The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-02-26

colo l6 our love W 1nee Irue, tue uiooioh
ary of the present day is only stepping
stone to the future; but what privilege h'
possesses. He is known to "God manifes
in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen o.
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory" Ii
that not enough
Who would not be missionary? His
noble enterprise is in exact accordance with
ihe spirit of the age, and what is called the
spirit of the age is simply the movement OF
nutitudes of minds in the same direction.
They move according to the eternal and ell.
embracing DEGREES of God. The epirit of the
age ia one of benevolence, and it manifests
itself in numberless wsys-ragged schools,
baths and wash-houses, sanitary reform, etc.
Hence missionaries do not live before their
time. Their great idea of converting the
world to Christ is no chimera. 1t is Divine.
Christianity will triumph. 1t is equal to all
it has to perform. 1t is not mere enthusiasm
to imagine handful of missionaries capable
of converting the millions of India. How
often they are cut off just after they have
acquired the language! How often they re.
tire with broken; GSwn constitutions before
effecting anythin How often they drop
burning tears over their own feebleness amid
the defections of those they believed to be
converts !! Yes but that small band has the
decree of God on it's side. Who has not ad.
mired the band of Leonidas at the pass of
Thermopyl@! Three hundred against three
million. Japbet, with the decree of God, on
his side, only 300 strong, contending for en-
largement with Shem and his 5000, ,00O.-
Consider what has been effected during the
last fifty years. There is no vaunting of
scouts now. No Indian gentlemen making
themselves merry about the folly of thinking
to convert the natives of India; msgnifying
the difficulties of caste; and setting our min
listers into brown studies and speech making
in defence of missions. No mission has yet
been an entire failure. We who see such
small segments of the mighty cycles of Gods
providence often imagine some to be failures
which God does not. Eden was such fail
ure. The old world was failure under
Noah's preaching. Elijah thought it was all
up with Israel. Isaiah said: "Who hath
believed our report, and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed" And Jeremiah wish
ed his head we're waters, his eyes a fountain
of tears, to weep over one of Gods plans for
diffusing His knowledge among the heather.
If We could see larger arc of the great prov
idential cycle, we might sometimes rejoice
when we weep; but God giveth not account
of any of His matters. We must just trust
to His wisdom. Let US do cur duty. He
will work out a glorious consummation. Fifty
years ago missions could not lift up their
heads. But missions now are admitted by
all to be one Of the great facts of the age,
and the sneers about "Exeter Hall" are seen
by every one to embody Yisus sardonicus.
The present posture of affairs is, that benev-
olence is popular God is working out in
the human heart His great idea, and all ma
lions shall see His glory.
1t seems the design of God that Christian
icy and the best forms of mind should be as
and not only 80, but the best forms
Of literature, science, and civil government.
Scientific and Christian men have learned to
pursue their Investigations without denounc-
ing each other, and there is little fear now
Of their Investigations clashing. The mis-.
sionary goes forth having all the aids the
arts and sciences can furnish. 1t would have
been different, had God in His providence
permitted heather nations to make the dis.
coveries which now belong to the lands from
which alone missionaries emerge. Other ma.
tions seem to have been on the very verge of
these discoveries, but somehow or other,
there was all arrest Of development. The
Chinese knew the art of printing, and were
with the mariners compass and
gunpowder, long before they were thought of
by the Westerns. Porcelain and silk manu-
painting, chemistry, anatomy, as
tronomy, and literature made advances up
to certain period, and then, instead of pro-
ceeding to the wonderful applications of them
which Christian nations have made, inven.
ton gave place to marvellous national imi-
tation. What chance would the missionary
in China have had, supposing the Chinese
had anticipated US in our discoveries in the
arts and sciences? What argument could
an ignorant missionary sdduce against q
Buddhist priest, armed with the knowledge
Of the magic lantern, and the curious manip.
ulatons of chemistry, with which the attend
ants on our mechanics Institutes are in
structed and grstifed? God in His provi-
dence has permitted men to do in China and
India, what Christians could not have effect.
ed as such. The Arabians were on the verge
Of many of our modern discoveries in chem
istry. We derive our numerical and alge.
bracal figures from them, paper.making,
and most of our patent medi-
cines. If they had made our discoveries,
seeing they believed that their religion might
be propagated by the sword, what chance
could our poor island have had against Ma
hometan ships guided by the needle or pro
PEELED by steam? But as God has ordained
that every missionary who goes forth to the
heather carries with him character of su
perior ciVilisation and power, he has the ad-
vantage of belonging to a superior race-a
race known as such throughout the world
His message has the presumption of superb
ority with it; and wherever his message is
received, it is SO by some of the foremost
minds in the tribe.
A monstrous idea once obtained among
those from whose own education We might
have hoped better things" that any piOus
man who could read his Bible and make q
wheelbarrow was good enough to be mis-
sionary and the idea is not yet quite ex-
tinct, that mere learning and ability are
needed for the home pastorate than for the
foreign field. The idea would be tolerable
if any of those who entertained it we're not
judges and jury too in their own cause. The
complaisant belief that We at home require
ministers Of greater abilities than does the
missionary work, smacks of the conceit of
which Solomon gives some judiciOus hints. 1t
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