one hundred millions of tracts; support ten thousand missionaries; and sustain fifty thousand Christian schools, containing five millions of children. And is this too much to expect from the whole church of Christ? Oh no, when that church appears in its glory, this, and far more than this, will be done for the evangelization of the world. If this were done, and it might be, do you not perceive at what an increased ratio the world would be enlightened? The word of truth would soon be within the reach of every reader, and the living voice might be heard in every land. 4. Zion must travail-must agonize for the salvation of the heathen. This is the state of things referred to by the prophet. And when the Spirit is poured on the churches, this will be one of the glorious results. The church will then arise in its beauty and strength, and putting forth that moral power for the benefit of the world-doing this with all the intense and painful feeling which a mother endures in the hour of travail, God will give the desire of the soul in the birth of spiritual children. "For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children." We have thus brought our subject to a close. Is it then true that Christians have power to evangelize the world instrumentally? I trust you admit this. It now becomes us to see that that part of it which rests with us, is suitably and faithfully employed. Oh! is there a heart warm with the love of Christ-then that believer has been going along with me in the statements which have just been made. Humility, regret, But what is shame, fear, hope, desire and determination have alternately found a place in his heart. now the strongest wish of that mind? Is it not to make the cause of the heathen world his own-to pray as he has never yet prayed for them-to do what he has never yet done for them? If he is a father, has he not declared to his own spirit, and in the presence of his God, I will imbue the minds of my children with the missionary spirit;—if a merchant, has he not decided to connect the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom with all his commercial pursuits;-if rich, does he not feel that he should give more than a part of the surplus of his savings; if poor, is he not inclined to give even of his penury, to exercise self-denial as a principle, not as the result of temporary excitement ? Is it not the earnest wish of that mind I am addressing, to identify this blessed work with his own spiritual improvement?-nay, with the hope of his own salvation; to let the necessities of the heathen press on his heart, in the house and by the way, in the closet and in the family, in the social circle and in the sanctuary. Memory will be employed in recalling their misery and danger, and in numbering his own obligations. Judgment will be exercised in duly estimating the claims of the heathen and in deciding on their importance. And will not love-divine compassion-that principle which Christ implants in the hearts of his people, furnish all those pure and noble motives which are needed, and constrain that soul to travail for the salvation of men? And why should not every Christian reader feel, decide, and act in this way? This is the only plan by which the work is to be accomplished. It must begin with individuals, spread to families, to churches, to denominations, and to the whole body of the faithful. When Zion is thus awaked, aroused to the great work that is to be done without delay, and travails for the conversion of the world, the promise of Jehovah will be accomplished, and the heathen shall belong to Christ. But do I address one who is not born again. We do read of those who will arrive at the kingdom of heaven from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, while the children of the kingdom are shut out. Why is this? Were the children of the kingdom refused admission into it? Oh no, they were invited, they had often been invited, they had been entreated to be reconciled to God. Yes, this is your situation-a sinner, an unpardoned, an unrenewed, a ruined sinner; not the victim of the church's neglect; not perishing because you never heard of Jesus;-but the victim of criminal unbelief, and perishing because you have heard of Christ, and yet have rejected his mercy, and despised his love. We pity the heathen, we pray for them, we anxiously desire their salvation; but oh, if there are different degrees of pity, if there are shades of earnestness in prayer, and if desire can rise higher and higher, till it almost reaches agony by its intensity, our pity, our earnestness, our desire must be the strongest and deepest and most intense, for the sinner who is perishing in the midst of spiritual blessings, and dying in thick darkness while the light of the gospel is shining around him. Is there one sinner who is thus exposed to danger? Let him listen to the voice of Christ now, lest the message he rejects be sent to others who will 1 receive it with gladness; and that salvation which he has hitherto neglected be given to some poor idolatrous heathen, who has not yet heard the joyful sound. There is no time to lose, thousands are every day hastening to the world of spirits, and you will soon be hurried into the crowd. Be wise then for eternity, by securing in time eternal blessings. The object of this Essay has been to bring to view that glorious and much desired consummation of the affairs of the church of God, for the accomplishment of which the Benevolent Societies treated of in the "Harbinger of the Millennium," were established. I have endeavored to show, that this event may soon be realized, if the Christian church would perform those duties, exhibited and illustrated in the Dissertations of this work. These, together with the Appendix, deserve to be studied and pondered well by Christians of every name, that they may be excited to make incomparably greater efforts than they ever have made, for advancing these philanthropic and Godlike enterprises. With these views, we earnestly commend this book, prepared with great labor and judgment, to the perusal of all who love Zion and pray for her prosperity. |