The Founder of the church was a missionary.
The church is a missionary band, professedly
aiming to carry out the design of its Founder, in the
wide field of the WORLD. The commission to the
apostles is the commission to Christ’s ministers
in every age. This commission, it is to be feared,
is losing much of its force from misinterpretation.
That a construction somewhat incorrect
is placed by some ministers on the commission which
they hold, seems to be evident; for how otherwise
should an impression obtain, that there is something
peculiar about the office of the missionary that
his commission is quite different from that of other
ministers of Christ.
Let the commission of both the minister
at home and missionary abroad be exhibited and read.
The terms, word for word, are the same. It is
unhappy, extremely so, that a peculiarity is
thrown about the word missionary, since the
New Testament authorizes no such distinction.
Both ministers at home and those abroad claim to be
successors of the apostles or first missionaries,
whose letter of instructions, short but explicit,
reads thus: “Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to every creature.” This
is the commission of every ambassador, and no one,
at home or abroad, can consistently hold his office
any longer than he continues to act in accordance
with its import.
The Saviour is all-wise, and knew
precisely what commission to give. He carefully
chose every word in which it is expressed. The
apostles showed by their conduct how they understood
it that they knew what was meant by “all
the world” and “every creature.”
Now, I ask, how can such a construction be placed
on these obvious phrases, as to make it consistent
for about eleven thousand eight hundred ministers out
of twelve thousand to stay in the United States, and
about the same proportion in Great Britain? The
apostles showed by their conduct what they understood
by the word “Go.” By what reasoning,
I ask, has it been made to mean, in fifty-nine cases
out of sixty, send, contribute, and educate
young men? If an inhabitant of another planet
should visit this earth, and see ministers clustered
together in a few favored spots, could you make him
believe that they hold in their hands the commission
first delivered to the apostles?
Would it be thought dutiful, in military
officers, to treat the orders of their commander-in-chief
as we do the command of our Master; or in mercantile
agents, to interpret thus loosely the instructions
of their employers? The perversion, however,
has become so familiar to us, that we are insensible
of it; and the fact may be numbered among other wonders
of a like kind, which the experience of a few past
years has exhibited. A few years since, good
men were in the use of intoxicating drinks without
dreaming it a sin; and so now we may be shaping our
course very wide from the command of our Saviour, and
yet think not of the guilt we incur.
The misconstruction has become so
universal, and so firmly established the
true and obvious interpretation buried so deep in the
rubbish of things gone by that all books
written on ministerial duty, which I have seen, take
it for granted that the persons addressed, for the
most part at least, are to preach and labor among a
people who have long had the Gospel. And may
I not inquire and I would do it with due
deference and respect Do not lectures on
pastoral theology in the schools of the prophets take
it too much for granted, that the hearers are to labor
in Christian lands? Is not the business of going
into all the world, and preaching the Gospel to every
creature, regarded, practically at least, as an exception,
for which there need be no provision in books or lectures?
If Paul were to write or lecture on pastoral theology,
would he not give more prominence to the duties that
might devolve upon his students in foreign lands?
Would he not, indeed, make the work of missions stand
forth as the work, and not as an exception
or a peculiarity?
Few men, in these last days, can quiet
their consciences, and yet live in entire neglect
of the heathen. Almost all professed Christians
feel that they must have some interest in the great
enterprise. To begin to act just as the last
command of Christ requires, in its plain literal import,
as the apostles understood it, would be a hard and
self-denying service. What then shall they do?
Will they operate by proxy? This is the
charming suggestion, by which often conscience is lulled
to sleep and the heathen are left to perish.
It is true that many, and perhaps
most, must aid in the work by proxy by
training up others, by sending them forth, by encouraging
them, and by furnishing the necessary means. But
the error is, that all, with the exception of perhaps
one minister out of sixty, and one layman out of three
thousand, are inclined so to act. It is wonderful
with what electrical rapidity the soothing suggestion
has spread abroad. It is so insidious and speciously
good, that it has found its way, like an angel of
light, to the best hearts and holiest places.
Indeed, it is a point very difficult to be determined;
and many judge no doubt with perfect correctness,
when they decide to act in this way. The danger
consists in the eager rush and universal resort.
To be sensible that there is such a rush, begin and
enumerate. Directors and officers of various
societies and they are not few of
theological seminaries too, and of colleges, think
they are employed in furnishing the requisite men,
the requisite means, and the requisite instrumentalities,
and so are preaching to the heathen by proxy.
Among ministers, the talented and eloquent, the learned
and the influential, think they must labor in the
important field at home; keep the churches in a state
to operate upon the world, and so preach to the heathen
by proxy. Ministers generally, about eleven thousand
eight hundred out of twelve thousand, are zealous
for training up young men, and think in that way of
preaching to the heathen by proxy. Pious men
of wealth, and those who are in circumstances to acquire
wealth, or imagine that they have a talent to acquire
it, profess to be accumulating the necessary means,
and to be thus preaching to the heathen by proxy.
Sabbath-school teachers, fathers and mothers, are
fond of the notion of raising up children to be missionaries,
and of thus preaching by proxy. Proxy is the universal
resort. Now some proxy effort, and much
indeed, is proper and indispensable; but must it not
strike every mind, that such a universal and indiscriminate
resort to it is utterly unreasonable?
How often do we hear the exhortation,
“Let mothers consecrate their children to the
missionary work in their earliest infancy. Let
them be taught, as they grow up, that to labor among
the heathen is the most glorious work on earth.
Let teachers in Sabbath-schools impart such instructions,
and ministers in their pulpits. Let ministers
and elders search out young men, urge them to engage
in the work of missions, and let the churches educate
them for that end, and pray for them that their zeal
fail not. Let no pains be spared and no efforts
be wanting, to raise up and send forth a large body
of young men to labor for the heathen.”
Now in regard to such an effort, every
reflecting mind can see that it must be insufficient,
if not hopeless. To succeed thus, as I have already
said, precept must become more powerful than example.
Commit the work of converting the world to your children,
and they will commit it to your grandchildren.
Try instruction in the nursery, try instruction in
the Sabbath-school, try instruction from the pulpit:
it will fall powerless as a ray of moonlight on a
lake of ice, while contradicted by the example
of mothers, of Sabbath-school teachers, and of ministers.
Urge young men into the missionary field without going
yourselves? A general might as well urge his
army over the Alps without leading them. Consecrate
them to the work? Would it not be an unholy consecration a
consecration at the hands of those who were not themselves
consecrated? The command does not say, send,
but “Go.” Let us then go, and urge
others to come. We shall find this mode
of persuasion the most effectual.
Let us commit to proxy that work which
is pleasant and easy, and betake ourselves in person
to those kinds of labor that are more self-denying,
and to those posts that are likely to be deserted.
This is the only principle of action that will secure
success in any enterprise within the range of human
efforts. Suppose the opposite principle is acted
upon that every one seeks for himself the
most easy and pleasant work, and the most delightful
and honorable station, and leaves for others the most
obscure, the most self-denying, and the most perilous.
Discover such a spirit in any enterprise, secular
or religious, and it requires not the gift of prophecy
to predict a failure. Practical and business
men understand full well the truth and force of this
remark. The true method is this: if there
is a work that is likely to be neglected on account
of its obscurity or self-denial, let every one, first
of all, see that that service is attended to.
And if there is a post likely to be left deserted
on account of its hardships or its perils, let every
one be sure, first of all, that that post is
occupied. Let there be an emulation among all
to do the drudgery of the service, and to man the
Thermopylae of danger. Then you shall read in
the vigor and nerve of the action the certainty of
success.
In this way Bonaparte conquered Europe.
If a portion of his army was likely to fall back,
there the general pressed forward in person, inspiring
courage and firmness. If all others shrunk from
the deadly breach, thither he rushed, at once, with
the flower of his army.
This principle of action is not more
indispensable in the conquests of war, than in the
great enterprise of the world’s conversion.
And how truly glorious, how sublime by contrast, to
exhibit this principle of action, not in destroying
mankind, but in laboring for their salvation!
Let all Christians be filled with this spirit, let
every redeemed sinner adopt in practice this rule
of action, to do the most self-denying, the most
difficult and perilous work in person, and to commit
the easiest to proxy, then there would be a sight
of moral sublimity that earth has not seen all
the elements in action that are needed, under God,
to usher in the millenial day.
O, if to angels were committed the
instrumentality of the world’s conversion, where
would Gabriel speed his way if not to the post of
peril, and to the post of self-denying and toilsome
drudgery? I mistake his character much, if he
would not betake himself at once to the most arduous
service. O, how he would delight to come down
and labor with the lowest being on New Holland or
New Guinea, and be the instrument of raising him up
to the throne of Jesus! But to angels is not committed
the stewardship of propagating that precious Gospel,
which God has ordained for the world’s renovation.
The infinite treasure is placed in our hands, the
immense responsibility is thrown upon us. O, let
us prove ourselves worthy of such a trust, and not
become traitorous to the cause, by falling into the
general spirit of operating by proxy.
But, in truth, how far do we act on
the principle named, that of performing in person
the most arduous service, and of leaving the most
pleasant work for others? Look over the desolate
and secluded parts of the United States; look over
the heathen world, and make out an answer. Let
facts speak. Is a residence in Arkansas preferred
to a residence in New-York, or a voyage to New Guinea
before one to Europe?
Our blessed Saviour and his apostles
did not feel inclined to shrink from the more self-denying
service, and to shift it upon others. If they
had felt so, then we should have continued in a state
of darkness, and have known full well the import of
present wretchedness and eternal woe.
Let us suppose, for a moment, that
the apostles had made the discovery of obeying by
proxy the Saviour’s last command. But I
hesitate to make such a supposition, lest the force
of such an immense contrast should make it to be regarded
as a caricature upon the operations of the present
age. In other words, our efforts to convert the
world become so clumsy, slow and inefficient, from
a lack of the right spirit and enough of it, in ministers
and in the churches, that to impute the same kind
and degree of effort to the apostles and primitive
Christians, might excite a smile, rather than a sigh;
and be deemed an attempt to ridicule what is at present
done, rather than an earnest, serious, and solemn
expostulation. Such a result I should deplore.
But if my readers will believe me to be aiming simply,
with weeping eyes and an aching heart, to illustrate
with force my own defects and their short-comings
in duty, by detecting and tracing out a wrong principle
of action, I will venture cautiously to make the supposition.
The words of the last command have
fallen from the lips of the ascended Saviour, and
the apostles assemble to deliberate how they shall
carry them into execution. In the first place,
Peter delivers an address. It is an able and
thrilling discourse. He seems impatient to wing
his way to foreign lands. After the discourse,
they form themselves into a society. Arrangements
being made, and the machinery being complete, they
send forth John to solicit funds. He finds the
disciples willing to contribute on an average, after
much urging, about twenty-four cents each. A
pittance of money is obtained, and then they search
for a man. They thought Peter would be ready
to go, from the speech he delivered, but he wishes
to be excused: he has a family to support.
They then fall upon various plans: some think
of training up young men to go forth, and others exhort
parents to infuse a missionary spirit into their children.
At length, however, it is found that one of the twelve
begins to feel that he has a call to go but
this would be at the rate of one thousand from the
twelve thousand ministers in the United States.
This one man is sent forth to “go into all the
world, and to preach the Gospel to every creature.”
The rest of the apostles sustain the various offices
of the society, and have charge of important posts
in Jerusalem, and in the cities and villages round
about. They meet yearly, to deliberate upon the
missionary enterprise. Some feel much, and humbly
pray, and some say eloquent things about the glorious
cause, and tell how they have found a fulcrum, where
to place the lever of Archimides to elevate the world.
Now I ask most solemnly, and in a
spirit of grief and humiliation, how such a course
of conduct would have appeared in the apostles?
Would it have evinced a spirit of obedience?
Believe me, in early times, a readiness to obey supplied
a great deal of machinery. Bring back into the
ministers of the present day the spirit of the apostles,
and into the churches the spirit of the early disciples,
and operations at once would be more simple and more
efficient. A backwardness in duty a
disposition, if we do anything for the heathen, to
do it by proxy, this is it that makes the wheels
so ponderous and encumbered. “The letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” Give
us the spirit, and annihilate the notion of operating
so much by proxy, and we shall soon see a multitude
of angels flying in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting Gospel to preach to the nations.
There is no cheap or easy way of
converting the world. It is to be feared
that some fall into the contrary notion, because they
do not wish to believe that all they possess
is needed in the work of the Lord, and that there
is absolute necessity that they themselves go to the
heathen. It is to be feared, that it is for this
reason that so many are ready to imagine that the
work is to be done by a few men, and a small amount
of means. It would seem they expect to form lines
of these few men, and encircle the globe in various
directions; to place them on prominent points, like
light-houses, and leave each with his single lamp
to dispel the darkness of a wide circumference.
They seem to imagine that nations can be elevated
from a degradation many ages deep, and thoroughly
transformed, religiously, morally, mentally and socially,
by the influence of a few missionaries, scattered
here and there on some high eminences of the
earth: that a single missionary, under a withering
atmosphere, is to be preacher, physician, teacher,
lawyer, mechanic, and everything that is necessary
in raising a whole community from the inconceivable
degradation of heathenism, up to the elevation of an
industrious, intelligent, and Christian people.
Neither are the expectations formed
by many, of mission seminaries, less visionary.
A school, with two or three teachers, limited accommodations
and small funds, with all its school-books to make,
and the whole literature to form, is expected to accomplish
all the work of the academy, college, and theological
seminary, and speedily to transform untutored savages
into able preachers of the Gospel.
And it is expected, by not a few,
of the wife of the missionary though living
under a burning sun, in a house of poor accommodations,
with unfaithful domestics, or none at all; that notwithstanding,
she will not only attend to the arduous duties of
the household and educate her own children, but teach
a school among the people, and superintend the female
portion of the congregation a task which
a minister’s wife in a Christian land, and under
a bracing air, does not often attempt.
Now, would it be really a benefit
to the church thus to flatter her indolence and her
avarice, and convert the heathen with a fraction of
wealth and a handful of men? Be assured, God loves
the church too well thus to pamper a luxurious and
self-indulgent spirit: he will allow no cheap
and easy way of accomplishing the work. The object
is worth more: worthy not only of the combined
wealth of Christendom, but worthy also of the energies,
the toil, and the blood if necessary, of the greatest
and holiest men. It will not be in consistence
with God’s usual providence that a victory so
noble should be achieved, till the treasures of the
church shall be literally emptied in the contest, and
the precious blood of thousands and tens of thousands
of her ablest and best men poured out on the field.
The work has already cost the blood of God’s
only Son; and the prosecution and finishing of it shall
be through toil, self-denial, entire devotement, and
obedience even unto death.
Some rules that may be of use in
agitating the question of becoming missionaries.
1. Guard against an excuse-making
spirit. This is an age of excuses. There
is no need of seeking for them; they are already at
hand, and of every variety, size and shape. They
are kept ready for every occasion. If one will
not suit, another may be tried. Be admonished
then, that a disposition to be excused is not much
different from a disposition to disobey.
2. Guard against antinomianism
on the subject of missions. There is a great
tendency in these days to say and do not.
The thrill of the missionary theme, like an exhilarating
gas, is pleasant to many; but the sober and humble
business of engaging in the work is not so welcome.
A disposition to say much and do little is a feature
of the most alarming kind. It shows an obtuseness
of conscience.
3. Remember that Divine direction
is better than human wisdom. We are very much
inclined to argue the question, “Where can I
do the most good?” Be assured we can do the
most good by obeying the Saviour: by carrying
out the spirit of his last command. Let us keep
close to that command: it is safer than
to determine by our own dark and biased reasoning,
and by our very limited foresight, where we can be
the most useful.
4. The nearer you live to Jesus,
the more hope will there be of your coming to a right
decision. There is a process of conviction and
conversion before a man becomes a missionary a
serious conflict. Nothing but nearness to the
Saviour will prepare a man to pass through such a
conflict, and keep safely on the side of truth and
duty.
5. If, after examining thoroughly
and prayerfully the question of becoming a missionary,
the mind waver between conflicting reasons, it will
be safest to lean to the side of the greatest self-denial.
6. In selecting the place of
the greatest usefulness in the wide field of the world,
the best rule is, to fly to the post most likely to
be deserted.
7. A kindred principle is, to
do in person the more difficult and unpleasant work,
and to commit the more easy and delightful to proxy.
8. Remember the time is short.
A few days more, and we shall meet our Saviour in
the presence of a world of souls.
9. Keep in mind the conduct of
our blessed Saviour, and be imbued with his spirit.
Feel as he felt, and do as he did, when he beheld us
in misery and in sin.