CONCLUSION. Such, my friends, is a very rapid glance at what God has done, and is doing, by means of our Missionaries and how many, how varied, and of what absorbing interest, are the reflections, which press themselves on the thoughtful heart! First, let us render unto Almighty God, the author and giver of every good and perfect gift, unfeigned praise and thanksgiving, that so many souls have already been delivered from the bondage of the curse, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son-that heathen superstitions and crime have already been cleansed from so many parts of God's creation; and that still brighter prospects of farther victories for the cross, are opening on every side: and let us also rejoice, that the power, which has wrought a spiritual resurrection in the Negro, the New Zealander, the Hindoo, and the North American Indian, by the instrumentality of our Missionaries, thereby declares, with an authority, which none but the careless or unbelieving will neglect, that Christ Jesus is verily and indeed present in the ordinances of our Church, and gives his sanction to the doctrines which her ministers proclaim. Secondly, the success of our Missions has laid us under an additional obligation to prosecute them with renewed vigour. It declares that our Divine Master, who has commanded his Church to preach the Gospel to every creature, approves of the particular method of Missionary exertion which our Society has pursued. Our duty therefore is plain. It also reminds us, that the number of converts under the charge of our Missionaries is already large; that the sphere of their labours is increasing day by day; and that nothing can support and carry forward the present success, but a very considerable increase in the number of our labourers, and in the means provided for their support. Success, with its irresistible smile, makes an appeal to our sympathy for the millions still "without God, and without hope in the world," and to our zeal for the glory of God, and for the extension of the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. It invites us to try and do more, individually, for the cause of Missions, and to interest other hearts in the same blessed object. And it asks us to bestow on this department of Christian exertion, the authority of a common and fixed obligation, since nothing less can secure that general and steady support which permanent success demands. Such is our duty as members of the Church of Christ; and every instinct in the bosom of Christian philanthropy, every spiritual sympathy which animates the regenerated souls of the children of God, every desire of glorifying Him "who loved us and gave Himself for us," and every motive which springs from the certainty of the eternal reward and approbation of the Infinite God and Father of us all, conspire to enforce this duty. But what shall we say of the destiny and duty of our country, with reference to the vast and widely extended branches of the Gentile family, placed under her power and influence? Why has she been entrusted with such unparallelled dominion, and at the same time, endowed with practised talent, invincible energy, and untold wealth; and what is more, enlightened with the pure doctrines of evangelical teaching, and enriched with the presence of a Church possessed of Apostolical Truth as well as of Apostolical authority? Why? that she may accomplish the work, which God has so richly endowed her with the means of executing. That she may be His handmaid to convert the Gentiles, and to establish them under the dominion of Christ-a mission to which every feature distinguishing her from other nations is loudly calling her. Why is it that England, at this the most solemn season in the history of Christendom, when other nations are moved from their foundations and are shaken with a fear of new and unheard-of calamities, permitted to remain in strength and in peace? Is it not that she may have more time given her to fulfil her glorious calling, and may do for Christ, what He has raised her up to do? And if she know not the day of her visitation,if covetousness deaden her heart, and strange delusions divide her children, and perplex her mind, so that the summer of her destiny pass, and she reap not the harvest of the world, her fall will probably be no common disaster. The powers of evil, now restrained, may be permitted to accomplish in her the common fate of the most favoured of unfaithful nations, by making her fall as dark and disastrous, as her elevation now is great and shining. THE END. J. S. Crossley, Printer, Leicester. THE THIRD VOICE FROM AMERICA; OR, SERMONS PREACHED BY THE REV. J. CAUGHEY, THE GREAT AMERICAN REVIVALIST. "Faith is the master-spring of a minister. Hell is before me, and CONTENTS: PAGE. PUBLISHED BY J. AINSWORTH, 93, PICCADILLY. SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. |