The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-06-02

an aqgressiye missionary spirit The obi
CATION resting upon the Church-to give the
Gospel to all the world-rests upon two con-
FirstmThe very nature of the Church de-
mands it;
Second-The analysis of the great com
munion will demonstrate it.
l. The idea of the eternal covenant OF
grace, entered into between the Father, as
the party contracting on the side OF heaven,
and Christ, the chosen of God, the party
contracting on mans side, is familiar to us
all. In this transaction, on both sides, there
are stipulations accepted. On the part Of
the Son, it was engaged that He should mag
Nifty the law, and make it honorable by His
active and passive obedience; that He should
keep the whole law, which man has broken
and die to satisfy the Justice of God.
On the part of the Father, it was promised
that the Son should be strengthened in His
work by the Divine arm; that He should be
accented in His work; and that He should
receive glorious reward for His work done.
"He shall see of the travail of His soul, and
be satisfied" is special prediction in re-
gard to Him. ''Ask of Me-" declares the
Father, "and 1 will give thee the heather
for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for Thy possession.
With this preliminary reference to the great
transaction, upon which the very existence
of the Church depends, let us recall to our
recollection. another fundamental principle,
which runs through all the teachings Of
Christ and His Apostles, and which was SO
LUMINOSITY and eloquently enforced at the
last convocation of this venerable Court, Of
the corporate life of the Church" and by
simple combination of the two, it will be
abundantly clear that this obligation rests
upon the Church, from her very nature
For if the Church is the body of which Christ
is the Head, while the individuals composing
the Church are the members, if Christ is the
vine and we the branches, then as He re
ceives reward as the result of the accom-
plishment of mission into the world; it fol.
lows from the living union between Him and
His Church, that all He loves is dear to us
all that He labors for, we must necessarily
labor for; all that He devises and wills to
do, we are bound to execute. In His suffer.
ing we partake, and in His glory we share.
! So intimate is this union too, that the
Church feels, pervading every part Of her
renovated being, the burning desire by
which He was absorbed, to glorify God in
the salvation of the world No select class
of the Church was appointed to feel, to love,
to labor in this work; it is not simply the
ministers of the Gospel who are to be CO.
laborers with God, but each one of the
whole body of believers is laborer, and a
sufferer, and an active agent in the great
enterprise. There is no exemption; Jesus
Christ expects every man to do his duty;
and it is legitimate and unavoidable con-
sequence of this corporate union, whereby
the whole body is pervaded with the very
essence of the Divine life; that every mem
Der becomes instinct with the same emotions
and impulses, even the STRINGS of Divine
love, which drew the Saviour from the skies.
Hence, under the pressure Of this Holy
sympathy, we 60 preaching that "the king
dom of heaven is at hand" and if we can
not preach, we give back to heavens treas.
ury, our portion of material means to send
others to preach; and if we have nothing
to give, we pray, "Thy kingdom come l"-
So that, in the spirit of John Wesley motto,
we continue to be sail at it, and always at
it,"
2. Look now at the language of the COM
mission given to the Church by Christ on
the eve of the Ascension, and there we find
both the warrant for the work OF Missions
as the duty of the Church, and the answer
to all the objections urged against its foreign
aspect. call power is given unto me in
Heaven and in Earth, is the preamble to
the command eco We therefore into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to every crea.
ture." Here is our warrant for the work,
and how any one who considers the univer-
salty of terms used in this command, can
regard it as optional with us to .confne our
efforts to either the home, or to the foreign
field, passes comprehension. The field is the
world, and the laborers must be distributed
in every portion of the field now "white
unto the harvest" if we mean to comply
with the Saviour's command. We do but
blindly mistake our obligations in their i'm
port, when we suffer ourselves to be wholly
absorbed in the contemplation of either OF
these departments of missionary effort, to
the exclusion of the other.
Nay, further; by this partial direction Of
the Church's energies, she loses the precious
reflex influence of an unselfsh devotion to
Gods glory in the service of our fellow.men
He who pleads that the Foreign field must
be ignored, and the Home missions must re.
ceive the undivided attention, or even the
chief care of the Church, is putting asunder
that which God has Joined, or rather, he is
dividing that which is but one. The same
warrant which bids us preach at home, sends
us abroad. The command which authorizes
the preaching to one, equally enforces the
obligation to "preach the gospel to every
creature in all the world" Moreover it is
delusive theory, that we should evangelze
the domestic field first, and then when that
work is completed, it will be time enough to
go abroad: since the home work is always
developing new calls for fresh labors every
where, and we have no reason to believe
that the work will ever be complete so long
as the world stands. 1t is, too, a cruel and
heartless principle, that we should confne
our sympathies and our labors and our be-
nevolence to one set of our fellow-beings,
while millions of others who are of our race
equally with them, are annually going down
to the regions of the dead, laden with the
burden of unpardoned sin.
Verify will God hold His blood-bought
Church to a grievous, and heavy response
bility, if we rest in this guilty insensibility,
and indulge in this objectionable selfshness.
1t is fact in this connection entirely over.