The Unity of the Church Essential to the Conversion of the World / A Sermon, Preached Before the Directors and Friends of the London Missionary Society, During Their Anniversary in May, 1846, in the Church of St. Mary, Spital Square, London

by James Henry Alexander Gwyther

But where are now the advocates of Paganism, and the apologists for Idolatry? The moral condition of the heathen is better understood to-day, by the children in our schools, than it was by the enlightened classes of society fifty years ago; and the necessity of the gospel to meet the wants, and heal the sufferings of mankind, has become a familiar and undisputed truth. And by whom have these idle tales and gross fabrications been exposed? By the men of God, sent forth from our midst, who have lived with the heathen, and for the heathen; from whose concurrent testimony the church has learned, and the world has been constrained to admit, that idolatry in all its varied forms, is an abominable thing; that its principles are founded on falsehood and absurdity, and that its requirements are cruel and obscene.

In the early days of missionary efforts, the fields of labour were necessarily few and contracted. The wide and effectual doors opened to us were then closed, and for admission our revered forerunners entreated and pleaded in vain.

Their ardent zeal panted for access to the teeming and degraded multitudes of India. But by the merchant, the soldier, and the statesman, the christian missionary was alike denounced and resisted. The robber and the spoiler were found in the train of the British conqueror; but the minister of heavenly mercy might not set his foot upon those distant shores.

Now, thanks be to God, how altered is the scene; the legislature of our country has awarded religious freedom to India; and now the missionary may go through the length and breadth of that mighty empire, testifying to the Mussulman and idolator “repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,” unmolested by the natives, and befriended by his countrymen. If the early friends of missions excluded from the millions of India, turned their attention to the colonies of the west; there the curse of slavery rested with all its unmitigated horrors. And whilst christian compassion wept over the lacerated body, or the more tortured spirit of the deeply injured negro; the stern voice of the oppressor forbade the application of the balm that might have soothed and healed his bleeding heart. In the judgment of the slave-holder to instruct the negro in the mild principles of Christianity, was an offence not to be forgiven, an evil pregnant with every conceivable danger; and of all men, the missionary was the man most to be dreaded and detested. But the spirit of justice, philanthropy, and religion, maintained the hard fought contest, till the spirit of oppression though unchanged, was compelled to yield; and amidst the scenes where Smith was martyred as the friend of the slave—where the sanctuaries of God were pillaged and destroyed—where faithful brethren were seized, imprisoned, and threatened with death, there liberty has been proclaimed to the captive, and there the glorious gospel of the blessed God has gladdened and governed the hearts of thousands. In Southern Africa also where the arms of our country had triumphed, British power was exerted for the support of slavery, and the discouragement of christian missions. The feelings of the colonists in general, were well expressed by the Dutch farmer, who in reply to the proposal of Robert Moffat to preach the gospel to his servants, exclaimed with a voice of thunder!—“preach to the Hottentots—preach to the dogs.” But now, thanks be to the God of missions, the Hottentot is free; the Caffre is protected, and the wandering and hostile tribes of the desert enjoy the advantages of liberty, order, and peace; sanctified and enhanced by the blessings of religion.

But surpassing all other wonders of a gracious providence on behalf of missions—China, which from time immemorial barred her gates against the stranger; which ten years ago appeared equally impregnable for ages to come. China itself is open! Opened to an extent far beyond our power of occupation. Already the faithful evangelist proclaims the gospel of salvation in her crowded cities, none making him afraid, and many giving welcome to his message.

Of the christian missionary then, so lately proscribed in the east and west, excluded from the deserts of Africa and the cities of China, it may now be said “the world is all before him where to choose, and providence his guide.” Can we not trace the hand of God in all this, and say “what hath God wrought.”

To form a just estimate of the benefits that have directly resulted from the missionary labors of this and other kindred societies, during the brief period of their varied efforts, it is necessary that we should attentively consider the magnitude of our design—the conversion of 600 millions of idolators to christianity—a multitude diversified in habits, language, and character—the limited amount of agency that has yet been employed—the antiquity of the various systems of idolatry which prevail, in contrast with the novelty and strangeness of the gospel claims; and above all, the perfect congeniality of heathenism, to the depraved principles and passions of the human nature, in opposition to the humbling and sanctifying influence of Christianity. These considerations are suggested, not for the purpose of alleviating disappointment and bespeaking forbearance to a narrative of failures; but rather to heighten our pleasure and enlarge our gratitude, that amidst obstacles so gigantic and with means so limited, we have in the short space of fifty years been favored through the divine blessing, with success so varied and abundant—success, both in character and amount, it may be confidently affirmed, greatly exceeding the largest expectations of the fathers of the cause.

This society has laboured to bless suffering man amidst the different forms of his guilt and misery, in Asia, Africa, Polynesia, and the West Indies. And in which of these wide fields of its mercy has it failed? It has laboured for his happiness in relation to the life that now is, as well as that which is to come, and in which of its designs of mercy has it not succeeded? Behold the triumphs of christian missions in the peaceful villages and cultivated plains of Africa—in the contentment and prosperity of the West Indian freed-man—in the Polynesian savage, transformed into the kind husband, the tender parent, and the happy man!

What numerous evils have not been terminated, and what daring crimes have not been prevented by the influence of missions? How many a widow, otherwise doomed to perish amidst the horrors of the burning pile, now lives! How many an infant, destined to die by the hands of its mother, is now pressed to her bosom! How many a victim, marked as a sacrifice to the gods of his country, now trusts and adores the God of salvation! Yes! we do rejoice in these supplementary advantages of christian missions; but had our success been limited to these, we should have deemed success itself a failure. Our first, our noblest aim, is not to civilize but to evangelize the heathen; not only to raise the savage to the dignity of man, but to raise man to fellowship with God.

And in every scene of conflict with error and sin, the champions of the truth have maintained a good fight, and have been heard exulting, “now thanks be to God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.” Theirs is no empty boast, as they indulge these joyous strains. They point in Africa to the wandering marauder, once more ferocious than the lion which prowls amidst her sandy deserts, now harmless and gentle as the lamb! In India to the Brahmin, once the object of idolatry, now of scorn; once caressed by friends and loved by kindred, now a solitary outcast; “but what things were gain to him, he has counted loss for Christ.”