615. MAT 28:18-20. GROUNDS OF THE MISSIONARY WORK

Mat_28:18-20. Grounds of the Missionary Work

By Rev. C. D. Griffin, D. D.

"And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."’97Mat_28:18-20.

I rise to advocate the cause of missions to the heathen and to plead for a dying world. My sole object is to enforce the claims of five hundred millions of perishing men, by some plain and simple arguments which have affected my own mind: and I have chosen this text because it contains some of the arguments, and suggests the rest. Both the authority of Christ, and his personal reward, are here distinctly brought to bear on the subject. For his "obedience unto death" he received the inheritance, including "the heathen" and "the uttermost parts of the earth," Psa_2:8; and the authority to manage the whole estate. This authority he employed in sending forth missionaries to disciple all nations, and to bring to him the unnumbered millions promised for his seed. My argument, then, is founded,

I. On the authority of Christ.

The injunction in the text was not addressed to the eleven exclusively, but to them as depositaries of the Divine commands: and, through them, to the whole body of ministers in every age. This appears from the promise subjoined, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world!" Indeed, the. eleven were expressly commanded to transmit to their successors all the injunctions which they themselves received, one of which was to disciple all nations. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,’97teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." This command is now sounding in the ears of the ministers and churches of the nineteenth century.

II. The example of Christ and his apostles. The Saviour of the world sent out a band of missionaries, and charged them "to preach the gospel to every creature;’97and they went forth and preached everywhere" that man should repent, Mar_16:15, Mar_16:20. No one objection can be raised against missions, at the present day, which will not equally lie against Christ and his apostles. The attempt is no more presumptuous now, than then; the prospect is no more discouraging; the difficulties are no greater; the power that is engaged to give success is the same, for the promise remains unchanged, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." My argument is founded.

III. In what we owe to the heathen.

Is the gospel no blessing to you? And would it not be an equal blessing to them? And are we not bound to extend to others all the happiness in our power? To say that Pagans can be as happy without the gospel as with it, is to say that the gospel is no blessing to men; and then you do not believe that it came from God? If the gospel would be no blessing to the heathen, why do you preach or support it at home?

IV. The sacrifices of the missionaries themselves, and the debt of gratitude which we owe them.

To see interesting youths, with the spirits of martyrs, offering themselves to die under an Indian or an African sun; for the love of Christ, tearing themselves from parents and brothers and sisters, to see them no more; taking an eternal leave of the scenes and companions of their youth; abandoning their native shore, and their native tongue, to bear the tidings of a precious Saviour to distant nations. To see delicate young females, who have been dandled in the lap of parental tenderness, with a heroism which nothing but Christian principles could support, tearing themselves, for the last time, from the arms of trembling mothers and speechless sisters, to encounter the dangers of the seas, and the still greater dangers of a torrid clime, in order to support their husbands by their smiles and prayers in a foreign land, among darkened Pagans. This is a scene which makes selfishness blush and hang its head; which shames all the ordinary piety which is couched in ease at home, trembling at self-denials. I beseech you to follow these precious youths with your prayers, and your tenderest concern. They have gone in the service of our Father’s family’97they sacrifice all for us. Shall we not follow them, with the interest of brothers and sisters, through the groves of India, and forests of America? and when we hear of their trials, their danger, their escapes, their successes, shall we not feel as though we were receiving accounts from our near kindred? When they tell us of the triumphs of Hindoo converts; or send to our ears the young hosannahs of Syrian or Sandwich children; shall we not mingle our songs with theirs, and join in the joy, as though they were bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh? Yes, dear missionaries, we will remember you, and all the sacrifices you have made, till these hearts shall cease to beat. God Almighty go with you, and Keep you in the hollow of his hand, till we meet you in heaven.

V. Foreign missions are likely to prove the most glorious means of grace to us at home.

While you are feeling for pagan souls, and sending your sons to them, I firmly believe that your prayers and bounty will return into your own bosoms. Such confidence I have in God, for I have heard him say, "He that watereth shall be watered also himself," Pro_11:25. I believe that while you are anxious to raise heathen nations from death, you will be enabled to shake off your grave-clothes yourselves; that while you are seeking to draw forth Indian children from their sepulchres, and present them alive to their rejoicing parents, your own children will start into life by your side; that while the love of distant nations glows in our hearts, it will melt us all down into love to each other, and burn up all our jealousies and strifes. Some of these effects I seem already to discern. God grant that they may increase, until the joy of America shall respond to that of Asia, and in one burst of praise rise united to heaven. May your charities return into your own bosom, and that of your children, for days and years, and an eternity to come!

VI. All the wealth of the world was given to Christ as a recompense for redeeming our souls; and shall the ingratitude of man withhold from him his hire?

It will not always be thus. The time will come, when "Holiness unto the Lord" shall be written on all the possessions of men,’97on the very "bells of the horses;" and when "the pots in the Lord’s house," (those used for culinary purposes, in the families of the priests), "shall," in point of holiness, "be like the bowls before the altar," which received the blood of the victims until it was sprinkled; and when "every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts," Zec_14:20, Zec_14:21. The common vessels used to dress our food, instead of being regarded as instruments of luxury or display, like our Bibles and psalm-books, shall be all for God. Men will write "Holiness unto the Lord" on every shilling, and on every foot of ground. They will no longer labor to hoard, but to do good. That will be such a generation as has not yet appeared. A few scattered individuals have approached towards this character: but the mass of mankind, in every age, have held their property as their own, and not as a sacred deposit.

VII. These exertions are necessary to bring to Christ the seed and the kingdom, the victory and the triumph, promised him as hit reward.

This world belongs to Christ. No other being has a right to erect an interest on this ground. And yet, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, two-thirds of the earth remain in Pagan, or Mohammedan darkness. Ought so great a part of a world which Christ has redeemed and owns, to continue in the hands of his enemy? If the suffrages of nations were to be collected, what would a redeemed race say? To whom would they assign a world given to Christ for redeeming them? Would they assign it to his enemy, who has despoiled it of its Eden, and covered it with briers and thorns, and turned it into a great charnel-house? or, would they give it to him who came to rescue it from the hands of destroying devils, and died to save their souls? What is the vote of a redeemed race on this subject? If human instrumentality is wanted to drive the usurper from his seat, shall not a whole race rise up to the effort?

Application

1. And now, my beloved brethren, I invite you to go with me, and look for a moment over the interesting scene which is opening on earth. For many years the Christian world had been sunk in a profound slumber in regard to this duty; but for the last four-and-thirty years they have been waking up. He who has "engraven Zion on the palms of his hands," who never wants means to fulfil his promises, has sent his heavenly influence to rouse the Christian world.

2. We owe the sincerest gratitude to God for giving us our existence in such a day as this. "Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them," Luk_10:24. One spirit has seized the Christian world, to send the gospel, with a great company of its publishers, to all the nations of the earth. Missionary and Bible societies, those stupendous monuments of Christian charity, have risen so rapidly, and in so great numbers throughout Europe and America, that in contemplating them, we are "like them that dream."

3. My soul is enlarged, and stands erect as I look down the declivity of years, and see the changes which these young Davids, under God, will make in all the earth. Countless millions are shortly to awake from the darkness and sleep of a hundred ages, to hall the day which will never go down. I see the darkness rolling upon itself and passing away from a thousand lands. I see a cloudless day following, and laying itself over all the earth. I see the nations coming up from the neighborhood of the brutes, to the dignity of the sons of God,’97from the stye in which they had wallowed, to the purity of the Divine image. I see the meekness of the gospel assuaging their ferocious passions, melting down a million contending units in one, silencing the clamor of arms, and swelling into life a thousand budding charities which had died under the long winter. I hear the voice of their joy’97it swells from the valleys, and echoes from the hills. I already hear, on the eastern breeze, the songs of newborn nations. I already catch, on the western gale, the praise of a thousand islands. I ascend the Alps, and see the darkness retiring from the Papal world. I ascend the Andes, and see South America, and all the islands of the Pacific, one altar. I ascend the mountains of Thibet, and hear from the plains of China, and from the jungle and pagoda of Hindoostan, the praises of the living God. I see all Asia bowing before Him, who, eighteen centuries ago, hung in the midst of them on Calvary. I traverse oceans, and hear from every floating Bethel the songs of the redeemed.

"The dwellers in the vales, and on the rocks,

Shout to each other; and the mountain-tops

From distant mountains, catch the flying joy;

Till, nation after nation taught the strain,

Earth rolls the rapturous hosanna round."

Come that blessed day! Let my eyes once behold the sight, and then give this worthless body to the worms.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS