Now, we desire to hear of some old church, where wealth abounds, instead of monopolizing money and talent in preaching in their midst, where probably they can do but little good, making arrangements outside to sustain some good man, such as we have described, to visit those by-ways all through the land, where most numbers may be converted and the work of the Lord greatly extended. We have the men to do this work, good men, men in whom we have all confidence, who desire to do this work, and are doing it measurably without charge. These men do not desire large wages for their work. Indeed, they have shown, in many instances, that they will work on, pay or no pay. But they could do vastly more if they were supported. Now, the idea of our fixing our eye upon a few talented men, paying them large salaries, and wholly neglecting these, is manifestly wrong. It is sinful. We saw six or eight preachers such as we allude to, together in Mexico, Missouri,—and we find them in every community, and we vouch for the fact, that more than one-half of all the accessions reported are from men of this description.
We live in a time when humble men and good men are overlooked; when working men are forgotten and neglected; and we desire to make a plea in behalf of these. They are the men who are willing to go into all the highways and by-places—to preach in the private house, the school house, the barn, the shop or the grove. A large proportion of all the work that has been done is the result of the sacrifices, labors and toils of this class of men. They are the men that will now do the work, do it well, and with less expense than any others. There are hundreds of men of this description that have never received one hundred dollars in a year for all their hard labor. We have in our mind several of this class, who have brought into the fold large numbers every year, and have received for their labor comparatively nothing. Will not the brethren make arrangements to do something for these brethren? They are willing to go among the poor, the destitute, and preach to them the unsearchable riches of Christ.
If those who have means to expend for the cause, will look to this class of men and to their work and aid them, they will do one hundred per cent. more with their means than is generally the case. These will go where another class of men will not go, and do a work that another class of men will not do, and yet a work every way as important to the conversion of the world. Send these men all through the land, and convert the country, and then we can easily convert the city. We have a large number of this class of men who can be employed for two, three and four hundred dollars a year, to preach a great portion of their time, and they are the only men who can and will penetrate all the nooks and corners of the land. The Lord help us to appreciate these good men, and see that they are aided in their labors of love and work of faith.
[SUGGESTIONS TO A YOUNG SCEPTIC.]
A young gentleman had called for the reconciliation of certain points in the New Testament narratives, which, to his mind, seemed incongruous. After noting each of the points separately, in the A. C. Review, for May, 1859, the editor added:
BUT, my dear sir, the reconciling what to you may be apparent discrepancies, is no reason for your becoming a Christian; nor should you think me unable to reconcile them, or should I really be unable to reconcile them, or should all men be unable to reconcile them, that would still be no reason why you or any man should reject Christ. The inability to reconcile these matters may arise from our ignorance and not from the fact that they are irreconcilable. It would not be a reason for rejecting the gospel, if the statements of these witnesses were really in themselves irreconcilable or inaccurate. The inaccuracy might easily have found its way into their testimony, in translating, transcribing, or interpolation, and Christ still be divine. The whole matter rests upon Christ, and not upon the congruity or the incongruity of the sacred narratives, unless their consistency can be so impaired as to destroy their testimony concerning Christ. The matter is not whether you can reconcile all the statements of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, whether you can show their consistency and understand them throughout, but whether you believe in Christ or not, whether you will receive him or not. Can you say, sir, that you are pondering in your mind whether to regard Jesus as divine or an imposter? This is the question for you to fix your eye upon. You have not time now to study the whole Bible and decide upon a sentence at a time, whether you believe it or not. It would take you a long time to become a Christian in that way. You should not go to the Bible for that purpose, but go there to learn all about Christ, the purity of his life, his wonderful teachings, his miracles, his perfect knowledge of what is in man, the fulfillment of all the prophecies in him, with an eye simply upon the question—is he the Christ, the Son of God? You can shape your inquiries in different forms, though constantly bearing upon the same question, by inquiring as follows: Was Jesus perfect in his life? If he was, he was more than man, for no mere man ever was perfect. Were his teachings perfect? If they were, they were not of man, for no mere man ever gave the world perfect teachings. All merely human teachings, in all the world, and in all ages, have been imperfect, and, it is a miracle in itself, for a perfect being to appear among men, in human form, or a perfect system of teaching to be presented by him to man. He emphatically spake as never man spake.
Can it be possible that you, my dear sir, are vacillating in your mind whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Can you doubt whether he was the friend of man? whether he loved man? whether you would be infallibly safe under his guidance? Can you doubt whether he was good? whether his teaching was good? whether it was safe? You must feel conscious that he is the Christ, the Son of God—the friend of man—that he loved man—that he went about doing good—that you are infallibly safe in following him—that his teaching is good—that it is divine. You would not now deny him for the world. Your eternal all is in him. If the worst things infidels have ever said of him were true, it is better and safer to follow him, than them; for they admit that he was better than they, and his teaching better than their own. As you value your soul, follow him.