Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

the cause, and ever evinced an absence of every motive like ease or emolument, affords ground to believe that he will exert a faithful oversight with regard to all his associates, and that they will largely partake of his spirit. The circumstance that one missionary and his wife have absolutely been dismissed from the service, shows that they are not by distance shielded from censure, and that when faulty or criminal they cannot escape with impunity. In truth, there cannot be any good cause to doubt, that in every important particular, the merits or demerits of each individual will be faithfully ascertained and reported; and that each will receive just that confidence and support, to which he is well and truly entitled.

Again, we are told, that the management of our missionary concerns at home would be more efficient, if we had experienced missionaries scattered over the country, or connected with the Board. I do not think there is much force in this argument, especially when it is understood, that these ex-missionaries would have been but a short time in the country, that they could during that period have hardly conquered the language, that their general acquaintance with men and things, is in all probability confined to a small circuit of territory, and that they have gathered up all their impressions from a broken and superficial intercourse with the natives. No one, certainly, can consider such an individual as prepared to set in judgment upon the concerns of an empire, or to litigate every little nice question, which may come up for discussion. For my own part, I am free to declare, that I would give more for the opinion of Mr. Judson, or some other man who has been as long in the field, than I would for the united guess-work of as many such men as you could place between here and Calcutta. I would have him, living in the immediate neighborhood of the stations, and perhaps occupying a central position, consider it a part of his duty, to exercise a general care of the mission, and endorse or not, as he may think proper, for this or that proposition, which may pass through him to the Board. This, upon every point which involves a great question, would afford us the best means of forming a safe and judicious decision, and would be infinitely better than to rely on the suggestions of one who has only taken a glance at the country.

But it is not only upon Mr. Judson, that we depend for ample means of information and knowledge. We have a missionary department, which unites the mind of a cabinet council; we have secretaries and officers attached to the Board, whose business it is to seek out, and collect from visiting missionaries, and others who have ever resided in India, all the facts they can get. Surely if they discharge their duty with any thing like zeal or ability, they cannot fail to amass a valuable stock of particulars, fully equal to meet any coming contingency. This, in connection with the united wisdom of the whole Board when in session, will, I am sure, meet all the demands of each case, without seeking any doubtful help from abroad, or taking with implicit confidence the word of one, who, like ourselves, may be sometimes mistaken.

Again, it has been said, that if our missionaries were only engaged for a limited term, we should always have as many as we want, and, what is more, men of the right stamp, instead of being compelled to take up with what we can get. I doubt much whether this would be the actual fact of the case. The life of a missionary would always be a life of privation and peril, and could not hold out any great attractions to those, who were not influenced by the purest intentions. Besides, his peculiar duties and studies are such, that he becomes unfitted for labor at home: all the experience he has had in the ministry is of no practical benefit: he has not been able to keep up with the current literature of the day, and, like a youth who has just quitted college, has to commence all de novo.

With regard to the possibility of obtaining better men, I have also my doubts. One thing is certain, that every one, whom God calls to this work, cannot be a Paul, or Apollos, nor yet a man of genius; and that the weakest instruments are sometimes owned and blessed of Heaven, in pulling down the strong holds of sin and Satan. In conclusion, I will merely express my strong and hearty conviction, that the missionary should always be engaged for life: he should feel, when he enters on duty, that he has drawn his sword, and thrown away the scabbard, that he has passed the Rubicon, that there is no middle fortune between death and victory.

A.

ON THE PROPER LIMITS OF NATURAL AFFECTION.

Natural affection-especially that of parents to children-is a strong passion implanted in the human breast, by the same Being who commanded that father and mother should be forsaken, on his account. And he who would make light of it, is a reproach to the Christian name-a curse to social life. But, like all the other blessings of life, it is liable to abuse. Satan seizes hold of these strong ties, and would fain make it evident that while the Christian must enlist all his energies in the cause of Christ, it is not a duty he requires to sunder those ties, which he has made a part of our nature. And, many who would be thought very devoted Christians, do not scruple to indulge themselves in this one thing, and whatever other sacrifices they may make, have no idea that it is any part of their duty to sacrifice natural affection. But he who gives way to these feelings-who uses this blessing as abusing itwho allows natural affection to interfere with the great work of salvation, is a greater reproach to the Christian name, than he who tramples upon it; for under the semblance of serving God, he sets up an idol in his heart, and gives to it that service which God requires. Under the profession of serving God in the way of his appointment, he abuses one of the richest gifts of his bounty; and, like the miser or glutton, perverts it to his own sordid purposes. The Christian religion does not lower the standard of natural affec

tion. On the other hand it is its glory that it purifies and elevates it. Still it requires that it should never be made a pretext for neglecting duty to the souls of others. So taught its Founder, by his own example.

While he never allowed affection for his friends to stand in the way of the work he came to accomplish, he never made light of social and domestic relations. In his youth, he was subject to his parents, thus exemplifying the necessity of obedience to the fifth commandment. When enduring the tortures of crucifixion, with a filial respect and attachment worthy of him who came to be an example in all things, he commended his mother to the care of his most beloved follower, with the request that he would henceforth care for her, as for his own mother; and also requested her to watch over that friend with maternal care.

Blessed Redeemer, thanks for such a glorious example!

But while he honored the moral law, by thus honoring his parents, he did not forget to enjoin upon his followers this momentous truth, "Whoso loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and whoso loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me." This precept he confirmed by his life. When he must be about his Father's business at the temple of Jerusalem, he did not hesitate to forsake his parents, even though it cost them many an anxious thought, and many a sorrowing tear. Again, when giving instructions to the multitude, and his mother and brothers sent in a request to see him, instead of obeying the summons, he seized upon the suggestion, and with a peculiar force and beauty, declared that those who did the will of his Father in heaven, were to be regarded as his mother, his sisters, and his brothers; or, in other words, Who claim my attention as mother, and sisters, and brothers? Those who do the will of my Father. Let me urge this upon you, and let it be a motive for you to lead holy lives.' At the marriage in Cana of Galilee, when his mother interfered in his official duty, he hesitated not to rebuke her; thus giving another example of not allowing love to friends to interfere with glory to God. Who was better calculated than he, who was of so holy a heart, to enjoy the pleasures of the family circle, and contribute to the welfare of his beloved parents? It must have been truly unmingled happiness, for one of such spotless purity to make pleasant the life, and smooth the dying pillow of so guileless a mother as the virgin Mary. But he could give up all for the sake of promoting the salvation of men.

6

So his followers should not give way to the unrestrained indulgence of this passion, any more than that of avarice or appetite. To the Christian who does this, the eye of faith is dim. His mind has become so warped by the things that concern himself, that he forgets the temporal woes-the everlasting doom of the unconverted. He forgets what Christ has done for his own soul. He forgets that Christ has promised to be with all his faithful servants to the end of the world. He forgets that heaven is the home of rest, where all enjoyment is to be consummated. He forgets that himself and friends are in the hands of God; that he can send

a loathsome disease into his family, as a punishment for swerving from duty; that he can send death, that unyielding executioner, whose blow, no parental anxiety can stay, no filial tears avert. But when the love of Christ is uppermost, and zeal for him prevails, self-denial is found to be as requisite in this, as in any other respect. So was it with the pious mother of Samuel J. Mills, the father of American benevolence. She thought she had given him up entirely to the work of the Lord. But when he announced his determination of going to the heathen, she started back, and refused consent. After she had retired to her closet, however, and communed with her Saviour, she rejoiced in the prospect of the self-denial she was to make. So in the case of another, who many years ago bid adieu to his native land. After a long time of unavailing argument with a widowed mother, he one day said to her," Now mother, to-morrow we will spend as a day of fasting and prayer; and if, at its close, you say I am wrong in my decision of going to the heathen, I will stay at home." At night they met, and, with a countenance full of joy, she said, Go, my son, and the Lord go with you."

[ocr errors]

That Christian is to be loved, who loves his family; but he is to be emulated, who loves Christ better!

IOTA.

[blocks in formation]

REVIEWS.

THE MORAL CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN THE PROMULGATION OF THE GOSPEL. An Address delivered in the Baptist Meeting House in Baldwin Place, Boston, on the evening of June 29, 1824. To Grover S. Comstock, William Dean, Justus H. Vinton, Hosea Howard, and Sewall M. Osgood, with their wives, and Miss Ann P. Gardner; on the occasion of their departure as Missionaries to the Heathen. By FRANCIS WAYLAND, President of Brown University. Published by the Board of Managers of the Baptist General Convention. Boston: John Putnam. pp. 26, 8vo. 1834.

We were among those who had the pleasure of hearing this Address, and we are happy to find that its distinguished author has yielded his permission to the Board of Managers to let it appear in print. As we are not among the number of those who tremble lest the author's literary fame should suffer by any new publication from his pen, but of those who believe that the anticipations of usefulness are dearer to his bosom, we will only remark on the Address as a literary production, that it fully sustains a reputation already too high to fear the efforts of envy or detraction. The proofs of superior ability already given by Dr. Wayland, are so numerous and substantial, that the Christian public will continue to look to his pen for services to the cause of Humanity and Religion, of no ordinary character. And not only so, but (as we doubt not, Dr. Wayland himself feels,) the glorious Master who bestowed his talents, will continue to look to him as a faithful steward for their exercise, in every way consistent with the original and sacred charge, Occupy till I come.

But, whatever may be thought of the intellectual character of this Address as compared with the former productions of its Author, none will deny that it is rich in heavenly wisdom, and is equally characterized by strong manly sense, intimate knowledge of the Scriptures, and depth of piety. Had we not known the fact of the writer's heavy domestic affliction, we should have almost suspected something of the kind from the spirit of Christian simplicity and heavenly-mindedness which breathes though every page. It is as if written amidst the clear serene light which shines on the soul which has been deeply taught in the school of sanctified affliction. What a touching allusion is contained in the following remarks in addressing the Missionaries.

"It seems, at first view, as though loneliness were connected solely with your residence in Burmah. But God could, in a single hour, render the dwelling-place of your fathers as solitary to each one of you, as Ava or Tavoy. If Christ be with you, you will have, in every event, an unchanging source of consolation: if he be absent, the thronged city may, at any moment, be made, by a single act of his providence, a solitary wilderness. In leaving the society of those whom you love, you are only anticipating, for a very short period, events which cannot be averted. It is one of the results of that change which the atonement of Christ has made in

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »