Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

son of a nobleman aspire to an office that an angelic spirit would deem an honour? Why should not such become active agents in an enterprise which is to regenerate and bless our world? They aspire after military and naval glory, but here they may obtain distinctions far higher than these: here, instead of inflicting death in the acquisition of their laurels, they would scatter life, and comfort, and peace, to unborn millions. And is there more glory in spreading misery than in conveying mercy? Is it more honourable to carry the sword of war than the gospel of peace? Is it a higher dignity to bear a commission from an earthly sovereign than from the King of kings? Oh! that the minds of the noble youth of our country could be directed to this field of labour and of love, and that the soldiers of the cross were as high in the estimation of our nobility as those who bear commissions from our king. It will be a blessed day for our world, when the first nobleman's son, influenced by a spirit of piety, and constrained by the love of Christ, shall devote himself to go among the heathen, to turn them from darkness to light. But, whether such forward it or not, the work will go on; enlargement and deliverance will come, until the earth, instead of being a theatre on which men prepare themselves by crime for eternal condemnation, shall become one universal temple to the living God, in which the children of men shall learn the anthems of the blessed above, and be made meet to unite with the spirits of the redeemed, from every nation, and people, and tongue, in celebrating the jubilee of a ransomed world!"

Such is the conclusion of the "Missionary Enterprises;" a conclusion full of eternal truth, and clothed with the garment of immortality. It will be enduring

as the language of England and the history of religious missions. Christian youth! is it posssible to read the passage just cited, without emotion? How noble, generous, and philanthropic, is the spirit of it! Having returned from the field of evangelical conflict, where he had bravely fought upwards of half a lifetime, he reported the mighty works which God by his hands had done among the Gentiles, and concluded the wondrous recital with these solemn declarations and interrogatories. His weighty words are strongly entitled to the deep meditation of all classes of Christians, but especially of the sons of the aristocracy, that class to whom the martyred man more particularly directed them. To the bulk even of the good, the idea of the son of a British peer going forth as a missionary is as preposterous and as ridiculous as any that can well be imagined. But men should stop, pause, and ask themselves, Why? Is it beneath the son of a peer to report what it was not beneath the Son of God to perform? The fact which I allude to, only shows how little the public mind is yet imbued with the Spirit of God. No work is beneath the sons of our nobles, where there is the slightest chance of obtaining gold, power, or glory! Such delusions, however, will have an end. The tide of youthful vigour, which, from the higher classes of Great Britain, has for so many ages been profusely streaming into her armies and navies, and thereby diffused over the globe, for purposes of war, conquest, and the conservation of empire, shall not be thus destroyed for ever! It will one day be turned into a new channel, and spread abroad for far different and infinitely nobler objects. The unmeasured wealth and accomplished life which have hitherto been so ingloriously wasted at home, or fruitlessly, if not

destructively, for mankind and themselves, consumed in foreign climes, and which, under Christian influence, had been enough to enlighten the universal family of man, will yet be consecrated to celestial service, and in divers ways employed to diffuse knowledge and happiness among all nations.

The valedictory declarations of Mr. Williams comprise great principles, which deserve to be specified, illustrated, and enforced, till thoroughly appreciated by the public mind. They ought to be pondered by all believers, but more especially by Christian youths, and by day-school teachers. It is absolutely necessary that those principles should be clearly understood and deeply felt, inasmuch as they enter vitally into the business of the world's emancipation from sin and the establishment of the kingdom of God. These principles are accordingly the basis of this book: they will be discussed in the following pages. The great question to be raised, is the comparative claims of the missionary character, and the comparative value of a life spent in the field of missions. The discussion of this question will involve the subject of moral greatness; for I hope to establish the principle, that moral greatness is entitled to the first distinction, and that such greatness attains its highest elevation only in the missionary character. As Mr. Williams is a fit and proper representative of the missionary brotherhood, of which he formed so distinguished a member, I shall proceed, in his name, to try the question. The Martyr of Erromanga, however, is not singled out as the object of individual idolatry; but simply as furnishing, by his tragical death, a suitable occasion, and, in his once beloved person and still admired character, an appropriate subject. Whatever

may be awarded, therefore, to that great missionary, as the representative of his brethren in every clime, must, according to their respective measures of individual desert, be divided among the whole of the beloved and venerated body.

My position relative to the superiority of moral greatness to every other kind of greatness, will necessarily lead to comparison and argument; for, although, in Britain, there are, happily, not a few who yield a cordial assent to that position, yet greater, by a thousand-fold, are the multitudes who listen to it only with disgust and derision. I shall, therefore, endeavour to sift the claims of their respective views, and duly to estimate them, taking the Martyr of Erromanga as the subject of comparison and the standard of reference.

LETTER II.

TO THE TEACHERS OF SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.

ON THE SUCCESS OF MISSIONARY EFFORTS TO SUBVERT IDOLATRY, AND TO INTRODUCE THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE GOD.

HONOURED labourers in the Lord's vineyard! next to the teachers of day-schools, you possess the power of promoting the cause of missions. The moral training of the most important portion of the rising race, is largely in your hands. The youthful heart, unhardened and unpreoccupied, is subjected to your influence; and, while you pour into it the lessons of gospel knowledge, with that knowledge you may daily blend the subject of Christian missions. You may show, that the claims of the heathen are, in another view, the claims of Christ, and that his glory and kingdom are inseparably bound up with their conversion and salvation. You may realize the honour and felicity of rearing a generation of missionary supporters and advocates, such as the world has not yet seen. You may deeply engrave upon the youthful breast the doctrine, that, next to the duty of personally receiving the truth, is the duty of dif fusing it. In furtherance of this great work, it is in

« НазадПродовжити »