Thoughts on Missions

by Sheldon Dibble

We have glanced at some excuses. Many others there are in this excuse-making age. Be entreated to look at them with the command of Christ, a sinking world and a coming judgment, in your eye, and as far as they have weight and no farther be influenced by them. Where exemption cannot honestly be pleaded, the command in all its force is binding.

That some pastors of influence and talent should become missionaries, seems necessary; for how otherwise can the means be raised to sustain missions abroad, and to send forth young men who may offer themselves? It is well known, that operations abroad have been and are still exceedingly crippled. It is well known, too, that quite a company of young men have at different times been waiting, for want of requisite funds to send them forth to the heathen.

Now this is the state of things, not because there is not money enough in the hands of Christians—no one imagines that such is the fact—but because Christians, as a body, are not aroused to duty. What means shall be taken to arouse them? I, for one, am inclined to think that there would be hope, if some influential and prominent pastors would enter the missionary work. In such a case, I should indeed have strong hope that the impulse, falling in with the spirit of primitive practice and the will of the Holy Ghost, would be such as to bring forth the funds needed to sustain the operations now begun, send forth waiting young men, and carry themselves also into the field. I feel quite confident, that the measure would soon clear the seaboard of all who might be detained, and place their joyful feet on foreign soil.

The great body of professed Christians are becoming luxurious in their modes of life. One cannot go through the churches, after the absence of several years, without being forcibly impressed with this fact. They press forward after wealth, and profess to be accumulating it for Christ; but in the end, spend it on themselves and on their children. Now what, under God, shall break up this covetousness, and luxurious manner of life? What shall bring them back to the pure and unadulterated principles of the Gospel—to live, labor, and die for Christ, as did the primitive disciples? Let pastors, like the apostles, go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. There is reason to hope that the church members would likewise imbibe the right spirit, and act on right principles. Then we should hear no more of schools disbanded and missionaries detained, but troops of heralds would be carrying out the news of salvation and sending back tidings of success. There is much philosophical and Bible truth in the proverb, "Like people like priest." O, what responsibility rests on the ministers of Christ!

Again, if all settled ministers of talent and influence remain at home, how can such a number of missionaries be secured as seem needed for the world's conversion? If many of those already in the sacred office do not go, it is absolutely certain, that the present generation of heathen must die without the Gospel. The angel of death continues hovering over the dying nations, mowing down his twenty millions a year; and before ministers can be raised up from among the youth and children, will be drawing a stroke at the last man of all that are now heathen. The present generation of ministers must preach the Gospel to the present generation of mankind. It will be the duty of the next generation of ministers to preach to the inhabitants that shall be then on the globe. To look for missionaries from among the young alone, is making no provision for the present generation of heathen. If the heathen are to be left till missionaries can be trained up, they are to be left—the soul shudders at the thought—till they shall be in hell! By making this postponement, the churches, in effect, though certainly without intending it, sign the death warrant of a great portion of the present six hundred millions of perishing heathen; relinquish all effort for this vast multitude, and only dream of saving the next generation—of whom it would be a mercy never to be born, unless there shall be more hope of their salvation than can be seen at present—dream, I say, of saving the next generation; for to think much of raising up the young to be missionaries, without going ourselves, is little better than dreaming.

To induce young men, to any great extent, to become missionaries, when their fathers and elder brethren do not, is hopeless. Precept must become more powerful than example, before such a result can take place. How can you so blindfold the young, stop their ears, and wall them off from surrounding influences, as to expect such a result? If their eyes are left open, what do they see? They see their fathers and elder brethren settled at home, and some of them in quiet, comfort and honor. If their ears are left open, what do they hear? They hear various excuses for remaining at home, and among others, the specious idea of training up children to be missionaries. And what will they do? They will dream of training your grandchildren for missions, and your grandchildren dream of training the next generation, and so on, as the sixty generations past have done, from the time of the Saviour down. But the fire of God's Spirit shall burn up this chaff. The world shall not be cheated out of its millenium. The judgment trumpet shall not sound before the arrival of the latter day glory.

To become a missionary, in the present state of things, is sailing against wind and tide; so that those who find their way to the heathen, compared with the number who ought to go, are very few indeed. To urge a large number into the field is hopeless. Bonaparte might as well have urged his soldiers over the Alps without leading them. We cannot expect the nature of things to change, and precept to become more powerful than example. A portion of the more talented of the settled ministry must lead the way. Then there shall be found a resuscitating principle; our eyes shall beam with joy, and we shall fondly cherish a rational hope of the world's renovation.

Again, many pastors should become missionaries, for all things await their personal enlistment in the service. God, in his providence, is causing a state of preparation in the world which calls for some mighty movement on the part of the church. A door is opened into almost every nation on the earth, and ships are ready to carry us to almost every port. Now is the time for a great effort. All the elements are ready for action, and need only to be brought to bear on the glorious cause of the world's conversion. To effect this, there must be a high stand of prayerful enterprise on the part of the present generation of ministers. The Lord has brought us to the ministry for such a time as this; and surely my brethren will not prove themselves unworthy of so vast a responsibility, but come up joyfully to the work, and reap the harvest of the world.

And here let me say, that the millions of souls already lost are immense; and it would be awfully presumptuous in Christians to neglect the millions and hundreds of millions of the present generation. Century after century has rolled along, ingulfing generation after generation, till one would think that Satan himself would be satisfied with the enormous havoc. Eighteen centuries have passed away, and sixty generations, five hundred millions each—thirty billions of immortal souls left to perish since Christ gave command to evangelize them. Are not thirty billions enough? Shall we, by any guilty neglect, suffer the present generation, six hundred millions more, to be added? O, let the billions of souls already lost suffice. O, let us arise, and go and preach the Gospel to the nations, that the generations that remain between this and the judgment may be saved.

Let me suggest, too, that nothing would so readily produce union among ministers at home, as to divert all their powers of body and mind into some all-absorbing and self-denying enterprise. Now, what angel of heaven has not wept over the contentions and jealousies that cloud the glory of the American churches. How has the heart of Jesus bled over the dissensions and strife of his own ministers! And is there no remedy? Let pastors become so engrossed in fulfilling their commission as to obey its literal import, and arise and go; and I mistake much, if the movement would not make a material impression on their contentions and jealousies. They would feel that they were doing a great work, and could not come down. For contention they would find neither time nor inclination. It would be difficult to state, in a foreign tongue, their metaphysical distinctions, so as to make a difference. Higher and nobler objects would engross the soul. Be entreated to try this course. Then the recording angel shall not be compelled, with aching heart and streaming eyes, to inscribe "Ichabod" on our American Zion; but, with willing soul and ready hands, shall write in fairer lines, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth."