less and godless be a condition of misery; and if the most fearful threatenings of the offended Majesty of heaven be a just ground of terror, then is the whole idolatrous world in a state of the most crying and appalling want; for such are their guilt, and wretchedness, and danger, that hell may be Isaid to have come to them on this side death. Does he regard the missionary object as impracticable? We can show him that the difficulties are vanishing while he is speaking of them. We can call for the trophies of divine success— and they come from the four quarters of the earth. Impracticable! What, when hundreds of missionaries are actually in the field; thousands, tens, hundreds of thousands of heathens converted and collected into Christian societies, and of their children receiving Christian instruction! No good done! Spirits of the blessed, who have ascended from the missionary churches to join the ranks of the redeemed out of all nations and kindreds, and who are now before the throne, is your salvation nothing? Nothing to yourselves, as you glance from the depths you have escaped to the heights you have attained! Nothing to the society you have joined! Nothing to Him, the light of whose countenance is at this moment falling on you, and making your heaven! The objection is turned into a rebuke that we should have been detained by it so long. In a word, whatever his pleas may be, unless he can show that the great command of Christ to preach the gospel to every creature a command frequently repeated, and variously enforced in Scripture as the law of the Christian church has been modified or repealed, we confidently bring down its annihilating weight on all his objections, and challenge him, as one included in the principle which it contains, that all who possess the gospel are bound to cooperate to the extent of their ability in giving it to the world.

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PART V.

THE WANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN RELATION TO THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE, OR, THE NECESSITY OF EMINENT PIETY AND ENTIRE CONSECRATION IN ORDER TO ENLARGED SUCCESS.

THE WANTS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN RELATION TO

MISSIONS.

THE prosecution of our prescribed course has brought us to a very important part of our subject. If, as we have shown in the First Part, the church is constructed expressly to imbody and diffuse the influence of the cross throughout the world; if the Second Part proves that, as far as the church has answered this end in the modern missionary enterprise, its success has been fully proportioned to its efforts; if the Third Part has shown that encouragements from every quarter urge and animate us to advance in our missionary career; and if the Fourth Part assures us that every objection to our course becomes, when rightly considered, an argument to redouble our efforts, an unreflecting reader might be ready to conclude that nothing remains for us but mutual congratulations and unalloyed satisfaction.

The enlightened Christian, however, need not be reminded that as, in his own experience, a sense of joy in God, and of dissatisfaction with himself, often meet together in the same moment, so the hour in which the church may have the greatest reason to rejoice through God in its relative usefulness, may be the hour in which the dust of self-abasement may most become it on account of its own defective instrumentality. He will remember that, however "the manifold wisdom of God" may have been displayed in organizing his church for usefulness, but few of its members as yet may

have perceived that adaptation, and fewer still have combined to exemplify it in practice. He will remember that, while the church now, as compared with what it has been, may be doing much, yet, compared with what it should be, it may be doing nothing; that its fitness for one office by no means implies a fitness for every order of duty; and that its very improvement may be made in a manner which may justly incur rebuke. He is aware that much collective activity may exist where there is but very little individual zeal; that, owing to the blessing of God on that activity, opportunities of usefulness may increase more rapidly than our readiness to seize and improve them; and that, in this manner, success itself may become a snare and a burden. And remembering all this, the effect of the preceding survey will be that so far from hastily surrendering himself to the pleasing but hazardous conclusion that all is well, he will feel that now has arrived the time for humble, searching, anxious self-examination; that to detect an evil now, may be the means of saving us from undue elation at present, and from much mortification in the future; and that to point out the great want of the church now, may be to bring to it present prosperity, and to hasten by ages the glory of God in the salvation of the world.

But how is this examination of the church to be conducted; or, where is to be found the test of its fitness for converting the world? This can only be found in its original constitution. Now, on looking back to our exposition of Christian instrumentality, it will be seen that, according to that constitution, the individual Christian, the particular church, the entire Christian community, the whole, penetrated and actuated by the Holy Spirit, is intended relatively to act in harmony with the cross for the good of the world. Every addition made to it is meant to be an additional agent for carrying out the purposes of the cross. Every element at work in it- whether it arises from numbers and combination, from eminent piety, self-denial, and zeal, or from prayer, and the influence of the Holy Spirit uniting with the whole is an element for drawing men to Christ.

But if the full efficiency of the church for this end depends, under God, on the entireness of its consecration to this office, it will follow that the slightest diversion of its in fluence from this object is so much given to the very power which it was called into existence expressly to counteract,

and that this is, in effect, the secret of its long decline and fall.

But, then, it follows also that if, at length, in that depressed state, the church should awake to a sense of its responsibility as a missionary agent for the world's recovery to Christ - if, then, it should withhold any proportion of its influence, in that very proportion it would stand disqualified for answering its great original design. In this position the church now stands; and here, we repeat, is the test of its fitness, at present, for its missionary office. To bring it to this test, indeed, has been the duty of every age. But never so much so as now, when, after the slumber of centuries, it is meditating the renovation of the world.

Now, on calling upon the Christian church to muster for this review, is it not ominous at the outset, that we know not who will appear? In answer to the name of Christian, indeed, about two hundred millions present themselves. But the great majority of these Christianity disowns. She knows them not. Many of them are among the chosen of Satan. The heathen around them are the worse for their vicinity. They must be dismissed by millions to the ranks of the foe. And thus, like Gideon's army, the number is reduced by a single sweep to a comparative few. And here goes, at first, the influence of numbers.

But perhaps it may be said, that large portions of Christendom make no pretensions to the missionary spirit, and ought not, therefore, to be subjected to the examination. Without stopping to contest the point, and in order to be definite, let us suppose that, after all such portions have been dismissed, those who remain before us consist of the various denominations professing evangelical Christianity. Let us indulge the hope that as they are so reduced in number, and as each equally professes to live for the salvation of the world, they have at least learnt the unspeakable value of union. United! Union! What does it mean? When did it exist? Is it not a fiction of the fancy? If there be such a thing, the church practically disowns it. Whatever sympathetic connection may here and there exist among individual Christians, the church, as a church, disowns it. See how these Christians hate! In their visible and public capacity, they scorn to approach each other. They expend more strength in struggling with each other than in encountering the world. The world looks on amused. Infidelity claps her hands And thus is lost the influence of union.

But though it be thus divided as a whole, let us hope to find that the members of each particular church are alive and devoted as one man to its missionary design. Let us take one church as a specimen of all. Here are a thousand souls, we will suppose, assembled for Christian worship. As the service proceeds, the time for commemorating the great doctrine of the cross arrives. The majority arise and quit the place, thus practically disavowing all belief in the doctrine, or all interest in it; and leaving it to be inferred that, for aught they care, the world may forget, if it will, that Christianity has a cross, or that Christ died on it for our redemption.

But still we will suppose a large minority remains. Do we, however, flatter ourselves that we shall find general cooperation and devotedness here? We only evince our ignorant simplicity. True, they have just pledged themselves anew at the table of the Lord to the cause of the world s salvation; but let us wait a while, and we shall soon see how little that means—nothing incompatible with the most unmoved worldly self-indulgence. We expected to see them all equally interested in the object; but let us wait a while, and we shall see that the task of keeping them thus partially awake devolves entirely on two or three. We might have expected to see these, at least, nobly devote to Christ a portion of the time which the world devotes entirely to the pursuits of gain; but no; religion must wait till the world has been fully satisfied; and then, if a few of the jaded moments of evening are of service, they are spared.

Agents of mercy are wanted for distant lands; and we might have expected to see them start forth from the ranks of the rich and the poor alike; or, rather, we might have looked to see those who would require the least delay for educational preparation and support, offer themselves first. Might we so? What, when the act would involve the danger of losing caste with the world? Surely we did not expect to see them incur such a risk merely for the sake of saving immortal souls. True, the act would have the noblest effect both on the church and on the world; but we cannot expect them to sacrifice gentility, and ease, and the prospect of worldly gain, for such an object!

Wealth is wanted to prepare and send forth those who do offer themselves - all the superfluous wealth of the church. But what do we behold? Not only is every other claimant