onwards, and ever growing as it moves, displacing or crushing every obstacle, and filling the whole earth with its presence, what does it say to our inactivity, but that we must advance along with it, or be annihilated by it? And what does it say to our fears of opposition and failure, but that we may give them all to the wind? If, for the same end, a temple rises whose courts include a worshipping world, and whose incense of praise perfumes the universe, what is the language in which it addresses us but that of David in the prospect of erecting its ancient type, " And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" If the church appear in conflict with the world, and triumphant over it, why are we allowed to look on the stirring scene but that we may catch the ardor of the Christian hero; may mark how certainly every one that is not for Christ is against him, how necessarily inactivity in his cause produces the effect, and receives the punishment, of positive hostility; may be excited to endure hardship and to aspire to the glorious deeds of good soldiers of Jesus Christ? If the splendors of a new creation burst on our view, why is it but that we may feel a pang of solicitude for the groans and travails of the old? Why, but that we may remember that we are living during the work-days of the mighty process; and that he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath issued the fiat to us, "Let your light shine before men; go into all the world and diffuse it"? Each stage of the material creation was wisely adapted to prepare the way for that which succeeded. All its unfinished parts reciprocated their influence, pointed to that which was to follow, and craved and tended to a perfect whole. Light was given to the sun to be dispensed; and he fulfilled the law of his being, and thus prepared the way for other and higher being. Had he been endowed with intelligence and responsible power, and had he, in the exercise of that power, retracted his beams and refused to shine, how enormous the guilt, how fearful the result! In the process of the new creation, the darkness has passed away, and the light of salvation has come - light in the presence of which all material splendor is eclipsed and disappears. That light has been given to us in a sense which justifies its Author in saying, "Ye are the light of the world;" and given to us with a solemn charge that we so dispense it as that the world may rejoice in its beams. To withhold our light, then, is to contract guilt of a magnitude

never to be computed. Or if, while we are asking, "What shall the end of these things be?" we are answered by the sight of numbers without number waving their victorious palms, and by the voices of all these, joined by the hosts of the unfallen, in one stupendous concert of praise, who does not hear, above this" sound of many waters," the voice which says, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." "They that be wise shall shine as the bright. ness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever."

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And is this the lofty practical purpose of prophecy? And are these our inducements to proceed in the diffusion of the gospel? Then ought they not to be felt by us at this moment with as much freshness and force as if they had opened on us now for the first time? Suppose this were literally the fact. Had prophetic visions, like those we have considered, never as yet been vouchsafed to us; had the Christian church commenced its missionary operations simply in obedience to what it supposed to be the unuttered will of God; had it assembled by its representatives to consult on the propriety of continuing those operations; had a spirit of indolence or despondency seized it, and a disposition to wait for some divine intimation before it advanced any farther; had it wrestled in prayer for such an intimation; and if, while its members were thus "with one accord in one place," there had suddenly come a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind," filling all the place; had Isaiah come and sung the glory of the latter days; had Daniel shown them the kingdom of the Messiah enlarging and absorbing all earthly power; had John recounted the scenes of Patmos; and had He who sent his angel there to interpret them, again appeared, commanding them to hasten away with his gospel into all the world, promising to be always with them, and assuring them of "floods" of spiritual influence yet to be poured out upon all flesh, whose zeal would not kindle and burn? Whose purpose would not catch a measure of divine greatness? Whose lips would not be ready to exclaim, "Here am I, send me"? As if such a vision had just transpired, let us aim to realize its inspiring motives; and every Christian will be transformed, in effect, into a prophet, "crying, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

Thus, if the first chapter explains the Scripture theory of

Christian instrumentality, the second prescribes and makes it imperative; and the third predicts and promises its triumph, in promoting the conversion of the world. If the first chapter states the plan by which all the holy influences of the past should have been collected, multiplied, and combined, the second exhibits and enforces the obligation of the present to that entire consecration which the plan supposes, and the third engages that such consecration shall certainly issue in the erection of the kingdom of Christ. And one passage of Scripture there is, which, if we mistake not, virtually includes, and practically applies, the whole. That passage we have already quoted as the divine postscript of the sacred volume. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Here are at once the plan by which every holy agency is combined and put in requisition for the recovery of man; the summons of the Lord of the church himself for every new agency as it comes into being to join in the great object for which the plan exists; and considering the position which the verse occupies as among the closing words of the Revelation - the practical application of all unfulfilled prophecy respecting that object. Taking the verse in connection with its contexts, its practical power becomes even more emphatic. "I, Jesus, have sent mine. angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star.' And as my person unites the wide extremes of divinity and humanity, my office invests me with all power in heaven and on earth, and my purposes of mercy require that angels, as well as men, should be employed in my service. Accordingly, one of them has been sent to instruct the churches in those mysteries of Providence whose accomplishment is to reach to the end of time. And, now, I myself appear, to close the prophecy, as I came to open it. Hear, then, the conclusion of the whole matter. I have opened a fountain of life for the perishing world. The Spirit and the church-God, angels, and holy men are combined, in urging the world to come And as often as a single soul is prevailed on to obey the call, he is to consider himself bound, even though he can but feebly lift up his voice, and say, 'Come,' to unite with all who are already employed in publishing my invitations of mercy; for whosoever will is welcome to partake.

Such is,

simply, my final will; such the practical application of all the predictions which my angel has now testified to the churches; and such the sum of all that Scripture testifies on the subject, and of the means by which I propose to draw all men unto me. I testify, therefore, that if any man shall alter the words of the book of this prophecy, so as to disturb the legitimate and practical application which I thus finally and authoritatively give to them, I will visit him with signal marks of my most awful displeasure."

How glorious the object which induces the Savior to address his church- the salvation of the world! How simple the method by which he proposes to accomplish it! How fearful his sacred jealousy that nothing should be said or done to impair its efficiency! How strong the certainty implied in that jealousy that his end will be finally gained! And how loud the summons of the whole to every Christian, and every Christian church, to unite and call the world to come! If all the orders of the church triumphant were permitted audibly to address the world, but were restricted to a single word, that word would be come. If all the invitations of the gospel, travailing as they do with the burden of infinite compassion, could be condensed and uttered in a single word, that word would be come. But the church of the day is the only organ through which that word can be uttered; so that, were all its duties in reference to the world to be expressed in a single term, it would be to utter the invitation, come; and if, in uttering it, all its tongues were to become vocal, and each of its members could pour into it all the passionate and holy emotion the heart of man has ever known, it would only be approaching the emphasis with which the invitation should be uttered. As if the church of the present day, then, had to retrieve the silence of all the past, and as if it had only a word in which to retrieve that silence, and a moment in which to utter that word, let it call, beseech, adjure, the world to come; and the Spirit himself would speak in its tones with an infinite energy; and then, to the sublime announcement of Christ," Behold, I come quickly," the church would be prepared to respond with joy, "Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus."

PART II.

THE CLAIMS OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE ARISING FROM THE BENEFITS WHICH HAVE ATTENDED IT.

CHAPTER I.

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

Now, if it be true that the Christian church is thus constructed expressly to imbody and diffuse the influence of the cross, and if its full efficiency for this end depends, under God, on the entireness of its consecration to this office, we may expect to find that every page of its history illustrates and corroborates this truth.

I. No law of nature can be obeyed without advantage to him who obeys it; nor be violated, without avenging itself, and vindicating its authority. The same is true of the laws of the Christian church. And, accordingly, it might easily be shown by an induction of the great facts of its history, that in every age it has flourished or declined in proportion as it has fulfilled this primary object of its constitution.

Need we repeat, for instance, that the period of its first and greatest activity was the season of its greatest prosperity? that it expanded without the aid of any of man's favorite instrumentality, learning, eloquence, wealth, or arms? that it achieved its triumphs in the face of all these? that its progress from place to place was marked by the fall of idol temples, and the substitution of Christian sanctuaries? and that God. caused it to triumph in every place? And why all this, but because the church was acting in character, and fulfilling its office, as the representative of the cross to the world?