Page images
PDF
EPUB

Christendom: the world has been far remote from Christendom; and

in connection with the Church, and yet has continued unpersuaded, that Christ is in the midst of the Church; little or no virtue has gone out from her to convince and heal the world. Thus it has been with Christendom and the heathen nations: the heathen have seen the sons of Christendom on all their shores; but they are unpersuaded that christianity is of God, because no holy influence has been imparted by her professed children.

And now I proceed to observe, that the Church Missionary Society has come forward to roll away in her measure, and according to her ability, this reproach which has rested on our religion in heathen lands; and to vindicate christianity from the obloquy, which the ungodly lives of those called christians have cast upon it. It has been the aim and endeavour of this Society, to collect a portion of the real salt to be found in our land, and scatter it over the surface of heathen nations-a grain here and a grain there; and this, it must be confessed, is all that has hitherto been attempted, and we have been able to accomplish-a grain here and a grain there—one christian teacher to about a million souls! And yet according to the faith and labor of the Church has been her blessing: the salt has wrought wonderfully, considering the very small quantity which has been applied, and the resistance which has been opposed to it. Many souls have been savingly converted from among the heathen; and a light and an influence have gone forth, preparing the way for the future dispensations of God to the utmost ends of the earth. The Society is helping to accomplish the number of God's elect in the lands

The

y Acts iv, 12.

by her means Christ is completing the temple for God, and preparing his bride for himself.

What an argument is here for us to labour in this cause! " Ye are the salt of the earth." salt of the earth." Brethren remember, that the earth has no other salt-no other means of preservation. Ye are not only the salt of your own land, but the salt of all lands where no salt is: they look to you to preserve them from the ruin of the fall, to communicate to them a portion of your grace, to share with them your Christ, and the Spirit you have of him. If you keep your knowledge of the blessed Saviour to yourselves, locking him up in your own bosoms, and sharing him not; then they die for lack of this knowledge--they infallibly die;

[ocr errors]

for according to your own confession, there is salvation in no other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby they might be saved."y If we refuse to break our bread to them they starve. And shall we let them die, if the means be in our hands of saving them? Shall the heathen be left by us to remain as heathen, and Satan be permitted unmolested to usurp the sovereignty over them, when Christ has given his blood to buy them, and has moreover charged his disciples Go into all the world and preach this Gospel to every creature?"z Ye are the salt of the earth”—yea of the whole earth: and if the earth be preserved for the sake of the Church, it is the bounden duty of the Church to exert herself to preserve the earth;-to give all men to see the power, the excellency, the suitability of Christ and his salvation salvation;-to carry the Gospel into every land, to sound it in every ear, to proclaim it (if God will) in every

z Mark xvi, 15.

[blocks in formation]

This is the duty of the Church ;— this is what the Lord has called her to, viz. to be a sweet savour of Christ in every place ;-this is what charity demands at her hands. Then let us exert ourselves to this end: and in order that we may be able to arise to the occasion and accomplish this high calling, let us earnestly strive with the Lord to win a blessing from him for ourselves—a larger measure of the gifts and grace of his Holy Spirit; that the Church, and each member of it, may be replenished, and become indeed "the temple of the Holy Ghost."

O God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and shew us the light of thy countenance, and be merciful unto us; that so thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving ' health unto all nations. Let the Let the people praise thee, O God, yea, let all the people praise thee. For be it remembered, the only hope of the earth resides in this, that the Church will not lose her power with God-the mighty presence and indwelling of Christ by his Spirit. "For if the salt shall lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" And wherewith shall the earth be salted? If it lose its savour, the earth is abandoned to perdition; and if it lose its grace, the Church itself is ruined:

[ocr errors]

it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden ' under foot of men."

These words are awfully prophetic! Should the visible Church so deteriorate, as to cease to be a witness for God;—should she suffer infidelity to grow up beside her, and the overspreading of abominations;

should she exhibit so feeble, so

[ocr errors]

imperfect, so lifeless an image of the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ, as to cease to convince the minds of men, and bring their consciences under Christ's authority: then the world will either perish, or be delivered over to other hands to be saved-even to God's ancient Israel. (Romans ii, 15.) Then the visible Church will be regarded most surely as having lost her savour, and as a certain consequence may look for judgement,-such judgement as the refuse salt must look for,-viz. for,-viz." to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men. It now remains to be proved in this crisis of Christendom, whether the profession of the day is such as shall enable the Church to save Christendom; or whether she herself shall not be cast out, and trodden under foot of God and men; -cast out as a thing of no value, having lost its savour, and failed in the end for which it was created. The issue of a momentous trial is at hand for our country—(of the Continent of Europe we have, alas, but too little to hope!) viz. whether our religion shall save England, or whether our beloved country shall perish through lack of salt--through the scanty measure of real religion in her children. This is the question which is about to be decided.

This subject is touched in a masterly manner in a sermon, which has lately been delivered elsewhere; and as I never saw the matter so impressively and powerfully set forth, I shall conclude my appeal to you in behalf of the Missionary cause in the solemn words of the writer to whom I allude. Having described the critical posture of the visible Church at this present juncture, the preacher proceeds to say :—

The present period is not less a crisis to the country than to the

'Church. We have arrived at that very juncture which has been fatal ' to all preceding nations; and the evils which accomplished their ruin are powerfully at work with us. 'We have risen as a people by the

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

severer virtues from weakness and poverty to honor, wealth and dominion; but a lengthened course of prosperity has sensibly impaired those virtues by which we rose, and on which we stand. Where now is that high-souled patriotism which is the parent of noble deeds? 'Where now those sweet domestic charities, which were the strength and beauty of our peasantry? Where now those bonds of union between the three estates of the realm, which made our people as a 'threefold cord not to be broken? • Have not infidelity and vice gone as a leprosy over the land: and though Britain still sits as a queen among the nations, and flatters herself that she shall never be moved, have not strange sights and sounds filled her heart with trem

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

bling, and intimated to her the pos

sibility of a fall, profound in proportion to her unexampled elevation ?"

But England, our country, must not fall! Yet who shall save her now? Not the might of the mightiest—not the wisdom of the wisest. If our land is to be saved, where others have without exception perished, it must obviously be by a redeeming power which they never knew. That single power is religion, realized in a deep and heavenly piety. Great as is our danger, the evils by which

[ocr errors]

we suffer are not various, but one.

Sin is the ruin of any people ;' and if we are ruined, our ruin will come by sin. But religion is the antagonist of sin in all its forms; and it is by religion alone-true, vital, vigorous-that the land can

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

be restored and saved. Piety shall ' restore conscience to the nation; and by placing the mind of the people in sympathy with God and eternity, shall give an efficacy to human law, which is the weakest of weak things when left to contend with the turbulent passions alone. Piety shall strengthen what is feeble, ennoble what is mean, purify what is unholy, and bind up what is broken. Piety shall 'teach us to enjoy power without oppression, honor without pride, and wealth without idolatry and voluptuousness. Our land would be twice blessed;-great and happy in herself; and in herself would be bound up the life and blessedness of many nations.”

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

<

Brethren, one of the grandest experiments ever tried is now to be 'tried on Britain! It is to be shewn, that the decline and fall of empires is not determined by any law of nature, nor by any foredooming ' voice of prophecy, but by a law of our depravity; and it is to be ascertained, whether, when nothing else can save a nation, religion may not work out its redemption. It is with us, as the disciples of religion, that 'the responsibility of this experi ́ment rests. Range yourselves then in harmony with the high appoint'ments of Providence. Go forth, go forth,as renovated men, with prayer, labor and humiliation; and stay the pestilence of vice, and apply the healing remedies of divine wisdom to a heart-stricken people. If the country is to be saved, the Church 'must save her! And if the Church does not seek to save her, by an an earnest and strenuous piety, she 'must fall! And let her fall! Yesif truth and virtue are not to be the 'means of saving her, let her fall!

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

But while the Church and our country are to supply us with the 'instruments of labor, the field in 'which they are to be employed is as extensive as the world; and the whole world is now placed in the most affecting circumstances. Never, since the calculations of time began,

C

[ocr errors]

<

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

has the posture of things been so remarkable. And while there is

'so much to remark, let it be observed, that the grand peculiarity is this: that as men previously have been tempted to forsake the true religion, for the seducing blandishments of the false; so now, for the first time, they are rejecting every corrupt religion with indignation and scorn. Polytheism and Pantheism have had their day: Mohammedanism and Popery have had also their day; and their carnal glories, their very existence is fading away. Infidelity, their own offspring, and the Beast of the Revelations, is devouring them like grass. But infidelity is not vivacious; it feeds on the corrup

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

tion by which it is generated, and when the sources of its nourish

'ment are consumed, it expires.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Terrible as it is, it is notwithstanding the minister of religion. It leaves man without hope in error, in life and in death, that he

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

but at the same time it is preparing a way for the servants of God to 'plant it 'as the garden of the Lord."" "Never was there a moment more auspicious to our exertions than the present; and never was it of so great importance to offer to the world the true religion in its vital and heavenly qualities. The mere ' forms of religion, however protes'tant or scriptural, would now partake of the same fate as awaits every false creed: it must be religion itself, (addressing the conscience as the eternal truth, and satisfying the yearnings of the ́ heart as the supreme good,) which is presented to the common attention. To do less than this would be to labour in vain, and to leave

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

The hand of Providence is obviously stretched out to improve the present state of the human mind. Men are not only to try, and condemn every false religion as vanity; they are to be aroused and alarmed, that they may seriously inquire for that which is true. Change, unexampled change, has gone abroad, troubling the I spirits of the nations. Men's hearts fail them for fear; and kings have been made to drink of astonishment. Dynasties which were born in the infancy of time, have been cast to the ground and 'trodden in the dust. Thrones, 'coronets, and sceptres-all the types of political and social existence are scattered at our feet, and the earth is still trembling and heaving beneath us. More fear

[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

may be shut up by inward miseryful events are yet at hand.

'to the faith of the Gospel. It

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

The false prophet, with his armed hosts, falls. Paganism, with her ' innumerable gods, falls. Man is • bereft of all on earth; he is confounded in feeling himself ruined by spiritual powers he had never recognized, and cannot resist; and ' he stands alone, trembling before God and eternity, in helplessness • and despair."

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Brethren, the crisis of the world is come! Are we prepared for it? Can we resign all the interests of an earthly life, and identify ourselves with the will of God and

spiritual excellence? Can we

stand in the whirlwind, talk with the thunder, and look calmly on heaven when God looks forth with indignation on a guilty world? a guilty world? Are we prepared with severe joy and holy confidence to unite in the song of Moses and the Lamb, when the plagues of heaven shall 'fall on the wicked, and the earth shall be filled with wailing and blasphemy? Are we prepared to sympathize with man, wrecked of his hopes and in his last extre

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

mity; and to go forth to his salva

tion, unmoved by the convulsions of a world and the terrible manifestations of infinite wrath ?"

Brethren, there is still, amidst all these changes and anticipations, one sentiment which consumes us. • Itisnotalarm lest we should witness 'what is most terrible to behold;-it

is not hope, that we may be per'mitted to see those mighty move'ments of Providence, which how

ever terrific, fill the imagination 'with images of sublime glory: it is fear, a silent solemn fear, lest, while anticipating these events,

[ocr errors]

we should not be truly ready to meet and to improve them. Never were men placed in so extraordinary a situation. All past ages

• have accumulated on us their advantages; and all past ages have accumulated on us an unprecedented responsibility. On us the ends of time and of the world are come; and in our day the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of mercy are seeking their close in 'forms of joy and of terror, such as earth has not seen, and such as 'heaven looks down to see. Hi'therto we have not been ready for

[ocr errors]

this service! Are we now ready? 'Oh! to be ready, is to embrace a crisis for blessing man and honouring the Saviour such as the ages of immortality may never again supply; while not to be ready, is to fall under the deathless infamy of having failed to pledge ourselves to an issue, on which is suspended the interests—not of the body, but of the soul;—not of a people, but of a world;-not of time, but of eternity. Prepare, O Israel, to meet thy God.'

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Yes, God, even our God, is coming! The day of vengeance and the day of redemption are contemporaneous. When all na

[ocr errors]

tions are shaken as with an earthquake, it is that the Desire of all nations may come.' Even now, ' while the powers of darkness are working, the foundations of his • universal kingdom are begun. The voice of prophecy, the finger ' of Providence, the wickedness of the wicked, and the strange expectation in the heart of all men, tell us that he is coming. Already 'the streaming glory of his approach ' has shot across the deep darkness of our world. Already the thun'der of his wheels is echoing over

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

the distant fields of light. Yes! 'He, the holy One, whose voice is

« PreviousContinue »