III. Lastly, these words express the unchangeable nature and perpetual obligation of Christianity, considered as a Law of Religion, or Rule of Life, as well as a scheme of wisdom and mercy unspeakable for the redemption of mankind.
Salvation by the blood of Christ was the eternal purpose of God, the ultimate end of all his counsels. But, for the attainment of it, He chose to reveal his will gradually by several intermediate and preparatory communications. Hence the divine Law, though still directed to the same end, has been diversified, according as the Legislator saw fit, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to speak in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets.
But now, at length, He hath spoken to us by his Son; whose word has become the standing law of mankind; obligatory on all, to whom it is made known, and unalterable by any authority, or by any change of circumstances whatsoever. The terms of salvation are irrevocably fixed. They are proposed to all, and required of all, without distinction of seasons or persons. The everlasting Gospel is addressed to all that dwell on the earth; to every nation and kindred and tongue and people[19]. The extent of it is universal; and the obligation so indispensable, that if an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel than that we have received, he is to be rejected by us; nay, an anathema rests upon him[20]. Since the sound of the Gospel is gone out into all the world[21], we are to listen to no other. Nor is it to be modified to our expectations or fancies. We are complete in HIM, which is the head of all principality and power[22]; even in Jesus Christ, with regard to the perpetuity and eternity of his Law, as well as in the other senses before considered, the SAME yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
After this explanation of the text, every one sees with what force it applies to the occasion of our present meeting. For surely such a Religion, as that of Jesus, so divine in its origin, so extensive in its views, and so permanent in its obligations, deserves to be propagated through the world; and justifies, or rather demands, the utmost zeal of its professors to spread it abroad among all nations.
And such is the end of this venerable Society; instituted for the double purpose of converting the Heathen, who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to the blessed hopes of the Gospel; and of keeping up and promoting in professed Christians that faith, which they have already received, but, through indigence, ignorance, or a vicious life, have suffered to languish and die away, or have not, at least, cultivated to any valuable purpose.
And can either of these objects be indifferent to us? Be it but the latter of the two, it must deeply affect a good and compassionate mind. Where the want of instruction is extreme in those who bear the name of Christians, and the means of obtaining it clearly not within their power, there is no doubt that both benevolence and piety call upon us to administer what relief we properly can to their pressing necessities.
But the former, I suppose, is the main object of the Society: And if, on this occasion, we may have leave to enlarge our ideas a little, and to contemplate that object in the extent to which it has been carried by the zeal not of our’s only, but of other ancient and modern missions, we shall find it above measure interesting to all true believers in Jesus.
For look on the various wild and uncivilized tribes of men, of whatever name or colour, which our ambition, or avarice, or curiosity has discovered, in the new or old world; and say, if the sight of human nature in such crying distress, in such sordid, disgraceful, and more than brutal wretchedness, be not enough to make us fly with ardour to their relief and better accommodation.
To impart some ideas of order and civility to their rude minds, is an effort of true generosity: But, if we can find means at the same time, or in consequence of such civility, to infuse a sense of God and Religion, of the virtues and hopes which spring out of faith in Christ, and which open a scene of consolation and glory to them, who but must regard this as an act of the most sublime charity?
Indeed, the difficulties, the dangers, the distresses of all sorts, which must be encountered by the Christian Missionary, require a more than ordinary degree of that virtue, and will only be sustained by him, whom a fervent love of Christ and the quickening graces of his Spirit have anointed, as it were, and consecrated to this arduous service. Then it is, that we have seen the faithful minister of the word go forth with the zeal of an Apostle, and the constancy of a Martyr. We have seen him forsake ease and affluence; a competency at least, and the ordinary comforts of Society; and, with the Gospel in his hand and his Saviour in his heart, make his way through burning deserts and the howling wilderness: braving the rage of climates, and all the inconveniencies of long and perilous voyages; submitting to the drudgery of learning barbarous languages, and to the disgust of complying with barbarous manners; watching the dark suspicions, and exposed to the capricious fury, of impotent savages; courting their offensive society, adopting their loathsome customs, and assimilating his very nature, almost, to their’s; in a word, enduring all things, becoming all things, in the patient hope of finding a way to their good opinion, and of succeeding, finally, in his unwearied endeavours to make the word of life and salvation not unacceptable to them.