Though God has devolved upon us, as stewards, a responsible work, the weight ofwhich is fearful, and sufficient to crush us unless aided from on high, yet the employment is one ofindescribable delight. It is a pleasant work. Angels would rejoice to be so employed.
Is there any professed Christian who does not relish the idea? To such an one I would say, Your condition is by no means enviable. You deny yourself all true happiness. If you do not delight in the thought of being God's steward; of holding not only property, but body, soul and spirit at God's control, then you know not what true luxury is. There is pleasure in doing good; there is a luxury in entire consecration to God. The pleasures of this earth are empty, vain and fleeting; but the pleasure of doing good is real, substantial and enduring. The pleasure of doing good is the joy of angels; it is the thrill of delight which pervades the soul of Jesus; it is the happiness of the eternal God. In not wishing to be God's steward, you deny yourself this luxury; you refuse angels' food and feed on husks. O, there is a richness of holy joy in yielding up all to God, and holding ourselves as waiting servants to do his will. This fullness of bliss you foolishly spurn from you, andturn away to the "beggarly elements of the world." Do you feel that the principles of stewardship contained in the Bible are too strict—that too entire a devotement is required of you? Angels do not think so. Redeemed saints do not think so. The more entire the consecration, the more perfect the bliss. In heaven devotement is perfect, and joy of course unalloyed. Blot out this spirit of consecration, you blot out all true happiness on earth; you annihilate heaven.
But it is not only a luxury, butan honorto be the stewards of God. What honor greater than that of continuing the work which Jesus commenced; of being employed in the immense business of saving a ruined race? What work more glorious than that of being the instruments of peopling heaven? What employment more noble than to rescue immortal souls from endless agonies, and to raise them to eternal joys; to take their feet from the sides of the burning lake, and to plant them on the firm pavement of heaven; to rescue victims from eternal burnings, and to place them as gems in the diadem of God? Would not Gabriel feel himself honored with a work so noble and glorious? Were a presidency ora kingdom offered you, spurn it and be wise; but contemn not the glory of being God's stewards.
Remember, too, whether these are your views or not, the work of God will go on. The world will be converted. The glorious event is promised. Almighty power and infinite wisdom are engaged to accomplish it: all the resources of heaven are pledged. The God of heaven, he will prosper his true servants, and they shall arise and build; but those who do not relish the idea of being God's stewards, can have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem. The wheels of God's providence are rolling onward: those wheels are high and dreadful. Will you, being a professed Christian, dare to oppose the march of God? "Ah! we do notoppose," say you. But I reply, There can be no neutrality; you must either help onward his car of victory, or you do really stand in the way—will be crushed by his power, and ground into the earth by the weight of his chariot. Take then, I entreat you, this warning, which is given you in earnestness, but in the spirit of love.
Joy, glory and immortality, to all who willcordially assent to be co-workers with Jesus. They shall ride with him in his chariot from conquering to conquer, and shall sit with him on his throne in the day of triumph.
Be entreated, then, professed Christian, first to give your own soul to the Lord, and with your soul all you have, all you are, and all you hope to be. Make an entire consecration. You will never regret having done so, in time or in eternity.
May God give us all grace to imbibe wholly the true principles of stewardship. Not the principles popular in the world, but the principles of the Bible; those principles which hold out the only hope of the latter day glory—of means commensurate with so great an end.
During all the years that I have been allowed to labor for the heathen, my mind has been led to contemplate, constantly and intensely, the obligations of Christian nationstowards those who sit in darkness; obligations arising from the command of Christ, and the principles of the Gospel. And I shall, therefore, in this chapter, freely, fully, and solemnly express the sentiments which have been maturing in my mind, on thegreat guiltwhich Christians incur inneglecting the heathen.
The heathen world, as a mass, has been left to perish. And by whom? Not by the Father of mercies; he gave his Son to redeem it: not by the Saviour of sinners; look at Calvary: not by the Holy Spirit; his influences have been ever ready: not by angels; their wings have never tired when sent on errands of mercy. All that Heaven could do has been done, consistently with the all-wise arrangement of committing an important agency to the church. The church has been slothful and negligent. Each generation of Christians has in turn received the vast responsibility, neglected it in a great measure, and transmitted it to the next. Theguiltof this neglect who can estimate?
That such neglect is highly criminal, the Bible everywhere testifies. It says, "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn untodeath, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it?" And shall not he "render to every man according to his works?" This solemn interrogation needs no comment. The obvious import is,If our fellow men are perishing, and we neglect to do what we can to save them, we are guilty of their blood. But this testimony does not stand alone. What does God say to the prophet, who should see the peril of the wicked, and neglect to save him by giving him warning? "His blood will I require at thy hand." What does God say of the watchman of a city who should see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet? "If the sword come and take any person from among them, his blood will I require at the watchman's hand."
But this is not only the sentiment of the Bible, but the voice of common sense.
A neighbor of mine is drowning in the river. With a little exertion I can save his life, but neglect to do it. Shall I escape the goadings of conscience and the charge of blood-guiltiness?
A house is in flames. The perishing occupants, looking from a window, implore of me to reach them a ladder. I have some little affairs of my own to attend to, and turn a deaf ear to their cry. The flames gather around them: they throw themselves from the window, and are dashed in pieces on the pavement. Who will not charge me with the loss of those lives?
To-day, a raging malady is spreading through the streets of a large city. The people are dying by hundreds. I know the cause; the fountains of the city are poisoned. From indolence, or some other cause, I neglect to give the information, and merely attend to my own safety. Who would not load me with the deepest guilt, and stamp me as the basest of murderers?
Both Scripture and common sense, then, concur in establishing the sentiment, that if our fellow men are perishing, and we neglect to do what we can to save them, we are guilty of their blood. But if this doctrine be true, its application to Christians, in the relation which they sustain to the heathen world, is irresistibly conclusive and awfully momentous. The soul shudders, and shrinks back from thefearful thought: If six hundred millions of our race are sinking to perdition, and we neglect to do what we can to save them, we shall be found accountable for their eternal agonies.
If such a charge is standing against us, we shall soon meet it. The day of judgment will soon burst upon us. Let us look, then, at the subject candidly, prayerfully, and with a desire to do our duty.
The conditions on which the charge impends are simply two: that the heathen world are sinking to perdition, and that we are neglecting to do what we can to save them. If these two points are substantiated, the overwhelming conclusion is inevitable. It becomes us, then, to look well at these points—to examine them with faithfulness and with honesty.
Is it true, thatthe heathen world are sinking to perdition? As fast as the beating of my pulse, they are passing into the world of retribution, and the inquiry is, What is the doom they meet? Do they rise to unite with angels in the songs of heaven? or sink in ceaseless and untold misery?
Certain it is, that they are not saved throughfaith in Christ; for "how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" It is also clear that God, in his usual method, does not bestow the gift of repentance and eternal life where a Saviour is not known. "It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Those who are saved, are said to be "begotten by the word of truth"—"born of the word of God." As the heathen nations, therefore, are not furnished with the appointed means of salvation, it follows inevitably that, as a mass at least, they are sinking to perdition. They are the "nations which have forgotten God," and "shall be turned into hell."
It is unnecessary to enter into the inquiry, whether it is possible, in the nature of the case, for a heathen unacquainted with the Gospel to be saved. It is sufficient to know thefact, that God has ordained the preaching of the Gospel as the means of saving the nations; and that there is probably no instance on record, which may not be called in question, of a heathen being converted without a knowledge of the true God and of his Son Jesus Christ.
But the consideration, solemn and conclusive, which needs no other to corroborate it or render it overwhelming, is thecharacterof the heathen. Look at their character, as portrayed by the Apostle Paul in the first chapter to the Romans. Read the whole chapter, but especially the conclusion, where he describes the heathen as "being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, back-biters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." This description is not understood in Christian lands, neither can it be; but missionaries to the heathen, who are eye-witnesses of what is here described, place an emphasis on every epithet, and would clothe every word in capitals.
The character of the heathen is no better now than in the days of Paul. It isworse. It is impossible that such a state of society should remain stationary. A mortal disease becomes more and more malignant, till a remedy is applied; a sinking weight hastens downwards with continually accumulatingforce; and mind, thrown from its balance, wanders farther and farther from reason. It is thus with the disease of sin, the downward propensities of a depraved nature, and a soul revolted from God. Besides, Satan has not been inactive in heathen lands. He has been aware that efforts would be made to save them. And night and day, year after year, and age after age, he has sought, with ceaseless toil and consummate skill, to perfect the heathen in every species of iniquity, harden their hearts to every deed of cruelty, sink them to the lowest depths of pollution and degradation, and place them at the farthest remove from the possibility of salvation. It is impossible to describe the state of degradation and unblushing sin to which the nations, for ages sinking, have sunk, and to which Satan in his undisturbed exertions for centuries has succeeded in reducing them. It is impossible to give a representation of their unrestrained passions, the abominations connected with their idol worship, or the scenes of discord, cruelty and blood, which everywhere abound. I speak of those lands where the Gospel has not been extended. Truly darkness covers such lands, and gross darknessthe people. Deceit, oppression and cruelty fill every hut with woe; and impurity deluges the land like an overflowing stream. Neither can it be said, that the conduct of the heathen becomes sinless through ignorance. From observation for many years, I can assert that they have consciences—that they feel accountable for what they do.
Will, then, God transplant the vine of Sodom, unchanged in its nature, to overrun his paradise above? Will he open the gates of his holy city, and expose the streets of its peaceful inhabitants to those whose heart is cruelty, whose visage is scarred with fightings, and whose hands are red with blood? "Know ye not, that the unrighteous shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven?" Where, then, is the hope of the unconverted heathen? If there wereinnocentheathen, as some men are ready to imagine in the face of God's word, and in the face of a flood of facts, then indeed they might be saved without the Gospel. But this mass of pollution, under which the earth groans, must disgorge itself into the pit of woe. We cannot evade the conclusion, painful as it is, that the millions of this world of sin are sinking to perdition.
The American churches have peculiar advantagesto carry abroad theGospel of Christ; and ability in such an enterprise is the measure of our duty. "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." "To whom much is given of him will much be required." And to determine whether Christians in the United States aredoing what they canto save the heathen from their awful doom, the second point of inquiry proposed, it is necessary to look at their unparalleled advantages.
It may be said then, that Christians in America are not trammeled in their efforts to do good by any governmental restrictions, or ecclesiastical establishment. The remark is trite, but no less true, that the genius of our free constitution is eminently propitious to call forth energy and enterprise. And the remark applies with no more force to worldly matters, than to the business of doing good. The religion of Christ courts no extraneous influence, and is dependent for its power on no earthly aid. Under our free government, uncontrolled, unrestrained and unsupported, it is left to exert its own free and native energy.We can plead, therefore, no arbitrary hindrance of any kind in the work of propagating the Gospel. And we can carry the Gospel, too, disconnected from any prejudicial alliance with political interests. This is the free, disencumbered, and unshackled condition in which the Gospel is permitted to have free course in our beloved land; and it is a talent put into our hands to be improved.
Again, no country possesses such advantages of education as the United States. In no land is knowledge so generally diffused throughout the different grades of society, and in no land do such facilities exist for acquiring a thorough education. Schools, colleges and seminaries, are open equally to the high and to the low, to the rich and to the poor; and only a good share of energy is required, to rise from any grade or condition of society, to eminence in general learning or professional study. The general intelligence of the community is such, that nothing butdisinclinationcan prevent men from being acquainted with the wants of the world, and their duty to evangelize it; and the facilities for fitting themselves for the work are such, that nothing but criminal delinquency can hold back a verylarge army from entering the field. This is an immense advantage committed to the American churches, for propagating the religion of Christ. It is another very precious talent committed to their trust, which if they fail to improve, they treasure up guilt.
Again, the American churches possess a great advantage in the facilities so generally enjoyed for accumulating wealth. The road to comfort and to affluence is open to all; and notwithstanding all reverses, the remark, as a general one, is still true, that the prosperity of the United States—of the whole mass of the people—is altogether unexampled, and that enterprise is vigorous and successful. In the greatest strait, how much retrenchment has there been in the style of living? And as we look into the future we see, (God's providence favoring,) that wealth is destined to flow in upon the land like a broad and deep river. Look at the extent of territory, bounded only by two rolling oceans; and at the resources which from year to year are developed—varied, unnumbered, and inexhaustible. If then unto whom much is given, of them will much be required, what may not God justly demand of American Christians?
Another advantage which the American church possesses, is the Spirit which has been poured out upon her from on high. God has been pleased to bless her with precious revivals. The Holy Ghost has come down frequently and with power, and gathered in multitudes of souls. What God has wrought for the American Zion has been told in all lands, and every one applies the Saviour's injunction, "Freely ye have received—freely give." One great reason, perhaps, why the blessings of the Spirit are not now more richly enjoyed, is the neglect of Christians to make this return, and to labor gratefully for the destitute and the dying. Itwas expected, and justly too, that the land of apostolic revivals would be the first to imitate the apostles in the work of saving the heathen. A failure to do this may bring a blight upon the churches, if it has not brought it upon them already.
Surely, if there is a nation on earth to whom are intrusted many talents, ours is that nation. Our ability is not small. We must come up to a high measure of Christian action, before it can be said with truth, that we aredoing what we canto save our ruined race. The United States, a nation planted by God,enriched by his providence, nourished by his Holy Spirit, and brought to the strength of manhood in this solemnly momentous time of the nineteenth century, seems to have committed to her in a special manner the work of the world's conversion. Who knoweth but that she is brought to her preëminent advantages for such a time as this—for the interesting period preceding the latter day glory; and now if she prove herself unworthy of so lofty and responsible a trust, and neglect to put forth her strength to usher in the glorious day, deliverance will break out from some other quarter, but she, like a third Babylon, may sink in the bottomless abyss. An immense responsibility rests upon us. O that God would give us grace to act worthy of our trust—to do what we canfor a dying world!
Let us inquire, then, Do weprayfor the heathen as much as we ought? Were one duly impressed with the condition of perishing millions, certainly no less could be expected of him, than to fall on his knees many times a day, and to lift up his cry of earnest entreaty on their behalf. Filled with the love of Christ, and having distinctly and constantly before his mind the image of millions of immortal souls dropping into perdition, surely he could not refrain from an agony of prayer. Under such a sense of the wants and woes of our perishing race, a sense true to facts, he would have no rest.
But what prayer has actually been offered to the Lord for benighted nations? Is it not a fact, that many professed Christians do not remember the heathen once a day, and some not even once a month? Let the closet, the family altar, and the monthly concert testify. Prayer-meetings for the heathen—how thinly attended! what spectacles of grief to Jesus, and to angels! And if that prayer only is honest which is proved to be so by a readiness to labor, give, and go, there is reason to fear that few prayers for the heathen have been such that Christ could accept them, place them in his golden censer, and present them before the throne.
Since such is the case, what wonder is it that a million and a half of Christians in the United States should be so inefficient? Inefficient, I say, for what do this million and a half of professed Christians accomplish? By their vows they are bound to be as self-denying, as spiritual and devoted, as though theywere missionaries to foreign lands. If we should send abroad a million and a half of missionaries, we should expect that, under God, they would soon be the instruments of converting all nations. But what, in fact, does this vast number of professed Christians—or in other words, of theprofessedly missionary bandof Jesus Christ, accomplish in the narrow limits of the United States? O, there is a deplorable lack in the churches, of the deep devotion and missionary character of our ascended Saviour.
Again, Do wegiveas much as we ought to evangelize the heathen? It would perhaps be a liberal estimate to say, that a million and a half of professed Christians in the United States give, on an average, year by year, to save the heathen, about twenty-four cents each, or two cents a month. There are other objects, it is true, that call for contributions; but put all contributions together, and how small the amount?
The Jews were required to give to religious objects at least one-fifth of their income. One-fifth of the income of a million and a half of Christians at seven per cent., supposing them to be worth on an average five hundred dollars each, would be ten and a half millions of dollars. This is merely the income of capital of which we now speak. A fifth of the income from trade and industry would probably double the amount, and make it twenty-one millions. Is anything like this sum given by American Christians to support and propagate the religion of Jesus? What Christians have done, therefore, is by no means a measure of their ability.
To see what men can do, it is necessary to look away from Christians, to those whose ruling principle is a thirst for pleasure, for honor, and for gain. How vast a sum is expended at theatres—on fashionable amusements and splendid decorations—not to mention the hundreds of millions sunk by intemperance, and swallowed up in the deep dark vortex of infamous dissipation! Men are lavish of money on objects on which their hearts are set. And if the hearts of Christianswere seton saving the heathen, as much as wicked men are set on their pleasures, would they, think you, be content with the present measure of their contributions?
Look, too, at what men can do who are eager in the pursuit of wealth. Under theinfluence of such an incentive, railroads, canals, and fortresses spring into being, and fleets bedeck the seas like the stars of the firmament. Money is not wanting when lucrative investment is the end in view. Even professed Christians can collect together heavy sums, when some great enterprise promises a profitable income. They profess, perhaps, to be accumulating money for Christ; but, alas, to what a painful extent does it fail of reaching the benevolent end proposed! Worldly men accomplish much, for their hearts are enlisted. Professed Christians, too, accomplish much in worldly projects, for their minds become engrossed. What then could they not accomplish for Christ, if their feelings were equally enlisted in his cause? They might have, in serving Christ, intellects as vigorous, muscles as strong, and this advantage in addition, a God on high who has vouchsafed to help them.
Take another view of the case. The child that is now sitting by your side in perfect health, is suddenly taken sick. Its blooming cheeks turn pale, and it lifts its languid and imploring eyes for help. You call a physician, the most skillful one you can obtain.Do you think of expense? A protracted illness swells the bill of the physician and apothecary to a heavy amount. Do you dismiss the physician, or withhold any comfort for fear of expense?
Your child recovers, and becomes a promising youth. He takes a voyage to a foreign country. The ship is driven from her course, and wrecked on some barbarous coast. Your son becomes a captive, and after long anxiety you hear that he is alive, and learn his suffering condition; and you are told that fifty dollars will procure his ransom. I will suppose you are poor, have not a dollar at command, and that the sum can be raised in no other way than by your own industry and toil. Now, I ask, how many months would expire before you would save the sum from your hard earnings, and liberate your son? But what is an Algerine dungeon? It is a heaven, compared with the condition of the heathen. In the one case, there are bodily sufferings; in the other, present wretchedness and eternal agonies.
I once fell in company with a man of moderate circumstances, with whom I used the above argument. He promptly replied, "It istrue. Three years ago I thought I could barely support my family by my utmost exertions. Two years since, my darling son became deranged, and the support of him at the asylum costs me four hundred dollars a year. I find that with strict economy and vigorous exertion I can meet the expense. But if any one had said to me three years ago, that I could raise four hundred dollars a year to save a lost world, I should have regarded the remark as the height of extravagance."
Now, I ask, ought not men to feel as much in view of the eternal and unspeakable agony of a world of souls, as a parent feels for a suffering child? God feltmore. He loved his only Son with a most tender affection—inconceivably more tender than any earthly parent can exercise towards a beloved child. And yet, when the Father placed before him, on the one hand the eternal ruin of men, and on the other the sufferings and death of his beloved Son, which did he choose? Let Gethsemane and Calvary answer. Can Christians then have much of the spirit of God, and not feel for the eternal agonies of untold millions, more than for the temporal sufferings of a beloved child? But if Christians felt thus,what exertion would they make—how immense the sum they would cheerfully raise, this present year, to evangelize the heathen! Feeling thus, a few of the wealthy churches might sustain the present expenditures of all foreign operations. Yet all the American churches combined,feeling as they do now, fail to send forth a few waiting missionaries, and suffer the schools abroad to be disbanded. The truth is, in the scale of giving, the church as a body (I say nothing of individuals or of particular churches) has scarcely risen in its feeling above the freezing point. What they now contribute is a mere fraction compared with their ability.
Millions are squandered by professed Christians on a pampered appetite, in obedience to fashion, a taste for expensive building, a love of parade, and on newly-invented comforts and conveniences, of which the hardy soldiers of Jesus Christ ought ever to be ignorant.
Then, again, some who are economical in their expenditures, have little conception of what is meant by total consecration to God. There must be an entire reform in this matter. Every Christian must feel that his employment, whether it be agriculture, merchandise,medicine, law, or anything else, is of no value any farther than it is connected with the Redeemer's kingdom; that wealth is trash, and life a trifle,exceptas they may be used to advance the cause of Christ; and that so far as they may be used for this purpose, they are of immense value. Let every Christian feel this sentiment—let it be deeply engraven on his heart, and how long, think you, would pecuniary means be wanting in the work of the world's salvation?
And do wego and instructthe heathen as we ought? This is indeed the main point. To pray, formally at least, is quite easy; to give, is a little more difficult; but to go, in the minds of most persons, is entirely out of the question. Satan understood human nature when he said, "All that a man hath will he give for his life." Speak of going, and you touch the man, his skin and his bones. To go, requires that a man have such feelings as to begin to act in earnest, as men do in other matters. Men act in person, when they are deeply in earnest. In the case supposed of a sick child, does the mother simply express a desire that the child may recover? does she merely give money, and hire a nurse to takelittle or no care of it? No: in herown personshe anticipates its every want, with the utmost attention and watchfulness. When a son is in bondage on a barbarous coast, does the father merelypraythat his son may be redeemed? does he merely sendmoneyfor his ransom? No: he chooses, if possible,to go in personand carry the sum, that no means may be left untried to accomplish the object he has so much at heart. Men who are deeply interested in an important matter, where there is much at stake, cannot be satisfied with sending; they choose togo themselves.This remark is true in all the enterprises and transactions of life the world over.
If then, after all, the measure of going is the true measure of interest, to what extent, I inquire, have Christians of America gone to the heathen? Alas! the number is few, very few.
Look at the proportion ofministerswho go abroad. In the United States the number of preachers, of all denominations, is perhaps not far from one to a thousand souls. This is in a land already intelligent and Christian; in a land of universities, colleges, and schools; in a land of enterprise, of industry, and offree institutions, where the arts flourish, and where improvements are various and unnumbered; and more than all, in a land where more than a million and a half of the people are professed Christians, and ready to aid the ministers of Christ in various ways. On the other hand, even if missionaries from all Christendom be taken into the account, there is not more than one minister to a million of pagan souls, with almost no intelligent Christians to assist as teachers, elders, catechists, and tract distributers; no physicians, artists, and judicious legislators, to improve society and afford the means of civilized habits; no literature worthy of the name; no colleges, or even common schools of any value; no industry and enterprise, and every motive for it crushed by arbitrary and tyrannical institutions: the mind degraded and besotted, inconceivably so, and preoccupied also with the vilest superstition, the most inveterate prejudices, and the most arrogant bigotry. Who can measure the vast disproportion? What mind sufficient to balance extremes so inconceivably immense? On the one hand a minister to a thousand souls, with many helpers and a thousand auxiliary influences in hisfavor; on the other, one minister to a million of souls, with no helpers and no auxiliary influences, finding out an untrodden track amidst unnumbered obstacles, and penetrating with his single lamp into the dark and boundless chaos of heathenism. This is the manner in which Christendom shows that she loves her neighbor as herself; and in view of it, judge ye, whether American Christians go as much as they ought to instruct and save the benighted nations.
We said, that the number of missionaries to the heathen population is about one to a million of souls; but let not the conclusion be drawn, that every million of heathen souls has a missionary. By no means. The few hundred missionaries preach to a few hundred thousand souls. The millions and hundreds of millions of heathen, are as destitute of preaching as though a missionary had never sailed, as destitute of the Scriptures as though a Bible were never printed, and as far from salvation, I was about to say, as though Jesus Christ had never died. Men speak of operating upon theworld. Such language is delusive. The present style of effort, or anything like it, can only operate on some smallportions of the earth. To influence materially thewide world, Christians must awake to a style of praying, giving, andgoingtoo, of which they have as yet scarcely dreamed. The work of going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to every creature, has scarcely been undertaken in earnest. And how vain it would be to expect to make any material impression on the world, as a whole, when so small a company from all the ministers in the United States go abroad, and a less number even of lay members from the vast body of a million and a half.
The heathen are not lost because a Saviour is not provided for them. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." The preaching of the cross is "the power of God and the wisdom of God" both to the Jew and the Greek. Facts show, that in every nation, however barbarous and degraded, the Gospel of Jesus has power to convert, purify, elevate and save. These facts are irresistible.
Neither are the heathen lost, because the ocean separating them is rarely passed. For the sake of gain, men can visit the most distant and sultry climes. To solve a question of science or merely to gratify curiosity,they can circumnavigate the globe, or penetrate far into the icy regions of the poles. The improvements in navigation and the extension of commerce have united the two continents in one. The Atlantic ocean no longer separates you from Africa, nor the Pacific from China. The amount of intercourse between the seekers of wealth from Christian lands and almost every heathen country, is absolutely immense.
Why then are the heathen left to perish? There is a lack of earnestness in the church in the work of the world's conversion. What does the present earnestness of the church amount to? They contribute on an average two cents a month each, and they find that the pittance of money will more than suffice for the small number of men: and then the cry is "More money than men." A few men are obtained and then the pittance of money fails, and "More men than money" is the cry. A year or two afterwards the supply of men is gone, and the cry again is reversed. As if, in repairing the wastes of the New-York fire, the citizens collect together a small quantity of brick, and then find they have more brick than workmen. So they employa few more men, and then find they have more men than brick. Was this the rate at which the ravages of the great fire were so soon repaired? Was this the measure of their engagedness in rebuilding the city?
Some derangement takes place in the Erie Canal: a lock fails, an aqueduct gives way, or a bank caves in. Is business stopped on the canal till the next season, because the times are hard, and it is difficult to obtain money to make repairs? Some derangement takes place in a railroad: is travelling postponed till next year? But in the work of doing good, the reverse of times is regarded as a sufficient excuse to detain missionaries, disband schools, and take other retrograde steps. We coolly block our wheels, lie still, and postpone our efforts for the world's conversion till more favorable times. Men are earnest in worldly matters: in digging a canal, in laying a railroad, or in repairing a city; but in God's work—the work of saving the nations—their efforts are so weak that one is at loss to know which is most prominent, the folly, or the enormous guilt.
Is it not a fact, that in our efforts for the heathen we come so far short of our ability,that God cannot consistently add his blessing. Can it be that the service rendered by the church as a body is acceptable to God? It is not according to that she hath—it forms an immense and inconceivable contrast to that measure of effort which lies fully within her power. Is it not, then, as though an imperfect sacrifice were offered to the Lord—a lamb full of blemish? If the church were weak, and it were really beyond her ability to do more than she does at present, then God would accomplish great victories by the feeble means. He can save by few as well as by many. He would make the "worm Jacob to thresh mountains." But since God has blessed the American church with numbers, and with great and peculiar advantages, he requires of her efforts that accord with her ability. The poor widow's mites accomplish much; but the wealthy man's mites, or the wealthy nation's thousands, when she is fully able to give millions; and her very few sons, when it would even benefit her to spare a host of her ablest men; what shall we say of such an offering? The reason why God blesses the efforts of the American church may be, that there aresome widows, and some others toowho do what they can—who honestly come up to the measure of their ability. For the sake of these God may add his blessing, just as for the sake of ten righteous men he would have spared Sodom. But no very great and conspicuous blessing can be expected to attend the labors of missionaries, such as the conversion of China, or of Africa, till the church begins topray,giveandgo, according to herability; till she begins to come up to the extent of her powers in her efforts to save the heathen. Then, when she renders according to that she hath, her service will be accepted; it will be a sweet savor before God; his throne of love will come near the tabernacle of his saints, and the noise of his chariot soon be heard among the ranks of the enemy. The church then, with Christ at their head, shall go on rapidly from conquering to conquer, till all nations, tongues and people, shall bow the knee before him. As soon as the church shall put forth all her strength so as to render an acceptable service to God, it is of little consequence whether she be weak or strong, few or many, the blessing will descend; the mountains will break forth into singing, and the trees shall clap their handsfor joy; God will come, take up his abode with the saints, and verify all that is expressed by "the latter day glory."
It is plain, then, not only that Christians come far short of doing what they can to save the heathen, but that if they would come up to the measure of their duty they might, under God, rescue the dying nations from their impending doom. If they would engage in earnest, pray with fervency and faith, and prove their zeal by giving and by going, then the providence of God would not leave a bolt or a bar in their way, except what might be necessary to test their perseverance. Let every ambassador of Christ, andevery Christian too, possess the unreserved consecration of Paul, and manifest that burning zeal which carried him, as on the wings of an angel, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; let every redeemed sinner, minister or layman, stand ready, not merely to contribute of his substance, but to traverse with cheerful step the burning plains of Africa or the icy mountains of Greenland: then the darkness that now envelopes the earth would soon be dispelled, the torch of Revelation be carried to the most distant lands, and its lightbe made to penetrate the most gloomy abodes of men; the radiance of heavenly truth would be poured around the dying bed of every pagan, intelligence now in to us from every quarter, not only of individuals, but of nations converted to God, and the shout of triumph would soon be heard, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord."
It seems to be true, therefore, that the heathen are sinking to perdition; and true, also, that we might, under God, be the means of saving them. Shall we not then be foundaccountablefor their eternal agonies? O Christian, pause and look at this thought! Look at it deliberately, for we shall be obliged to do so at the judgment day. No one can plead exemption from it, unless he doeswhat he canto save the heathen. O my soul, how much blood, how much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, will stand at thy account in the day of judgment!
I appeal to each one of you, examine yourselves in the light of this truth. Call up your prayers, your contributions, and your personal efforts. Compare what you have done with what Jesus did for you. I entreat you, open your ears, and hearts too, to the groans of adying world. Listen to the notes which, like the noise of seven thunders, peal after peal, are rolling in upon your shores.
"Hark! what mean those lamentations,Rolling sadly through the sky?'Tis the cry of heathen nations,'Come and help us, or we die!'"Hear the heathen's sad complaining,Christians! hear their dying cry;And, the love of Christ constraining,Haste to help them, ere they die!"
Yes, reader, haste to help them. Confer not with flesh and blood. Meet all vain excuses with a deaf ear and a determined spirit. Let pity move you, the love of Christ constrain you, and a sense of responsibility urge you, to take that precious Gospel on which your hopes rely, and to carry it, without delay, to the perishing nations.
Let us suppose that all kindreds and people of the earth are assembled, and that the inhabitants of Africa, Asia, the Isles of the Pacific and the wilds of America, are called upon to speak, and to give in their testimonyhow far the Saviour's last command has been obeyed.
The inquiry is first put to Africa:
"Africa, to what extent and for what purpose have people from Christian lands visited thee, and thine adjacent islands? What have they carried to thy shores? And what is the treatment thou hast received from them? Tell the whole truth: let it be known to what extent the Saviour's last command has been obeyed in respect to thee."
To this inquiry Africa replies:
"The truth I can tell, but thewholetruth cannot be told. I have indeed been visited by people from Christian lands. Thousands and hundreds of thousands from those landshave visited my shores. Some have come to measure the pyramids, and to gather relics of ancient literature and decayed magnificence; some to search out the sources of the Nile and the course of the Niger; some to possess the best of the soil; and a vast multitude have come, with a cruelty that knows no mercy, to tear the husband from his wife and the wife from her husband, parents from their children and children from their parents, brother from sister and sister from brother—to crowd them together without distinction of age or sex in the suffocating holds of their ships, where a large proportion of them die, and to convey the remainder far away to spend their lives in degrading servitude. They have brought beads and trinkets; they have broughtinstruments of death, such as muskets, powder, knives and swords; and they have brought, too, full cargoes ofliquid poison. The navies of Christian, lands have fought in my harbors, and their armies upon my shores. Their money by millions has been lavished, and their blood has run in torrents.
"A few individuals, however, of a different character, have found their way hither. They have come in the spirit of benevolence and ofpeace, and have brought in their hands the precious treasure of the Gospel of Christ. But their number is so small as to be almost lost among the multitude. For one who has taught righteousness, purity, truth and mercy, thousands have taught, by their example, rapacity, drunkenness, lewdness and cruelty. For one who has led us in the path of life, thousands have led us in the paths of destruction. For one who has brought the Bible, thousands have brought rum. For one whose example has been salutary, the intercourse of thousands has left a loathsome disease, which with sure and rapid progress is depopulating the land. Such is the sum of my testimony. Days and nights would be required to give the detail."
This testimony of Africa being finished, the same inquiry is put to Asia:
"Asia, to what extent have the nations of Christendom visited thee, and thy numerous islands? What have they carried to thy shores? and what has been their deportment towards thee?"
To which Asia replies:
"The vast number, either of men or of ships from Christian lands, that have visitedmy shores, cannot be told. I know full well the enterprise, the energy, and the perseverance of Christian lands; yes, verily, and traits too of less honorable name. Large portions of my territory acknowledge the control of their armies. Their thundering navies lie in my harbors and sail along my coasts. Ships without number—mighty ships whose masts pierce the clouds, have come for my teas, my crapes, my silks, my spices and other precious merchandise. Their consuls, superintendents, officers of various kinds, and merchants in great numbers, dwell in almost every port, and have erected in those ports stores, shops, offices and sumptuous dwellings. Many things pleasant and useful have been brought hither, but many things also that are ruinous: full cargoes of ardent spirits; and immense quantities of opium too, a means of destruction no less sure.
"Among the multitudes who have come to my shores, some few, indeed, have brought the Gospel of Christ, made known its truths and exemplified its spirit; but the thousands and tens of thousands have inculcated by their example, worldliness, drunkenness, lewdness, war, violence and treachery. If needful, avolume of details might be given; but this is the sum."
Next, the inquiry is put to the Isles of the Ocean:
"Great Pacific, to what extent has the last command of Christ been obeyed by Christian lands, in respect to thy numerous islands?"
The reply is as follows:
"Thousands of ships from Christian lands continually cruise upon my wide waters, and visit my numerous groups of islands. They have exchanged with my ignorant and destitute inhabitants, beads, trinkets, and a few inches of rusty iron hoop, for the best produce of the islands. They have sold to them guns, powder and rum. Many of their ships have been floating grog-shops—floating exhibitions too of Sodom and Gomorrah. From some, on slight provocation, broadsides of cannon have been fired on my heedless inhabitants, strewing the deep with the dead and the dying. Rum and disease have been introduced. The one has slain its thousands, and the other has slain, and is still slaying its tens of thousands. Many useful things indeed have been introduced, but in connection with a host of evils! A few individuals too, bearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, have visited some of my numerous islands; but what are they among the multitude?"
After this testimony of the Isles of the Ocean, the inquiry is last addressed to America:
"America, what is thy testimony? From Bhering's Straits to Cape Horn, what treatment have thy native inhabitants received from Christian nations?"
America replies:
"Alas! scarcely enough remain of my miserable inhabitants to return an answer. They have been swept away by the same causes which are now sweeping away the inhabitants of the Pacific. The rapacity of those called Christians, which has not scrupled at any means of conquest and extirpation, and the rum and diseases introduced, have laid my numerous population in the grave. Have I been visited by those who bear the Christian name? Yes, verily, they now possess the best portions of my territory, and have grown into vast nations on my soil. Even my veriest wilds have been repeatedly traversed by them in search of furs; and the tracks they have made been too often marked with drunkenness, lewdness, and treachery. Few, very few indeed of all that have come to this vast continent, have come to instruct my ignorant inhabitants in the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ, and lead them in the paths of righteousness and peace. Few who explore my wilds, explore them for this purpose. Alas! a far different object prompts their enterprise, their energy, and their perseverance. This is the sum of my testimony."
Now, reader, let us look well at this testimony of Africa, of Asia, of the Isles of the Ocean, and of America. Is it not overwhelming? Take, the Encyclopedia of Geography, or McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce, or Howitt's Colonization and Christianity, and carefully examine the facts. Are they not enough to strike us dumb? To what a vast extent heathen nations have been visited by those who bear the Christian name. What obscure island, or what obscure nook or corner of the earth has not been visited? What immense multitudes have gone forth.And, alas! for what purposes. How few, how very few have gone forth to make known the Gospel! What a powerful motive among men is the love of earthly gain, and howweak a motive is love to Christ and regard to his last command. The command reads, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Christian nations, ye have not failed in great multitudes to "go into all the world;" scarcely have ye failed to visit "every creature;" but for what purpose have ye gone forth? Has it been mainly to make known the precious name of Jesus? Be entreated to look at the case as it is, for a day of impartial retribution is at hand.
Many of you indeed, who go forth to heathen shores, do not profess to be the disciples of Jesus; but imagine not, that on that account your guilt is diminished. Ye who reject the Saviour, and disobey his commands—who throw away your own souls as worthless, and are reckless of the souls of your fellow men, what can you say in the day of Christ's appearing? If ye had only destroyed your own souls, then your case would be more tolerable; but since you withhold from the millions of ignorant heathen the knowledge of salvation, which has been imparted to you—not only refusing to enter the kingdom of heaven yourselves, but denying the key to those who might be disposed to enter;—and not only do this, but in your intercourse with the heathen, which has been very abundant, confirm them in their evil practices by a pernicious example, and hurry them by thousands to the grave by means ofdeadly poisonanddeadly disease—Oh! how will you endure the keen remorse and fearful looking for of judgment, which may ere long overtake you? When the impartial Judge shall appear, and your eyes shall meet his eye, what agonies must rend your souls!
But some of you have the vows of God upon you. To such I would say, Be entreated to look at the case as it is. As ye have gone forth on voyages of just and honorable traffic, and on voyages of discovery, have you manifested in all the heathen ports where you touched, that to make known the Saviour was the great and absorbing desire of your hearts? Alas! are there not some among you who, either as owners, masters or agents, are connected with ships that sail from port on the Sabbath, or do other unnecessary work on that day, and who thereby teach the heathen, wherever those ships go, to disobey God when their gain or convenience require it? Arethere not also some among you, who, in one way or another, are connected with ships whose outfits are wholly or in part, beads, trinkets, guns, powder, rum and opium? and who thereby teach the heathen injustice, cheating, drunkenness, lewdness, and recklessness of life? Why is it that ye bear the name of the peaceful disciples of the benevolent Jesus, whilst ye are concerned in scattering among the heathen "fire-brands, arrows and death"—in teaching them every species of iniquity, and in rearing a wall of prejudice strong and high to the progress of the Gospel?
But most of my readers stand pure from all this crime; and of such I simply inquire, with deep concern and affectionate earnestness, Why, dear brethren, have ye not obeyed the Saviour's last command? Why have ye not made known the Gospel of Christ to every creature? Each one of you has doubtless some excuse at hand, or he could not escape the goadings of conscience. Let us then, in the spirit of candor and honesty, look at someexcuses.
Perhaps some one may be inclined to say, "The work enjoined by the Saviour's lastcommand is a very great work, and there has not been time enough to perform it."
True, I reply, the work is great; but how does it appear that there has not been sufficient time to accomplish it?Not sufficient time!What has been accomplished in the pursuit of wealth and honor during the same period of time? What has been done at home in railroads, canals, steamboats, manufactures, and in other departments of enterprise and industry? What has been done abroad? Look at the testimony of Africa, Asia, the Isles of the Pacific, and the wilds of America. There has been time to carry rum to every shore. There has been time to introduce diseases among every barbarous people, which are hurrying them to the grave by thousands. There has been time to kidnap thousands and hundreds of thousands of the degraded Africans. There has been time to extirpate most of the native population of North and South America. There has been time to wage war, till the blood of human beings has flowed in torrents. And then, in regard to just and honorable traffic, compute, if human arithmetic be competent to the task, the amount of merchandise brought fromIndia, and from other distant lands. There has been time for all this. Now I ask with great plainness, for it is a solemn and practical subject, Had you exhibited the same enterprise, energy and perseverance, in making known the Gospel to all nations, as has been exhibited in worldly pursuits, would not every human being, long ere this, have heard the word of life? Will you not, Christian reader, look at this question, weigh it well, and deal honestly with your own soul?
Here, I am suspicious that some may be inclined to excuse themselves with a vague thought secretly entertained, which, if expressed, would be somewhat as follows:
"True, we have not exhibited as much zeal in teaching all nations as has been exhibited by the worldly, and by many of ourselves even, in the pursuit of wealth. But we claim not the praise of a holy, self-denying and apostolic life. We are content with anhumblewalk in the Christian course, and alowseat in heaven. Entire consecration, in the sense urged, is what we neverprofessed."
Your standard, then, it appears is very low—too low, it may be, to admit you even to that humble seat in the courts above which youanticipate. You claim not the praise of an apostolic life, and I seriously fear that you will not obtain even the testimony of being a true Christian. But how does it appear, that you never professed an entire consecration to Christ of all your powers of body and soul? It is true, the conduct of some would seem to say, that they put on a form of religion to silence their fears, to cheat themselves with a delusive hope, and to enjoy a comfortable state of mind on earth. But what, really, are the vows that rest upon you? What else than to seek by prayer and effort, as your supreme aim, chief desire, and all-engrossing object, the promotion of Christ's kingdom—the salvation of souls for whom he died?
Besides, what is the great purpose for which the church was instituted? Certainly, not to promote in its members a delusive comfort and quietude of mind; neither mainly nor chiefly to secure their own ultimate salvation; butto take advantage of union of strength to convert the world.The church—the whole church, without the exception of any of its members, is by profession, not merely a missionary society, but amissionary band:the minute-men of the Lord Jesus, ready to dohis will, at home or abroad, with singleness of aim, and with a spirit of entire devotion.
"But," you say, "were we thus to live, the world would verily believe we were deranged."
Deranged!it would be the right kind of derangement. Were not the apostles thought to be deranged? And the Reformers—Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Knox and others—were not they thought to be enthusiasts and zealots? Why? Because they were somewhat in earnest in the cause of Christ. Worldly men toil and strive night and day, in collecting together a little of the pelf and dust of the earth, and think themselves wise in doing so; but if the disciples of Christ show zeal or earnestness, in pursuits as much higher than theirs as heaven is higher than the earth, and as much more important as the immortal soul is more valuable than corruption and vanity, they call them enthusiasts and fanatics! But, alas! how few of us who profess to be the disciples of Christ, have manifested such zeal in his service as to be called by such epithets. Such persons alone God calls wise; and those worldly men, who are mad in the pursuit of wealth, God calls "fools." The wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world are utterly at variance. O that all who profess to love Christ, manifested such zeal in obeying him as to be strange and singular men! How soon would every human being hear his Gospel! But since such zeal is not manifested, the heathen are left to perish; and where, I ask affectionately and solemnly, where rests the guilt?
But, here it may perhaps be replied, "Our sin is a sin of ignorance. We have not been acquainted with the full import of the Saviour's last command, nor with the extent of our obligations to Christ. Neither have we been acquainted with the wretched and guilty condition of the heathen world, nor with the exertions necessary to turn it from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. God will wink at our sin, if we be indeed guilty, for we have not been enlightened on this subject."
I answer. Does ignorance of the laws of any nation excuse those who transgress those laws; or is it not considered to be the duty of all subjects to inform themselves in respect to the laws of their country? And should it not be so in the kingdom of Christ? The requirements of Christ in their full extent are contained in the New Testament, and are expressed in language that need not be misunderstood. If any one has mistaken their import, is it not on account of a self-seeking, money-getting, or slothful disposition? Let such a one search his own heart, and inquire with concern, "Did I desire to know my duty? Was not my blindness a matter of choice; no infirmity, no misfortune, but my guilt? If there had been a desire, nay, even a willingness to be instructed, could I have mistaken such plain and unequivocal precepts of the Gospel?"
The condition too of the heathen, their guilty and wretched condition, is fully made known in the New Testament, especially in the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. Besides, accounts of their guilt and wretchedness have been presented before the Christian community in Heralds, Chronicles, reports and newspapers, till they have become too familiar to make an impression. Can ignorance at this day be any other than a criminal ignorance—an ignorance of fearful responsibility?
And, I ask again, Can it be an excuse to many Christians that they are laymen andnot preachers of the Gospel? Can they make it appear that many of their number were not called to the office of preaching the Gospel? Did they take the proper means to ascertain that point? How, I anxiously inquire, did such persons determine so readily, when a world was sinking to perdition for want of preachers of the Gospel, that they were called to be lawyers, physicians, statesmen, merchants, farmers and manufacturers? Can it be fairly shown that hundreds of laymen have not rejected an office to which they werecalled—solemnly called, by the woes and dying groans of six hundred millions of their fellow men? Is there not reason to fear, that it was from a carnal choice and selfish inclination, rather than a sense of duty, that so great a majority slid so easily into their present occupations?
Besides, how does it appear that only preachers of the Gospel are required to labor directly for the destitute at home, and to go forth to the heathen abroad? It was far otherwise in the days of the apostles. Then the whole church—driven out, indeed, by persecution—went everywhere making known the Saviour. And at the present hour, not onlyare ministers needed in propagating the Gospel in destitute places at home, and in raising up heathen nations from their deep degradation, but there are needed also, in their appropriate spheres, teachers, physicians, mechanics, farmers—in short, men of every useful profession and employment.
Besides, much is to be done at home in sustaining those who go abroad. Has there been no lack in this part of the work? Alas! there are facts to meet such an inquiry, facts too well known to be named: disbanded schools, detained missionaries, and deserted monthly concerts: facts that stand registered on a book that shall hereafter be opened. Dear brethren, I speak earnestly and boldly of your obligations, not forgetting my own; and I would entreat you, by all that is affecting in the death of souls, and by all that is constraining in the love of Christ, to admit freely to your hearts, without subterfuge or excuse, the full import of the Saviour's last command, and to commence at once a life of sincere obedience. O! let us dealhonestlywith ourselves, in a matter of such immense moment.