Preached at Tain on 27th August, 1800.*
THE design of the prophet, from the beginning of the chapter to the verse I have read, is to describe the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom; the advantages of His government; the character of His faithful subjects, contrasted with that of His opponents. As to the nature of His kingdom, he says, “Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” The Messiah is termed, by way of eminence, the righteous One; not merely because He is righteous in Himself, but because He invests the subjects of His government with His own righteousness. Hence Jeremiah says concerning Him, “This is the name by which he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness” (Jer. xxiii. 6). And the reason of giving Him that name the Apostle illustrates: “God made him to be sin for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. v. 21). All who have an interest in Him, He hath made “kings to God and his Father” (Rev. i. 6; v. 10), enabling them, by His grace, to reign over their irregular passions here, as an earnest of their being honoured to sit with Him on His throne hereafter. And when any of His faithful followers are entrusted with an office, having authority over others, they discharge the duties of that office conscientiously, knowing that “He who ruleth among men must be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord.”
* This Sermon was preached before the Northern Missionary Society of 1800, at their first meeting, and as now republished, forms an appropriate sequel to the interesting articles on this valuable Society, recently appearing in our columns from the pen of the Rev. J. R. Mackay, M.A., Inverness. Dr. Fraser of Kirkhill was well-known as an eminent servant of Christ.—ED.
The advantages of the Messiah’s government the prophet next describes: “And a man shall be an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” It were too much to expect all these advantages from a mere man. But the prophet had previously shewed, that the Messiah, though a child born, should be the mighty God (Isaiah ix. 6); that His name, expressive of His nature, should be Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah vii. 14). It was by assuming the nature of man, that He was qualified to bear the sins of men, and so prove an all-sufficient Saviour to His people. His people in the present state, like travellers in the sandy desert, are exposed to several dangers, which would extinguish their life, did they not find in Him preservation. As travellers in the desert were sometimes overtaken by the hot wind, which suddenly suffocated them, unless they found a place to hide them from its influence; so the followers of the Messiah in this world are overtaken by temptations, which would suddenly extinguish the spiritual life, if they did not find in Him resources and protection. He deals with each of them, as formerly with Peter, when he said, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have thee, that he might sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke xxii. 31, 32). He fulfils to them that promise, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (2 Cor. x. 13). As travellers in the desert were exposed to a whirlwind, which raised huge masses of sand, turned them violently round, then, letting them fall, overwhelmed them with destruction; so the followers of the Messiah are “by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. ii. 3). They are originally under the sentence and the awe of eternal destruction. But they find in the Messiah a covert from the tempest. For “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans viii. 1). They can say with confidence, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died” (Romans viii. 34). As travellers in the desert were subject to thirst, which, if not allayed, ended in death; so the followers of the Messiah are in this world subject to infirmities, proceeding from the depravity of their nature, which would end in spiritual death, did they not receive from Him, “in whom it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell,” supplies of grace, which, like rivers of water in a dry place, afford them perpetual preservation and refreshment. As travellers in the desert were exposed to excessive heat, so that sometimes their life was extinguished by a sudden stroke of the sun, and at other times their strength was gradually exhausted, and they fainted by the way; so the followers of the Messiah, in the present state, are exposed to calamities, which are apt suddenly to overwhelm them, or gradually to wear out their strength and patience. But, as the shadow of a great rock afforded the traveller a cool and safe protection from the heat; so the Messiah, by the views which He gives them of His providence, and by the consolations of His blessed Spirit, renews the strength, and confirms the patience of His people, until they depart in safety from the weary land in which they now sojourn.
The prophet proceeds to delineate the character of the Messiah’s subjects. “And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim; and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.” It would appear from this description, that they are naturally wretched, like the blind, the deaf, the rash, the stammerers. But by submitting to the Messiah they are made happy, in consequence of a thorough change produced on them. Though formerly ignorant and unconscious of spiritual objects, as persons born blind are of light and colours, now they see with conviction the evil of sin, the vanity of the world, the glory of the Saviour, the certainty of a world to come, the reality of eternal rewards and irrevocable punishments. In a word, all the objects of the spiritual world present themselves with conviction to their understandings; just as the objects of the natural world rush on the eyes of a person who was born blind, when his sight is restored. Though formerly incapable of distinguishing the voice of God, as the deaf are unable to hear sounds, yet now they hear the voice of the Redeemer in His word, and they can distinguish it from that of a stranger. Yea, they comply with His call. When they hear Him say, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew xi. 28), their souls answer in sincerity, “Behold we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God” (Jer. iii. 22). “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John vi. 68). Though formerly they rashly made choice of this world as their portion, through ignorance of a better, they are now enabled deliberately to make choice of God in Christ as their portion, saying, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth whom I desire besides Thee.” Though formerly unqualified to celebrate the Redeemer’s praises, or to talk to others with propriety of His conduct towards them, now, in consequence of the views they have received, and the choice they have made, their tongues are eloquent in His praise.
The knowledge bestowed on the subjects of the Messiah’s kingdom, as it leads them to rectify what is amiss in themselves, so it enables them to detect what is wrong in others. They do not mistake specious vice for virtue. The men of the world estimate a person by the outward advantages and natural endowments which he possesses, such as birth, fortune, affability; who, on account of his irreligious sentiments and immoral conduct, is notwithstanding entitled to no esteem. The men of the world reckon persons bountiful, who squander their wealth with a profuse hand, while they are in reality churls, because their apparent bountifulness proceeds from selfish motives, a desire to gratify their inordinate desires, or to flatter their personal vanity. But with the people of the Messiah, “the vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor shall the churl be said to be bountiful.”
In regard the advantages of the Messiah’s government are so many, and the change produced by it on the sentiments and manners of mankind so great, some would be ready to conclude that He and His government would experience no opposition from the world; to guard against a misapprehension of this nature, the prophet proceeds to state the certainty of an opposition to the Messiah, together with the character of His opponents: “For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and He will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.” I apprehend, that the prophet has more immediately in His view, the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews, at the period in which our Saviour appeared in the world. Every part of this description is applicable to them, as we learn from the account given of them in the New Testament. They were vile persons, that is, according to the Scripture idiom, irreligious persons, in rejecting the Messiah; they spake villainy, in avowing openly, that they did reject Him; their heart wrought iniquity, by contriving schemes to tarnish His character, and to compass His death; they practised hypocrisy, by pretending a great respect for the ordinances of religion; they uttered error against the Lord, by blaspheming Him who is Jehovah. And after His ascension, they endeavoured to deprive His people of the provision made for their spiritual wants, by prohibiting the Apostles to teach the doctrine of the resurrection, or to preach in the name of Jesus: thus endeavouring to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. Again, these men are properly called churls, because they opposed the Messiah, from a principle of covetousness. This appears from the high-priest’s counsel to the sanhedrim, “If we let him alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come, and take away both our place and nation” (John xi. 48). They could not deny His miracles, and were even convinced that they were evidences of a divine mission; but they stifled their conviction, and resolved to cut Him off, for fear of the temporal losses they might sustain, if the nation should believe on Him.
As the principle on which they were to reject the Messiah is laid before us, so likewise the means by which they would oppose Him and His followers are accurately described. “The instruments also of the churl are evil. He deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words even when the needy speaketh right.” And these means are of two kinds—secret calumnies and open prosecutions: the first is termed “lying words,” the last “pronouncing judgment;” for so the expression may be literally translated from the original. And, that both these means were used by the rulers of the Jews against Christ and His followers, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles clearly shew. The character here given of the first adversaries of the Messiah and His followers is exceedingly applicable to persons, in every period of the Church, who had a form of godliness, while they were strangers to the power of it. Influenced by covetousness, actuated by malignity, clothed with hypocrisy, they have persecuted such as had the genuine spirit of Christianity; sometimes tarnishing their character by secret calumnies; at other times stripping them of their privileges by open persecutions.
In regard the opposition to the Messiah was to be so violent, according to the prophet’s representation, some might imagine that His kingdom would never be established in the world; to remove that misapprehension the prophet observes, “But the liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall He stand.” By the “liberal” the prophet means the faithful followers of the Messiah as a collective body. They are liberal because self-love is removed, and the love of God is implanted in their hearts as the predominant principle. This enlarges the heart and opens the hands. By “liberal things” he understands the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world. “The liberal deviseth liberal things;” that is, they that are taught by the Messiah contrive to give a knowledge of the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it, and in consequence of the knowledge communicated by the Gospel the kingdom of the Messiah shall be established. “By liberal things He shall stand.”
The words thus understood appear to me suitable to the design of our meeting when we are about to form a society for sending the Gospel to the heathen and other unenlightened nations.
I propose in farther discoursing—
First.—To illustrate this proposition, that the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel is the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world.
Secondly.—To point out the obligations laid on those who view it in that light to send the knowledge of it to such as are ignorant of it.
Thirdly.—To endeavour to remove some of the objections that may occur to a candid mind against sending missionaries to the heathen and other unenlightened nations.
First.—That the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel is the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world, we may infer—
1. From the Contriver of it.
It is not the contrivance of men or of angels, but of God. Concerning it, the prophet says, “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? Who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge and shewed him the way of understanding?” (Isaiah xi. 13, 14). Certainly no other being directed Him. Put the case then, that a legislator, endowed with the wisdom of Solomon, possessing like Him “largeness of heart, as the sand that is by the sea shore,” should apply His mind to the contrivance of a scheme for promoting the happiness of His fellow-men—would you not expect a liberal scheme? But surely that scheme must be infinitely more liberal, which is the contrivance of unerring wisdom, set to work by boundless love, for the purpose of manifesting infinite mercy. Accordingly, superior beings, who are better qualified than we are to judge of the schemes and works of God, are anxious to pry into the scheme of redemption: “Angels desire to look into these things” (1 Peter i. 12). Those morning stars, when they beheld the world arise from nothing, and saw innumerable beings called into existence, to partake of their Maker’s boundless liberality, celebrated His glory in a hymn of praise. But when they turned their attention to the scheme of redemption, and beheld myriads of beings raised from the greatest misery to life and immortality, by means so stupendous, struck with astonishment, they mused His praise in solemn silence. Hence the cherubims under the law were represented upon the ark with bended heads and outstretched wings as if lost in amazement, while they beheld the mercy-seat which typified the Saviour. And, indeed, the more carefully they examine the scheme of redemption, the more clearly they discern the wisdom which contrived it; for “now unto principalities and powers, is made known the manifold wisdom of God, through the church” (Eph. iii. 10).
2. The liberality of the scheme of redemption is obvious from the Administrator of it.
In order to make a well-contrived scheme, productive of the advantages for which it is calculated, much depends on the person by whom it is administered. Such a person ought to have a right to administer: He should be possessed of wisdom, to direct Him; of power, to carry the plans of His wisdom into execution; of mercy and compassion, to interest Him in those for whose relief the scheme is contrived. Now, all these qualifications unite, in the highest degree, in our Lord and Saviour. He has a right to administer, in consequence of the Father’s appointment, who says, “It is a light thing, that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (Isaiah xlix. 6). And He hath also a right to administer, in regard He hath fulfilled, by His obedience, the condition on which the blessings of the scheme were to be dispensed. So the prophet intimates, “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed ; therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death” (Isaiah liii. 10, 12). The wisdom of this Administrator is infinite. “In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. ii. 3). And His power is irresistible, for He is the “Almighty” (Rev. i. 8). They who believe in Him know with certainty that He is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God for their salvation.” He is infinitely merciful as God ; and as man He is possessed of a distinguished sensibility of heart. This sensibility was excited by every miserable object which occurred in the days of His flesh. And as His heart was powerfully affected, so His hand was readily extended for their relief. At one time, He saw the people “as sheep having no shepherd, and he was moved with compassion toward them, and he began to teach them many things” (Matthew vi. 34). At another time, when the people were long fasting in a desert place, and in danger of fainting by the way, He had compassion on them, and wrought a miracle to procure them food (Matthew xv. 32). When He saw the sisters of Lazarus deeply affected with grief for the death of their brother, He entered into their feelings. “Jesus groaned in spirit, and was troubled ;” yea, He mingled His tears with theirs, “Jesus wept” (John xi. 33. 35). Nor was the sensibility of His heart excited by the distress of His friends alone, but by that of His enemies likewise. When He looked on Jerusalem, a little before His death, and reflected on the unbelief of its inhabitants, and the impending judgments of God, He wept over it, saying, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes” (Luke xix. 41, 42). Again, this sensibility of heart was increased and confirmed by a personal acquaintance with those distresses, to which any of the human race are liable. He not only felt hunger and thirst, weariness and pain ; but He experienced poverty and contempt, desertion of friends, and the persecution of enemies. He was attacked by the temptations of Satan, and tasted of the wrath of God. In a word, He was made subject to all the miseries of life, and to all the agonies of death, “being tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews iv. 15) ; and in that “he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews ii. 18). We may therefore conclude that the blessings of the scheme of redemption shall be liberally dispensed, seeing they are at the disposal of so wise, so powerful, so compassionate an Administrator.
3. The superior liberality of the scheme of redemption appears from the condition of those who are the objects of it.
Genuine liberality consists in making the miserable happy ; now, the objects of the scheme of redemption are the miserable. So our Saviour intimates : “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ; because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind ; to set at liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke xiv. 18, 19). Here He informs us that the persons to whom He dispenses the blessings of the scheme of redemption are—the poor, the broken in heart, the captives, the blind, the bruised, those that were commonly relieved in the jubilee year, as insolvent debtors, slaves, persons who had forfeited their inheritance. If that is allowed to be a liberal scheme which proposes relief to persons labouring under these temporal calamities, how much greater is the liberality of the scheme which offers deliverance from spiritual miseries that are of infinitely greater magnitude ? But the objects of the scheme of redemption are, those who are poor, because deprived of God’s favour ; those who are broken in heart, because under a sentence of condemnation by His righteous law ; those who are led captives by Satan at His will ; those who are blind, because ignorant of their misery and their remedy ; those who are bruised by means of the depravity of their own nature ; those who are insolvent debtors, because chargeable with the guilt of sin ; those who are slaves to their own lusts ; those who have forfeited every claim of right to the inheritance of eternal life. If that scheme is allowed to be liberal which offers relief to persons labouring under one of the calamities mentioned, that scheme must be acknowledged to be yet more liberal which offers deliverance to persons labouring under all these calamities. But such is the scheme of redemption. Every individual object of it is subject to all these spiritual miseries. So our Saviour intimates, in the case of Laodicea, “ Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ” (Rev. iii. 17). That scheme, therefore, which holds out deliverance from such an accumulated load of miseries, must be superior in liberality. If the scheme is allowed to be liberal, which offers relief from distress, in one manner, notwithstanding other methods might be found equally conducive to the same end, it will be acknowledged that the scheme has superior liberality, which offers the only possible way of deliverance from miseries that are otherwise irremediable. But such is the scheme of redemption. In it Christ is revealed as the only Redeemer ; He is offered as the only Saviour from sin, and all the miseries consequent upon it. For “ there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we can be saved ” (Acts iv. 12). Did we range from pole to pole, could we search the extensive universe, we would find no remedy for the miseries brought upon us by sin, but in Him alone. There is no wealth to the poor, but in His unsearchable riches ; no liberty to the captive, but in His triumph over the host of darkness ; no healing to the wounded conscience, but by the application of His blood ; no sight to the blind, but through the influences of His Spirit; no comfort to the mourner, but by communion through Him with the God of all consolation; no discharge of the debt of sin, but in consequence of His payment as surety; no freedom to the slave, except the Son shall make him free; no right to the eternal inheritance, but in consequence of His purchase. If the scheme is allowed to be liberal, which offers its advantages to a few only, that scheme must be allowed to be yet more liberal, which offers its advantages to a great many; but in this respect likewise, the scheme of redemption is of all others the most liberal, because the benefits of it are offered to all mankind. The blessings of it are not confined to one nation or to one age; they are equally interesting to all nations and to all generations. The Administrator of it proclaims, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isaiah xlv. 22). “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters” (Isaiah lv. 1). “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. xxii. 17). He commanded those whom He commissioned to publish the glad tidings of salvation, to “teach all nations,” to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” The high and the low, the rich and the poor, the master and the servant, the despot and the slave, the civilized and the barbarous, are equally offered the blessings of redemption, and shall partake of them alike, unless they are excluded by rejecting them; for as to an interest in these, there is no difference of “Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. iii. 11).
4. The superior liberality of the scheme of redemption is evident from the effects of it.
The most liberal schemes of human invention effect only an alteration of the miseries which they cannot remove, but the scheme of redemption effectually removes misery. The name of Howard will live in the annals of history, and be celebrated for liberality; because he devoted his time and talents to alleviate the miseries of prisoners, whom he could not set at liberty. But the scheme of redemption is able to “bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house” (Isaiah xlii. 7). Liberality has contrived asylums for the blind, in which they are taught to work, and enjoy society, thus alleviating the evil which it cannot remedy; but the scheme of redemption bestows the recovery of their sight on the blind. Various plans have been contrived by liberality, which may dry up the tears of the disconsolate, but cannot heal the broken heart: but the scheme of redemption “binds up the broken in heart” (Isaiah lxi. 1); “turns weeping into joy, and mourning to dancing;” enables men “to put off their sackcloth, and girdeth them with gladness” (Psalms xxv. 11). The greatest advantage of the best scheme contrived by human liberality is, to bestow a temporary relief—to confer a transient happiness; but the advantage of the scheme of redemption is, that it confers eternal happiness. What avails it, that liberality sets the prisoner free, and restores him to the society of his family and friends? In a little time death follows, arrests him again, separates him for ever from those who are dear to him, and confines him in the prison of the grave. What avails it, that liberality restores the insolvent debtor to the possession of his inheritance? The inexorable messenger of God’s law ejects him afresh; for, in defiance of every effort of human liberality, “it remaineth but a little, when they that rejoice shall be as though they rejoiced not, because the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. vii. 30, 31). But O how superior is the liberality of the scheme of redemption! By it this unrelenting tyrant is vanquished, his captives are admitted to perfect liberty, and are invested with eternal happiness. The gladness communicated by the light of God’s countenance here, is to them an earnest of that fulness of joy, which they shall receive in His more immediate presence hereafter. The drops of consolation which they taste now, are foretastes of the draughts they shall drink out of the rivers of pleasure, that are at God’s right hand, and flow for ever.
We may therefore conclude that the scheme of redemption published by the Gospel, on account of the Contriver, the Administrator, the Objects, and the Effects of it, is the most liberal plan for promoting the happiness of mankind ever made known to the world.
II.—I shall endeavour now to point out the obligations, laid on those who view it in this light, to send the knowledge of it to such as are ignorant of it.
1. That this is a duty incumbent on all ministers of the Gospel, is evident from our Saviour’s express command, “Go ye, and teach all nations” (Matthew xxviii. 19, 20).
Perhaps it will be said that the command is addressed, to the Apostles whose commission extended over all the earth, but not to the ordinary teachers of Christianity whose ministry is confined to a particular district. To remove the objection, consider the motive by which the command is enforced, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Did not our Saviour know that the Apostles would not remain on earth to the end of the world? Surely. But He knew that some persons would exercise the office of teachers in every period until He should come again, and He encourages all those teachers to perform the duties of their office by the promise of His gracious presence to direct and support them. Now, the command to teach all nations must be addressed to the same persons to whom the motive is applicable; consequently to all ministers of the Gospel at present as well as to those who preceded them, and shall follow after them in the same office. To suppose the command addressed to persons of one age, and the motive applicable to those of another, in fact destroys the whole force of the argument. Still it may be objected, that ordinary ministers are commanded “to take heed to the ministry each hath received” (Col. iv. 17); “to feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers” (Acts xx. 28); consequently, not to teach all nations. Doubtless it is incumbent on every pastor to discharge the duties he owes to his particular flock; but so far as attention to them is consistent with the general command of teaching all nations, that command is obligatory on every faithful minister of Christ.
2. It is a duty incumbent on all true Christians to send the knowledge of the Gospel to the unenlightened nations of the world, as appears from our Saviour’s direction, “When ye pray, say, Thy kingdom come” (Matthew vi. 11).
The direction is given, without controversy, to all true Christians. All are enjoined to pray for the coming of the kingdom of God: Now we must pray, according to the Apostle’s injunction, “with understanding” (1 Cor. xiv. 15); consequently, we must offer up the petition in that sense in which our Saviour understood it. And the sense in which He understood it is obvious from the prophecies concerning it. These intimate that the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the Messiah which is the same, shall extend over all nations. “Ask of me (saith the Father), and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalms ii. 8). “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth; yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. Men shall be blessed in him, all nations shall call him blessed” (Psalms lxxi. 8, 11, 17). We are therefore bound to pray that the kingdom of Christ may extend over all nations. Again, we must pray with integrity; and integrity requires that we use every lawful mean in our power for attaining the object of the petition we offer. But the great mean which God hath appointed for extending the kingdom of Christ is the preaching of the Gospel. “How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans x. 14) We are bound, therefore, to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. And, indeed, if we neglect to use means, our negligence will evince that our prayers are not sincere. Put the case, that a person offers up that petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Suppose, at the same time, he folds up his hands in his bosom, and will not occupy himself in any lawful employment to earn a subsistence; fancying, however, that he is abundantly devout, and that God will grant His request without any exertion on His part to attain it: would not every rational Christian tell such a man, If you pray for your daily bread, work for it; expect an answer to your petition by the blessing of God on your honest industry; if you look for it otherwise, you are under the influence of a spirit of delusion. In like manner, I say to all Christians, if ye pray for the coming of the kingdom of God, use the means in your power for extending it. Give the aid of your counsels and of your money to send missionaries to the heathen, then, otherwise, your prayers are not sincere. You are under the influence of the spirit of error rather than the Spirit of truth.
3. The love of Christ should induce Christians to send the knowledge of the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it.
A sense of the obligations they are laid under, by His love to them, must lead them to devote themselves to His service. So the Apostle argues: “The love of Christ constraineth us; for we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that we who live, should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but to him who died for us” (2 Cor. v. 14). Now, if the love of Christ constrains Christians to devote their whole lives to His service, it must constrain them to dedicate a part of their time, and of their substance, to advance His kingdom in the world.
4. Sending the Gospel to the unenlightened nations promotes the glory of God.
Now, Christians are commanded to “do all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. x. 31). Any measure which is obviously conducive to that end, they are bound to adopt. But God Himself expressly declares, that sending the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it, is for His glory. When He promises the Messiah as a light to the Gentiles, He declares His reason to be, “I am the Lord, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven images” (Isaiah xlii. 8). While, therefore, there is a nation on earth practising idolatry, it is incumbent on Christians to send the light of the Gospel to every such nation, that they may not bestow on any other the glory due to the Deity alone. Again, God promises, “I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul and Lud that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles” (Isaiah lxvi. 19). Blessed God! doest Thou esteem it Thy glory, that missionaries should make known Thy fame to those nations that are yet strangers to Thee, and shall we not endeavour, with heart and hand, in a reliance on Thy promised aid, to perform that service?
5. Love to their fellow creatures should induce Christians to send the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it.
We are assured, on the highest authority, that the second great commandment of the law is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew xxii. 39). This command is enforced and rendered more binding on Christians by the love of Christ to them. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you” (John xiii. 34). By the force of these combined principles, the primitive Christians parted with all their substance for the benefit of others, and were contented to take their own share in common with them (Acts ii. 44, 45). Ought not the same principles to induce you to give a pittance of your substance for the purpose of bestowing on others the greatest of all benefits—the means of eternal salvation. It is universally allowed that love to our fellow creatures lays us under obligations, in many instances, to bestow our substance for their benefit. But a little attention must convince us, that in no instance is that love so conspicuously manifested, as when we can contribute to send the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it. If you had a remedy for restoring sight to the blind, would you not reckon yourself obliged, by the love of your neighbour, to communicate and apply it to persons labouring under that great calamity? But how much greater is the calamity of spiritual blindness! and how much more important is the Gospel, which offers the only effectual relief! Did you see your fellow creature detained in bondage by his enemies, would you not reckon it incumbent on you, to contribute for his ransom so as to procure him liberty? But the unenlightened nations are held in a more grievous bondage by the enemy of their salvation. They are under the influence of strong prejudices and violent passions, inconsistent both with their temporal and eternal happiness. Reflect seriously on the dark places of the earth which are full of the habitations of cruelty. Besides the slavery, and the sale of the human race, which are a reproach to countries professedly Christians, the murder of innocent children is there established by custom; human sacrifices are performed as acts of devotion; and cannibals devour one another to gratify their revenge.* Does not love to your neighbour imperiously command you to send those unhappy beings the Gospel to emancipate them from the slavery of Satan, and to bring them into the liberty of the children of God? Are ye not, as Christians, bound in charity to deal your bread to the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to give lodging to the stranger? But how much greater is that charity in itself, how much more beneficial in its effects, which provides the bread of life for them who are ready to perish; which gives drink to the thirsty from the wells of salvation; which clothes the naked with the Redeemer’s righteousness; and which brings those who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God! (Eph. ii. 12, 19)
* See the accounts published by the London Missionary Society of Otaheite and the Marquesas.
6. Christians are bound in justice to send the Gospel to the heathen.
Our fathers were heathens, and we, their posterity, had continued to be so had not Christians sent the Gospel to our land. Now that we are Christians, it is incumbent on us to return the obligation received, by sending the Gospel to those who are heathens; at any rate to give of our substance for that important end. The argument of the Apostle concerning the contribution sent by the people of Achaia to the poor saints at Jerusalem will apply here: “It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duties is also to minister unto them in carnal things” (Romans xv. 27).
7. Self-interest should induce Christians to send the Gospel to the heathen, that they may obtain the accomplishment of that promise, “The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs xi. 25).
A concern for the salvation of the heathen may excite in us a more serious concern for our own salvation, and so may occasion a revival of real religion in our land. If we are anxious to communicate light to them that sit in darkness, we have reason to expect an increased measure of Gospel light to ourselves; for we are assured that, in the latter days, together with an extensive diffusion, there shall be a superior degree of knowledge of divine things. “The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days” (Isaiah xxx. 26). “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah xi. 9). If we are desirous to extend the consolations of religion to those who are strangers to them, we have reason to hope that our own souls shall partake of them more abundantly. If we are willing to reach the bread of life to those who are ready to perish, we may be assured that the bountiful Father of the family will increase the provision of His household to all His children, and that “we shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house” (Psalms xxxvi. 8). Christian brethren, when we solicit your prayers, your counsels, your pecuniary aid, for sending the Gospel to the heathen, “we desire not merely a gift to them, but we desire fruit that may abound to your account” (Philip. iv. 7).
III.—I proceed now to remove some of the objections that may occur to a candid mind against sending missionaries to the heathen and other unenlightened nations.
There are some who object to the measure of sending missionaries to the heathen who are not candid in the objections they offer. The real cause of their opposition is that they are strangers to the power of the Gospel and therefore ignorant of its real value, and so, calculating like commercial men from their own views, they reckon it a worthless commodity unfit for exportation. As to such, let us pray that they may experience the power of the Gospel and know its inestimable value to their own souls, for then we are sure that their objections against sending it to the heathen will vanish.
There are some who oppose the measure from a direct and deliberate enmity to the Gospel. They feel it a restraint on their irregular passions, and they would wish to extinguish it at home. They are outrageous at the thought of sending it abroad to restrain the liberty of those who live as free as nature dictates. Let us not be surprised at the opposition of such men. As there have always been, so there are still vile persons who speak villainy; who in heart work iniquity and utter error against the Lord. But as no human reasonings can rectify their errors, let us fervently pray that the Spirit of truth may lead them into all truth, and may effectually teach them their obligation to defend and promote the measure which they now so deliberately persecute.
But it must be allowed that there are others who have experienced the power of the Gospel, and who know its value ; who, instead of feeling enmity against it, are really desirous of its success ; and who, notwithstanding, are averse to the measure of sending missionaries to the heathen. Their first and great objection arises from the improbability of success. It will readily occur to them that the Society has no funds and no qualified missionaries. Could they find the missionaries, they have not the language of the nations to whom they are sent. Even if they had their language, the ignorance and savage rudeness of those nations, together with the passions, prejudices, and peculiar customs flowing from the savage character, form insurmountable barriers against every attempt of our Society to communicate to them a knowledge of the refined truths of the Gospel. In answer to this objection let me caution you, my Christian brethren, against indulging the disposition of the slothful man who creates difficulties and dangers in his own imagination, saying, “There is a lion in the way, a lion is in the streets” (Proverbs xxix. 13). Let me remind you, that to teach the nations is God’s command ; to undertake the work is our duty ; to render it effectual, He hath promised His presence. Are there difficulties which Almighty power cannot remove ? Is there any work which His presence cannot accomplish ? If the duty and the promise are clear, let us make the attempt, leaving the success in His hand who hath circumstances and events at His disposal. But on the supposition that our endeavours shall not convert the heathen, they may, notwithstanding, introduce some degree of civilization among them, and a knowledge of the general truths of religion as preparative to their future conversion. Though we may not turn the forest into a fruitful field, yet we may grub out briers and thorns and sow those seeds which in due time shall bring forth fruit abundantly. As the day of small privileges is not to be despised, so neither is the day of small attempts to be neglected. It is certain that the writings of Wickliff secretly operated on the minds of men for a century and a half, and at the end of that period had their influence, together with other causes, in bringing about the glorious Reformation. Though God in His mysterious providence should see it meet to deny any good to the heathen from our scheme of sending them missionaries, I doubt not that He will approve the design in us just as He approved David’s intention of building the temple, though He did not permit him to perform the work, saying, “Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well, that it was in thine heart” (1 Kings viii. 18). Whatever, therefore, may be the success of our scheme, the end we propose is liberal, the temporal loss we can sustain by the attempt is trifling, and gain to our souls is certain by procuring the approbation of our God.
2. Another objection will perhaps occur to a candid mind against the measure of sending missionaries to the heathen at present.
It is that the time for the conversion of the heathen is not yet come, and that any attempts on our part are improper before the period which God hath appointed for it. In answer to this objection let me caution you to beware of incurring the reproof which God gives by the prophet Haggai to persons who offered a similar objection against building the temple. These people said, “The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” But God said by the prophet, “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” (Haggai i. 2, 4) intimating that if they were equally desirous to build the house of God as they were to build houses for accommodating themselves or for gratifying their vanity, they would not reckon it unseasonable to begin the work. Again, however distant the period may be in which the kingdom of Christ shall be fully established in the world, in regard there shall be a gradual progress by the ordinary means towards that establishment; it is high time to begin to use the means by sending the Gospel to the unenlightened nations. As the tenderness of the branches and the swelling of the bud in trees indicate the approach of summer, so there are circumstances in our time which indicate that the establishment of Christ’s kingdom is near, and that the period is come in which Christians ought to use means for the advancement of it.
First.—There is in our times an ardent desire to penetrate into unknown countries from which results a knowledge of the several unenlightened nations of the earth superior to what was attained in former times, while the increase of commerce and of skill in navigation facilitates the intercourse betwixt us and them.
This knowledge is designed by the sovereign Ruler to prepare the way for the heralds of the Gospel in the latter days; hence it is given as a sign of the near approach of the Messiah’s kingdom, “Many (says Daniel), shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Daniel xii. 4). If, therefore, we see the sign and know its meaning, we should join issue with the designs of Providence by sending missionaries to the unenlightened nations.
Secondly.—There is in our days a spirit of association for generous purposes beyond what appeared in former times.
Innumerable are the societies formed within this island for the purposes of bestowing on their fellow creatures an alleviation of, or a deliverance from the various calamities incident to human life. If a person forms a scheme which is apparently generous and practicable, he will immediately find many who will cheerfully give their aid to carry it into execution. Is not this a loud call to all who know the superior liberality of the scheme of redemption, who know it to be the only and the effectual remedy of all the miseries brought into the world by sin? Is it not to such persons, I say, a loud call to associate together for the purpose of sending the knowledge of this remedy to those who stand most in need of it?
Thirdly.—In our times societies have been already formed for the express purpose of sending missionaries to the heathen, not only in various parts of our island, but likewise in Holland, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, in several parts of America, and at the Cape of Good Hope.
Are you not, as Christians, under equal obligations with them to advance the Redeemer’s kingdom and to promote the interests of your fellow-men? You are, in many respects, under greater obligations at present. Some of the countries mentioned above are ravaged by the sword, others are desolated by the pestilence, and in others, enormous exactions deprive the inhabitants of their wealth and substance as an overflowing flood sweeps away the fruits of the earth; whereas you hear the din of war at a distance and the pestilence cometh not nigh your dwelling, while your persons and property are effectually secured by a just and mild government. You ought, therefore, as persons not only made liberal by the grace of God in common with other Christians, but likewise as persons dealt with liberally by His providence beyond your fellow Christians,—you ought, I say, to devise liberal things by sending the Gospel to those who are ignorant of it.