“The Island, Empress of the Sea:”
but that we may be instruments in the hands of the Great and Gracious Lord of the whole human race in benefiting mankind. And how can we best accomplish this great end? A Christian nation should make it an object of paramount importance to diffuse the light of that Gospel, in which it has itself for ages rejoiced as the best gift, the holiest privilege, it enjoys at the hands of God. Has then this Christian nation so acted? Alas! there is one circumstance, which painfully occupies at this moment the attention of the friends of Christianity, here and in India, which may suffice to answer in the negative. Bishop after bishop has been allowed to go forth, with the spirit of a martyr, and to meet a martyr’s death in India, where the diocese is admitted by all to be so extensive, that the strongest constitution must, from the effects of the climate, sink under even an imperfect discharge of the overwhelming load of duty. And yet repeated applications for the appointment of bishops to the several presidencies, by which the cause of religion amongst the Christian, and the spread of the Gospel amongst the Heathen population, would be very greatly advanced, have been up to this time refused, it is much to be feared, from an unwillingness to incur the expense of further episcopal appointments. May Bishop Turner be the last, who, humanly speaking, is to be thus sacrificed! For it would inflict a heavy load of sin upon a Christian people to be not only lavish of life, of talents, and of piety, but to prefer to the cause of God, who has so abundantly blessed us, an economy, which, however wise and proper when rightly practised, becomes miserable and wicked when allowed to operate to the hinderance of the Gospel. An appeal is never made in vain to the good feelings of the people of England, and the present is an occasion, on which all who value not merely the cause of religion, but of humanity, should make a declaration of their opinions; and come forward liberally to the support of Societies whose object is so important and praiseworthy, and whose means are so inadequate to several claims upon them. The reports of the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for the year 1831, cannot be too strongly recommended to the attention of the public. The comparatively small support which the latter receives from annual subscription must be mainly ascribed to the nature and extent of its labours being so little known; for it is not the character of the English people to allow a valuable Society to languish from want of funds. And yet, during the past year, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts must have suspended in some places the great work it is carrying on, if it had not allowed its expenditure to exceed greatly its receipts. Such is the sad truth we learn from the report now before the public, which pleads the cause of Christianity in distant lands, so powerfully, and yet so meekly, that it cannot fail to awaken sympathy in every religious breast, and call forth assistance from every liberal hand. “According to its power, yea, and beyond its power,” it has opened the hand of Christian bounty in answer to the numerous and pressing calls that have been made upon it: and the consequence has been that the means of meeting such calls have become every year more insufficient. Even on the supposition (a supposition, however, which benevolence will not allow to be entertained for a moment), that all new applications for its assistance are to be disregarded, the Society will require an addition of at least 10,000l. to its yearly income for the fulfilment of engagements into which it has entered. Its deficiencies for many years have been supplied by large reductions of its capital. The single fact that it has been compelled to sell nearly 70,000l. stock must fill its friends with serious uneasiness. For unless its funds are very largely increased, it is manifest that they must soon be exhausted. But, surely, so sad a result can never be allowed! There is too much benevolence in the Christian public of this favoured nation, to permit the abandonment of so great a work as that by which the light of the Gospel, in its purity, is communicated to the benighted nations of the East. Who among us will be wanting, in most earnest efforts, to save our brethren in the colonies from so sad an injury as the loss of that religious instruction, and those means of grace which are to be regarded as their birthright? Who will allow the many excellent men who have left their native country as missionaries, with the purest zeal, and the most earnest desire to promote the spiritual welfare of their fellow-creatures, through incessant toil in distant lands, to be deprived of the moderate but necessary support, that has hitherto been afforded by this Society? Who will allow the no less valuable persons, who have been diligently trained in the colonies, almost from their cradles, to carry forward the same Christian designs, as missionaries, and catechists, and school-masters, to be now cast upon the world, and exposed to all the miseries of want?
“What shall be said, if it fail of attaining its full measure of good, through the indifference of those whom God has not only ‘blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ,’ but to whom He has also largely afforded the temporal means of imparting those blessings to others? What shall be said if they, who by the abundant mercy of God are themselves supplied with the bread of life, suffer their fellow-creatures, whose necessities are plainly pointed out to them, to perish with hunger? Your committee will not contemplate the possibility of such a deplorable case as this. Grateful for the support which the Society has already received, and through which it has been enabled to effect so much, they will not allow themselves to doubt, but that Providence will now, and from time to time, raise it up friends who will furnish it with more ample and effectual means for the continuance and extension of its ‘labours of love.’”
Every friend of religion must earnestly pray that a hope so humbly and devoutly expressed may be fulfilled, and that the Lord may bless and prosper these Societies, in sowing the good seed of the word, in a field of immense extent, and, in many parts, of the most unpromising barrenness. For they embrace—to particularize only the most important missions—the widely dispersed population of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Canadas; the numerous islands of the West Indies; the great Peninsula of India; and the various settlements in Australia. And it is gratifying and highly satisfactory to be able to quote the impartial testimony of a distinguished individual, the late Governor of Nova Scotia, to their efficiency and value: “In countries in which I have resided, and which I have visited—in remote and almost desert places, I have witnessed the blessings and comforts of our holy religion, dispensed, by your servants, to persons who otherwise might pass from the cradle to the grave, without the blessings or benefits, the comforts or the consolations of any appropriate holy office, to sanctify their entrance into life, to receive them into the Christian family, to solemnize those connexions, on the proper observance of which the moral constitution of society essentially depends, and finally to perform the last sad offices over departed humanity. In my own person—in my own family—in visitations the most awful—in severe domestic affliction, I have partaken of those blessings and consolations, administered by your servants.” Let, therefore, the parliament and people of the United Kingdom contribute liberally, not merely towards the continuance, but the extension, of the important labours of a Society, whose only fault has been,—if it be a fault,—that it has so shrunk from any appearance of obtruding its wants, that it has not sufficiently made known its claims upon the friends of religion; who must be at once desirous that our countrymen in our distant dependencies should not be debarred from the exercise of religious worship; and that the light of the Gospel may be shed upon those, who, though living under the government of Great Britain, are lying in darkness and the shadow of death. And if there be any whose hearts expand not with that diffusive spirit of Christian philanthropy, which ardently desires to promote the spiritual welfare of the whole human race; let them at least be sensible to the religious wants, and alive to the religious improvement of their countrymen, who are established in some of the numerous colonies of this vast empire. In this great commercial country, in which the spirit of enterprise or the calls of duty lead so many forth often at an early age into distant lands, there must be an immense number of influential persons, who have a direct interest in this provision for the religious instruction of the residents in our several dependencies. And oh! how consolatory must it prove to the heart of a parent, or even of a friend, who sends forth a youth to seek his fortune far from friends, kindred, and home, to know that he will not be deprived of the public exercise of those religious duties in which he has been early trained. Oh! how immeasurably would the pain of separation, which may be for life—which may be for ever—be increased, if there was a melancholy certainty, that at the most dangerous period of life, when the passions are strong, the judgment weak, and the principles often unsettled; and where the temptations to sensual indulgences abound, and the restraints of parental authority are removed; there was no religious monitor, no duly ordained pastor, to instruct in health, to cheer in sorrow, to strengthen in sickness, and, it may be, to support and console in death, those who are pursuing an useful and honourable course far from their dearest earthly ties, far from what is ever dear to the heart of all—their native land—the land of their fathers.
In entering thus more at length on the subject of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts than on any other Society, an exception has been made in its favour, because it has never yet received that encouragement and support to which its most important object and valuable labours so well entitle it: but imperfect as the notice of other Societies has been, it would be still more so if concluded without any mention of the Church Missionary Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society. The first of these is formed with the design of endeavouring to obey to the fullest extent the parting command of our blessed Lord, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature:” [219] it is not confined by any limits, but wherever the opening presents itself, thither the indefatigable, zealous, and faithful missionary is sent: and the Lord has greatly prospered their labours. The latter, whether we regard its scope or its machinery, is a mighty and wonderful engine, capable of producing immense benefit to the whole human race: its scope is not merely the supply of the inhabitants of the British dominions with the Scriptures, but their translation into every language, their dissemination in every land; and its vast and complicated machinery has been put into operation in every quarter of the globe. It may suffice to state, that the grand, the beneficent, and most Christian end, which these two Societies have in view, is to evangelize the world: the one sends its missionary either instructed, or to be instructed, in the language of the country where is to be his field in which he is to sow the good seed of the word of life; and the other supplies the sower with that seed of the word of life translated into the language of the country. The difficulties they have to encounter are immense; and the danger of the neglect of the legitimate object, or of perversion of the power and means of these Societies, may be considerable; but still the enterprise of Christian love is not to be abandoned, because it is difficult; nor the means of Christian usefulness sacrificed, because they are capable of abuse: rather let those who rejoice in the light of the Gospel, and thank God every day of their lives for having the high privilege of reading His Book, labour to provide missionaries so well fitted for their office, as to afford reasonable hope that through Him, on whose assistance and blessing they alone depend, they may surmount the many and arduous difficulties which impede their progress: rather let them exercise increased vigilance, and employ greater care and attention, that if any error exist, it may be corrected, that if any abuse has crept in, it may be reformed. Let these Societies be only faithful to their trust—true to the one great object they are ever to keep in view, and they may fully rely upon Him, whose kingdom they labour to advance, whose word they seek to publish—to bless their work and ensure their success. But let them remember that no unsound principles of expediency, no unworthy means to excite popularity, or to gain support, must be had recourse to; such would be to apply to their goodly edifices the “untempered mortar,” which would end in their destruction: let them go forth in the strength of the Lord, and in his strength only; let them seek the extension of Christ’s kingdom, and of His kingdom only; and then all who love the Lord’s Christ, honour His name, and seek to promote His glory—if they can do no more, will at least say, we “bid you God speed.”
The increasing exertions which are making, in this country, for the diffusion of vital religion amongst Christians, and for the spread of the Gospel amongst the heathen, will form one of the brightest pages in its history. And truly at this moment it presents almost the only subject on which the Christian’s anxious eye can rest with unmixed satisfaction and with joyful hope. The prospect around is in many parts dark and discouraging, but in one direction is illumined by a bright and holy light—“the sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings,” upon the “nations which sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” [221] England appears to be selected by God for this great and glorious work. As the Roman Empire was raised up and employed by the Great Governor of the Universe for the first promulgation of the Gospel; and as the Greek language was made the medium through which that Gospel was extensively diffused: so we may hope that the British Empire, so greatly increased, may be employed, and the English language, so widely spread, be made a medium, for that final promulgation which is to take place, and the result of which is to be thus complete—“the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” [222] But however this may be—for ill does it become short-sighted man to speculate on the unfulfilled prophecies of Holy Writ—our line of duty is plain: we must make the most strenuous exertions, trusting to be instruments in the hands of the Almighty in the conversion of the heathen. The labour of love, which springs from gratitude to God, which is directed by faith in His promises and animated by hope of His blessing, will never be fruitless: if it please not the Divine Providence to give it a prosperous issue to those for whose benefit it was designed, it will return as a blessing—“good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over”—into the bosoms of those, who planned, supported, and conducted it, with a sole view to God’s glory and the salvation of men. This physical pestilence has travelled from India to England: does it not in awful terms reproach us, for having, as a nation, done so little to arrest and heal the moral pestilence which rages throughout that great Peninsula? Oh! let every means be used by the friends of religion to rouse a sinful people to a due sense of what they owe to their home population, to their colonies, and to the world at large. Whatever be the channel in which an individual may wish the stream of his bounty to flow, he will find Societies through which he will best accomplish the good he has in view. Let, therefore, all be active, liberal, and zealous, in the cause of religion: let all, according to the ability which God supplieth, endeavour to promote the present and eternal welfare of all mankind! “Charge them,” says St. Paul, “who are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy: that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate: laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” [223]—“But this I say, he which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly: and he which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that ye always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” [224a] “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity:” let all in their several vocations endeavour to improve, to the spiritual advantage of themselves and others, this Divine visitation; that thus its great object being accomplished—for the language of God’s chastisements, whether national or individual, is “be zealous and repent,”—we may humbly hope that our gracious Lord God will be pleased to withdraw His heavy hand from His humbled and contrite people; the duty of each of whom has been shown to be, to effect, through the Divine blessing, a personal reformation; for the sins of each individual form fractions of the immense integral of national guilt, which has called down the Divine displeasure; to employ their rank, influence, and a due proportion of their wealth, in labouring to advance, by their personal exertions, and through the medium of societies, a national reformation; and to diffuse throughout the world the knowledge of the Saviour, that “the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ.” [224b]
And how are they to be addressed who are the enemies of the Lord and of His Christ—who trample under foot his cross, and, at present, stand excluded from all benefit of the great atonement by “counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing”—how are they to be addressed who deny the Lord who bought them, and secretly maintain, or openly espouse, the doctrines of infidelity? In the language of friendly warning and exhortation. Sometimes the Christian advocate has erred by employing a tone of conscious superiority, of cold severity, or of keen satire: the first offends, the second hardens, the third irritates the proud spirit of unbelief: the voice of remonstrance is often listened to, when authority commands in vain. Let, therefore, whatever has been said, in these pages, be considered, not as intended in the least degree to wound or insult the feelings of any one, but as written in the honest and faithful discharge of Christian duty. And in the spirit of meekness and charity let me entreat those, who reject Christianity, to pause, reflect, and examine deeply into the grounds on which they have come to a decision which involves their eternal destiny. Let me ask them whether they have ever duly considered, first, the possibility of Revelation being true; and, secondly, the consequences of Revelation being true. Surely a creed, which numbers amongst its defenders laymen, who hold the highest place in England’s proud annals of science and philosophy, is not lightly to be rejected by ordinary minds: surely where Bacon, Milton, Boyle, Locke, and Newton, have been believers, there is room to admit the possibility of the creed being true. When intellects of the most powerful grasp, disciplined by the most arduous studies, and stored with the richest fruits of human knowledge, have received with humility, gratitude, reverence, and faith, the Bible, as the inspired Word of God, some doubts may flash across the mind of the infidel, as to whether he has arrived at a just conclusion, in refusing to believe that Bible. And oh! if there do arise a doubt, let him now be entreated to re-examine this most important subject, on which the interests of eternity depend; to reconsider the grounds on which he denies a faith in which, during eighteen hundred years, millions have lived and died.
There is, however, a second point of consideration, and that a very important one, which ought not to be lost sight of, the consequences of Revelation being true,—the unutterable anguish of hopeless, endless despair and torment. Infidels often speak with much levity, and sometimes with profaneness, of the awful punishments of a future world, denounced in Scripture against impenitent guilt; but, if they searched deeply into their own hearts, they would find not only that they were less happy than they were before they shook off their belief in Revelation; but some might discover, almost, the commencement of the gnawing of the undying worm. In health, this may be scarcely perceived, but when the hour approaches, which generally tears away the mask which has concealed internal feelings long kept secret, the hideousness of infidelity is fully seen. Some appear to have acted their part to the last; thus Hume was said to have spent some of his latter hours in reading “the Dialogues of the Dead,” of the Apostate Lucian; but what an employment for one who professed to be a philosopher! At a time, when the eyes are about to close for ever on all that the heart has held dear in life, “drollery, in such circumstances, is neither more nor less than
Moody madness, laughing wild
Amidst severest woe.” [227]
But such cases are, generally, of rare, occurrence: as the sombre shades of the evening of life gathered around Gibbon, this melancholy confession escaped him,—the past is gone, the present is but for a moment, and the prospect of the future is dark and doubtful. Paine, who had vauntingly proclaimed, that, during an illness, expected by himself and those around him to be fatal, he had rejoiced that he had published his Age of Reason, when the hour of death really arrived, endured all the agonies of remorse, evincing a horrible combination of awakened terror and blasphemous despair. And that renowned champion of infidelity, Voltaire, who was smitten, in his hour of pride and triumph, suffered in his last hours such intolerable anguish and such overwhelming terror, that the alarmed physician declared, that the furies of Orestes could not equal the horrors of such a death-bed.