The Breadth and Grandeur of Christ's Mediatorial Work. 323 in fine, that when on a later occasion In the description of the breadth a Gentile woman earnestly besought His miraculous aid for her daughter, He should repeat the words of that limitation-not to chill her enthusiasm, but to strengthen her faith? I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.* Thou art my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. The words of this prophecy also show us the breadth and grandeur of Christ's mediatorial work. In this work the Messiah would have conferred upon Him-so the words of the prophecy suggest an honour more nearly commensurate with His dignity and glory. It is a light thing -(too small a matter, as Hengstenberg renders it,) It is too small a matter that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. The limitation was merely preparatory. By and bye the narrow sphere in which the Apostles were first told to labour was widened in the terms of the broadest commission. The narrow message solemnly given, was as solemnly retracted, and in one very notable case, completely reversed. Nor is there weakness and vacillation of purpose in this. There are rather marks of the divinest wisdom, the wisdom which cometh from above. No proper use of the Old Testament could be made by the Gentiles until the errors superadded by the Jews had been peeled off; until God's truth was disentangled from man's error; until the formidable barriers set up by a faithless people to the free gospel once proclaimed to Abraham had been broken down; until the great mission of reconciliation had been accomplished. The sacred waters of divine love were confined in the narrow Jewish reservoir until they had gained sufficient strength and volume to irrigate and refresh a parched and thirsty world. *Matt. xv. 24. and grandeur of the mediatorial work of Christ which the prophet supplies, so many things are suggested that the difficulty lies in selection and compression. Let us very briefly note a few. Among other things, the prophecy implies the permanence and imperishable character of the truths the Redeemer should teach by His lips and by His life. That implication is true, as the past eighteen centures declare, and as no coming centuries will ever reverse. Moral teachers cannot rise higher than Christ. The high table-land of His morality is far above the dwarfish mole-hills which would-be regenerators have cast up by throes the most gigantic and convulsive. There is no holy life only as it approaches, and in the measure and degree it approaches, the pure and sinless life of Christ. He is the Pharos of humanity. He is the light for the Gentiles. He is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The universality of the attraction of the Messiah is also predicted. The teaching and life of the Son of the Blessed revealed to men by the contrast between Himself and them -a common ruin, and thus prepared them for the consideration of a common remedy. By His sacrifice, the Redeemer fulfilled every type, and made an atonement for sin, and so exhibited the very remedy required. Herein is love!-boundless, fathomless, divine. Herein also is attraction, since His love is no longer narrowed off to the raising of Jacob and the restoring of Israel, but is offered as the salvation of the ends of the earth. With such a mission, what inexhaustible resources must the Redeemer possess. His incarnation was necessarily limitation. His ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high is expansion. It has given Him a spiritual presence that may be felt by every soul of man. The heavens opened to receive Him, but they did not close shed forth upon the church for the benefit of the world universal. Those heavens still hold Him in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways. But the destinies of the world and of the universe are His. Nations are His. Riches are His. Gifts of mind and body are His All power is given Him in heaven and in earth. He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. again until the Comforter had been | the Holy One, who said, to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into Yes; blessed be God, althe world. though it is a great thing to save one soul so debased and so degraded as the Hindoo, Christ can save him. Although it is a greater thing to save a nation of such men, Christ can save them. Although it is greatest of all to save a world, Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. The prophecy also declares the magnificence and splendor of His conquests. The personal ministry of Christ was comparatively fruitless. The men who received the blessings scattered by the Redeemer with such prodigal hand could be The men counted by thousands. who believed His message might be He trod told off in a few hundreds. the wine press alone, and of the people there were none with Him. But His mercy and love, when made known to the Gentiles shall bring Him, nay, have already brought Him, trophies of their power from every land. And yet how stupendous appear the difficulties in the way of any conquests whatever. Think of the perverted language of pagan people, so godless and so abominable. Think of their superstitions, deep-rooted in their corrupt hearts, and entwisted into the very texture of their being. Think of the deterioration of character which has been going on for ages where paganism flourishes. Think of the uncleanness practised at heathen temples as part and parcel of their very religion. Think of the lying that is so bred into the blood that detection scarcely awakens a feeling of shame. Think of the infanticide, the immolation of widows, the cruel abandonment of the sick and the aged, of the bloody rites of the Khonds, and the bloodier rites once practised in Polynesia, and still in existence in Dahomey. What can ever lift up a people so sunken and debased as these? Who can raise nations so fallen, and restore peoples so penetrated through and through with corruption? Who? The Christ, the Son of the Blessed; If, then, this is the highest honour even for Christ-and the words of this prophecy assure us that it isis not the inference most obvious, that participation in the work of Christ is Has the highest honour of the Church? not Christ given her the charter of her incorporation? Has He not in that charter declared the design of her institution and assigned the nature and extent of her missionary work? Does not the charter run thus:-Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature? And has it ever occurred to you that two words begotten of each of those dispensations by which God has made known His will to mankind-proselyte and apostle-exactly describe the character of both? that the Hebrew church brought the convert into a local organization that from its very nature was evanescent and preparatory; but that the Christian church, by the words of her divine charter, is sent out to make converts everywhere, to go after the lost and wandering sinner, under whatever stars he may be born, and to go after him with the spirit of patient invitation and with the message of gracious allurement and Christ-like love? But how has the church regarded the work in which is found the highest honour of her Lord and of herself? You know how she regarded it in apostolical times, for one-eighth of the New Testament is the record of her missionary work. Nor must it be supposed that her missionary spirit evaporated after the venerable John was caught up Missionaries in the Dark Ages. to share in the rejoicings of that New Jerusalem which he had so vividly described. In post-apostolic times, and in the ages succeeding, a greater missionary work was done than many Christians have been wont to imagine. Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, shows us some of the effects of that work in the province over which he presided, and shows them a letter which he little dreamt would be chiefly valued in after centuries for its testimony to the virtues and the numbers of the early Christians. 325 The worldly sceptre fell from the hands of the church when the Northern savages overran and devastated the fair gardens of Italy; but the church, now deprived of the pernicious aid of the state, and thrown back on her own inherent power, (begotten of the truth of God, and nurtured by His spirit,)a second time conquered the world. She went forth to meet the barbarians and to wrestle with them in their rude homes, and she proved herself as mighty to subdue their brutality and refine their coarseness as she had already shown herself to measure swords with the philosophers of Greece, and to subdue unto the obedience of Christ the valorous soldiers of Imperial Rome. It would be impossible for us to glance even at a tithe of the missionary work which was done in that period and in the centuries im The three centuries which followed -the third, fourth, and, fifth-were marked by great missionary success. Many whose names have not come down to us proclaimed the message of heavenly love, and are enrolled in the Lamb's book of life. Through | their efforts it was that Greece shut up her temples and put away all her gods; that Britain all but aban-mediately succeeding. We may indoned every Druidical altar; that Northern Africa could send worthy delegates to a Christian council; and that Italy, which had once thronged her amphitheatres to see men welter in their own gore, deserted her amphitheatres for ever. It cannot be denied, however, that later down than these times there was much error blended with the message of the missionary and with the method he pursued in his work. Results were sought in other ways than by the force of truth. Paganism and its philosophy showed their debasing influences, especially in the Eastern and African portions of the church. The natural tendency of the human heart to substitute empty forms for a holy life, and to transfer the ground of merit from the work of Christ to the performances of men increased, and thus fostered the asceticism that did so much to mar the usefulness of the church, and to promote the rising spirit of usurpation in the see of Rome. But notwithstanding these mistakes and errors, the zeal and selfdenial of Christian missionaries in those ages cannot be over-praised. deed very briefly remind you of the fact that Patrick, the humble and generous, became the apostle of Ireland; that the church of Gaul sent Germanus, Cæsarius, and Eligius to labour amongst the Franks; that Gallus, the disciple of the celebrated Columban, gave the truth to the Swiss; that Britain sent Willibrord, the presbyter, to Frankish Friesland, and Winfred, better known as Boniface, to the tribes inhabiting the forests of Germany; that Heligoland and the province now called Gröningen were the scenes where those models of genuine missionaries' labouredLindger, the Frieslander, and Willehad, the Englishman; that the impetuous Adalbert visited Hungary, and afterwards encountered the wild tribes who then peopled Prussia, and died like another Stephen praying for his murderers; that Anschar, the gentle and good, gave himself for thirty-four years to the evangelization of Denmark and Sweden; that the brothers Cyrill, of Constantinople, and Methodius, were gospel heralds to the wild tribes bordering on the Greek empire; that the self-denying Otto won the pagan Pomeranians to the faith of the gospel; and that, not to prolong the catalogue, Raimund Lull, having fled like another Jonah from the missionary work, went back to it in repentance, and whilst preaching the gospel to the inhabitants of Africa, died by the hands of the Saracens. But these are only a few names from that great muster-roll of illustrious missionaries who so proclaimed the truth that before the dawn of the thirteenth century paganism was banished from the whole of Europe. The era of modern missions dates from the time of the great geographical discoveries in the fifteenth century, and foremost among modern missions stand those set on foot by the church of Rome. She sought in them to emulate the ardour, would that she had also covetted the purity, of the early church. But however much we may condemn the errors she taught, and the very questionable expedients both in China, India, in the two Americas, and other places, by which she sought to swell the number of her converts, we cannot but admire the zeal and devotion of her missionaries. Their chivalry was often heroic, but not always divine. They were more anxious to die for Christ than to preach Him to degraded idolators. But is it too much to hope that even Xavier did not twice traverse the southern provinces of India, and in eleven years pass over three times the circuit of the earth, without dropping some word that awakened thoughts of a better life in the Hindoo mind, without bringing some dark soul nearer to His gracious presence who is given for a light to the Gentiles, and for salvation to the ends of the earth? And what shall we say of the rise and progress of Protestant missions? The Reformation, which startled Europe from the nightmare of Popery, had so much work to do at home, that it became conservative rather than aggressive. It cannot surely be any matter of surprise that | when men were zealously clearing out the weeds and briers which for centuries had overrun the garden of the Lord in Europe, they should, for a time at least, have overlooked the waste howling wilderness that lay stretched in many a dreary league beyond. Let it, however, be widely known, and especially among ourselves, that the first Protestant mission was one established in 1555, by Calvin and the Genevan church. If the mission did fail, and the fourteen missionaries did return discouraged, through the apostacy and cruelty of the man who professed to be their protector-honour to whom honour is due. All honour, then, say we, to John Calvin and the Genevan church for their mission to Brazil. Four years later than this a mission was undertaken to Lapland by the Swedes, under the sanction of Gustavus Vasa, the King, against his will, of whom every inhabitant of Sweden to this day is proud. These two are the only instances of missionary enterprise which distinguish the sixteenth century. In the next century that noble project was suggested by Oliver Cromwell which was to rival the Romish Propaganda, but which the fall of his dynasty destroyed. A great work was done in this century among the North American Indians, by the Elliots, the Mayhews, and the Brainerds. The next century the Danes took the lead in the missionary field: Zeigenbalg and Schwartz were sent to India, and Hans Egede to Greenland. From this period the history of missionary effort flows on in a more continuous stream. But time would fail me to tell what the Moravian, the Baptist, the London, the Church, the various branches of Methodists, the Scotch, the different Continental and American missionary societies have done, or even to glance for a moment at the mighty results they have achieved. To say nothing of the obligations of science to modern missions: of its indebtedness to Livingstone and Krapf for the ex Results of Missionary Work. tension of our knowledge of a region hitherto unknown; of its indebtedness to other men for enlarging our acquaintance with the natural history of the world; and of that eminent German missionary* who has actually won and received the prize established by the infidel Voltaire for the study of African languages;-to say nothing of all these-look at the mighty changes which have been wrought in the distant isles of the sea, where even Darwin confesses that the lesson of the missionary is the enchanter's wand. Look at the mighty changes in the wigwam of the Indian, in the kraal of the Hottentot, in the tent of the Kurd, in the hut of the Karen, in the zayat of the Burmese, and last, although not least, in the living embodiment of them visible in those Christian villages which, through the agency of our missionaries, have been planted in the province of Orissa. How has barbarism been checked, cannibalism restrained, the sacrificial knife arrested, the fires of the Suttee trampled out, and all manner of abominations, stricken, by the gentle touch of the gospel, with trembling, with dismay, and with a death, from which, God helping us, there shall be no resurrection! Think, too, how gracious and fruitful have been the influences of missionary labour on the churches at home! How her piety has been deepened and her sympathy enlarged, so that wherever Christian men have been faithful to their missionary trust the grand old prophecy of the church is fulfilledShe that tarried at home divided the spoil. But how have we as a denomination regarded the missionary trust that was committed to us? You have no need that I should answer that question. Forty years ago, mainly through the earnest and unwearied labours of our late secretary-a mission to India was originated. The sphere for our Kölle. + See, Voyage of the Ship Beagle. 327 work in that vast continent was wisely selected, under the providence of God. The men who have gone thither have been valiant and true. The success of their labours has been as marked and continuous as that of any missionary society, considering the nature of our strength, and the period over which our labours have extended. The Orissa mission has won golden opinions from dignitaries of the English church, and from eminent men in other corps of the great missionary battalion. And to which of And we are here to-day to give our farewell blessing to one brother whose praise is in all the churches, who has long laboured in the field, who knows its dangers and privations, but who, having recruited his shattered health and spirits, is ready to go back again to his work. We are here to-day, to give our farewell blessing to another brother who is equally honoured and honourable in his own department of labour. We have all been refreshed and strengthened by their presence and intercourse. you in this crowded assembly is not the manly form, the stentorian voice, and the genial and loving spirit of Isaac Stubbins familiar? How many of you have grasped that hand that returned your greeting with a hearty goodwill and Christian fervour not soon to be forgotton? Nor are we in any danger of forgetting-God help us that we never may forgethis appeals to our best sympathies, his fellowship, and his prayers. The God of all comfort and grace help him and his this day. May the good Lord be with us all, that while we are in His house our hearts may burn with new love to the Redeemer, and that we may go hence to our Master's work, whether in England or India, never faltering in our holy purpose, or in our hope, until Christ shall call us home. God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known upon earth, and Thy saving health among all nations. J. J. G. |