of the christian. But
distant be the day when these agencies shall set
before themselves such an object. The enterprise
would likely end in disaster and defeat. The
church, in doing her gospel work, must, as the
individual with reference to himself, "seek first
the kingdom of God." Depend upon it, that
material advantages, such as the increase of com-
merce, the growth of industry, and all else that is
good for time, will follow. In this, too, will it
be seen that " godliness is profitable unto all
things, having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come." Into the commission
we must not put anything that the Lord himself
has not put. The more spiritually-minded the
missionary is the better. The necessary secular

88 SECTION IV.

work about a mission among heathens is always
more than is desirable. More than is nee
should not be asked, and more should not be ex*
pected. While the Church confines herself to the
preaching of the gospel, if philanthropists see that
they can advance the temporal welfare of the
heathen, and thus benefit trade, and are willing to
face the necessary toil and sacrifice, under the
impulse of their lower motive, their co-operation
will be hailed, and they will get their reward.
But the missionary must not be burdened, and he
is foolish if he burden himself, with responsibilities
which do not naturally arise out of his marching
orders.

"We are not afraid that these remarks will be
either misread or misrepresented. A zealous mis-
sionary is ever ready to help the objects referred
to. But we notice a tendency in some friends of
missions in these days, to dwell upon secondary
aims, and to attach undue importance to merely
philanthropic influences, as having a great power
to lead the heathen to receive the truth. Against
this we warn christians, who know that the king-
dom of Christ can be set up only in his own way.
Let them guard against the secularization of mis-
sions. The messenger of the churches should be

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 80

Bent out charged with nothing but to preach the
Cross. He should receive no charge whatsoever
beyond the ministry of the gospel. At the ordi-
nation of one of the earliest mission bands that
went from this country, the venerable Dr. Waugh
of London presented each of them with a Bible,
and counselled them in these terms : — " If ever
your arms weary, let it be in knocking at the doors
of sinners for admission to the Lord ; and if ever
your tongues cleave to the roof of your mouths,
let it be in telling the story of his love."

It is worthy of notice that the commission
requires nothing beyond what man can do.
"Preach!" "Teach!" " Be witnesses !" "Declare
the tidings !" " Tell the news !" Jesus did not bid
them, he bids not us, renew or convert, for that,
as already said, is God's work. Men's converts
can be only "wood, hay, stubble." God's converts
are the " gold, silver, and jewels," whom he shall
own as his, who shall stand the fire, and be purified,
not destroyed by it. This is, no doubt, the creed
of all evangelical churches, but it is not always the
working faith of their members. The preacher
must preach the gospel well, giving a full, correct,
and orderly statement of its facts. For this, too,
he needs help from above. Let him "preach the

90 SECTION TV.

word ; be instant in season, out of season ; reprove^
rebuke, extort, with all long-suffering and doc-
trine." But lie can do nothing more, beyond
showing by a holy life that he himself believes
what lie speaks. Let there be as little as possible
of what is wrong about him, as insincerity, impru-
dence, or want of earnestness. But with all this,
and all this in the highest degree, the power must
come from above, or no good results will follow.
Sowing, watering, and reaping sum up the agent's
work. All the intermediate unseen processes,
which end in growth, fruitfulness, and maturity,
are due to direct Divine power.

II. Such being the work, viz., to establish that
kingdom which is not of, although in, this world,
by preaching the good news respecting it, let each
christian reader distinctly notice that this work is
not finished, until every creature shall have heard
the gospel. This could not be made clearer than
it is in the simple words of the command itself.
The doctrine of the second section being true, viz.,
'No salvation for the heathen without the gospel,'
how reasonable, how urgent is this view! If every
creature is perishing for lack of the knowledge of
God, what more natural than that the Lord should

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 91

have said, should still say, to his people, "Haste ye !
preach the gospel to every soul of them."

We thus summon the reader's attention to the
world-wide character of the Church's work. The
scriptures teach that the kingdom of Christ
shall have no limits but the world's ends ; and as
the preaching of the " glad tidings of that king-
dom " is the wray in which it is to be established
everywhere, it is plain, from the nature of the case,
not less than from the Lord's express command,
that the gospel should be preached to every crea-
ture. 0 that by the perusal of these pages, and
by his own God-directed meditations on the matters
thus brought before him, the reader may be made
to feel deeply that he is bound to go out of him-
self in self-denying efforts to scatter the seed of
the gospel abroad on the face of the earth.

We shall endeavour briefly to set forth the
scriptural grounds on which the kingdom of Christ,
and the preaching of the gospel by the Church, are
to be regarded as having a world-wide aspect.

1. The "Great Commission" first suggests itself
to our thoughts. It came from the Lord's own
lips. Every child knows and understands it.
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature." " Go ye and teach all nations,

92 SECTION IV.

baptizing tliem in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded yon." " Ye shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and
in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth." "Repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in his name among all nations, begin-
ning at Jerusalem." Do not these words mark
out the whole earth as the field 1 And do they
not make it the duty of the Church of Jesus Christ
to lay the map of the world on her table, to study
the details of her campaign, to view the vast ex-
tent of work to be done, and of conquest to be
achieved, and to confess that while there remains
one creature to whom she has not preached the
word of life, her work is unfinished 1 There is no
kind of limit or exception to this commission,
which warrants the Church to pass by any of the
tribes of men, or allows her to put off the effort to
evangelize them. Every creature needing the
Saviour should be told about Him without delay.
None of those distinctions which some make be-
tween one race and another, is even hinted at in the
most distant manner. The despised negro is not
excepted, nor the cannibal Fijian, nor even the

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 93

lowest Esquimaux. God "hath made of one blood
all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of
the earth." It would indeed be a shame were the
followers of Christ to be conformed to the world's
inhumanity. The sentiments cherished by many
towards those who are called barbarians and
savages, are most barbarous and savage, and show
how fearfully alike all men are in their passions
and affections. We do not say that the worst
charges brought against heathens are untrue.
We, who live among them, know how bad they
are, and how barren of goodness ; and wTe do not
wonder that the tender mercies of the selfish world
are cruel to those who have so little to attract and
so much to repel, and who have neither the skill,
the courage, nor the power to hold their own against
our aggressions. But, surely, we may appeal to
those who profess to be like Jesus, and beseech
them by his tenderness to put on bowels and
mercies towards those whom the selfishness of
civilized, but not christian, men dooms to extirpa-
tion, like the tiger and the wolf. Be ye like Jesus,
who was the companion rather of publicans and
sinners, than of proud pharisees, who despised,
and hated, and doomed, and cursed those whom
he took to his heart, and melted by his love ! Those

94 SECTION IV.

who think that God has as little regard, and as
much dislike, to barbarians, as they have, do
greatly err. His thoughts, in this respect, are
vastly unlike theirs. They forget that the grace,
wisdom, and power of God our Saviour are all the
more magnified, the more sunken and worthless
the objects of tliem are. When Ethiopia's children
arc brought into the kingdom, and become a chris-
tian race, and are freed from all that now renders
them the world's scorn, what glory will it bring
to Ghrist ! Look at the saved and weeping Mag-
dalene ! Having been forgiven much, she loves
much, and much she glorifies and gratifies her
Saviour. It was she out of whom he cast the
seven devils, whose name he first uttered at his
grave's mouth, on that ever memorable first-day
morning. Is it not to meet the world's contempt
of Ham, that God has put him down on the list
of His favoured nations % Shem and Japheth got
their blessing through Noah's lips ; Ham, his
curse. But Ham's time comes, and his curse shall
be rolled off: "Behold Philistia, and Tyre, with
Ethiopia: this man was born there." "Ethiopia
shall soon stretch out her hands to ( rod." Let us,
we repeat, keep before us the map of the world,
and so divide our forces as the best and soonesl to

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 95

"bring "the gospel of the kingdom" to the ears of
every creature. This is manifestly our duty as
commanded by our Lord himself.

2. While the Lord commands his people to
preach the gospel of the kingdom, he also teaches
us to pray that the kingdom may come. And see
how the petitions run. "Thy will be done on
earth, as it is done in heaven." How is it done
in heaven 1 ISTeed we answer the question 1 Ye
holy angels, and ye redeemed sinners, washed in
the Lamb's blood, howT do ye the will of the Father ?
When Jesus makes heaven the model for earth,
need we say that the Holy Father, as he searches
every heart in that holy place, sees nothing wrong 1
On earth none does good ; in heaven none does
wrong.

Seeing that Jesus bids his people pray for the
setting up of his kingdom in the earth, in the con-
version of men from sin to God, does it not follow^
that he intends to do all this 1 Should we have
been taught thus to pray, were it for an object not
embraced in the Divine purpose ? In these simple
petitions we have abundant foundation for our
faith in the success of our foreign missionary en-
terprise. By putting these petitions at the begin-
ning of this prayer, our Lord shewed what lay

96 SECTION IV.

nearest to his heart. Ah, Christians, does it lie
nearest to ours ? The farther it is from our hearts,
the less like are we to him. We may learn from
this prayer that the spreading of the gospel is the
first duty of christians. Being in the kingdom
ourselves, no object should so engage us as the
bringing of others iuto it. Thus run the command
and the prayer.

3. Look at this matter in the light of prophecy.
This also shows that our blessed Lord intends no
limit to his kingdom but the ends of the earth.
It would be a delightful task to gather these pre-
dictions together : for the christian should dwell
on them as the miser gloats over his gold. They
should delight the believer more than a mass of
jewels and pearls delights the vain heart. When
we are speaking of unfulfilled prophecy, we
should speak modestly, remembering that, in order
to explain it all, and tell the exact how and
when, we must be inspired prophets ourselves.
Humbly studying these oracles, however, we shall
find in them enough that is intelligible, and fitted
to strengthen our faith, enliven our hope, elevate
our motives, and quicken our desires for the fulfil-
ment of the prayer, " Thy kingdom come."

We cannot be sure that when the knowledge of

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOrLE. 97

the Lord is most widely extended, every human
being will be a christian. But yet the Saviour's
kingdom shall displace that of Satan. There may
remain unbelievers at the time when the know-
ledge of Jehovah's glory shall fill the earth. But
yet Jesus shall be owned in every land as King of
hearts and Saviour of souls, and his dominion shall
be acknowledged by every nation, if not by every
individual. Blessed be God for this more sure
word of prophecy, in which he tells us that these
dry bones shall live, because he shall make them
to live. Christians should often read and ponder
the many and precious oracles that abound in the
Word of God, from the time when it wTas foretold
that in Abraham's promised seed, all the families
of the earth should be blessed, down to the great
voices in heaven, saying: "The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and
of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever." For
in these we shall see enough to make us sure of
harvest, even before we sow the seed, and of victory
even before the battle is begun. In these we find
a true rock of missionary strength : for if God will
indeed put life into souls by his Word, then his
people may labour along with him hopefully doing

G

98 SECTION IV.

their Work, and leaving it to him to give the
increase.

Look now at some of these oracles. The whole
of the 2d Psalm foretells the vanity of the attempts
made by earth and hell to hinder .Messiah from
becoming king of all the earth. " Ask of me, and
I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses-
sion." Dominion over all men could not be more
plainly promised to the Prince of Peace than in
these words. This is promised to Him of whom
Jehovah said : " Yet have I set my king upon my
holy hill of Zion." Jehovah also said to David's
Lord and Son : — " Sit thou at my right hand, until
I make thine enemies thy footstool." And the
same Spirit (1 Cor. xv. 25) repeats the promise :
" For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies
under his feet." The 22d Psalm pictures Jesus in
the midst of his sufferings on the cross. There
does he scan the glorious future. " I will declare
thy name unto my brethren. The kingdom is
Jehovah's. A seed shall serve him. All the ends
of the world shall remember and turn unto Jeho-
vah: and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before thee." This oracle is as plain to be
understood as it is sublime and godlike. The

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 99

whole race shall, at last, submit to Jesus as their
king.

When we want a hymn in which to give words
to our missionary aspirations, do we not almost
instinctively turn to the 67th Psalm ? " God be
merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause his face
to shine upon us. That thy way may be known,
upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth
shall fear him."

In the 72d Psalm, it is the greater than Solo-
mon, of whose righteous reign we read. Who
can fail to see the Lord our Saviour in that inspired
burst of prophetic poetry and music 1 How could
universal empire be more plainly foretold ? " He
shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from
the river unto the ends of the earth. They that
dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him.
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring
presents : the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer
gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him :
all nations shall serve him. All nations shall call
him blessed. And the whole earth shall be filled
with his glory." The Saviour's kingdom is here
universal ; its limits are the ends of the earth; its
blessings righteousness and peace.

100 SECTION IV.

Says Messiah (Psalm xviii. 43): "Thou hast
made me the head of the heathen : a people whom
I have not known shall serve me." "The Lord
will famish all the gods of the earth ; and men
shall worship him, every one from Lis place, even
all the isles of the heathen." (Zcph. ii. 11).

The latter part of the book of Isaiah is full of
oracles concerning the future glory of the Saviour's
church. That these oracles refer to the New Tes-
tament kingdom of God is unquestionable. The
devout mind conies to this conclusion almost in-
stinctively. The sufferings of Messiah open the
way for the Spirit's forthcoming to set up that
kingdom. "Behold my servant; he shall briug
forth judgment to the Gentiles. I, Jehovah, will
give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light
of the Gentiles." " I will bring thy seed from the
east, and gather thee from the west ; I will say to
the north, Give up ; and to the south, Keep not
back : bring my sons from far, and my daughters
from the ends of the earth."* " For thou shalt
break forth on the right hand and on the left ; and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the
desolate cities to be inhabited." t "So shall they
fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his
* Is. xlii., xliii. 6. f Is. liv.3.

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 101

glory from the rising of the sun."* "And the
Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the
brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round
about, and see; all they gather themselves together
they come to thee : thy sons shall come from far,
and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine
heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the
abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee,
the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
"Who are these 1 As a cloud they fly, and as the doves
to their windows ? Surely the isles shall wait for
me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy
sons from far." t " For thus saith the Lord, Be-
hold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and
the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream.
It shall come that I will gather all nations and
tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new-moon
to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall
all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. "J
In the 7th chapter of Daniel we have one of
the wondrous visions with wdiich that prophet was
favoured — "I saw in the night-visions, and, behold,
one like the Son of man came with the clouds of
• Is. lix. 19. f Is. lx. 3-5, 8, 9. J Is. lxvi. 12, 18, 23.

102 SECTION IV.

heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they
brought him near before him. And there was
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom,
that all people, nations, and languages, should
serve him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed." The scene is the
ascension of the Lord Jesus, after finishing his
work. We behold this King of Glory coming in,
this victor from a fight on which the salvation of
millions was staked, approaching the Father to
receive the glory which his pain had purchased.
Heaven's arches ring with his honoured name.
Holy angels join their songs with those of sinners
who had been saved in the centuries before his
coming, through God's forbearance. " Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things, and to
enter into his glory?" In the 2d chapter of the
epistle to the Philippians, we have an inspired
comment on Daniel : — " Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name : that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth ; and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

THE WORK OF TIIE LORD'S PEOPLE. 103

But it is by means of his people that Jesus
shall reign on the earth. "The saints of the
most High shall take the kingdom, and possess
the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
And the kingdom and dominion, and the great-
ness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,
shall be given to the people of the saints of the
most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey
him." Dan. vii. 18, 27.

These are a few of the Divine oracles which
respect the kingdom of God, shewing it to be his
intention to make that kingdom commensurate
with the race of man on earth. Satan's kingdom
has been universal, and is so still, with the excep-
tion of those who have been translated out of it
into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And shall
the kingdom of Christ be less extensive than that
of his fallen foe 1 less than the one He came to
overthrow 1 The devil offered all to him, if he
would only take it as a gift from a lord superior.
Nay, Satan, that was not the way. By dying he
was to destroy thee and thy kingdom of death.
He was not to receive the kingdoms of this world
from thee as an over-lord, and on bended knee to
pay thee homage for the gift. He came to bruise

10 i SECTION IV.

thy head, and break thy arm, and deliver those
whom his Father gave him, out of thy hands j
and, in spite of thee, give to them eternal life.
Thy throne he was to hurl, and shall yet hurl,
with thee into the blaekness of darkness, and in
this apostate world, ruined by thee, saved by him,
shall he yet possess a throne of universal empire.
Thus shall King Jesus triumph gloriously.
But his conquests shall widely differ from those
of a Cassar. He overcomes by changing the
hearts of Satan's subjects. He shows them his
hands and his feet, and they cry out, " My Lord
and my God." His love melts them into friends ;
and the more he shows it to them, the more
power he gets over them, till, for his sake, they
become willing to embrace the stake, and pant to
be baptized with blood. What a triumph is this !
The annals of earthly wars show nothing like it.
It is only like God ! The world subdued, from
embittered and settled hate, by love, and grace,
and light ! Who would not desire to see this
kingdom spreading far and wide, its banners
planted on every shore, and its armies penetrating
into every land 1 We cling to the hope, we live
in the faith, that it shall be so : and our warrant
is the sure promise of him who calls things that

TI7E WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 105

are not as though they were, and speaks of his
purposes as accomplished facts. We commend
these oracles to the believing reader who rever-
ences the word of the Lord, and we ask for them
a frequent and devout perusal and study.

4. Further proofs of the fact that God means
to make the Saviour's kingdom universal, are
found in the actings of the apostles. These
"Acts " show the sense in which they understood
their Lord's commission. " Begin at Jerusalem,"
was the command — "Begin at Jerusalem, and
preach the gospel to every creature." When the
Holy Ghost wa>: poured out, and both made the
ajjostles understand their work, and fitted them
for doirig it, how did they act ? They literally
bewail at Jerusalem, and in defiance of deadly
threats, in spite of magisterial prohibitions, at the
peril of life, they testified of Jesus. In many cities
of the Eoman Empire there were Jewish commu-
nities, who were allowed by special decrees to
worship the true God according to the Scriptures.
They used to meet, on the Sabbath day, to pray,
and to read and expound the law and the pro-
phets. And thus, wherever the preachers of the
gospel went, they found some to whom it could
at once be preached, who were in a manner pre-

10G SECTION IV.

pared to understand it, and to see the force of
the evidence for its truth. But to the most of
these Jews the preaching of the cross was a
stumbling-block.

The Lord forewarned the Jews that the king-
dom of God should be taken from them, and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
And in the narrative of the first missionary tour
(Acts xiii.) we see this carried into effect.

First of all the apostles, Peter was taught that
God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation
the man who fears God, and works righteousness,
is accepted of him. And his Jewish dislike of
the Gentiles being thus removed, he, at the
Spirit's command, opened to them the door of
faith, in the house of Cornelius. But it is in the
history of Paul that the wrorld-wide aspect of the
ancient oracles and of the great commission is
most manifest. To Ananias the Lord said : "Go
thy way : for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to
bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and
the children of Israel." And Paul himself de-
clared before Agrippa that the Lord Jesus had
sent him to the Gentiles. How then did lie act 1
He began where the Lord had found him, and
" shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at

THE WORK OP THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 107

Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea,
and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent
and turn to God." The Holy Ghost sent Paul
and Barnabas from Antioch in Syria on a mis-
sionary tour, in which they first addressed the
Jews in foreign parts. But when these rejected
the gospel, the apostles turned to the Gentiles,
taking as their warrant the ancient oracle : "For
so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have
set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou
shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the
earth."

The words of the apostle James, on an occasion
which arose out of the prejudices of Jewish con-
verts, also show how the world-wide aspect of the
kingdom of heaven had been apprehended by his
divinely enlightened mind : " Simeon hath de-
clared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles,
to take out of them a people for his name. And
to this agree the words of the prophets ; as it is
written, After this I will return, and will build
again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen
down ; and I will build again the ruins thereof,
and I will set it up, that the residue of men
might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles,

108 SECTION IV.

upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord,
who doeth all these things." (Acts xv. 14-17.)

And still, as the enterprise goes on, the mind
of God becomes more clearly manifest. Paul and
his fellow missionaries were forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. They
were not suffered to go into Bithynia. And, at
length, " a vision appeared unto Paul in the night :
there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed
him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help
us." In the principal cities of Asia Minor the
gospel had been preached already, and churches
Lad been formed, which were able both to edify
themselves, and to sound out the gospel to those
around. But beyond that narrow strait lay
Europe all dark and dead, a portion of Satin's
kingdom which Paul must go and claim for
Christ. With eager steps this noble proto-mis-
sionary set out on his errand of mercy, lie
strove to preach the gospel, not where Christ was
named, so that it was fully heard from Jerusalem
and round about unto Illyricum. Moved by
gratitude, and constrained by love, glorying in
the cross of Jesus Christ, and pitying his fellow
sinners who are perishing, he counts himself a
debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians ;

TIIE WORK OF TITE LORD'S PEOPLE. 109

both to the wise and to the unwise. As the circle
of light widens, a wider circumference of darkness
lies around him. He longs to reach Rome, but
only that, having comforted the saints there, and
been refreshed, he may pass westward to Spain.
His ambition to preach Christ is as high as his
mission is extensive.

Thus did love to Jesus — love rendered intelli-
gent by the Holy Ghost — interpret and obey the
great commission. It saw how natural and how
rational were that commission, and the order
which it laid down. Begin at Jerusalem, at the
foot of the cross, at the door of the tomb. Preach
the gospel to Jerusalem sinners. But stop at no
point short of the ends of the world. If we do
as these first missionaries did, we shall be right.
They left the Jew to hate, and the Greek to scoff.
" Hinder us not. We have a great work to do.
The king's business requireth haste." And the
chief answer they gave to either scoffers or perse-
cutors, was to go back from their prison to their
preaching. These, Christians, are our exemplars,
in whom wre see a bright image of our Lord.
They, Spirit-led, walked in the true path of gospel
obedience ; and only when we follow them, as
they followed Christ, can we regard ourselves as

110 SECTION IV.

partakers of their precious faith, and heirs of
their immortal crown. Is there a true christian,
who, after an honest examination of this great
question, can say that he does not believe this ex-
position of the Church's work and of the field of
operation to be the true one 1

The cause we thus plead, therefore, is not
merely a thing of philanthropy. A strong case
might be made out on that ground alone. Chris-
tians ought to pity miserable men in the dark places
of the earth. But it is not so much beside the
wretched heathen, the rude and wicked creature,
whom the devil, and long ages of the reign of
darkness, have embruted and debased — it is not
beside his dark death-bed, amid his beastly revels,
or in his wretched hut, that we take our stand.
But higher up, yea, beside the throne of our Lord
and Master, and bid christians look at our enter-
prise as for his glory, as the carrying out of the
very work which his death began, and which,
steadily advancing in its path of light through
the centuries of time, at length shall reach its
consummation, when the multitude which no man
can number shall stand around the tlnxme and
the Lamb, and swell the song : " Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that

TIIE WORK OF THE LORD'S TEOrLE. Ill

sitteth upon the throne, and nnto the Lamb for
ever and ever." We do not undervalue the phi-
lanthropic side of missions. Good-will to man
was one of the motives that led God to give his
Son. But if missions are mainly pled in the
style of " Pity the poor heathen," their chief end
is so far hidden, which is " Glory to God in the
highest." And those who loathe the Saviour's
cause are ever ready to sneer at the philanthropy
which, weeping over distant misery, is unmoved
by what is near. Much power over the christian
conscience is also lost, by losing sight of this, that
Christ's kingdom is destined to be world- wide,
that he is worthy of it, and has a covenant right
to it, and that to us, his people, he has given
the blessed work of preaching the glad tidings of
that kingdom, in order that the Divine Spirit
may establish it everywhere. The Bosjesman
wandering over the desolate karroo, and living on
roots and carrion; the Erromangan, although his
isle has been twice stained with the blood of the
murdered missionary ; the Negro, although he is
black ; the Brahmin and the Chinaman in their
pride ; the Esquimaux amid his snows and ice ;
the Patagonian on his inhospitable shore ; the
Tartar in his tent — all, all are men and brothers.

112 SECTION IV.

Each of tlicm has a claim on every christian man
and woman. For in all their ignorance, and sin,
and misery, and dark despair, they have a right
to hear the gospel. They are all now in the
devil's kingdom ; they shall yet he in Christ's.
The time must come when, instead of the scat-
tered tapers that now glimmer in the heathen
gloom, at our mission stations, the whole earth
shall be bathed in light from heaven. " For the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the
earth as the waters cover the sea." " From the
rising of the sun, even unto the going down of
the same, my name shall be great among the
Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be
o Hi red unto my name, and a pure offering: for
my name shall be great among the heathen, saith
the Lord of hosts."

The field of labour and conquest which is thus set
before the Church of Jesus Christ, is as well marked
out as it is extensive. That the whole human race
ought to hear the gospel, and that the world's end is
the limit of our labours in preaching it, is already
in our creed. But something more is necessary.
It must have its right place in our plans and
practice. It is well to confess the obligation, but
avc must fulfil it. Rome had to train and mus-

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 113

ter her legions, and send them to the war, and
she had to sustain and reinforce them, if she
would either conquer the world, or her empire
stand. The Church is bound likewise to see to
it that she have an army of foreign service, and
that it be both efficient and sufficient. There
should be enough of men to do the work, and
these should be the right men. It has been, and
is still, too much the case, that the Lord's service
abroad is thought less respectable than the same
service amid the refinements, conveniences, com-
forts, and comparative ease of this christian land.
Those who are reckoned the best men, and the best
orators, the men with popular talents, the beau-
tiful preachers, would once have been considered as
thrown away upon barbarians. It is true that
talents which make a man useful in one place,
would not be so suitable in every other. But,
surely, work like that which the evangelist among
the heathen has to do, requires more than the
meanest gifts. The Holy Ghost selected Paul
and Barnabas for this work, and they were, per-
haps, the ablest men in the church at Antioch.
To preach saving truth in imperfect, scanty, and
unchristened tongues, is not so easy that it should
be given to the dregs of our preaching staff, and
H

Ill SECTION IV.

to the weaker brethren whom the smallest village
churches consider beneath their means and merits.
The time when such ideas found acceptance has
surely passed forever. We trust that the Church
will never be content to serve God in her foreign
fields with that for which she has no other use,
choosing the best for home service, and doling
out the fag end for the distant work. This would
be as if, were our foreign empire threatened
with an imminent overthrow, we should keep our
finest troops for home parade, and send our
awkward squads to the post of glory and of
danger. Of all christian labourers in the world,
missionaries and their partners ought to be effi-
cient, both as respects their natural capacities and
their accomplishments. They should be genuinely
pious. They also need mental power. They
cannot dispense with mental culture. They
should be adepts in the christian courtesies. It
is of vast consequence that they should be, in a
word, well gifted, and well trained, christian
ladies and gentlemen.

And while looking to the efficiency of those
whom she sends forth to the heathen, the Church
should see to it that they are sufficient in number
for the work. It is neither possible nor neces-

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S TEOPLE. 115

sary to plant all the world with European mission-
aries, as thickly as ministers are planted in this
country. But as the most free, the most favoured,
the most advanced, the most wealthy in men and
means, and possessing the greatest facilities in a
commerce which ploughs every sea, and visits
every shore, the churches of Christ in Britain and
America ought to hold themselves bound, with
the help of evangelical churches on the continent,
to plant the gospel in every land. Every centre
ought to be occupied in such a way as to put
things in train for speedily and efficiently filling
earth with the light of heaven. The land already
occupied should often be reviewed, and that to be
possessed, often examined. The Church should
keep the map of the world before her, and survey-
it as anxiously as a general studies the geography
of the seat of war. And she ought so to count her
forces, and so to divide and allocate them, as the
soonest to overtake her world-wide work. There
should be no partiality for particular regions and
races, no crowding to fields that appear grand and
imposing by their population or barbaric wealth,
while fields less inviting, and peoples more barbar-
ous, are comparatively neglected. India and China
are sometimes spoken of as if they were the whole

116 BECTION IV.

heathen world, and should have the best men and

the bulk of the Church's resources; while Ethiopia,
although representing one-third of mankind, as
being descended of one of the three lathers of
the human race, is counted as less noble, and her
claims as less urgent. This arises from narrowness
of view. The great end of our enterprise, be it
remembered, is to set up the Lord's throne in every
land. There is no respect of persons with God.
He does not despise the Negro, and honour the
Brahmin. All men are in the same pit of ungod-
liness— all under sin, all exposed to wrath, all
equally needing salvation. And, therefore, preach
the gospel to every creature in all the world.

We sometimes hear a comparison of mission
fields which we protest against with the deepest
abhorrence and indignation. So many pounds
have been spent here, and so many persons con-
verted ; so many pounds there, and so many con-
verted. By simple division it is found that the
conversion of a soul costs so much less here than
there. This is the cheapest mission, therefore let
christians contribute for it. Anything more un-
like Christianity we never heard, or anything that
shows a poorer apprehension of the Church's re-
sponsibility ; or anything showing less of the

THE WORK OP THE LORD'S PEOrLE. 117

magnanimity of Christ ; or anything more offensive
to our Divine Redeemer, who, though he was rich,
yet for our sokes became poor ; or anything more
likely to incur his holy frown ; or anything, in a
word, more exceedingly contemptible either in
spirit or in policy. The means expended by the
Church in furthering the Lord's work do not really
belong to the Church. They are not her absolute
property. The christian is not his own. His
money is not his own. His time and his talents
are not his own. All, all are Christ's, and he is
Christ's steward. And, therefore, should one
mission be more expensive than another, in the
proportion of a thousand to one, we are not, on
that account, at liberty to refuse, or even grudge
the expenditure. If there be but the clear sense
of obligation, and a noble and holy ambition to
meet it to its height and fulness, and to sacrifice
everything for the empire of our Lord, will he not
put into the Church's hands all that is necessary,
and, if he please, more than is necessary, for the
cost of the enterprise 1

The rule of numerical proportion in the alloca-
tion of missionaries — so many heathens, so many
labourers — is a very fallacious one, and must not
be followed. The nature of the field, the state of

118 SECTION IV.

the people, and the facilities for bringing the truth
before their minds, must be taken into account.
For instance, one Dr. Judson can accomplish as
much among a reading people, like the Burmese,
as ten Judsons can overtake in Africa. He pre-
pares his treatise, he translates the Scriptures, and
having got them printed, he circulates them by-
thousands, and they are read far and wide. Thus
the gospel is made known to many who do not see
a teacher or hear his voice ; and seed is sown of
which God will give the increase. So it is in
China- But it is very different in Africa. There
is not one African dialect written, until the mis-
sionary write it, gathering it up, word by word,
and phrase by phrase, from the mouths of un-
tutored men. And then these Ethiopians have to
be taught to read their own language, before books
can be of use to them. Instruction by the liv-
ing lip is the only means of reaching the tribes
of Africa. The gospel does not sound far beyond
the reach of the preacher's voice. Who does not
see from this that Africa requires a far larger pro-
portion of missionaries, and of able missionaries,
too, of men who can learn unwritten tongues, or
tongues but recently, and, as yet, imperfectly
written, without the aid of moonshees and pundits,

THE WORE OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 119

and native scholars, and native literature 1 It is
important that this should he kept in mind hy the
Church of Christ in the allocation of her labourers.
Moreover, an island should be more easily brought
under gospel instruction than a continent. The
island community is circumscribed. Perhaps it
has but one dialect — at least, it will have a common
tongue. But the Ethiopian race is scattered over a
large continent, and broken up into fragments, with
a vast variety of dialects. In Sierra Leone " the
late Bishop Vidal found upwards of one hundred
and fifty distinct languages, besides dialects;" and
" Mr. Koelle, in his ' Polyglotta Africana,' gives a
list of words in more than one hundred of these." *
On all accounts, therefore, it is obvious that Africa
should have a larger proportion of able missionaries
than any other division of heathendom.

In arranging for the occupation of the whole
world, there should be no sectarian jarring. Every
section of the church should be counted as a regi-
ment or division of the Lord's army. And, while
these divisions should provoke one another to love
and good works, woe be to those who are boasters

* Dictionary of the Ef ik Language, by the Kev. Hugh
Goldie, Missionary from the United Presbyterian Church,
Scotland, to Old Calabar, 1862. Introduction, p. iv.

120

SECTION IV.

or sectarian bigots. How well does the Lord in-
struct us ! How well docs lie know the imperfec-
tion of our natures when he puts the humblest
first ! Verily, such are the likest, and no wonder
if they get nearest, to himself! He sees that this
spirit of humility, which takes the lowest room,
and prefers the brethren, is necessary to that one-
ness among his people for which he so earnestly
prayed, in order that the world might credit his
Divine character and mission. Xothing, therefore,
can be more unchristian than to carry sectarian
jealousy into^ our mission fiekls, and more desire
the glory of our denominations than the glory of
our Lord. Such a spirit is the weakness of the
Church. Nothing but confusion and disappoint-
ment can be its result and its reward. Judah
vexing Ephraim, and Ephraim envying Judah,
must be the easy prey of their common foe. The
Philistines devour them at pleasure; and, which is
worst, they grieve the Spirit of the Lord, in whose
demenstration the gospel must come, in order to
be believed by sinners.

III. Having a practical end in view, viz., to
stir up christians to do Christ's work with new
zeal, we assert that they, one and all, arc bound to

TOE WORK OF TOE LORD'S PEOPLE. 121

do wliat each can. Those are the workers to whom
this world-wide work is committed.

Did the Lord's commission die with the eleven
to whom it was first addressed ? Have there been
no persons on whom its obligation has rested since
the last of the Apostles died ? As well may one
say that we are not bound to observe the Lord's
Supper, because it was first enjoined on the eleven.
Christ taught the Apostles all his will, that they
might instruct other believers, and commit ''the
form of sound words," and all the rules of his house,
into the hands of faithful men, who should be
able to teach others also. The very terms and
nature of the commission make it for ever binding ;
and the promise, " Lo ! I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world," puts this beyond a
doubt. It is the will of Jesus, that his friends in
every age shall carry on this first of enterprises,
till it be fully accomplished, and the gospel preached
to every creature. It is not a thing of choice with
a believer whether he shall send or not send the
lamp of life to the dark places of the earth. Every
saved man and woman, by the very fact that he or
she owns Jesus as Lord, has to do with this matter,
as much as the missionary, who goes to grapple
with heathenism in its native wilds. The whole

122 SECTION IV.

Church ought to be at once a missionary seminary
to train agents, and a missionary society to send
llicm forth. Christians are united in church fel-
lowship, not merely for their own edification, but
also that they may put forth the strength which
is in union, for the extension of the Lord's empire.
This was the very thing for which He prayed :
" That they all may be one, that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me." This is further
manifest from these words : " Ye are the light of
the world ; Let your light — my light reflected from
you — shine before men." And, surely, that con-
gregation which is liberal to itself, and niggardly
to the Lord's public cause, has little of the true
spirit of piety within it.

God could have established the kingdom without
the service of his people at all. He might have
saved men without the gospel, or the commission
to preach it might have been given to others than
believing men. As angels are interested students,
so they would have been earnest and delighted
preachers of the gospel, had they received the
charge. It is not needful to show that God could
have evangelized the world without the agency of
either angels or men. Neither would it be profit-
able to dwell on what Ave may call the philosophy

THE WORK OF TIIE LORD'S TEOPLE. 123

of human instrumentality in the Divine plan. It
can be shown that God's method is, of course, the
very best for his purpose. The devout soul grants
this with the same readiness and complacency as
the intellect grasps an axiom of mathematics.

Let the reader, then, ponder the fact that every
christian is charged with the spreading of the
gospel. "We are apt to lose the sense of our indi-
vidual responsibility, by sinking ourselves in the
crowd. The united gifts of many, however little
each may give, make a large sum. We are flattered
with the sound of it, and comparing it with what
used to be given for the same purpose, we are
pleased with our collective liberality. This feeling
of satisfaction hides from us the true and solemn
view of the case. The thing which each christian
has to consider is, whether he is doing what he
can. The Lord himself distinctly teaches us that
our return in usury should be as the talents lie
intrusts to our stewardship. That we are mere
stewards, and not independent owners of all that
God has given us, is his too unwelcome doctrine
on this point. The widow's all — her two mites —
cast willingly and gratefully into God's treasury,
formed a richer donation than the united gifts of
the wealthy givers out of their abundance. If,

124 SECTION IV.

then, a christian withholds his hand from the
cause of the kingdom, it matters little that his
section of the Church is, on the whole, liberal.
It is illiberal, nay dishonest, just up to the amount
that any are able to give but which they withhold.
We shall give an account of our stewardship, not
in sections, but as individuals. And the neglect
of duty in this momentous work, the filling of the
whole earth with the glory of Jehovah, is a flagrant
sin on the part of any professing christian. With
every one who does nothing for missions, or who
does it not from right motives, it should be an
immediate and serious inquiry, whether his indif-
ference and illiberality are not proof enough that
he is still an unbeliever.

"Why should our obligation lie counted less
weighty than that of the early christians] Why
should neglect on our part be thought less guilty
than on Paul's '? Why should we think the scanty
doings of the Church of to-day so great, when we
hear that apostle ? " Tor though I preach the
gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity
is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach
not the gospel." Do you, reader, if a saved sinner,
owe less to God than Pan] owed ? If the love of
God so constrained this believer, can you be one,

THE WORK OF THE LORD'S PEOPLE. 125

indeed, if you do not feel somewhat the constraint
of the same love ? The following statements de-
serve attention: — "Christians sustain to mankind
at large, moral and benevolent relations, in which
their faith must develop itself in efforts to save
them. It is just as much the duty of each disciple
to spread the gospel, as it was to embrace it. Our
very conversion is a means to an end, and that
end is the conversion of sinners at home and
abroad. It follows, then, that the missionary
enterprise is not a modern conception engrafted
on the religion of Christ, but is as much one of
the genuine forms and fruits of faith in Christ, as
baptism, prayer, and brotherly love. Christ was
the great model missionary; the apostles were mis-
sionaries ; all the members of the early church were
missionaries \ the gospel itself is as diffusive as the
light of heaven ; and this spirit we must possess,
or we are less than the least of all saints in more
senses than one. You cannot define New Testa-
ment religion, without including as one of its
essential elements the missionary spirit. Or look
at the matter in another light. The whole heathen
world is still unconverted. At home, tens of
thousands are in the deepest ignorance, and are
the slaves of the vilest sins. Christians have the

126 SECTION IV.

gospel, the only remedy for this appalling evil.
The Church is the only agent in the universe for
conveying the gospel to the unsaved, and convert-
ing them to Christ. Her opportunities for doing
so are many and multiform. God has so arranged
matters that we may stay at home, and yet reach
and save these dark masses, as effectually as if they
were at our doors. Now, can one be a christian
without earnest cares, efforts, and self-denials, to
save those perishing amid such circumstances as
these 1 Is that man's religion more than a name,
who looks on composedly, and sees souls sink down
to perdition by thousands a day, without putting
forth his hand to arrest the mighty ruin ? No. It
is high time that Christianity was better under-
stood and acted out. The unbelief of men at home
will never be overcome, till christians, in addition
to their faith, abound in prayers and self-denying
efforts to spread the empire of Christ. The most
Christ-like man is he who, in addition to his per-
sonal holiness, goes out of himself in self-denying
exertions to save a lost world. Never will chris-
tians bear a true witness for Christ and his religion,
till they look like him on the dying world around
them, and abandon themselves in zeal and activity
for the diffusion of the gospel"*

* "Personal Piety," by C. T.

SECTION V.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

We shall now notice some of the reasons which
men give, to justify a want of interest in, and a
refusal of efficient help to, the cause of the king-
dom of Christ in foreign lands.

1. Some plead that they have nothing to spare.
If this be true, they may keep their minds easy.
Having only what God bestows, if he indeed gives
them nothing for this work, they cannot be blamed
for doing nothing. " Who goeth a warfare at any
time at his own charges V* For if there be a will-
ing mind it is accepted according to that a man
hath, and not according to that he hath not. But
we believe that such a case must be extremely
rare. What child of God must that be to whom
he entrusts not even one talent ? whom he allows
not the privilege and honour of extending the
kingdom of his Son ? " It is more blessed to

sive

than to receive." And yet there are some chris-

128 BECTION V.

tians who receive not two mites to honour the
Lord with ! Strange that He should withhold
from so many of his dear children this greater
blessedness of giving ! A kind and wise parent
will give his child a little pocket-money, to foster
his generosity and charity. But our Father in
heaven, so wise, so good, gives nothing to a certain
class of those who are called his people, except
what they must spend upon themselves ! In this
there is surely something very suspicious. Are
the consciences of such quite at ease ] Does their
heart not condemn them in the least 1 If they
really have nothing to spare for that cause which
God himself makes to depend for instrumentality
on the liberal hearts of his willing people, their
Father must see that, were he to intrust them with
his portion, they would make it their own. In
whatever way they look at this matter it wears a
serious and alarming aspect to. them. It cannot
be shaken off. It clings to them, and follows
them to the judgment-seat.

" I have nothing to spare," is too truly, as an
American writer says, " the plea of sordid reluct-
ance." It should make him who uses it, and all
who seek his salvation, more anxious about his
soul, than it need alarm us lest the Lord's work

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 129

suller from want of his aid. If any indeed have
nothing to spare, if, in the providence of God,
they are entirely indigent, yet, if their hearts are
rightly alfected towards the Lord and his kingdom,
they will abound in prayer, and in personal service,
according to their opportunities.

Our conviction is, that in so far as the people
of God are truly willing to consecrate their service
to him, He will give them means enough for
building the spiritual temple, and for lengthening
the curds and strengthening the stakes of Zion,
till her seed shall possess the nations. Is it a
matter of indifference to Jesus Christ whether all
the kingdoms of the world become his or con-
tinue the devil's 1 Are not the silver and the gold
all his 2 Has He not received all power in heaven
and in earth, that He may bless the nations by
bringing them under his own sway? Has He
not taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come?"
Has he not commanded us to preach the gospel
to every creature % Has he not directed us to pray
the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers
into his plenteous harvest % Are these things true 1
And can it be that God, of whom all things come,
stints his Church of the means necessary for the
cause of his glory 1 If the Church be stinted, it

130 SECTION V.

can only be because her heart is not yet suffi-
ciently enlarged and liberal, and because the Lord's
portion is devoured, instead of being willingly re-
turned into his treasury. Here is the withholding
that tends to poverty. Would to God that chris-
tians pondered these things, and aspired to the
blessing promised to the liberal soul !

2. Some are dissatisfied with the results of our
missionary operations. They make it a thing of
arithmetic, and judge of it as they do of any
merely commercial speculation. So many pounds
expended, so many converts. And because they
consider the results insignificant, in their way of
counting, they become disgusted and dispirited,
and are disposed to give up the enterprise, or turn
to some new field. These forget that neither men
nor money can convert souls. That is God's w< »rk,
a work in which he is sovereign. The Lord tells
us that as in a field of grain some seeds produce
thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold, so
it is in the kingdom of God. The commission
runs thus : — " Teach, preach." Paul plants,
Apollos waters. But neither is the planter any-
thing, nor the waterer, but God is all. He gives
the increase. If the Lord has but one sheep in a
heathen region, and to bring that one to the fold

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 131

costs the church many thousand pounds, who has
any right or reason to complain, if the Lord has
so ordered it ? The preacher of the gospel among
the heathen is the prophet speaking to the dry
bones, and saying : "Hear the word of Jehovah.''
Motion, and form, and life, can come only with
the divine power and breath. The missionary is
bound to do his work faithfully. He must so bear
himself among the heathen as to make them see
that he himself believes. If, by ill-temper, or
worldliness, or want of a humble, loving, forbear-
ing, Christ-like spirit, he make himself repulsive
to them, he will not be used to draw them to the
Saviour, he will make them shut their ears to the
word he preaches, and their hearts against the
blessed religion which he so caricatures in his own
temper and behaviour. Alas, then, for him and
for them ! For although the most Christ-like
conduct on the p>art of missionaries, and the most
able, correct, full, convincing, and interesting state-
ments of the truth about Christ, will not bring
sinners to him, without the power from on high,
yet we have no reason to expect that an imperfect,
Unqualified, uninteresting, ill-tempered, or luke-
warm missionary ministry will be made very fruit-
ful. In this respect the Church of Christ as a

132 SECTION V.

whole, each of her members, and her agents among
the heathen, lie under a heavy responsibility.
We are guilty of grievous sin, if our agency is not
earnest, not sincere, not living, not self-denied,
not equal to our ability, not the best that it can
be. Let the complaining missionary contributor
examine himself. Let those who stay at home
take heed lest they be as blameworthy as the mis-
sionary. Their work is not done when they put
the penny into the box, or give the shilling to the
collector.

The want of success in our foreign operations,
if that want be so great as some assert, which we
doubt, is mainly due to the Church herself. Her
unpreparedness hinders extensive, striking, and
rapid progress. There is nothing in heathenism
in any part of the world that the Great Spirit is
unable to remove or renovate. But while God's
people are so earthly, so little alive to their re-
sponsibilities, so destitute of genuine enthusiasm
in the enterprise, so ready to take credit for their
doings, and the results thereof, and so disposed
to glorify the instrument, God will not give us to
see great things. Men's unbelief often hindered
Christ from doing his mighty works. All his
great interpositions were made at such a time, and

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 133

in such a way, as that the excellency of the power
was seen, and by every devout heart acknowledged,
to be of him. The Church needs to be educated
up to this. Let all her ministers open their eyes
to it, and do their duty, that the whole counsel of
God may be fully known by his people ; that
human impotence may be deeply felt, while human
agency is seen to be needful, and ought to be of a
high order; that there may be a humble, firm re-
liance on the Lord's arm, a readiness to see that
every atom of spiritual fruit is due to the grace of
the Holy Ghost, and a spirit of praise that will
ascribe to him all the wisdom, and power, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. When the
Church puts her whole strength into the cause of
her King, and proves his faithful witness to all
the nations, like Christ finds it her meat and drink
to do the will of her Father, and becomes so hum-
bled and poor in spirit as to see that every degree
of success is the work of Jehovah's hand, that he
may be glorified, then may we see the kingdom
coming with power in all the earth.

Instead, then, of any real or seeming barrenness
of results being a reason either for the fickleness
of churches in respect of their mission fields, or
for drooping and giving up, or for carping at the

134 SECTION V.

distant labourer who cannot tell of pentecostal
effusions, it is a reason why churches, both pastors
and people, should humble themselves for want of
faith, zeal, liberality, and prayer. It is a reason
why they should examine themselves- as to the
amount and manner of their service in the King's
cause. It is a reason why they should be sure
that there is something wrong about themselves
and their doings ; and wdiy they should do some-
thing more than hold missionary meetings, and
gather missionary monies, and read missionary
publications, and blame missionary agents. Let
them even search out the Achan in the camp, who
or which hinders the God of Israel from going up
with their armies, and put it away. It may be
found that this Achan lives in the home camp,
rather than among the handful who fail to make
the desired impression on the enemies' stronghold.
Jehovah's instructions to Joshua contain truth for
all times, and show that His people must be in
good spiritual health, before lb' can be among them
and prosper their enterprises. " Only be thou
strong, and very courageous, that thou mayest ob-
serve to do according to all the law which Moses
my servant commanded thee : turn not from it to
the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest

i

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 135

prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of
the law shall not depart out of thy mouth ; but
thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do according to all that is
written therein : for then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good
success."

" Languid ministers, proud and prayerless mem-
bers, will care little for missions. These persons
have got nothing from heaven, and they cannot
impart to others what they themselves do not
possess. Such a church is like a mass of floating
ice, cold in itself, benumbing to all around it, and
melting and disappearing as it does so. But an
active and devoted ministry, an humble, desiring,
and praying people, must make a missionary
church."" With the following remarks of Dr.
Somerville we also most heartily concur : —

"He was forcibly impressed with the thought
that there was a most intimate connection between
missionary success, and the state of the home
church. Missionaries were messengers of the
churches : thev went to do the work of the home

* Rev. Dr. Somerville, Sermon at the Ordination of Eev.
John Campbell, Missionary to Goshen, Jamaica. Grant and
Taylor, 1846.

136 SUCTION V.

church. Now ho was afraid that the homo church
had satisfied itself too much with the position of
merely sending forth men and giving them support.
He had "been looking into the Scriptures closely
of late, and he was prepared to make this state-
ment, that there is not, in the Word of God, an
intimation of very rapid success in the extension
of the gospel, that is not preceded by an account
of the revival of religion in the home church ; and
that, on the other hand, there is not, as far as he
had been able to ascertain, a statement of the
revival of the church of God, of the manifestation
of his gracious presence, and of the outpouring of
his Spirit, that is not succeeded by an account of
the rapid extension of the gospel .... There
were persons who said that the success of missions
had been very limited and very small. Let those
persons be told that they were themselves respon-
sible for such comparatively small results ; that
the fault was their own, and not that of the mis-
sionaries ; and that the missionaries were labour-
ing nobly, zealously, and with groat self-denial.
Let the home church be told that, if they wanted
to see a harvest, waving with holy grain, this
would only be the result of an increased spirit of

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 137

prayer and vital godliness, manifested by the
whole church."*

We are not prepared, however, to admit that
the amount of sheaves gathered is small, in pro-
portion to the labour expended in tilling heathen
soils and sowing precious seed. It is not easy to
collect all the facts that need to be put together,
to show the substantial progress which the king-
dom of Christ has made within these seventy
years of modern missionary effort, in the properly
heathen parts of the world. Those who think
that progress insignificant, do not, we are persuaded,
take the pains to know these facts. Could
Haweis, and Waugh, and Bogue, and Fuller, and
other large-hearted men, who were honoured to
stir up the Church to this noblest of all crusades,
see where we now are, they would wonder and
praise, as we may believe they even now do in
heaven, not being ignorant of how the cause of the
Redeemer moves on earth.

(1.) Look at the advance of the missionary
spirit in all sections of the Church itself, as com-
pared with the beginning of the movement.

In the last century, so far was the duty to
evangelize the world from being acknowledged by

* Export of Liverpool Missionary Conference.

138

8ECTI0N V

the whole church, that, in 1783, the Bishop of
St. Asaph declared in the House of Lords, that
"the obligation said to be incumbent on christians

•to promote their faith throughout the world, had
ceased with the supernatural gifts which attended
the commission of the apostles." And, in 1796,
a minister said, in the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland :—" To spread abroad the
knowledge of the gospel among barbarous and
heathen nations, seems to be highly preposterous,
in as far as it anticipates, nay, it even reverses,
the order of nature." The aiding of missions by
collections was thus characterized: — "For such
improper conduct censure is too small a mark of
disapprobation ; it would, I doubt not, be a legal
subject of penal prosecution." Nay, Dr. Hill
himself said, "that missionary societies were
highly dangerous in their tendency to the good
order of society at large." Mr. Boyle, an elder,
afterwards Lord-president of the Court of Session,
thought that the Assembly should give the over-
tures recommending- such associations "their
most serious disapprobation, and their immediate
and most decisive opposition."*

But the avowal of such opinions by grave
* Pictorial History of Scotland, II., 907.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 139

church dignitaries and courts, does not prove the
ignorance and insensibility of those times to the
fact that the Church exists by her Lord's behest,
mainly, that she may be a lamp-stand for the
dark world, so much as the almost entire absence
of any endeavours to do the work. Even in our
day of active zeal, voices are sometimes lifted up
in unbelieving and unthinking scorn of this
enterprise, mainly, Ave believe, because such
scomers look only at its philanthropic aspect.
Did they remember that its aim is the establish-
ment of the kingdom of God, they dare neither
oppose, even by a jest or a scoff, nor withhold
their personal and earnest service, without prov-
ing themselves to be utterly godless. In the
17th century, the church of Jesus Christ in these
realms had to suffer her bloody baptism. It was
with her, at that time, a battle for dear life, for
very existence. Eichard Baxter felt and wrote
thus : — " There is nothing in the world that lieth
so heavily upon my heart, as the thought of the
miserable nations of the earth. 1 cannot bo
affected so much with the calamities of my own
relations, or the land of my nativity, as with the
case of the heathen, Mahometan, and ignorant
nations of the earth. No part of my prayer is so

140

SECTION V.

deeply serious, as that for the conversion of the
infidel and ungodly world." The godly Puritans
of England, and Covenanters of Scotland, who
braved death for Christ's kingly power over his
own house, had they lived in these our times of
peace, would have been most zealous in the enter-
prise which aims to exalt him among the nations.
Those who held that "never one should think
himself in the right exercise of true religion, that
has not a zeal for God's public glory,"* would not
have been lukewarm or supine in a cause which
demands the Church's strength, and on which so
momentous interests do hang. After those dark
times had passed away, there followed a season
during which there was little spiritual life in tie-
churches of Scotland and England. It would be
in vain to expect zeal for the diffusing of a gos-
pel which was not valued by its own professors.
The foreign missionary enterprise arose after the
revival of the life and power of religion among
British Christians. Few of our exist ing m i ssionary
institutions date before 1800. But where, at
this day, is the evangelical church that is not en-
gaged in missionary labour? At first, the en-

* Last speech of the Rev. Donald Cargill, executed at Edin-
burgh, July 27, 1680.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 141

lightened and liberal-souled few in various sections,
banded themselves together into one small regi-
ment of foreign service. Now, each section of
the Church aims at having its own separate mis-
sion ; and the result is a vast increase of effort and
of work. "Now the Church is settling down
upon sound, substantial principles, and is acting
more from a calm sense of obligation. Duty to
the heathen is taking a deeper hold of the public
mind." We trust that duty to Jesus Christ is
also taking a firmer hold of the conscience of
every christian. Christians have much to learn,
and much to unlearn, as to their relations and
responsibilities to the cause of the Redeemer's
kingdom. We think that these are neither fully
known, nor fully looked at, nor fully acknow-
ledged ; perhaps, in many quarters, they are not
fully taught. But as compared with half a cen-
tury back, we ought gratefully to admit that pro-
gress has been made ; and may we not regard this
as a pledge that our blessed Father in heaven —
the Teacher of his children — will give us further
knowledge, by fixing our minds more earnestly
on the Bible doctrine of the kingdom, and making
us to see it in his own light clearly ?

Thankfully should we notice that the little

142 SECTION V.

regiment has grown into an army, with its separate
divisions, all aiming at one object, and all embued
with one sentiment of loyalty to our Divine king.
Young colonial churches have recently entered
the field, as the Presbyterians of Nova Scotia,
one of whose agents, with his partner, was
murdered last year, in the island of Erromanga.

If we look at the department of missionary
literature — a literature which some despise, yet
which God has blessed to kindle, and to fan the
flame of zeal, liberality, and self-sacritice in many
christian hearts —"when the 'Evangelical Maga-
zine' was started, a promise was given that one
page monthly should be devoted to missionary
intelligence." At the present day, 300,000 copies
of purely missionary periodicals are circulated,
monthly or quarterly, in Great Britain alone, be-
sides that missionary intelligence and discussions
occur often in publications of a more general
character.

In the end of that most interesting volume,
containing the minutes of the Conference on Mis-
sions held at Liverpool, in 1860, there is given a
list of Missionary Literature, comprising no fewer
than 252 works in history, biography, &c, and
these do not exhaust the whole.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 143

And what pleasing evidence of progress have
Ave in the present scale of giving for the cause of
the Redeemer's kingdom, as compared with fifty
years ago. At least, one section of the Church,
has quadrupled its missionary gifts in fifteen years.
No section is already perfect in liberality; hut let
us be thankful at the progress which some have
made in this duty. We are far from seeing the
full tide of christian generosity and the highest
pitch of faithful stewardship. While there are
individuals who emulate the large-heartedness of
David in his preparations for the building of the
temple, that largeness of soul is far from being the
rule. Nay, that magnanimity itself is a Divine
gift. "But who am I, and what is my people,
that we should be able to oifer so willingly after
this sort 1 for all things come of thee, and of thine
own have we given thee." Most heartily do we
commend the following remarks : — " It appears
from an article in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,'
that the missionary contributions of all Christendom
amount to about L. 600,000 a-year, excluding con-
tributions made to Bible Societies. But even sup-
posing that the amount were L. 1,000,000, there
are a hundred men in Christendom who ought to
give every farthing of that amount, leaving the

144 SECTION V.

missionary contributions of all the rest entirely
out of the account. We are only now at the lie-
ginning of the work. When God sees the Church
prepared for it, he will put more substance into
her hands ; and, when she lias more life, she will
obtain more means for carrying on this work.
The great want of the Church, indeed, is more life.
And when she has more life, she will pray more,
and make larger contributions." *

AVe also see progress in that now the Lord's
work in heathen parts is more generally admitted
to have a claim on the Church for the best men
that can be found. This is not yet admitted or
acted out as it should be, but it commands a wider
assent than it once did. Ear be it from us to un-
derrate the men who have been employed in foreign
missions during the past seventy years. We only
wish to protest against the erroneous and pernici-
ous notion, that men of inferior capacity, culture,
and attainments, are good enough for the work of
the kingdom in heathen regions ; against that
selfishness in churches which claims the highest
gifts for home service; and against those low views
of the public cause of God in preachers, which lead

* Report of Liverpool Conference, Rev. II. M. Macgill,
p. 82.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 145

them to fancy that it is a higher and more digni-
fied style of service, to minister to a congregation
in Britain, than to preach the gospel where Christ
was never named.

And do we not see delightful progress in the
number of accredited preachers of the gospel now
employed in foreign missionary work] It is almost
within the memory of some alive when the first
labourers went out to the South Seas, to India,
and to Africa. Many have died on the field, but
every blank has been filled up, and the number
has grown till, to-day, we count 1600 missionaries
from Europe and America, "accompanied by more
than 16,000 native ministers, religious catechists,
scripture-readers, and schoolmasters, who are evan-
gelizing their own fatherlands," and whose very
existence is itself a blessed success.

In all these respects we see pleasing evidence
that the missionary enterprise has advanced within
the Church. But there is room for further im-
provement. This enterprise is still too much re-
garded as a modern idea engrafted on Christianity
— a product of modern enlightenment — although
it ought to be regarded as the end for which the
Church exists in a visible and organised form in
the heart of Satan's kingdom. It is still too much

K

140

SECTION V.

regarded as a kind of philanthropic scheme which
christians ought to further if they can, after having
met every other claim with liberality and profu-
sion, instead of being regarded as one of the very
highest forms of service to God, as the means of
realizing the thing which the Lord himself teaches
his people first to pray for, "Thy kingdom come"
— a service in which the most liberal soul will not
be able to surpass its obligations, and in which its
rewards will be sure and glorious.

The doctrine of the kingdom of Christ needs to
be more fully and carefully taught to, and better
apprehended by, christians, so that their mission-
ary services shall be seen to be for the establishing
of that kingdom everywhere. When to withhold
sympathy and money from this service shall be
accounted as indubitable a proof of gracelessness,
as to beprayerless or profligate; when the Church
generally shall feel, each christian feeling for him-
self, that unutterable guilt, and recreancy, and base-
ness are implied in a man's being indifferent to the
Saviour's honour and kingdom, and that woe is
unto us if we preach not the gospel, then will
christians have right views on this question, and
then shall we see greater sacrifices, enthusiasm,
faith, and triumphs.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 147

(2.) We also call attention to the amount of
preparatory work accomplished in various parts of
heathendom, as the results of the labours of half a
century.

This of itself is almost a sufficient answer to the
assertion that the fruits of our missionary opera-
tions are small. How many unwritten languages
have been gathered from the lips of untutored
men, and made the vehicles of Christ's evangel !
Never has a negro tribe been found with a written
language. At this day, about twenty West African
dialects have been written by missionaries, and
the most of these within the last twenty years ;
and in all of them there are portions of the Scrip-
tures, as well as other works. Several South
African tribes have complete versions of the Scrip-
tures. The same is true of some Polynesian races.
If we turn to Asia, we find that its many tongues
have largely been baptized in the same manner.
Within these sixty years, the Scriptures, in whole
or in part, have been translated into more than 100
different languages. Only those who have per-
sonally engaged in this kind of service can know
the vast amount of patient, plodding, earnest toil
that has been expended in it. Unwritten tongues
are invariably those of the more uncultured races,

148 SECTION V.

who, therefore, cannot give intelligent aid to the
missionary in his philological labours. They fur-
nish the materials, but cannot suggest the laws of
their languages, to facilitate the work.

In this accumulation of material the Church has
the means of a far more extensive and satisfactory
preaching of the gospel — the sword by which the
Holy Ghost works that blessed and bloodless re-
volution, which shall cast down Satan's throne and
set up the throne of Christ. And in the grace
given to men of God to persevere in this work, and
in their motive, and object, in achieving results so
extensive, surely we have a pledge of final success.
For only such a motive and such an aim could
induce men to undergo the toil, and nerve them to
face the difficulties, of the undertaking. Men ran
buy and sell without a knowledge of barbarian
tongues, but, except in the tongues in which the
hearers were born, the gospel cannot be preached
so as to gain their attention, enlighten their under-
standing, and bring them to the faith and obedi-
ence of Jesus Christ.

(3.) How much work has been done among the
young in schools ! These form a very important
and valuable part of the machinery of every evan-
gelical mission. Hundreds of thousands have been

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 149

taught to read, and have had something good to
read prepared for them. Probably, correct sta-
tistics of the amount of work done and of good,
accomplished in this department of missionary
service, nowhere exist, but we consider both very
great ; and could the information be set before us,
objectors would be silent.

(4.) One of the most encouraging results of
modern missions is the number of native christian
teachers who have been raised up. Facts on this
point are both numerous, indubitable, and delight-
ful. The Eev. Isaac Stubbins. from India, speak-
ing of the Baptist Mission in Orissa, said : —
" Between twenty and thirty native preachers had
been raised up, and some of them had laboured
with a zeal and an ardour scarcely equalled by any
minister of our own land. Most of these had
grown up in heathenism, had been converted in
mature years, and had then become preachers of
the gospel."

Dr. Lockhart said of native Chinese preachers :
— " To the eloquent declarations of gospel truth,
made by some of them at Shanghai, he had list-
ened with the greatest pleasure. They would
carry on the work of the gospel throughout China,

150 SECTION V.

much more extensively and efficiently than any
Europeans could."

The Iiev. Mr. Fairbrother said : — " In certain
places native agency had accomplished wonders.
By it a great number of the South Sea Islands had
been won to the Church of the Redeemer ; and
the same was true of Madagascar and the Karen
Church."

Samuel Kayarnak, the first convert to Chris-
tianity in Greenland, " proved a marvellous evan-
gelist among his countrymen."

The He v. Dr O'Meara, a missionary among the
North American Indians, spoke of a " cultivated
and earnest native brother, who was looked up to
by the people among whom he laboured, as much
as was the European himself."

In connection with the American mission in
Turkey there are about 300 native pastors and
other labourers.

In the Samoan Islands, at almost every village
there is a native agent; in some instances, a pas-
tor; and all these are supported by the natives
themselves.

The Liverpool Missionary Conference devoted a
sitting to the consideration of this important branch
of the subject; and in their minute they thus

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 151

express the result: — "The Conference rejoice that
the native agents have already, under the blessing
of God, been made the instruments of great good.
They rejoice and give thanks to God, that in many
countries, in many spheres of missionary labour,
converts raised up from among the heathen, have
been found faithful pastors, eloquent preachers,
self-denying evangelists, and that, in some cases,
they have joyfully laid down their lives for Christ's
cause. They reckon this fact as one of the most
gratifying proofs of the success of the gospel in
modern days."

It is reckoned that there are about 16,000
agents of this class in the various mission-fields,
Polynesians, Negroes, Kafirs, Chinese, Hindoos,
<fec. They have been selected after trial and proof,
having given evidence of piety ; and many, if not
all of them have been carefully trained. They are
now teaching schools, preaching the gospel, and
ruling churches. What a delightful and encou-
raging fact is this ! How it should cheer the
hearts, and increase the confidence, of God's people,
and put to shame the ignorance, or the crooked-
ness, that charges the cause of Christ with failure
or small success !

(o.) In that interesting Report, already referred to,

152 SECTION V.

the candid inquirer will find many delightful testi-
monies from till parts of the world, from the lips
of missionaries of all sections of the Church, and of
pious and intelligent lay brethren. The Rev.
Joseph Mullens of Calcutta made the following
pertinent remarks: — "Our modern missions are
only sixty years old, and already Ave see the face
of the wide world rapidly changing. I doubt if a
single convert had been made before the year 1 800.
Dr. Carey had gone to India. A few of our
brethren had sailed for the South Sea Islands.
There were one or two in Africa, one or two in
the West Indies, and the rest of the world was a
blank. Our work began amidst the apathy of
friends, and the loudest obloquy on the part of
enemies."

And thus did Dr. Tidman speak of some of the
blessed instances of success : — " In the islands of
Polynesia more than a quarter of a million of
human beings, cannibals and murderers, have been
elevated not only to civilization, but, in some
instances, to the highest forms of christian excel-
lence. In India we have had specimens of Chris-
tianity among the natives, iat< ly, that may well
make us ashamed. I want to know what we ought
to have expected beyond the success which we

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 153

have had. If we send more men, the harvest will
be greater."

The Conference in their minute say : — " In
looking at the results of the christian missions
carried on during the last sixty years, and at the
high position which they have now attained, they
record with adoring gratitude that, notwithstand-
ing their own imperfections and shortcomings, the
Lord has blessed them with great success."

Other brethren spoke in similar terms, and gave
details from all quarters of heathendom. But not
to be tedious, we give the following summary in
the words of the Eev. J. B. Whiting of the Church
of England Missionary Society: — "He did not
like the word failure. He had endeavoured to
acquire some information as to the amount of suc-
cess with which God had blessed missionary
efforts. He found that the Bible had been trans-
lated during the last sixty years into upwards of
100 languages. There were 100,000 professing
christians in New Zealand; 100,000 in Burniah
and Pegu; 112,000 protestant christians in India;
5000 or 6000 in Mesopotamia; 250,000 in Africa;
40,000 in Armenia; and 250,000 in the islands of
the Pacific. There were christians in China,
Madagascar^ Mauritius, and many other parts of

154

a EOT! ON V.

the world. There were 200,000 or 300,000 Negroes
under the care of christian pastors in the West
Indies. There were more than a million and a
quarter of living christians, who, "but for the labours
of missionaries, would all have remained idolaters.
They must remember also the hundreds of thou-
sands who were now sleeping in their graves round
the mission churches; and how many had gone to
their heavenly homo from tho far distant recesses
of heathendom, who were never known to the
missionaries, but who had learned from tracts,
Bibles, and other means, of the salvation which is
in Christ. The 1600 missionaries from Europe
and America were now accompanied by more than
16,000 native ministers, religious catechists, scrip-
ture readers, and schoolmasters, who were evange-
lizing their own fatherlands."

When we with candour and care search out, and
put together the fruits of these sixty years' labour,
instead of murmuring, we ought to thank God and
take courage; and ill-conditioned must lie be who
does not see in these results at once a cause of
gratitude and self-abasement — gratitude that they
are so great; abasement, because, through our
means, they are not more — because by our little-
mindedness, our illiberality, our divisions, our

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 155

want of high and worthy views of the enterprise,
of faith in God, whose cause it is, and of mutual
christian love, we have stood in the way of the
revelation of his arm, and hindered distant peoples
from seeing his salvation.

But although we had smaller results and fewer
promises to encourage us, would our duty be the
less imperative ? Were missionaries never able to
tell of converts, were they ever going out with the
seed, and never permitted to bring home a sheaf,
would that free us from the duty of preaching the
gospel to every creature ? Nay ! The Lord's
command lays upon his people an obligation that
cannot be cancelled. Only fancy church members
called to their account, saying to the Lord : — " The
missionaries could not tell of Pentecostal success ;
they did not convert many of the heathen. We
thought it was of no use to waste our money on
these barbarians, and, therefore, we gave up the
attempt to evangelize them." His reply would
shut their mouths. Would to God that it would
now stir all to zeal, as it may then strike some
with terror : — " Did I not command you to go into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature 1 "

3. There are those who, as an offset to the

^ SECTION V.

claimso Christ's cause abroad, plead thegreat num-
bers of heathenish persons in this christian land

Large sums of money, they say, are given for
the benefit of persons far off, while our country-
men, m equal or greater destitution, are passed by
The charity that goes abroad to earth's end for
objects, and overlooks those so near, of our own
loth and kin, must be spurious. It is often
sneered at by persons who care little or' nothing
ior the heathen either at home or abroad. Wil h
these we neither reason nor expostulate. But we
are surprised that any christian man should take
such narrow views of this great matter; and should
wish the Church to slacken her efforts in behalf of
the world at large, for a reason like this

Were we to look at this matter from the merely
philanthropic point of view, it would be easy to
show that, as compared with the darkness and
misery of hundreds of millions abroad, the con-
dition of our lapsed hundreds of thousands at
home is light and happiness. No one, not an
idiot, can live in Britain without knowing that
there is a thing called Christianity, which claims
the attention of all. A man with eyes and ears
sees and hears, on all sides, and from week to
week, enough to make him eternally inexcusable

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 157

if lie live and die in ignorance. The gospel is so
widely preached, that men would need to stop
their ears, like the deaf adder, not to hear it.
V\Te, of course, neither palliate nor deny the igno-
rance and ungodliness of many in Britain. But
such are wilfully ignorant. If they desired to
know about the Saviour, there are daily opportu-
nities, which can be multiplied to any extent.
Does any candid christian man doubt that the
condition of the worst at home is infinitely superior
to that of the children of Ham, who, from the days
of the flood, have been left to sink without a
check, and who never heard the name of Jesus %
Through their vast continent, except in the little
missionary spheres, reigns the silence of death.
No house of God stands, a silent preacher of his
religion. No living teacher breaks the stillness
with the joyful sound. No Bible exists, and no
knowledge of its contents. It is an insult to our
understandings to hint that the state of the lapsed
masses at home is not infinitely superior to that of
the heathen. The linos have fallen to the ungodly
here in pleasant places of opportunity and privilege ;
the heathen inherit a parched wilderness. In
this land there are thousands of gospel ministers,
and hundreds of thousands of intelligent and well-

158 SECTION V.

to-do christian men and women. A great amount
of christian instruction among the home heathen
can be, and is, overtaken by their gratuitous
labours ; and more could be overtaken, if all who
are called christians were loyal to Christ. Wfl
send abroad our regular troops to foreign wars,
and the care of our homes and hearths is entrusted
to our volunteers. So should it be in the wars of
the Lord. The claims of the heathen abroad and
of those at home may seem, but they only seem,
to clash : they are not really antagonistic.
Christ's people are bound to seek the salvation of
both ; and they cannot neglect either, without
incurring the guilt of the blood of souls, and the
higher guilt of ingratitude and treachery to their
Redeemer and King. Christians, if ye have tho
slightest spark of love or loyalty, ye will send the
gospel to the heathen abroad, and carry it to those
at your own doors !

But we are convinced that the very necessity of
home missions, at this time of the day, has arisen
partly from the neglect of Christ's public cause.
An un-Christ-liko Church has made thoughtless
masses scorn Christianity herself. The self-seek-
ing and the earthliness of the Church, her want
of a proper appreciation of the high and most

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 159

honourable work put into her hands, and her
want of a generous enthusiasm in carrying it on,
is one great reason why she is not more powerful
as a witness for Christ at home. Were we more
Christ-like, we should be vastly more anxious to
spread the gospel. The Church's messengers
would be vastly more numerous, their feet on
every mountain, publishing peace, and preaching
the glad tidings of the kingdom. That same high
spirit of devotion which would make her lay her
sons and daughters, her silver and her gold, on
the Lord's altar, for His world-wide work,
would also be the means of awakening the lapsed
home masses to the conviction that, as she is in
earnest in her belief, so that which she believes is
true. Had christians borne a truer witness, and
shown a higher kind and style of piety, and done
more for the setting up of the kingdom every-
where, there would have been less irreligion and
infidelity in the cities and villages of Britain.

There is another way of answering this objec-
tion. If there is in a man the true spirit of
foreign missions, depend upon it, in that very
man lives the genuine spirit of home missions
too. The spirit of both is one and the same, and
that is love to Christ, zeal for Christ's glory, and

100 BECTION v.

love, true love, to the souls of men. If a man is
indifferent to the salvation of his own family and
neighbourhood, his foreign mission zeal is not
genuine. And if a man is callous to the claims
of the cause of Christ in India, in Japan, in
Africa, in Greenland, in France, in Tartary, or in
Erromanga, who can give him credit for a sincere
christian concern about the lapsed masses in Man-
chester, London, or Glasgow ?

We hold it to be utterly impossible for an
enlarged and pious soul, with even a spark of
true love to Christ, to be otherwise than deeply
interested in His public cause. Nay, it is but a
poor type of piety that is liberal for congrega-
tional objects, the building of fine churches, and
the extinction of congregational debt, and which
is not eager to multiply in heathen lands the mes-
sengers of the blessed evangel of Jesus, that his
kingdom may quickly come.

This will be put beyond all question, if we re-
member that mission work is not primarily phi-
lanthropic. There never should be any weighing
of the comparative claims of the so-called home
heathen and of the foreign. Christ's command
settles this, and supplies a rule for all his people,
at every time, and in every place: "Beginning at

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 161

Jerusalem, and unto the uttermost parts of the
earth." And it was not : " Stay at Jerusalem till
all the people there are converted." For Christ
had sheep at Damascus, at Antioch, at Ephesus,
at Athens, at Corinth, at Borne, in Spain, in
Africa, in Scythia, in India, and in parts of
Britain never reached by the Romans. And what
frightful unfaithfulness is it in the highest of
trusts, when christians keep to 'themselves that
blood-bought salvation, intended for all the world,
and commanded by Him wTho gave it to us, to be
preached to every creature, or work but languidly
for its world-wide extension, on the plea that this
little angle of earth is not yet sufficiently good !

We christians of this day, sometimes wonder
at the dulness and supineness of our forefathers,
and at their neglect of the heathen. Surely our
children will wonder no less at the smallness of our
liberality, as compared with our means and facili-
ties for spreading far and wide the Saviour's
name, and at our want of zeal in a cause which so
honours those to whose care and conduct it is
entrusted.

It is simply a question of obedience to an indu-
bitable command. We dare not say: "Lord, look
at these lapsed masses in our Scotch and English

1 62 SECTION V.

cities and towns ; we need the most and best of
our men, and the most of our money for them.
India, Africa, and other foreign places must wait
till these our neighbours are instructed and con-
verted. Charity begins at home." The Lord
answers you, O narrow-minded, craven- spirited
brothers : " Yes, begin at home, but haste to the
uttermost ends of the earth. Carry the gospel to
your neighbours, and send your substitutes abroad.
Work one, work all. That AVord is mine ; and
you are mine, and my stewards. I want my gos-
pel preached in every tongue of man. And you
must do it wisely and well. Send forth enough
of your best sons and daughters to prophesy on
these bones ; and you, sitting here on your moun-
tain-tops of privilege and comfort, aid them by
your intense sympathy, your large liberality, and
your prevailing prayers."

There is great reason to fear that, in most
cases, those who use this and other objections, do
so rather from lukewarmness and illiberality of
spirit, than from any conviction of their cogency.
And the poor worthless professor who grudges
to the Lord a due portion of those talents which the
Lord has entrusted to his stewardship, who counts
his missionary gifts as lost monc}', and gives only

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 163

for form's or fashion's sake, not from a generous
love to the cause of the kingdom, or a generous
enthusiasm for its progress and triumph, had
better remember that the Lord knows all about
him and his ways and thoughts ; and that,
whether saint or sinner, he shall be rewarded
according to his works.. He should remember
that God is not mocked ; and that this is a with-
holding that tendeth to fearful poverty. Let him
remember that God will find the means necessary
to build his temple, but that this niggardly and
un- Christ-like spirit is a peril and a curse to the
man who has it. And none will be sorrier, than
he himself at last will be, that he did not get it
thawed.

EDINBURGH; TUKNBULL AND SPEAKS, PUINTKKS.

LIST OF BOOKS

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15 PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH.

Second Thousand.

CHRISTIAN FAITH AND
PRACTICE.

By the Rev. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D., New York.
Crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d.

CONTENTS.

Our Modern Unbelief.

Divine Perfections in Harmony.

Providence of God in Particulars.

The Incarnation.

The Character of the Worldling.

The Scorner.

Salvation Traced to God.

Dying for Friends.

The Blood of Sprinkling.

The Thirsty Invited.

The Inwardness of True Religion.

New Disciples Admonished.

Love Casting out Fear.

The Young Christian.

Daily Service of Christ.

Mirth.

Believers are Witnesses.

The Church a Temple.

Strength in Christ.

Youth Renewed in Age.

" It is not easy to speak of this volume without employing
the language of eulogy so strongly as to make it appear
extrerqe to those who have not read the book. Beai'ing an
honoured name, Dr J. W. Alexander thoroughly and fully

it pholds its honour in these sermons, whose very titles speak

fo us of their importance." — Wit7iess.

List of Books

Third Thousand.

CONSOLATION.

By the Rev. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D., New York.

Crown 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d.

CONTENTS.

God's Everlasting Mercy.
The Providence of God.
The Omnipotence of God.
The Goodness of God a Refuge,
Hope Rising to Assurance.
Rest in God.
Christian joy.
The Uses of Chastisement.
Holy Submission to Christ's Will.
God's Promise never to Forsake.
Strength in Christ.
The Compassion of Christ.
The Judgments of Men.
A Review of Christian Martyrdom.
The Aged Believer Consoled.
The Sleep of the Dead.

All Consolation traced up to its Divine *
Source.

" A choice honeycomb. Sound doctrine is made the basis
of solid consolation. Dr Alexander has always written well,
but never better than in these precious pages." — Baptist
IfagaziTie.

" In a style that is clear, correct, and enlivened by chaste-
imagery, he gives expression to beautiful, appropriate, and

sometimes very profound thought The reader finds

no parade of learning ; but the impression is gradually pro-
duced as he proceeds that the author is a scholar, a philo-
sopher, a theologian, and a preacher of no mean rank." —
Horning Journal.

Published h\j Andrew Elliot.

Fourth Thousand.

OUR COMPANIONS IN GLORY

OR,

SOCIETY IN HEAVEN CONTEMPLATED.

By the Rev. J. M. KILLEN, M.A.,

Author of " Our Friends in Heaven."

Crown Svo, cloth, price 5s.

CONTENTS,

Part I. The Vision of God.

II. Personal Intercourse with Christ for Ever.
III. The Society of the Redeemed in Heaven.
IV. Our Children who are in Heaven.
V. The Companionship of Angels.
VI. The Cherubim.
VII. The Ministry of Heaven.

" 'Our Companions in Glory' is a mature book; not con-
structed for the market with special adaptation to the talents
and tastes of superficial readers,, but is a masterly and ex-
haustive treatment of a subject deeply interesting to every
candidate for glory. And while its learned author has availed
him of every aid afforded by advanced philology and criti-
cism, the style is eminently popular." — Banner of Ulster.

. . . . " But this is a book of a different stamp, — coin that
has the true image and superscription, and that will stand
the most approved tests. The writer is obviously a well-
educated man, and, in his sober, scriptural reasonings, shews
the results of sound scholarship and careful investigation." —
Morning Journal.

" The work before us is one of the best developments of the
life and immortality of the blessed, in one of its special
phases, which has issued from the press." — Caledonian Mer-
co.rij.

List of Boohs

Eleventh Thousand.

OUR FRIENDS IN HEAVEN

OR,

THE MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF THE
REDEEMED IN GLORY DEMONSTRATED.

By the Rev. J. M. KILLEN, M.A., Comber.

Crown Svo, price 4s. 6d.

" It is a scriptural argument for the mutual recognition of
the redeemed in glory, and the fullest popular statement of
the grounds and lessons of the doctrine with which we are
acquainted. It is written in a tender, affectionate spirit, and
has been already blessed to the comforting of many."— The
Family Treasury.

" The author has long been known to us as an able and
accomplished man, a ripe scholar, and a profound theologian.
The book is a real addition to our theological literature. It
abounds with an amount of Scripture testimony never fur-
nished by any previous writer."— Irish Presbyterian.

"The thinking of Mr Killen is strongly distinguished by
originality. There ia, moreover, a dash of poetry in him,
which enables him to depict objects so vividly as deeply to
impress. His book is by far the most comprehensive and
complete published on this Bubject."— The Christian Witness.

Published by Andrew Elliot 5

NEW BIBLE CLASS-BOOK.

TEXT-BOOK FOR YOUTH :

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.

By the Rev. JAMES MACGREGOR, Paisley.
Fourth Thousand, price Is.

CONTENTS.

Introductory — The Scriptures — Their Divinity, Inspiration,
Place, and Use.

Part I. — The Doctrine of Nature.
Chap. I. The Being of God— The Divine Attributes— The
Trinity in Unity.
II. The Divine Foreknowledge, Foreordi nation, and
Works of Creation and Providence.
III. The Creation, Place, and Nature of Man— The Moral

Law.
rV. The First Estate of Man— The Covenant of Works—
The Fall.

Part II. — The Doctrine of Grace — The Gift of God.
Chap. I. The Destination of Redemption — " The Love of
God."
II. The Impetration of Redemption — "The Grace of

our Lord Jesus Christ."
III. The Application of Redemption — " The Communion
of the Holy Ghost."

Part III. — The Doctrine of Grace — The Duty of Man.
Chap. I. The Christian Life — Its Inward Nature, Faith, and
Repentance.
II. The Christian Life — Its Ordinances.
III. The Christian Life — Its Ordinances — (continued.)
Concluding Address — The Last Things.

"The first thing that strikes the most cursory reader of
this curious little book of some 164 small octavo pages, is the
extraordinary amount of matter which the writer has con-
trived to press into its pages. The style in which it is writ-
ten, besides, is condensed and yet free, close and yet open
and graceful." — News of the Churches.

" A most admirable manual for those who wish to be intro-
duced into a systematic view of divine truth in a condensed
form, and also for those who have occasion to instruct others
in the Christian system." — British and Foreign Review.

List of Boohs

NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.

OUTLINES OF DISCOURSES.

DOCTRINAL AND EXPOSITORY.

By the Late Rev. JAMES STEWART, Aberdeen.
Crown Svo, cloth, price 6s.

"Those of our readers who have already made their ac-
quaintance with these precious memorials of an eminently
rich and faithful ministry, will be right glad to welcome
them in a fresh edition. The book well deserves the large
and increasing acceptance which it has met with. Vigorous
in thought, terse in language, lucid in order, sound in the-
ology, rich in suggestive hint and illustration, and, above all,
instinct with a living fire which could be kindled only at the
altar of God, it is one of the best books of the kind we have
ever seen. In point, too, of length and fulness of treatment,
it is exactly what such a book of outlines should be. It
stimulates thought without superseding it ; it does not do

the work of other minds, but sets other minds on fire

We bid it God speed on its new and wider career of useful-
ness. " — Northern Warder.

"The utterances of a fresh and full mind, and are distin-
guished by massiveness of thought and sound Puritan the-
ology Dilating on a wide variety of subjects, these

Outlines discover a mind capable of addressing itself to any
theme in the wide range oi doctrinal and practical religion.
While the successive topics are taken up with a calm strength
and an inexhaustible copiousness, the reader always feels
that the author thought for himself, and spoke from the
inner chambers of his own personality." — Professor Smeaton,
New College, Edinburgh.

"A book full of profound views of truth, of vigorous think-
ing, and sound theology; it is characterised, in short, by a
manliness and ripeness rarely seen in our superficial day. No
specimens or extracts could adequately exemplify the mass-
iveness of Mr St wart's skeleton sermons; but we can fancy
few more profitable exercises for any one who is earnestly
studying the truth, than just to set himself carefully to fill
up one of these Outlines — to clothe these admirable sketches
of sermons in the fulness of the truths which they com-
pendise. "— Witness.

Published by Andrew Elliot.

THE SABBATH

VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OE REASON, REVELATION,

AND HISTORY ; WITH SKETCHES OF ITS

LITERATURE.

By the Rev. JAMES GILFILLAN, Stirling.

Second Edition, crown 8vo, price 7s. 6d.

CONTENTS.

1. Sketches of Sabbatic Controversies and Literature.

2. Proofs, from Reason and Experience, of the Excellence and

Divine Origin of the Sabbath.

3. Testimony of Revelation to a Sacred and Perpetual

Sabbath.

4. Evidence from History for a Weekly Day of Rest and

Worship.

5. The Sabbath Defended against Opposing Arguments,

Theories, and Schemes.

6. The Claims of the Sabbath Practically Enforced.

"In this volume the Sabbath Question is viewed in the
light of Reason, Revelation, and History. In fact, it is a
work that all but exhausts both the literature and argument
of the subject. Much has been written on this topic ; but
every work with which we are acquainted may be described
as superficial and incomplete if compared with the volume
before us."— British Quarterly Review.

" But he might say on that subject, in passing, that if it
were necessary to argue upon the subject formerly, it had
become totally unnecessary by the admirable publication of
Mr Gilfillan of Stirling, which really exhausted the question.
He had no hesitation in saying that it was the best book upon
the subject ever published, and contained more information
in a short compass than ever was previously collected to-
gether on this subject." — Dr Begg, in Free Church Presbytery of
Edinburgh.

List of Books

MAN'S PART IN THE CHORUS OF
CREATION,

IN TWELVE ARGUMENTS.

Ey THOMAS BRUCE.
Foolscap 8vo, cloth, price 2s. 6d.

"It discovers a mind of high scientific and literary culture
and attainments, all, however, chastened 03- that humility
which is the soul of Science as well as of Religion, and all
consecrated by a fervent but enlightened piety." — Rev. George
Gilfillan.

" Its theme is a noble one, and the treatment is not un-
worthy of the theme. The theological excellence of the
treatise is equalled by its literary merits and beauties."— Rev.
John Eadie, D.D., LL.D.

HEART RELIGION;

OR,

LIVING BELIEF IN THE TRUTH.
By the Rev. ALEXANDER LEITCH,

Author of "Christian Errors Infidel Arguments," '
"The Unity of the Faith," &c, &c.

Crown Svo, cloth, price 3s. 6d.

"In his ' Heart Religion,' or 'Living Belief in the Truth,'
he rises to the height of a 'greater argument ' than any of
those in which he has been hitherto engaged. As a moral
refutation of scepticism, we regard the book as unequalled in
the theological Literature of this country." — Macphuil's Maga-

Published by Andrew Elliot. 9

Second Edition, price 3s. 6d.,

THE GOSPEL TO THE
AFRICANS :

A NARRATIVE OF THE

LIFE AND LABOURS OF THE REV. WILLIAM JAMESON

IN JAMAICA AND OLD CALABAR.

By the Rev. ALEXANDER ROBB, M.A,

Missionary, Old Calabar.

"This -volume is an important and most interesting contri-
bution to our missionary literature. It contains many grati-
fying and suggestive illustrations and proofs of the capability
of the African race of great advancement in civilisation, and
of much intellectual and moral improvement." — Aberdeen
Herald.

Fifth Edition, price Is.,

LETTERS TO AFFLICTED
FRIENDS.

' By the late Rev. JOHN JAMESON, Methven.

" The late Mr Jameson's Letters are as full of cheering
words as they can well be. The sublimity, solemnity, and
variety of the author's spirit and style, render the book most

precious to bereaved and afflicted Christians A cheap

edition of a valuable book. It is full of gentle, wise, and
appropriate consolation. It is not a set of letters written to
imaginary persons, with their sorrows duly arranged ; but a
collection of actual letters, over which the recipients wept
with not bitter tears." — The Evangelical Witness.

10 List of Books

LIFE FOE GOD;

EXEMPLIFIED IN THE CHARACTER AND

CAREER OF NEHEMIAH.

By the Rev. WILLIAM RITCHIE, Dunse.

Crown Svo, cloth, 4s. 6d.

" Mr Ritchie has shewn himself possessed of some of the
best qualities of an expositor of Scripture. . . . These are
presented to the reader with remarkable clearness, distinct-
ness, and vigour of conception, and the moral lessons that
are interwoven with the narrative are developed in a manner
at once natural and skilful." — Morning Journal.

Second Edition.

SACRED SONGS OF SCOTLAND.

OLD AND NEW.
Printed on Toned Paper, price 3s. 6d.

" Many of the hymns breathe an intensity of religious
emotion, and glow with a richness and tenderness of scrip-
tural imagery, unsurpassed by the devotional poetry of any
nation." — The Dial.

" This very elegant volume possesses intrinsic merit of no
common kind. It embodies much evangelical truth, and
much spiritual sentiment, with no small measure of genuine
poetry." — Christian Witness.

Published by Andrew Elliot. 11

THE CLOSER WALK;

Ok, THE BELIEVER'S SANCTIFICATION".

By HENRY DARLING, D.D.

With Preface by the Rev. George Smeaton, Professor of
Theology, New College, Edinburgh.

ISmo, cloth limp, price Is. 6d.

" A second edition of this work has been called for and
issued, and it has now taken a permanent place in religious
literature. It is almost unnecessary to repeat eulogy of its
ability and practical force, for into so many hands has it gone,
and into so many hearts have its consoling words found their
way, that our testimony can hardly add weight to its acknow-
ledged value and usefulness. In the ' Patience of Hope,'
the unlearned reader might occasionally find passages re-
moved from the simplicity and directness which affect the
hearts of the mass of believers. In ' The Closer Walk,' such
abstruseness is avoided, while in tenderness, earnestness,
power, and practicality, we may fairly compai-e these noble
treatises. We are extremely happy thus to chronicle its po-
pularity, believing as we do that its usefulness will only be
limited by the circle — already very extended — of its readers."
— Presbyterian Quarterly Revieio — edited by Albert Barnes, and
others.

NEW EDITION.

THE FRIEND OF SINNERS;

Or, THE WAY OF SALVATION.

By the Rev. WILLIAM SWAN.

18mo, sewed, price 6d.

" A little volume of great merit, and singulary fitted to be
useful. The tone is devout, earnest, searching.' — News of
the Churches.

12 List of Books Published by Andrew Elliot.

HO! EVERY ONE THAT
THIRSTETH!

OR, THE GOSPEL INVITATION.

By Rev. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D., New York.

32mo, sewed, price 2d.

BEST IN GOD.

By Rev. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D , New York.
32mo, sewed, price 2d.

COUNSELS TO YOUNG MEN
ON SELF-IMPROVEMENT.

By the Rev. WILLIAM SWAN, Author of " Letters on

Missions."

Crown 8vo, sewed, price 6d.

THE FELLOWSHIP-MEETING:

A DISCOURSE.

By Rev. A. THOMSON, D.D.,
Broughton Place Church, Edinburgh.

ISmo, sewed, price 3d.

" A remarkably earnest and seasonable enforcement of the
advantages of the prayer-meeting." — Caledonian Mercury.