593. MAT 13:38. THE MORAL DIGNITY OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE
Mat_13:38. The Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise
By Rev. F. Wayland, Boston.
"The field is the world."’97Mat_13:38.
To show that the Missionary cause combines within itself the elements of all that is sublime in human purpose; nay, combines them in a loftier perfection than any other enterprise which was ever linked with the destinies of man, will be our design. In prosecuting it, we shall direct your attention to the grandeur of the object; the arduousness of its execution; and the nature of the means on which we rely for success.
I. The grandeur of the object.
In the most enlarged sense of the term, "The field is the world!" Our design is radically to affect the temporal and eternal interests of the whole race of man.
1. We have surveyed this field statistically, and find that, of the eight hundred millions who inhabit our globe, but two hundred millions have any knowledge of the religion of Jesus Christ. Of these, we are willing to allow that but one half are his real disciples; and that, therefore, there are seven of the eight hundred millions to whom the gospel must be sent.
2. We have surveyed this field geographically.
We have looked upon our own continent (America), and have seen that, with the exception of a narrow strip of thinly settled country, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi, the whole of this new world lieth in wickedness. Hordes of ruthless savages roam the wilderness of the west; and men, almost as ignorant of the spirit of the gospel, are struggling for independence in the south.
We have looked over Europe, and behold there one nation putting forth her energies in the cause of evangelizing the world. We have looked for another such nation, but it is not to be found. A few others are beginning to awake: most of them, however, yet slumber.
We have looked over Africa, and have seen that upon one little portion, reclaimed from brutal idolatry by missionaries, the Sun of righteousness has shined. It is a land of Goshen, where they have light in their dwellings. Upon all the remainder of this vast continent, there broods a moral darkness, impervious as that which once veiled her own Egypt, on that prolonged and fearful night, when no man knew his brother: see Exo_10:21-23.
We have looked upon Asia, and have seen its northern nations, though under the government of a Christian prince, scarcely nominally Christian. On the west, it is spellbound by Mohammedan delusion. To the south, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Kamschatka, including also its numberless islands’97except where, here and there, a Syrian church, or a missionary station, twinkles amidst the gloom’97the whole of this immense portion of the human race is sitting in the region and shadow of death.
3. We have also made an estimate of the miseries of this world. We have seen how, in many places, the human mind, shackled by ignorance, and enfeebled by vice, has dwindled almost to the standard of a brute. Our indignation has kindled at hearing of men, immortal as ourselves, bowing down and worshipping a wandering beggar, or paying adoration to reptiles and to stones. Not only is intellect everywhere under the dominion of idolatry prostrated; beyond the boundaries of Christendom, on every side,
"the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty," Psa_74:20.
4. We have considered these beings as immortal, and candidates for an eternity of happiness or misery. And we cannot avoid the belief, that they are exposed to eternal misery. To settle the question concerning their future destiny, it would only seem necessary to ask, What would be the character of that future state, in which those principles of heart, which the whole history of the heathen develops, were suffered to operate in their unrestrained malignity?
The object of the missionary enterprise embraces every child of Adam; it is vast as the race to whom its operations are of necessity limited. It would confer upon every individual on earth, all that intellectual or moral cultivation can bestow.
II. The missionary undertaking is arduous enough to call into action the noblest energies of man.
Its arduousness is explained in one word’97"The field is the world!" Our object is to effect an entire moral revolution in the whole human race.
1. Its arduousness then results, of necessity, fro, its magnitude. This mighty revolution is to be effected not in a family, a tribe, or a nation; but in a world which "lieth in wickedness."
2. We shall frequently interfere with the more sordid interests of men; and we expect them to increase the difficulties of our undertaking. We have to assault systems, venerable for their antiquity, and interwoven with every thing that is proud in a nation’s history.
3. This enterprise requires consummate wisdom in the missionary who goes abroad, as well as in those who manage the concerns of a society at home. He who goes forth unprotected to preach Christ to despotic or badly governed nations, must be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." With undeviating firmness upon every thing essential, he must combine the most yielding facility upon all that is unimportant. Great abilities are also required in him who conducts the mission at home. The missionary undertaking calls for perseverance: a perseverance of that character, which, having once formed its purpose, never wavers from it till death. This undertaking calls for self-denial of the highest and holiest character. Hence you see, this undertaking requires courage. But, above all, the missionary undertaking requires faith, in its holiest and sublimest exercise.
III. Let us consider the means by which the moral revolution is to be effected.
It is, in a word, by the preaching of Jesus Christ, and him crucified. It is, by going forth and telling the lost children of men, that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," Joh_3:16; and by all the eloquence of such an appeal, to entreat them, for Christ’s sake, to be reconciled unto God. This is the lever by which we believe the moral universe, is to be raised; this is the instrument by which a sinful world is to be regenerated. Consider,
1. The commanding simplicity of this means, devised by Omniscience, to effect a purpose so glorious. This world is to be restored to more than it lost by the fall, by the simple annunciation of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Here we behold means apparently the weakest, employed to effect the most magnificent of purposes.
2. Contemplate the benevolence of these means. In practice, the precepts of the gospel may be summed up in the simple command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself," Mat_22:37, Mat_22:39.
3. Consider the efficacy of these means. The reasons which teach us to rely upon them with confidence, may be thus briefly stated’97
(1.) We see that all which is really terrific in the misery of man, results from the disease of his moral nature. If this can be healed, man may be restored to happiness. Now the gospel of Jesus Christ is the remedy devised by Omniscience, especially for this purpose; and, therefore, we do certainly know that it will inevitably succeed.
(2.) It is easy to be seen, that the universal obedience to the command, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself," would make this world a heaven.
(3.) The preaching of the cross of Christ is a remedy for the miseries of the fall which has been tested by the experience of eighteen hundred years; and has never, in a single instance, failed. Its efficacy has been proved by human beings of all ages, from the lisping babe, to the sinner a hundred years old. All climates have witnessed its power. From the ice-bound cliffs of Greenland, to the banks of the voluptuous Ganges, the simple story of Christ crucified, has "turned men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God," Act_26:18.
(4.) We know, from the word of the living God, that it will be successful, until this whole world has been redeemed from the effects of man’s first disobedience’97"For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea," Hab_2:14.
Application
Blessed be God, this is a work in which every one of us is permitted to do something. None so poor, none so weak, none so insignificant, but a place of action is assigned him; and the cause expects every man to do his duty. We observe, then’97
1. You may assist in it by your prayers.
2. You may assist by your personal exertions. This cause requires a vigorous, persevering, universal, and systematic effort.
3. You may assist by your pecuniary contributions.
Autor: JABEZ BURNS