Designed to assist the Labour of Missionaries and other Instructors of the Ignorant.
BY THE LATE REV. JOHN LOVE, D.D.
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS TO ALL THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY, LONDON.
BRETHREN and Fathers, grace and mercy be multiplied to you, “from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful and true witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth!”
Standing at the present point of your progress in the missionary work, I beg leave humbly to congratulate you respecting the manifest tokens of the presence of the Lord which have hitherto attended your endeavours; and I heartily rejoice with you in the opening prospect of some “deliverance being wrought,” by your means, “in the earth,” and that in some dark regions of the world “the Gentiles are now about to come to the light of the Christian church and kings to the brightness of her rising.”
Not to our righteousness, or to the uprightness of our hearts, but to the tender mercy of our God, and to the ever-breathing odour of the sacrifice, merit, and intercession of Jesus, are to be ascribed those gracious impressions on the minds of multitudes, and those benign providential movements, which have been the auspicious concomitants of these first attempts. To the same fountains of blessing must our imploring eyes be directed when we consider that the great trials of this work and of the steadfastness of our faith and zeal have not yet been experienced.
The Lord of the harvest hath prepared a numerous band of missionaries, and hath provided the means of their conveyance to a remote region of the globe. Their faith is of that kind, we trust, for which Jesus will pray that it fail not, the smoking flax among them such as He will not permit to be quenched. But they must pass through the heap of great waters. And where is the Moses to stretch out his rod over these waters? or the Elijah to smite them with his mantle, that “the overflowing of the water may pass by; that the deep, harmless, may utter his voice, and lift up his acclaiming hands on high?”
When our missionaries stand on heathenish shores, they will need the faith and patience of him who said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” It is easy to speculate, in the shade, on their arduous situation. But the elevation of faith, the rich communication of wisdom and power from on high, essential to their comfort and success, are beyond what most of us are capable to imagine. I hope the tear of pious brotherly concern will often drop from the eyes of the reader, while this little book is in his hands, to think how it may now be faring with our dear missionary brethren!
My Brethren and Fathers will, I trust, candidly regard my solicitude to serve this important cause by the present publication. I felt it my duty to make the attempt, hoping to afford assistance to some of the missionaries in discovering the simplest methods of conveying scriptural truth to untutored minds. The approbation of some friends whose judgment I highly respect encourages me to send these Addresses with the missionaries, and to present them to the attention of the world. Perhaps they may assist the pious endeavours of Christian parents, and may attract the notice of some who are otherwise averse from the consideration of heavenly truth. And, in reference to the present mission, the concern and prayers of its friends may be excited and directed by a minute and particular exhibition of the leading truths of the Bible, as accommodated to the ideas of minds just emerging from the horrid shades of Pagan darkness.
“When the host goeth forth to battle,” said the inspired Lawgiver, “then keep thyself from every wicked thing.” That we have put our hands to such a building will be, I trust, an additional stimulating motive to rouse us to our great work as Christians at home. We live in a period of great events, and amidst the hostile collisions of powerful nations. If the vengeance of the Almighty shall awake to meet us for our distinguished ingratitude as a people, and our marked opposition to the spirit of the religion we profess, then the disasters feared and felt at home may surpass the trials of faithful missionaries. “In this land of peace, wherein we have long trusted,” the furnace of trial may be kindled. But though all should move on softly for many years, the tempests of Divine wrath, in the other world, are infinitely tremendous. There should be, therefore, in consistency with attempts to save the heathen, a general travailing in birth among pious ministers and their people for the salvation of the impenitent multitudes in this island.
But that I may impress ideas of this kind by an authority more venerable than my own, I will present to the reader part of a parochial exhortation, published near half a century ago, by one who, I doubt not, is now a saint in glory; I mean the late excellent Dr. Gillies, who flourished many years in the city of Glasgow, a faithful and successful minister of the Gospel.
His words are these, in a paper entitled, “Lamentation over Perishing Souls.”
“When I think of unconverted persons dropping into hell from time to time, and others following fast, if infinite mercy prevent not, this makes me forget censures. I rather find myself disposed to weep and cry out with the Prophet, ‘Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
“Miserable souls that are out of Christ, let me lament over you a little. If you die in this state there will be no further lamentation made for you through eternity.
“Poor aged sinners, your grey hairs are going down with sorrow to the bottomless pit. And so hard are your hearts, you have little or no concern about it. Your thoughts are fixed on a present world, where you are not to live any long time, and you have no concern that your souls are to burn for ever in hell. Poor, old, decrepit creatures, my heart bleeds for you. O that the Lord would pull you back from the brink of that fiery furnace on which you are tottering!
“And you, young men and young women, alas! in spite of your beauty, and spirit, and gaiety, if death seizes upon you while unconverted you also must be cast into the lake of fire. All the lovely qualities your Creator has bestowed upon you, if you want grace, will not save you.
“And you, too, who are yet but children, I cannot look upon you without tenderness. The thought of your damnation is intolerable; yet if you die unconverted it must be, though all the world should cry out against it. Devils and blaspheming men may dare to blame Divine justice; but justice is always just; ’tis sin, that cruel monster sin, that throws young children into hell-flames. It first transforms them into devils and makes them accursed, and then they are sent into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Woe is me that I can think of this without tears. Dear young ones, cry to Jesus Christ to save you. He is a merciful Saviour. O look to Him and say, Son of God, save my precious soul from hell. If you cannot pray, will you weep to Him? It may be He will hear you. He said, ‘Suffer little children to come to me; forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ Let me lead you to Christ. If He take you in His arms and bless you, you shall never go to hell. Lord Jesus receive them graciously. Are not these the lambs which Thou hast commanded me to feed? Behold them thou good Shepherd. I cannot bring them back. Stretch out Thy Almighty hand and do it, and there shall be joy in heaven. Amen. Lord hear their request, for Thou hast said, ‘It is not the will of thy Father that one of thy little ones should perish.’
“And if you who are their parents will not join with me in prayers and endeavours to keep these dear lambs out of hell, you are cruel, hellishly cruel. The Lord forgive you and open your eyes!
“When I look back on what I have written, ’tis poor and meaningless, on such a subject. If I should go away into some wilderness and weep till death put an end to it, it would be more suitable. Such multitudes of my own kind—my brothers and my sisters—going to hell, never to get out again! Break, break, hard heart! Do not think my words strange, you who read these lines, but weep with me if you are men and not stones. Let all the creatures of God who may have any compassion mourn for the irrecoverable ruin of such multitudes of poor mankind.
“O Thou who didst weep over Jerusalem, Thou alone canst give us comfort in this overwhelming calamity. We have none to save us but Thee. Blessings and praises be multiplied upon our glorious dear, dear Deliverer, without end!
“Heavenly Father, for Thy Son’s sake, be pleased to stir up many diligently to preach Thy kingdom when such multitudes of souls are in danger of perishing. O pour out Thy Spirit on all flesh, that our sons and daughters may prophesy. Let the days come when upon the servants and handmaids Thou wilt pour out Thy Spirit. Say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back. Bring in all Thy elect. And when that song shall be sung in Sion, ‘Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it: Shout, ye lower parts of the earth: Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel!'”
To this valuable extract I will subjoin a single hint relative to the present mission. From the nature of the work and the great distance of the field of experiment, accounts of solid success cannot reasonably be expected for a long time. Having done our utmost to begin the attempt well, let us follow it up and mature it by the faith, patience, and prayers of year to come. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” “Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain.”
JOHN LOVE.
Hoxton, London, 29th July, 1796.
FIRST ADDRESS.
INHABITANTS of this pleasant island of Otaheite, men and women, fathers, mothers, and children, we look round with gladness on your smiling countenances; we rejoice to see the sun shining sweetly upon you, and the earth covered with trees and fruits, and the sea full of fishes round about you.
We looked at you from far, very far off, in our own country. We rejoiced to hear that you were so happy, that you lived in so delicious a garden, that you enjoyed such sweet and plentiful food, that you were kind to one another, that you were kind to strangers. Our hearts loved you, we longed to see you, and to meet with you. The vast ocean rolled between you and us, the great mountains of waters rising to the skies made us afraid, and the roaring tempests and thunder of the heavens caused our hearts to quake. We said—how shall we proceed through so vast a wilderness of waters and pass some moons without seeing the solid land!
Jehovah, the great God, who made the land and the waters; Jehovah the great God, who created us and who created the people of Otaheite, said to us, “Go through the great waters to the people of Otaheite.”
He said, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; I have made the men and women of Otaheite, but they have not known Me. I raised up the land out of the midst of the waters that they might have a place of habitation. I spread abroad the ground, the shores of the ocean, and the lofty hills. I planted the trees, and the herbs, and the grass. I made the hogs, and the chickens, and the beasts of the field. I kindled my great fire in the skies to warm and enlighten these islands, and I sent the cooling breezes from the sea to refresh them. I made the men and women of Otaheite. I said, as the chickens know the person who feeds them and come round about him, so these men and women will know Me and will come round about Me; and as the chickens make a noise when their feeder brings them their food, so the men and women of Otaheite will speak to Me, and will thank me for their enjoyments. They have not done it. I put an immortal spirit in their breasts, but they have not thought of Me, they have not prayed to Me, they have not declared My goodness with singing. I am angry.” Jehovah, the great and dreadful God, said to us, “Go, tell the people of Otaheite I am angry at them because they have forsaken Me. Go, tell the people of Otaheite I desire that they may now know Me, I wish to love them, I wish to make them good, I wish to make them happy, I wish to deliver them from the fears of death, I wish to make them happy when they are dying and after they are dead.”
Inhabitants of Otaheite, Jehovah, the great God, the King of all the islands and seas, commanded us His servants to come from afar off to speak to you that you may be happy. He hath sent us to tell you the way of being happy. He hath made us happy in our own country, He hath made us happy in the broad sea, He makes us happy now while we stand in the midst of you. We fear not death. Our souls within our bodies enjoy a food sweeter than that of your trees, and we desire to give you a share of the food of our souls. Inhabitants of Otaheite, will you hear our words? Will you come and silently listen while we speak to you, and take you by the hand and show you the way of becoming truly good and joyful? Will you sit down when you go away and think of the great God Jehovah, who made these heavens and this earth? He will love you. And as the sun warms the earth and makes the birds to sing, so this great God will warm and delight your souls within you. But as the fire consumes the dried leaf that falls into it, so will Jehovah consume you if you say we will not hear His words, we will not listen to His servants, we will not suffer Him to make us happy.
(To be Continued.)
Correction.
We regret that there were some slight inaccuracies in our notice of “A Venerable Secession Lady” in last issue. Mrs. Scott died on the 10th (not 11th) December, at the age of 86 (not 87) years. Her father, John Macleod, was a relative of the late Rev. Roderick Macleod, Snizort, but the degree of relationship is not exactly known.