What can we do? The Scriptures have been translated into nearly all the languages of the babbling earth. Missionaries have gone into many lands—have met the Indian in his wigwam, the African in his Devil’s-bush, and the devotee on his way to Mecca. We can furnish more men for the field, and more money to sustain them. But these things cannot change and renovate the human heart. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” This is the grand regenerating agency. He alone can convince and save the world. His aid is given in answer to prayer; and the Father is more ready to give than we are to ask.
Mr. Ward, one of the Baptist missionaries in India, in a missionary discourse at Bristol, said,—“Brethren, we need your money, but we need your prayers more.” O, what encouragement we have to pray for our missionaries! Thus saith the Lord:—“I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” Let us plead with God for the accomplishment of the promise. “Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a praise in the whole earth.”
Brethren in the ministry! let us remember that all our success depends upon the aid of the Holy Spirit, and let us pray constantly for his blessing upon the word! Brethren in the church! forget not the connection between the work of the Holy Spirit and the glory of your Best Friend, and earnestly entreat him to mingle his sanctifying unction with the treasures of Divine Truth contained in these earthen vessels! “Finally, brethren, pray for us; that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified;” and all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God!
“Hasten, Lord, the glorious time,
When, beneath Messiah’s sway,
Every tribe, in every clime,
Shall the gospel call obey!“Then shall wars and tumults cease;
Then be banished grief and pain
Righteousness, and joy, and peace,
Undisturbed, for ever reign!”
EXTRACTS.
I. THE DEMONIAC OF GADARA.
Luke viii. 26–39.
“And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils a long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.”
I imagine that this demoniac was not only an object of pity, but he was really a terror in the country. So terrific was his appearance, so dreadful and hideous his screams, so formidable, frightful, and horrid his wild career, that all the women in that region were so much alarmed that none of them dared go to market.
And what made him still more terrible was the place of his abode: It was not in a city, where some attention might be paid to order and decorum—(though he would sometimes ramble into the city as in this case.) It was not in a town, or village, or any house whatever, where assistance might be obtained in case of necessity; but it was among the tombs, and in the wilderness—not far, however, from the turnpike road. No one could tell but that he might jump at them, like a panther, and scare them to death. The gloominess of the place made it more awful and solemn. It was among the tombs—where, in the opinion of some, all witches, corpse-candles, and hobgoblins abide.