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 By whom is the world to be 
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§B IdJom is i\t foflrfir to k Conlitrttb? 
 
 OR 
 
 CHRISTIANS 
 
 CHRIST'S REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 CONVEESION OF THE WORLD. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS ^SMYTH, D. D. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST OF THE SYNOD OF SOUTH CAROLINA.i 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 No. 265 Chestnut Stbebt. 
 
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856, 
 
 By JAMES DUNLAP, 
 
 In the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man ■will come after me, let 
 him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. 
 
 As thou hast sent me into the -world, even so have I also sent them 
 Into the world. 
 
 For none of us liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself. 
 
 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying. All power is given unto 
 me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
 commanded you ; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of 
 the world. Amen. 
 
 The Rev. C. Simeon thus wrote: — ''Religion in its 
 rise interests us almost exclusively about ourselves ; in 
 its progress it engages us about the welfare of our fel- 
 low-creatures ; in its more advanced stages, it animates 
 us to consult on all things, and to exalt to the utmost 
 of our power the power of God." 
 
 ''The believer in Jesus Christ is the universal bene- 
 factor ; and it is by such free giving of his free receiv- 
 ings, that he not only enriches the world, but that he 
 obtains grace for grace, and augments the strength, the 
 beauty, and the happiness of his own soul. By such 
 scattering he increases." — Dr. James Hamilton. 
 
 "If any man doubts whether, as a Christian, he is 
 bound by the terms of his discipleship, to aid by prayer, 
 self-denying sacrifice, and personal exertion, in preach- 
 ing the gospel to every creature, let him, as the Duke 
 
OF Wellington once appropriately and graphically- 
 said, ' look to his commission, and there find his march- 
 ing orders.'" 
 
 '"Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy and 
 my burden is light.' Truth, Lord ! a light burden, indeed, 
 which supports him who bears it. I have looked abroad 
 through nature, to see if I could find anything that could 
 bear some analogy to this ; but I cannot find it, unless 
 it be the wings of a bird, which, while borne of the 
 creature, bear him aloft. In trath, to bear the Lord's 
 burden is to be permitted to cast it, together with our- 
 selves, into the arms of Omnipotence and Grace. — 
 Bernard op Clairvaux. 
 
 Luther says: — <<The command of love is a short 
 command, and a long command, a simple command and 
 a multitudinous command, no command and every com- 
 mand ; for the command of love destroys all commands, 
 and yet establishes all." 
 
 "It has been an intense and a growing conviction in the 
 minds of some of us, that there is not at this moment 
 one single Church in Christendom, as a whole, in any 
 way adequately alive to the reality, the true nature, and 
 transcendent grandeur of God's greatest work on earth, 
 even that of the evangelization of the world." — Dr. 
 Duff. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Preface 7 
 
 The Kingdom of Christ destined to become uni- 
 versal 9 
 
 This Universality of the Kingdom of Christ to be 
 brought about thi-ough the instrumentality of 
 Man 17 
 
 Self-Denial, and living for others, a universal 
 law among all holy beings, and restored by 
 Redemption 25 
 
 This principle of Love, and living for others, 
 illustriously exemplified in God, and in Christ 
 our Saviour 30 
 
 Christianity the embodiment, and Christians the 
 living models, of this spirit of self-denying 
 love 33 
 
 Selfish piety not only not Christian, but anti- 
 
 christian 42 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 The extension of God's kingdom has always been 
 
 a trust for which man has been responsible 50 
 
 Active, self-denying and liberal co-operation in the 
 cause of Christ, not indifferent, but essential 
 to Christians and Churches 58 
 
 All can do something 64 
 
 This is the only way to secure prosperity and peace, 
 
 here and hereafter 66 
 
 No man liveth or dieth unto himself. 73 
 
 Our churches and church members must do more. ... 80 
 
 What can be done ? 81 
 
 Motives for doing what every one can do 83 
 
 Appendix 95 
 
PREFxiCE. 
 
 The author's design in this argument is to 
 bring the subject of liberality and devotion 
 to the cause of Foreign Missions not only to 
 the consideration of the understanding, so as 
 to awaken conviction, but into the more inti- 
 mate presence of the affections of the heart, 
 so as to make it feel that this is a work that 
 comes home to every man's business and 
 bosom. He would appeal, therefore, not 
 merely to faith, but also to hope; not merely 
 to a sense of obligation, but also to that of 
 interest and self-love. He would show that 
 the conversion of the ivorld is not only a 
 work that shall be, and that ought to be, ac- 
 complished, but that it is one in whose ac- 
 complishment every individual Christian and 
 church has both a partnership and a pro- 
 prietorship; both a labour to perform and 
 
 (7) 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 remuneration to secure. He would thus im- 
 part to his readers not only conviction of a 
 trust, but a willingness to recognize, and 
 power to fulfil it. He would enkindle not 
 only a greater readiness and desire towards 
 this "good work," but love itself. And by 
 showing the relation in which activity in this 
 mission of the Church stands to immortality, 
 to union and fellowship with Christ, and to 
 spirituality, and hope, and joy, he would 
 desire to make that a labour of love and a 
 life of pleasantness and peace, which, in the 
 light of obligation merely, might wear to 
 some the aspect of hopelessness, self-denial, 
 and unrequiting, if not useless toil. 
 
 May He who has graciously declared, that 
 he is glorified when his disciples bear much 
 fruit, and that they prove their love to him 
 by their obedience to his commandments, ac- 
 company this appeal with his Spirit, and 
 cause his Church and people to arise and 
 shine, the glory of the Lord having arisen 
 upon them. 
 
BY WHOM IS THE WORLD TO BE 
 CONVERTED? 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST DESTINED TO BECOME UNIVERSAL, 
 
 Evert one who receives the Bible as 
 "given by inspiration of God," must believe 
 that it will be all verified through the work- 
 ing of that infinite wisdom and power with 
 which he makes all things to conspire for 
 the fulfilment of his purposes, so that 
 though heaven and earth may pass away, 
 one jot or tittle of all he has said shall in 
 no wise pass away till all be fulfilled. 
 
 Every believer in the Bible must there- 
 fore be convinced that the kingdom of Christ 
 is destined to extend its spiritual conquests, 
 until it shall include within its dominion all 
 kingdoms and nations. Nothing can be 
 more explicit than the repeated declarations 
 of this purpose, contained in the word of 
 2 
 
10 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 God. "I ■will declare the decree. The 
 Lord (L e. Jehovah) hath said unto me, 
 Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten 
 thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the 
 heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
 most parts of the earth for thy possession." 
 This is a part of the covenant which has been 
 entered into between the Father and the Son 
 in " the counsel of peace that was between 
 them both." Therefore all nations and 
 kings are commanded, at their peril, to 
 recognize and be in subjection to Christ. 
 (Psalm ii; see also Psalm ex.) This is no 
 doubtful interpretation. Of this same decree 
 we have another account by the prophet 
 Daniel (vii. 13, 14, 27); "I saw in the night 
 \isions, and behold, one like the Son of Man 
 <;ame with the clouds (the myriad host) of 
 heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, 
 and they brought him near before him. 
 And there was given him dominion and 
 glory, and a kingdom, that all people, na- 
 tions, and languages should serve him. His 
 dominion is an everlasting dominion, which 
 shall not pass away, and his kingdom that 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 11 
 
 which shall not be destroyed. And the 
 kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of 
 the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall 
 be given to the people of the saints of the 
 Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting 
 kingdom, and all dominions (or rulers) shall 
 serve hira." 
 
 This dominion was assumed and estab- 
 lished by our Lord Jesus Christ, who laid 
 its foundation in his finished work of obedi- 
 ence unto death, and secured its ultimate 
 and certain accomplishment by his resur- 
 rection from the dead, his ascension into 
 heaven, and his resumption, as " Head over 
 all things for the Church," of that "glory 
 which he had with the Father from before 
 the foundation of the world." When, there- 
 fore, after his resurrection, our Saviour 
 appeared to the members of his kingdom, 
 as far as then existing, who were gath- 
 ered together by his special appointment, he 
 said unto them: "All power is given unto 
 me in heaven and on earth: go ye therefore 
 and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 
 
12 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 We repeat, therefore, our declaration, that 
 every man who believes in the Bible, and in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the 
 world, must also believe that the kingdom of 
 Christ is destined to be universal. 
 
 Everything about it is universal, and no- 
 thing local, national, temporary, or exclu- 
 sive. Christ, its King and Redeemer, is " the 
 Saviour of all men," and "the propitiation 
 for our sins, and not for ours only, but also 
 for the sins of the whole world." As "God 
 our Saviour, he will have all men to be saved, 
 and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 
 He gave himself, therefore, a ransom for 
 all to be testified in due time unto all. 
 
 The knowledge of this Saviour, and of the 
 propitiation made by him for the sins of all 
 in the world who believe upon him, is the 
 gospel, — the good spell — " the glad tidings 
 which shall be to all people," — " good will to- 
 ward men." As this gospel is " everlasting," 
 so it is universal, and to be proclaimed "unto 
 them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 13 
 
 nation, and kindred, and tongue, and peo- 
 ple." 
 
 The provisions, the promises, the com- 
 mands, the obligations, the ordinances, the 
 sacrifices, the benefits, and blessings of this 
 kingdom are equally and alike for all men. 
 It has no respect for persons, and makes no 
 exceptions. It regards every man as a sin- 
 ner, and guilty before God, and sweeps with 
 the " besom of destruction" all the sublunary 
 distinctions and difi'erences among men. In 
 the administration of this kingdom "there is 
 neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond 
 nor free, there is neither male nor female," 
 there is neither high nor low, rich nor poor, 
 wise nor foolish, learned nor ignorant, Saxon 
 nor Celtic, European, Asiatic, African, nor 
 American. "All are one" out of Christ, 
 equally helpless and hopeless; and " all are 
 one in Christ," "for all are the children of 
 God by faith in Christ Jesus." 
 
 This great fundamental truth, which levels 
 all human distinctions in one common type 
 of sin and misery, and melts all human rela- 
 tionships into one common brotherhood, and 
 
 9* 
 
14 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 one common fatherhood — God in Christ — is 
 made equally certain by negative, as well as 
 by positive, teaching. For as Christ is the 
 Saviour of all men, so that whosoever of 
 the sons of men believeth on him shall not 
 perish, but have everlasting life, so also is 
 it declared from heaven that " neither is 
 there salvation in any other, for there is 
 none other name under heaven, given among 
 men," by which any man can be saved. 
 He, therefore, that believeth not on the 
 Son of God (be he who or what he may) 
 shall be damned. He is even condemned 
 already, because he hath not believed on 
 the only-begotten Son of God, and the wrath 
 of God abideth on him. 
 
 But further: as this kingdom of Christ is 
 thus universal in its provisions and in its ad- 
 ministration, so is it uniform in the mode by 
 which men secure the appropriation of its 
 blessings. Salvation can be appropriated 
 by any human being, only through the exer- 
 cise of faith. This is the only possible me- 
 dium by which that which is external to the 
 Boul, that which is spiritual, invisible, or 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 15 
 
 founded upon the testimony of another, can 
 become ours. Christ and his salvation can, 
 therefore, become the joyful experience of 
 any soul only through faith, by which, 
 though now it sees not Christ, yet, believ- 
 ing upon him, it rejoices with joy unspeak- 
 able, and full of glory. The exercise of 
 faith, in order to salvation, is thus made es- 
 sentially prerequisite, not by any arbitrary 
 arrangement on the part of God, nor by any- 
 thing peculiar in the gospel, but by the very 
 constitution of the human mind, and of the 
 world around it. All knowledge, and there- 
 fore all conduct, — for this depends on know- 
 ledge, — and all the happiness or misery of 
 life, are based ultimately on the principle of 
 faith. 
 
 But as faith results from the certainty 
 of testimony and the authority and veracity 
 of the testator, in order to its possible exer- 
 cise, that testimony and that authority must 
 be present to the mind. Man, as a rational 
 being, can only believe when he has what 
 he regards as sufficient authority for what is 
 believed. He may be grossly deluded and 
 
16 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 deceived, but he believes, because ignorant 
 of, or unwilling to admit, the delusion. For 
 a man, therefore, to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and in salvation through him, 
 and to have that peace with God which is 
 the consequence of such faith, he must neces- 
 sarily possess sufficient knowledge of Christ 
 and of the salvation he has accomplished. 
 This is what is so logically, so philosophi- 
 cally, and, at the same time, so authorita- 
 tively, taught by the Apostle Paul (Rom. x. 
 13.) After stating the universality of the 
 gospel, and that faith is the only condition 
 made necessary for its reception, — "for who- 
 soever shall call on the name of the Lord 
 shall be saved," — he goes on to ask, " How, 
 then, shall they call on him in whom they 
 have not believed ? and how shall they be- 
 lieve on him of whom they have not heard? 
 and how shall they hear without a preacher? 
 So, then, faith cometh by hearing, and hear- 
 ing by the (preaching of the) word of God." 
 In every point of view, therefore, in which 
 they can be considered, the kingdom of 
 Christ and the gospel of the kingdom, 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 17 
 
 (whether we regard them as founded on the 
 decree of God or as established bj Christ,) 
 with all their provisions, promises, means of 
 grace, and mode of appropriation, are uni- 
 versal, adapted to man as man, free and full 
 to all alike, and offering to every creature, 
 in all the world, the unspeakable gift of 
 God's only begotten Son, so that whosoever 
 believeth in him may not perish, but have 
 everlasting life. 
 
 May it not, then, be laid down as a first 
 principle, an incontrovertible truth, that 
 every one who truly believes the Bible, 
 and in Christ as the Saviour of the world, 
 must also believe that his kingdom and gos- 
 pel are designed to be as universal as the 
 family of man ? 
 
 THIS UNIVERSALITY OF THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST TO BE 
 BROUGHT ABOUT THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF 
 MAN. 
 
 "VVe proceed to make another remark, and 
 that is, that, as in accordance with the will 
 and word of God, the kingdom and gospel of 
 Christ are designed to be universal, and as 
 
18 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 all the resources and attributes of Deity must 
 be considered as pledged for the fulfilment 
 of this purpose, every one who truly believes 
 the Bible, and in Christ as there revealed, 
 must believe that this universality will be 
 brought about through the agency of man. 
 
 This is the only way by which, in consist- 
 ency with man's nature, as a free, rational, 
 and responsible being, and in accordance with 
 the analogy of God's government in the 
 natural world, the kingdom of Christ can 
 become universal. 
 
 We might conceive it possible for God 
 miraculously to convey the gospel of this 
 kingdom, by angelic or human agency, to 
 every nation, singly and individually. But 
 besides being in contrariety to the whole 
 analogy of the divine government, such a me- 
 thod would be contrary to the generic, funda- 
 mental laws of unity, simplicity, and repre- 
 sentation. It would involve an unnecessary 
 multiplication of causes for the production of 
 a desired result, in contrariety to those great 
 laws, by each of which, singly and alone, we 
 see innumerable results constantly secured. 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 19 
 
 It would break up the human race into indi- 
 viduals, in violent opposition to every organic 
 principle of human nature, and of the divine 
 procedure in all departments of the natural 
 world; and it would contradict that principle 
 of representation by which the many are 
 bound together under one law, one centre of 
 influence, one head or representative. This 
 law is found lying at the foundation of all 
 order, both in the natural and moral gov- 
 ernment of God, in the family, the commu- 
 nity, the state, the kingdom, and the world 
 at large, and is the basis of all association, 
 intercourse, and business between different 
 individuals and countries. 
 
 As this method, therefore, would involve 
 the adoption of supernatural, miraculous, and 
 anomalous agency, where natural means 
 might be employed, the only plan left for 
 the universal extension of the gospel and 
 kingdom of Christ, was the appointment 
 of some one people, nation, or church, pre- 
 pared for the purpose by proper training, 
 provided with all necessary evidence, know- 
 ledge, gifts, and graces, and under the 
 
20 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 assurance of divine guidance, efficiency, and 
 success — as witnesses, heralds, and instruct- 
 ors of their fellow-men. 
 
 Such a plan is in perfect accordance with 
 the whole analogy of the natural world, and 
 with all the laws mentioned. It recognizes the 
 unity of the human race, their common nature, 
 their common origin, apostasy, and ruin, 
 their participation in the same miseries and 
 forebodings of that judgment which is after 
 death, the common salvation and Saviour, and 
 the one and only way in which any man can be- 
 come a partaker of this "so great salvation." 
 
 This plan is adapted, therefore, to the 
 nature of man, as well as to the principles of 
 God's government in the natural and moral 
 world. There is also a perfect congruity be- 
 tween the plan and the agent who is to carry 
 it out. Man is an active being, and finds all 
 his powers developed by exertion, without 
 which he is unhealthy, unhappy, useless. 
 Man is a social being, and can find full play 
 for his faculties, and perfect enjoyment for his 
 desires and affections, only in companionship 
 and association with his fellow men. Man 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 21 
 
 is endowed with the gift of language and 
 ■with intelligence to learn from others, and 
 to communicate knowledge to them, and in 
 doing so he is aided by the marvellous power 
 of the human voice, with its accompanying 
 tones, looks, sympathies, and gestures. Man 
 is a fearless, enterprising being, fond of tra- 
 vel and of change, capable of endurance, and 
 nerved by danger and exploits, and can thus 
 roam the earth in search of adventure, and 
 inhabit every climate. Man was designed, 
 and ought, to be a benevolent being, capa- 
 ble of love and pity, generosity and dis- 
 interested philanthropy. He is sensitive 
 to calamity, touched with woe, sympathizing 
 with distress, and impelled to acts of charity 
 and labours of love, by the whole power of 
 his affections, and the commanding authority 
 of his conscience requiring this as his duty. 
 Happiness, therefore, according to the very 
 constitution of man's nature, is connected 
 with activity in doing good to others; and a 
 man might just as reasonably expect to be 
 happy in the solitude of a desert, or to be in 
 health without food, as to be happy in the in- 
 3 
 
22 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 dulgence of a selfish inactivity. Millions have 
 tried the experiment, but with the same result. 
 In proportion to their capacity to do good, 
 and their devotion of that power to selfish 
 purposes, they have destroyed their own true 
 felicity, like Swift, one of the most selfish as 
 he was one of the most talented of men, and 
 of whom Archbishop King said that "he was 
 the most unhappy man on earth." "And 
 surely it is a striking testimony to the 
 divine benevolence, that God so arranged 
 the world that every generous impulse does 
 as much for the giver as the receiver, while 
 a man is never so happy as while intent on 
 the happiness of others."* 
 
 Man is also a spiritual being, possessed not 
 only of bodily powers, and senses, and appe- 
 tites, but of mind and heart, by which he 
 comes into contact with other minds and 
 hearts. He finds that as face answereth to 
 face in a glass, so does the heart of man to 
 man, and that independently of all other 
 means of communication, men can enter into 
 
 * See Xote A. 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 23 
 
 each other's feelings, rejoice with each other 
 when they rejoice, and weep with each other 
 when they weep; and that through the me- 
 dium of language spoken and written, they 
 can convey to each other their ideas, their 
 sentiments, and their convictions. 
 
 Man is further a representative being. 
 He is a type and model of his race. In him- 
 self he has all the essential laws and princi- 
 ciples of humanity, personal and yet homo- 
 geneous — individual and distinct, and not a 
 link in the chain, a drop in the ocean of life, 
 a ray in the sunshine, a pulsation of the com- 
 mon heart. Everything common to man is 
 his, and nothing strange. Bearing the stamp 
 of the same original and the same degrada- 
 tion, he can therefore stand up among his 
 fellow-men, and from the admitted principles 
 of a common experience, tell them of their 
 sins and sorrows, and need of salvation, by 
 unfolding to them his own. 
 
 To all this we would add, that man is a 
 religious being, capable of knowing, loving, 
 serving, and finding his supreme and only 
 satisfying happiness in, God. As such, man 
 
24 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 cannot but admit that his relations to God 
 are his highest, his obligations to God un- 
 speakable, his duty to God paramount. He 
 must feel that as God is the common Father 
 of all men, all men are brethren, and that 
 as it is his first and great commanded 
 duty to love God with all his heart, and soul, 
 and strength, and mind, so is it his se- 
 cond great duty to " love his neighbour as 
 himself," to love the soul of his neighbour 
 even as he loves and values his own soul, 
 that is, as infinitely more important than any- 
 thing that is merely temporal, and, by the 
 communication of spiritual knowledge, to im- 
 part to the souls of his fellow-men, even as 
 he would desire and feel it right, and kind, 
 and merciful in others, to communicate to 
 him, that spiritual good on which depends 
 everlasting life. 
 
 " He who needeth love, to love hath right ; 
 It is not like our furs and stores of corn, 
 Whereto we claim sole title by our toil. 
 The God of love plants it within our hearts, 
 And waters it, and gives it sun, to be 
 The common stock and heritage of all." 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 25 
 
 SELF-DKNIAL, AND LIVING FOR OTHERS, A UNIVERSAL LAW 
 AMONG ALL HOLY BEINGS, AND RESTORED BY REDEMP- 
 TION. 
 
 It has thus heen shown that man is so 
 constituted as to be not only adapted to the 
 work of extending the kingdom of Christ, 
 but to be incapable of the full development 
 of his nature and the full measure of his 
 happiness, except in active exertion and self- 
 denying charity, and prayer, and interest in 
 this glorious end and aim of life. It was, 
 therefore, necessary for the happiness and the 
 moral elevation of man, that the fulfilment 
 of this great purpose of God should be 
 entrusted to his agency as a "steward of 
 the manifold mercies of God," that in doing 
 good to others he might himself be blessed, and 
 find by experience that " it is more blessed 
 to give than to receive." Man's chief end 
 was that he might glorify and enjoy God. 
 To enjoy God, however, he must glorify him. 
 His will must be conformed to God's will, his 
 life to God's law, his aim to God's purpose, 
 and his whole heart to God's service. This 
 was the spirit of Christ as our incarnate 
 3* 
 
20 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 exemplar, and filled his heart with joy, so 
 that he counted it even as his meat and 
 drink to do the will of God. This is the 
 spirit of angels, and makes angels what they 
 are — holy and happy. This is the spirit of 
 heaven, and fills heaven with satisfying bless- 
 edness. This, too, was the spirit of primeval 
 man, while as yet he was unacquainted with 
 grief, and untainted with sin. 
 
 Indeed, this spirit animites all the works 
 of God. "For others and not for myself," 
 is the life of all that lives, the growth of all 
 that grows, the existence of all that exists. 
 It is the utterance alike of animate and inan- 
 imate nature. In the light that enlivens us, 
 the air that sustains us, the water that puri- 
 fies us, the earth that nourishes us — in the 
 deep mines that warm, and enrich, and gar- 
 nish our persons and our habitations — in all 
 the beauty, the grandeur, and the sublimity 
 of nature — in every flower that blooms and 
 sheds its fragrance — in every tree that 
 spreads its branches so as to delight the 
 eye, and ripens its fruit so as to gratify the 
 taste — in every shower that waters the earth, 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 27 
 
 and every dew-drop that glistens in the 
 morning ray — everywhere, and in every thing, 
 "we find written, "not for myself but for oth- 
 ers." Most surely, then, will this be true 
 of man who was made in God's image, but 
 a little lower than the angels, God's exemp- 
 lar, representative, and almoner upon earth. 
 "No man liveth unto himself" is the law 
 impressed upon his nature, the condition of 
 his being, the prerequisite of his well-being, 
 the inflexible rule and measure of his worth, 
 and the inexorable awarder of his propor- 
 tionate recompense in present enjoyment and 
 ever-abiding happiness. 
 
 A man, therefore, who lives to himself, 
 is an anomaly in the universe. He is the 
 only being and the only thing, in all the cre- 
 ation of God, that so exists. He is a moral 
 monster, ugly, misshapen, deformed, without 
 natural affection, an abomination in the sight 
 of God and of all holy beings — "earthly, 
 sensual, devilish." Yes, selfishness is the 
 law of Satan, not of God ; of human corrup- 
 tion, not of human nature ; of man fallen, 
 not of man upright. It is sin, and guilt, 
 
?8 BY AVHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 and misery. It is the black and damning 
 proof of man's rebellion against God, and 
 subj^tion to the Evil One. It undermines 
 man's nature, God's law, earth's happiness, 
 heaven's holiness, the very throne and majes- 
 ty of God. It has driven out legions of 
 apostate angels from heaven, peopled earth 
 with criminals, and hordes of beings more 
 reckless and ruthless than the beasts of the 
 forest ; prepared hell for the devil, his an- 
 gels, and ungodly men ; and filled every 
 breeze that blows with the sounds of weep- 
 ing, and wailing, and bitter lamentations. 
 
 In the plan of redemption we may be very 
 sure, therefore, that — as it is designed to 
 remedy man's great calamity, renovate his 
 corrupt nature, and reinstate him in holiness 
 and happiness in the service, glory, and en- 
 joyment of God — man will become the instru- 
 ment, in God's hand — made effective by God's 
 working in him and with him — of proclaim- 
 ing peace and good-will to men, the domin- 
 ion of love, the reign of charity, and the 
 universal brotherhood of the human family. 
 Man will himself be made, by the power of 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 29 
 
 God through the gospel of his Son, the pat- 
 tern of renovated and redeemed humanity. 
 Exorcised from the spirit of selfishness, and 
 possessed of the spirit of love — love to God, 
 love to Christ, and love to the souls of men, 
 he is "compelled" to go forth among his 
 fellows, proclaim to them " the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ," tell them what God has 
 done for his own soul, and as "the Spirit 
 and the bride say, Come," to say "who- 
 soever will may come, and take of the 
 water of life freely." Man's individual good 
 is thus promoted while securing the good of 
 others. "Self-denial is made the cure of 
 selfishness." Living for others invigorates 
 and establishes the true life of man, and 
 serving Christ, following him, enduring the 
 cross, and counting all things but loss for 
 the honour of his name and the advancement 
 of his kingdom, fills the heart with peace 
 and joy, and enables it to rejoice in hope of 
 the glory of God. 
 
 "This holy work, this heavenly task, 
 Will furnish all we ought to ask ; 
 Room to deny ourselves, a road 
 To bring us daily nearer God." 
 
30 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 THIS PRIXCIPLE OF LOVE, AND LIVING FOR OTHERS, ILLUS- 
 TRIOUSLY EXEMPLIFIED IN GOD, AND IN CHRIST OUR 
 SAVIOUR. 
 
 Such, assuredly, is the nature and design 
 of the gospel in its operation upon the heart 
 of every individual believer of it. Salvation 
 is so imparted as to create in every recipient 
 the desire to impart salvation to others, and 
 a spirit of self-denying charity, liberality, 
 and effort to extend the gospel and the king- 
 dom of Christ, according to his ability, to 
 every creature. 
 
 "The blessed God," whose "glorious gos- 
 pel" it is, liveth not for himself. He is the 
 parent of all good, "the Father of lights,^ 
 from whom cometh down every good and per- 
 fect gift." Ages before the creation of man 
 he established the foundations of his future 
 habitation, laid up in store-houses, all ready 
 and prepared for his use, everything that 
 was necessary for his future comfort, and 
 beautified and adorned it with all that is 
 rich, varied, and delightful to the most 
 refined taste. And when man had plunged 
 himself into the abyss of misery, God, who, 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 31 
 
 had hitherto worked for his temporal com- 
 fort, "so loved him as to give his only be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life.'* 
 God has thus made himself known in the 
 gospel as LOVE, that we may learn that love 
 is the spirit by which he "brings us back 
 unto God;" that "love is the fulfilling of the 
 law;" that in loving him we will love also 
 our fellow-men ; and that if we are not actu- 
 ated by a spirit of charity and benevolent 
 exertion for them, the love of God cannot 
 dwell in our hearts. 
 
 Christ as the author and finisher of our 
 faith, the subject and the spirit of the gospel, 
 its altar-sacrifice and priest, its foundation, 
 superstructure, and security, its life and 
 power — Christ liveth not for himself. "He 
 loved us and gave himself for us." He 
 gave up the glory "which he had with the 
 Father from before the foundation of the 
 world," that he might come down to earth to 
 "seek and to save those who were lost." He 
 entered into our nature, assumed our earthly 
 relations, trials and toils, endured our griefs 
 
32 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 and carried our sorrows, and was in all 
 points tempted even as we are, that in this 
 body of flesh, in this earthly life, and in this 
 world of duty and of danger, he might set 
 us an example, and induce us to walk in his 
 steps. In a representative world, under a 
 system of universal representation, in a na- 
 ture eminently and in every way representa- 
 tive and represented, he became the repre- 
 sentative of humanity, "the second Adam," 
 that " as in Adam all died, so in Christ all," 
 who become related to him by faith, "may 
 be made alive." He did not his own will, but 
 the will of Him that sent him. He pleas- 
 ed not himself. He went about his Fa- 
 ther's business. " He went about doing 
 good," bearing reproach, receiving evil for 
 his good done, malevolence for his kindest 
 actions, and persecution, even unto blood, 
 for his God-like devotion to the interests 
 of humanity. Self-denial was the spirit of 
 his life, self-sacrifice the character of all his 
 actions, and love — living not unto himself, 
 but for others, for strangers and even ene- 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 33 
 
 mies — the very element in which he lived, 
 and moved, and had his being. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY THE EMBODIMENT, AND CHRISTIANS THE HV- 
 ING MODELS, OF THIS SPIRIT OF SELF-DENYING LOVE. 
 
 Now, what Christ was, Christianity is, and 
 Christians are to be. Christianity is the 
 religion of Christ ; the worship and service 
 of Christ ; union to Christ by faith, which is 
 his own gift and the fruit of his Spirit ; 
 love and devotion to Christ ; living not unto 
 ourselves but unto him who redeemed us 
 with his own precious blood, that we might 
 be a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 
 To be a Christian, is to live by the faith of 
 the Son of God ; to live with him, to live as 
 Christ lived, to do as Christ did, and to have 
 the Spirit of Christ. If Christ is the vine, 
 every Christian is a branch, nourished with 
 his sap, growing by his life, blooming with 
 his fragrance, and bearing fruit '' for the 
 healing of the nations." If Christ is a 
 head, every Christian is a member, acting in 
 unison with that head for the accomplish- 
 ment of its purposes of grace and mercy. 
 4 
 
84 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 Christ is the divine sculptor. From him 
 sprang the glorious ideal of regenerated 
 man. He himself became the mould and 
 type of man "upright," man "holy, harm- 
 less and undefiled ;" knowing no sin, neither 
 having guile in his heart ; living among them, 
 and yet "separate from sinners;" in it, and 
 yet not of, the world, and unspotted by it ; 
 diligent in business, and yet fervent ia 
 spirit, serving God, and having his affec- 
 tions set on things that are above. And as 
 the sculptor hands over his model to his 
 workmen, that they may imitate and repro- 
 duce its likeness, guiding them by his eye 
 and correcting them by his skill, so does 
 Christ give into the hands of his disciples 
 his divine model, that under his eye, and 
 the power of the Holy Ghost working in and 
 with them in quickening and transforming 
 energy, they may be his instruments in fash- 
 ioning other hearts, and making them "new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus." As we have 
 borne the image, and the spirit, and the 
 selfish life of the earthly Adam, we must 
 also bear the image of the heavenly. The 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 35 
 
 form, the features, the benevolent expres- 
 sion, the tones of melting tenderness, the 
 words of love and power, the life of good- 
 ness, the doing good to all men, will all be 
 transferred to "the living epistle seen and 
 read of all men," written not on tables 
 of stone, but on the fleshy table of the 
 heart of every one who is chosen of God, 
 and changed into the image of Christ. 
 
 The universal law of Christ is, "if any 
 man will come after me," that is, come out 
 from the world and be separated from it, 
 renouncing its dominion and authority, and 
 becoming subject unto Christ, " he must 
 deny himself." He must renounce all claim 
 to be his own property and his own master. 
 He must make the will of Christ, and not 
 his own will, the authority and obligation of 
 his actions. He must make the word of 
 Christ, and not his own opinions or the 
 opinions of others, the rule and measure of 
 duty. He must make love to Christ, and 
 not love of self, the motive of all his actions, 
 and he must make the cause of Christ, and 
 the kingdom of Christ, and the glory of 
 
86 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 Christ in the salvation of souls, and not 
 money-making, or money-hoarding, or mo- 
 ney-spending, the end and object of his life. 
 To human nature as it is, this is a heavy 
 cross, but it must be borne ; a mortifica- 
 tion of the body, but it must be suffered ; 
 and a crucifixion to the world, but it must 
 be offered up. Transformed by this re- 
 newing of his mind, and receiving power 
 and grace from Christ, the believer follows 
 him, through evil and through good report, 
 in doing good and abstaining from evil, 
 " willing to communicate, ready to distri- 
 bute, and zealous in all good works." 
 
 The Christian is a good soldier of Jesus 
 Christ, "sworn liegeman of the cross and 
 thorny crown." Christ is now the com- 
 mander and leader of his soul, " the cap- 
 tain of his salvation." "The field is the 
 world." The banner given him to unfurl 
 in the cause of truth and righteousness, is 
 the banner of salvation, the gospel of the 
 grace of God. This word of life he is to 
 hold forth. Under this he is to march. 
 After this he is to follow. For this he is to 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 37 
 
 fight manfully the good fight of faith. 
 Around this he is to press. To this he is to 
 cling in every fiery assault of the adversary. 
 And to plant this on every fortress of the 
 enemy, and see its white pennons floating in 
 the winds of heaven, and carrying with it 
 the assurance of victory and of peace, and 
 good will to the vanquished ; this, this, is 
 the exultant joy of every loyal heart, as he 
 shouts glory to his divine and exalted Sa- 
 viour. 
 
 Ye who your Lord's commission bear 
 
 His way of mercy to prepare — 
 
 Augels he calls ye — be your strife 
 
 To lead on earth an angel's life. 
 
 Think not of rest, though dreams be sweet, 
 
 Start up and ply your heavenward feet. 
 
 Is not God's oath upon your head, 
 
 Ne'er to sink back on slothful bed; 
 
 Never again your loins untie, 
 
 Nor let your torches waste and die, 
 
 Till when the shadows thickest fall 
 
 Ye hear your Master's midnight call ? 
 
 As the gospel knows no distinction, and 
 
 Christ's kingdom no limit of time or place, 
 
 or people or country, so is it with the Chris- 
 4* 
 
38 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 tian. To him there are no Home and Foreign 
 Missions in 'princiiAe, though for convenience 
 and division of labour, as in the science of 
 the several kingdoms of God's one universal 
 dominion, he may admit the distinction. But 
 in Christ there is no difference, except that of 
 destitution, ignorance, barbarity, and rela- 
 tive precedence in their bearing upon the 
 universal, ultimate result. All such distinc- 
 tions are founded in selfishness and not in 
 love, in temporary and not permanent re- 
 lations, in physical and not in spirituarl equa- 
 lities. They are not of the Father, but of the 
 world, founded in man's present weaknesses 
 and wants, and terminating with his present 
 sublunary condition. They indicate to man 
 i\\Q order but not the ZmiYs of duty ;- where, 
 he is to begin and how he is to proceed, but 
 not the boundary within which his love, and 
 charity, and labour are to be circumscribed. 
 Piety must begin in the individual heart. 
 "We must learn to shovr piety first at home, in 
 the family, then in the church, and the commu- 
 nity. But it will not, cannot stop there. If 
 it does, it is selfishness under the garb of 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 39 
 
 religion. It is carnal and worldly — the good 
 olive branch grafted on the stem of the origi- 
 nal wild olive tree of the natural heart. 
 Such a man loves his own, and in so doing 
 what does he more than others? Do not even 
 infidels and Christless men the same ? If he 
 did not do this much, would he not be " worse 
 than an infidel?" and in merely doing this, 
 therefore, he can be no better. This, when 
 made a substitute for Christian piety, is 
 hypocrisy. 
 
 " The gospel is the expression of God's 
 love, and the believer is a man, who, filled 
 with heaven's emanating kindness, becomes 
 in his turn a living gospel. There is an 
 ecclesiastical Christianity, and there is a 
 dogmatic Christianity. The former regards 
 it as the main thing to belong to a particular 
 church ; the latter lays all the stress on 
 maintaining certain doctrines. But the 
 Christian of the Bible, while he is all this, is 
 also a great deal more. By believing what 
 God reveals, he becomes what God desires — 
 a holy, devout, beneficent presence in socie- 
 ty; a sick world's healer; a sad world's com 
 
40 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 forter; a sympathizer and a fellow-worker 
 with the Supreme Beneficence." Remem- 
 bering 
 
 "That, throned above all height, He condescends 
 To call the few who trust in him his friends; 
 That, in the Heaven of heavens, its space he deems 
 Too scanty for the exertion of his beams, 
 And shines, as if impatient to bestow 
 Life and a kingdom upon worms below ; 
 Like him the soul, thus kindled from above, 
 Spreads wide her arms of universal love ; 
 And, still enlarged as she receives the grace, 
 Includes creation in her close embrace." 
 
 In other words, important as are sound- 
 ness in the faith and steadfastness of principle, 
 these are but the roots and stem from which 
 spring love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
 tleness, goodness; and it is hardly uncha- 
 ritable to doubt whether that man's piety be 
 true who does not visit the fatherless and 
 afflicted, as well as keep himself unspotted 
 from the world. True piety is the life of 
 God in the soul. It is a transfusion into 
 the disciple of the mind of the Master. It is 
 a ray of the divine gladness kindling the 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 41 
 
 human heart, converting it into a living 
 sacrifice, and filling all its circle with such a 
 fragrance, glow, and brightness, as can only 
 be created by fire from heaven. 
 
 The roots and stem, therefore, without 
 the fruits, are but the assumption of the name 
 of Christian, without the spirit which animates 
 and characterizes it. It is " faith without 
 works, which is dead." It is the spirit of 
 the flesh, saying like Cain, "Am I my bro- 
 ther's keeper?" It is the spirit of the self- 
 righteous Pharisee, asking, "Who then is 
 my neighbour?" and passing him by on the 
 other side as you carry home your good 
 things to your family and kindred. True 
 piety is light set on a hill, unobstructed by 
 any barrier, and shedding its rays far as the 
 eye can reach. It is leaven which, while it 
 must be cast in at some particular spot, and 
 diffuse itself from it as from a centre, never 
 rests until it has leavened the whole mass. 
 And thus, also, is it compared to salt, which 
 if it loses its power of savouring any portion 
 of the fluid, is good for nothing. 
 
42 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 SELFISH PIETY NOT ONLY NOT CHRISTIAN, BUT ANTLCHRIS- 
 TIAN. 
 
 Piety restricted to self, or family, or kin- 
 dred, or church, or country, is not therefore 
 Christianity. It contradicts the gospel, in 
 its provisions, promises, commands, ordinan- 
 ces, obligations, and blessings. It is not the 
 spirit of Christ. He knew not even his own 
 mother, according to the flesh, when about 
 his Father's business, and has declared, 
 that whosoever doeth his will, is his mo- 
 ther, and sister, and brother. While his 
 body was in Judea, his heart, his prayers, 
 his prospective blessings were everywhere, 
 and with all who should hereafter believe on 
 him, to the end of the world. While in 
 order to "fulfil all righteousness" and all 
 prophecy, he personally went no farther than 
 Judea, and required his disciples to begin at 
 Jerusalem, and there await the outpouring 
 of the Spirit, he commanded them not to 
 tarry there, but to go far thence among the 
 Gentiles, preaching the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ to every creature. For thus it is 
 written, and thus "it behoved Christ to suffer. 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 43 
 
 and to rise from the dead the third day, and 
 that repentance and remission of sins should 
 be preached in his name among all nations, 
 beginning at Jerusalem." Christ loved men 
 as men, as *' enemies," as "ungodly," as 
 *' without strength," "without God and with- 
 out hope." To have the spirit and the love 
 of Christ is, therefore, to love the souls of 
 perishing men, and to the utmost of our 
 ability and opportunity, to save them from 
 death. This only is "the love of the spi- 
 BIT," with which Christ imbues every believ- 
 ing heart, renewing them in the temper of 
 their minds and enlarging their desires and 
 efforts so as to comprehend the wants and 
 woes of a perishing world. 
 
 thou, who keep'st the key of love 
 
 Open thy fount, eternal Dove, 
 And overflow this heart of mine, 
 
 Enlarging as it fills with thee, / 
 
 Till in one blaze of charity, 
 Self and its will are lost, like motes, in light divine. 
 
 But not only is such piety not -Christian 
 — it is anti-christian. Is Christ divided ? Is 
 the kingdom of Christ divided against itself, 
 
44 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 or partitioned out into national, sectional, 
 and family compartments? Can I circum- 
 scribe Christ in his claims, blessings, and 
 requirements, by me and mine, by white or 
 black, north or south, bond or free, home or 
 foreign? Nay, if I do, I am none of his. 
 For if any man love father or mother, or 
 family or kindred, or country, more than 
 Christ ; if he do not hate them all for 
 Christ's sake and the gospel's, that is, hold 
 them in subordination to the higher and 
 paramount claims of both, he is none of 
 Christ's. He cannot be Christ's disciple. 
 Christ never knew him. He is not with 
 Christ, but against him. He is a rebel, a 
 traitor, an unfaithful steward, a disobedient 
 son, a wicked and slothful servant, hiding 
 his lord's talent in a napkin, or burying it 
 "like a crock of gold in a coffin." 
 
 Christ did not leave this matter to mere 
 precept and example. He has made it im- 
 possible for any man who is not wilfully 
 blind, to believe a lie so palpable, and a 
 delusion so gross, as that a piety whose 
 spirit, principle, prayers, sacrifices, and ef- 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 45 
 
 forts, are limited by home, or church, or 
 country, is Christianity. He has done this 
 by identifying himself with a perishing world, 
 and with the poor and miserable, and blind 
 and naked, and outcast, wherever and who- 
 soever, they be. Like as a father is repre- 
 sented by every member of his family, and 
 a prince by every one of his subjects, and 
 a government, whether municipal, state, or 
 national, by every one of its citizens, so that 
 what is done for the one is done for the 
 other, and what is done against the one is 
 regarded, and resented, as done against the 
 other; so it is with Christ as he stands 
 related to all those who are " perishing for 
 lack of knowledge." The heathen are his 
 inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth his possession. In them we see him. 
 By them is he represented, and brought 
 within the reach of our neglect or kindness. 
 And according as we do unto them, we do 
 likewise unto him. 
 
 We liave our younger brothers, too, 
 
 The poor, the outcast, and the trodden down, 
 
 Left fatherless on earth to pine for bread ! 
 
 5 
 
46 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 They are a hungered for our love and care ; 
 It is their spirits that are famishing, 
 And our dear Father, in his testament, 
 Bequeathed them to us as our dearest trust. 
 Wherefore we shall give up a strait account. 
 Woe if we have forgotten them, and left 
 Those souls that might have grown in fear and love — 
 Left them to feel their birthright but a curse. 
 
 But as Christ is represented in the mute 
 objects of charity and compassion, so is he 
 also in the agents of his bounty, to whom 
 he has imparted gifts, graces, and the gold 
 and silver which are the Lord's. In the 
 one Christ represents himself passively; in 
 the other, he is represented actively. In 
 the one he is the object and the recipient of 
 charity ; in the other, the agent and the 
 donor. In the one class of representatives 
 we see his resources, his power, his munificent 
 benevolence, his free, sovereign, and disin- 
 terested compassion. In the other class we 
 behold — as John did in the earthly mother, 
 to whom Christ directed him while on the 
 cross, saying, *' Behold thy mother" — the 
 deep misery of humanity, its need of salva- 
 tion and a Saviour, its utter hopelessness, its 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 47 
 
 inability and indisposition even to its own 
 spiritual good, and the absolute necessity 
 that, in order to be saved, man must be 
 drawn with the cords of a man, melted by 
 kindness, unprejudiced by love, and thus 
 made willing to come to Jesus. In every 
 Christian, the world sees — expects, and 
 ought to see — one who exhibits the traits 
 and temper of Christ — who feels that he is 
 in Christ's stead — who acts as he thinks 
 Christ would have acted if in his circum- 
 stances — and who does unto others what he 
 believes Christ would have rendered unto 
 them, and not what is dictated by his own 
 self-interest. In all the trying conditions 
 of humanity Christ lived. He knows well 
 what they are, and what they imply, for he 
 has felt the same, "though without sin." He 
 is able to sympathize both with the sufferer, 
 and with the agents of his intended bounty. 
 He knows the individual, personal worthless- 
 ness of the one, — so far as any claim of 
 merit or desert can reach, — and his unrequi- 
 ting and ungrateful spirit. And he knows 
 the unselfish, disinterested labour of love 
 
48 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 required on the part of his servants. On 
 this very account, however, does Christ 
 regard that labour as love to himself, and 
 lay up for it a grateful recompense in the 
 world to come, 
 
 For 'mid tlie throng of selfish hearts untrue, 
 His glad eye rests upon his faithful few. 
 
 This is no figurative representation. It is 
 a plain and unquestionable verity, in con- 
 formity to all human principles of equity 
 and of action, and the proclaimed rule, not 
 only for testing the sincerity of our present 
 faith, and hope, and love, and charity, but 
 for that judgment in the court of heaven 
 by which the future destiny of every man 
 will be determined. (Matt, xxv.) No man, 
 therefore, can have any difficulty in under- 
 standing what is the will of Christ, the spirit 
 of Christ, and the command of Christ, since 
 he has identified himself with his kingdom, 
 and made our faith, and love, and obedience 
 co-extensive with the gospel — that is, with 
 the entire brotherhood of humanity. 
 
 Ah! wherefore persecute ye me, 
 ' Tis hard, ye so in love should be 
 With your own endless woe. 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 49 
 
 Know, though at God's right hand I live, 
 I feel each -wound ye reckless give 
 To the least soul below. 
 
 I in your care these souls have left, 
 Not willing ye should be bereft 
 
 Of waiting on your Lord. 
 The meanest offering ye can make — 
 A drop of water for love's sake, 
 
 In heaven, be sure, is stored. 
 
 Still as we walk our earthly round. 
 Still may the echo of that sound 
 Be in our memory stored: 
 Christians! behold your happy state, 
 Christ is in these, who round you wait ; 
 Make much of your dear Lord. 
 
 The conclusion, therefore, is irresistibly 
 plain, that every man who believes the 
 Bible and in Christ, must believe and feel 
 that it is his first and paramount duty, as a 
 Christian, to identify himself with Christ 
 and his kingdom, and to live so as by his in- 
 strumentality to extend that kingdom, as far 
 as his means and opportunity will enable 
 him. Faith in Christ will shed abroad in his 
 soul love to Christ, and this will constrain 
 him to live so as to please, and honour, and 
 6* 
 
50 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 glorify Christ, by obeying his command- 
 ments, imitating his example, and labouring 
 for the salvation of a world lying in wicked- 
 ness. 
 
 Wouldst tliou the life of souls discern ? 
 
 Nor human wisdom, nor divine, 
 Helps thee by aught besides to learn; 
 
 Love is life's only sign. 
 
 The spring of the regenerate heart, 
 The pulse, the glow, of every part. 
 Is the true love of Christ our Lord, 
 As man embraced, as God adored. 
 
 The heart which loves the Lord aright, 
 No soul of man can worthless find. 
 
 All will be precious in his sight, 
 Since Christian all hath shined. 
 
 THE EXTENSION OF GOD's KINGDOM HAS ALWAYS BEEN A 
 TRUST FOR WHICH MAN HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE. 
 
 Such is God's instrumentality for the 
 universal establishment of the kingdom of 
 Christ and the universal diffusion of the 
 knowledge of salvation. Men are put in 
 trust, and made responsible for this work, 
 and to them will pertain the glory or the 
 shame, the honour or disgrace, the victory or 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 51 
 
 defeat, the recompense or retribution, since 
 in God's stead they are made ambassadors 
 and witnesses, and co-workers with him. 
 
 Such has ever been God's plan. Salva- 
 tion for the world, through the knowledge 
 and belief of the good news of a divine in- 
 carnate Saviour, has been the trust put 
 into the hands of the Church, that is, of the 
 people of God, from the very beginning of 
 the world. The fulfilment of this trust was 
 made man's great work and business upon 
 earth. For this was a dispensation of good- 
 ness and mercy vouchsafed to him, through 
 the mediation of Christ, and the long-suffer- 
 ing forbearance of God. He pursues other 
 work, and eats, drinks, marries, and is given 
 in marriage, that he may live; but he lives 
 that he may work out his own salvation and 
 the salvation of others, and thus honour, 
 obey, and enjoy God. To this work is man 
 consecrated and life devoted. The "seed of 
 the woman," from the beginning, recognized 
 and received this trust. The echoes of their 
 loud and earnest warnings and appeals to 
 the unbelieving world around them, come to 
 
52 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 US through distant ages, and over the waters 
 of the flood, crying, "Behold the Lord Com- 
 eth with ten thousand of his saints, to execute 
 judgment upon all, and to convince all that 
 are ungodly among them, of all their un- 
 godly deeds which they have ungodly com- 
 mitted, and of all their hard speeches which 
 ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 
 And when God's people waxed faint-hearted 
 and worldly, and that voice died away amid 
 the sounds of merriment and the hum of 
 business, the flood came and swept an un- 
 faithful and unbelieving generation from the 
 earth. 
 
 The gospel for the world was then put in 
 trust with Noah and his seed, and afterwards 
 with Abraham and his seed, in whom all 
 the families of the earth were to be blest; 
 and then a single nation was chosen, edu- 
 cated, corrected, and purified in the fires of 
 persecution from idolatrous tendencies, that 
 they might be God's faithful witnesses in the 
 earth. And as the descendants of Noah 
 and Abraham were dispersed abroad over 
 the earth that they might carry with them, 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 53 
 
 and sow, the incorruptible seed of divine 
 truth to take root and flourish in all lands, 
 so also when the Jews failed to execute their 
 mission, they were peeled and scattered, and 
 thus constrained to bear the Scriptures and 
 the knowledge of a Saviour into the most dis- 
 tant climes. So long, and so far, as they 
 were faithful stewards and evangelists, they 
 prospered, and entered most prominently 
 into the history of the world. But when 
 selfishness and self-seeking pride became 
 their ruling principle, and they refused, as a 
 people, to become the heralds of their incar- 
 nate Saviour, the body died. They became 
 barren and corrupt, until finally the nation 
 was annihilated and became extinct, broken 
 ofi" and severed from the good olive tree, 
 instead of being developed into full matu- 
 rity, beauty and fruitfulness by union to 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 This trust of the gospel was therefore 
 taken from them and given to Christians who 
 are of the seed of Abraham, and to whom is 
 now imparted the high calling, the glorious 
 privilege, and the paramount and trans- 
 
64 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 cendent of all duties, that of conveying the 
 gospel and extending the kingdom of Christ 
 to every creature. This duty comprehends, 
 includes and inspirits every other Christian 
 work, and is therefore enjoined upon believ- 
 ers in the one expressive and final com- 
 mand of the departing Saviour, and reit- 
 erated and enforced by his subsequent com- 
 munications from heaven. It is made by 
 him the basis of success, the law of progress, 
 the source of life, permanency and prosper- 
 ity, the condition of his promise, presence 
 and divine efficiency; the test of obedience; 
 the measure of love ; the way of self-impart- 
 ing peace and joy; and the rule of future 
 recompense. Recognition of this principle, 
 adoption of this spirit, living by this rule, 
 and consecration to this work, are therefore 
 essential to Christian character and life, to 
 faith, love, loyalty, obedience, spirituality 
 and happiness. How can a man believe the 
 gospel and not say "come" to those who are 
 perishing for lack of its knowledge, which he 
 is required to proclaim ? How can a man 
 receive Christ and enter into union with him, 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 55 
 
 and not desire to draw all men unto him? 
 How can a man imbibe the Spirit of Christ 
 and not travail in soul for the salvation of 
 all men? How can a man bring his will 
 into unison with the will of Christ by pray- 
 ing always with all prayer, "Thy kingdom 
 come, thy will be done on earth as it is 
 in heaven," and not feel the extension of 
 that kingdom and the consummation of his 
 "will that all men should be saved and come 
 to the knowledge of the truth," to be his 
 highest and holiest purpose? How can a 
 man be the servant of Christ and be sent by 
 him into the world, even as the Father sent 
 him into the world, and not live and labour 
 for the promotion of that great work of which 
 Christ laid the foundation, and which he 
 has hired them as labourers to carry on? 
 How can a man honour the Lord with his 
 substance, and prove that his love to Christ 
 is greater than his love of property and 
 wealth, and not willingly communicate and 
 cheerfully distribute it to the furtherance of 
 the gospel, and to the support of Christ's 
 
56 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 ministers and cause? How can a man love 
 Christ and show gratitude to him, and not 
 endeavour to secure for him the heathen 
 for his inheritance and the uttermost parts 
 of the earth for his possession ? And how 
 can a man be animated by the love of the 
 Spirit, and not conspire in his great mis- 
 sion, that of convincing the world of sin, of 
 righteousness, and of judgment ? 
 
 Largely thou givest, gracious Lord, 
 Largely thy gifts should be restored; 
 Freely thou givest, and thy word 
 
 Is "freely give" — 
 He only who forgets to hoard, 
 
 Has learned to live. 
 
 Pastors and elders, people, all 
 Should feel the showers of mercy fall, 
 And starting at the Redeemer's call. 
 
 Give what he gave, 
 Till their high deeds the world appal, 
 
 And sinners save. 
 
 And as it is with individual Christians so 
 it is with churches. What is fundamental to 
 one, both as to principle, life, duty, and 
 prosperity, is essential to the other. A 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 57 
 
 church is made up of individual Christians, 
 and is under obligation to believe, profess 
 and do, what is required of each and all 
 its members. The only difference is in the 
 increased measure and weight with which 
 the pressure of the powers of the world to 
 come, and the divine command with its 
 solemn trust, rest upon churches. If every 
 Christian is to be a light, the church is a 
 luminary. If every Christian is a workman, 
 the church is a combination of labourers 
 under eflScient master workmen. If every 
 Christian is a soldier, the church is a pha- 
 lanx, with its bold, daring and gallant lead- 
 ers. If an individual Christian is weak, or 
 poor, or uninfluential, the church is propor- 
 tionably strong, competent, and powerful. 
 And if, therefore, the recognition of the gos- 
 pel as a trust, and the extension of the 
 kingdom of Christ as the primary duty of 
 life,* is essential to the character, progress, 
 and prosperity of every individual Christian, 
 much more is this the law of every church. 
 
 * Matthew vi. 31. 
 
58 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 ACTIVE, SELF-DENYING AND LIBERAL CO-OPERATION IN THE 
 CAUSE OF CHRIST, NOT INDIFFERENT, BUT ESSENTIAL TO 
 CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES, 
 
 How plain it is, and yet, oh ! how little is 
 it understood and felt, that Christian ac- 
 tivity, and sacrifice, and contributions for 
 the cause of Christ, are not things expe- 
 dient, important and beneficial merely; not 
 what a Christian is at liberty to do, or, if 
 inconvenient, not to do ; not matters which 
 depend upon our ability, or means, or sup- 
 posed capacity. They are elements of Chris- 
 tian character and life ; the fruits and evi- 
 dences by which the Spirit witnesses that 
 we are born of God; acts of worship; ac- 
 ceptable sacrifices unto God; and means 
 ordained by him for the spiritual good of his 
 people and his own glory through them. 
 They are not acts of charity, the promptings 
 of impulse. They involve the integrity 
 and growth of Christian character. They 
 are invariable and universal. Like faith, 
 repentance, prayer, and praise, they will be 
 manifested by every Christian, and by every 
 church according to that which they have 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 59 
 
 and are. Inactive, selfish and uncharitable 
 they cannot be, for "it is not to be pre- 
 sumed," as has been said, "that God gives 
 an individual or a people a soul niggardly 
 from meanness, parsimonious from covetous- 
 ness." These acts and exercises of Chris- 
 tian life must, therefore, in all cases, be de- 
 veloped according to our resources. No 
 Christian liveth unto himself. No church 
 liveth unto itself. If they do, they will 
 dwindle, languish, and like the heath in the 
 desert that knows no water, remain stunted 
 and dwarfed, and finally perish.* 
 
 * " The use of our property furnishes one of the most 
 striking developments of the heart. We are bound, 
 therefore, to make use of it to show our love for God — 
 our attachment to his cause. It is the most efficient 
 method within our reach of declaring the glory of God 
 to a world of sinners. It shows the subjection of our 
 selfishness, and the triumph of the Spirit of grace in 
 the heart, and over the life. It brings to view, as no- 
 thing else can, the heaven-born principle of benevo- 
 lence in its control of human conduct. It shows the 
 transforming power, and the unspeakable beauty and 
 loveliness of the religion of the cross, and speaks 
 strongly to the hearts and consciences of men, to turn 
 unto God, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance." 
 
60 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 And is not this the reason why so many 
 Christians and churches do actually live at 
 such a poor dying rate, so cold and languid, 
 so barren and unprofitable ? 
 
 A fouler vision yet, churches of light — 
 Light without love, glare on the aching sight. 
 
 They look to themselves, not to Christ. 
 They consider their own things, not the 
 things that are his. Like the fearful and 
 unbelieving sinner, they are seeking for 
 peace, and prosperity, and blessing, not in 
 the way of cheerful and confiding obedience, 
 but as direct gifts from God. They can do 
 little, and therefore they do nothing. They 
 can give but a small sum, and, therefore, 
 give none at all. Their influence is limited, 
 and therefore they roll it up carefully and 
 hide it in the earth. They cannot grow 
 and strengthen and mature because they are 
 "always learning, and never come to the 
 knowledge of the truth," always desiring 
 and never ''doing the will of God," and, in 
 so doing, receiving his promised blessing and 
 assurance. They sit cold and shivering, lean 
 and hunger-bitten, rubbing their hands to- 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 61 
 
 gether and wishing they were warm, instead 
 of rising up, and invigorating and warming 
 their hearts by acts and exercises of Chris- 
 tian charity and well-doing. May He who is 
 to dead bones, dead bodies, dead hearts, dead 
 souls, dead families, and dead churches, *'the 
 Resurrection and the Life," breathe upon us 
 the word of his life-inspiring, love-enkin- 
 dling and power-awakening Spirit, and from 
 these dry mouldering bones, whitening in the 
 sun, raise up children to perfect his praise, 
 and an army of self-sacrificing soldiers to 
 fight valiantly for the cause of truth and 
 righteousness. 
 
 And so it ever will and must be. He that 
 liveth to himself shall not prosper, and can- 
 not be happy, and that church which liveth 
 to itself shall not receive the blessing of the 
 Lord. The eternal law of God's government 
 in nature, providence and grace, will so de- 
 termine it. "Faith without works is dead." 
 "To him that hath shall be given, and he 
 shall have more abundantly, while from him 
 that hath not shall be taken away even that 
 which he seemeth to have. He that soweth 
 6* 
 
62 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he 
 that soweth bountifully shall reap also boun- 
 tifully. And God is able to make all grace 
 abound toward you, that ye, always having 
 all-sufficiency in all things, may abound in 
 every good work." 
 
 What blind infatuation, what deplorable 
 ignorance is it, then, for any Christian, min- 
 ister, or church, to plead weakness, feeble- 
 ness, poverty, and manifold necessities 
 and wants, as a reason for living in inactivity, 
 forgetful of this unalterable relation between 
 sowing and reaping, labour and recompense, 
 liberality and reward. Self-denial, sacrifice, 
 and the contribution of our property accord- 
 ing as God hath prospered us (not grudg- 
 ingly, for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver,) 
 are made by Christ essential to our Christian 
 hope and happiness. The poor widow gave 
 but a farthing, but it was "all that she 
 had," and she gave it and was blessed. The 
 churches in Macedonia out of their deep 
 poverty abounded unto the riches of liberal- 
 ity, and were blessed. And so must every 
 Christian and every church give, and labour, 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 63 
 
 and pray for the kingdom of Christ and the 
 salvation of the worhi, if they would receive 
 the full blessedness of the gospel. There is 
 not a member of our churches in this coun- 
 try that could not spare something and lay 
 it by in store, weekly, for this divine cause. 
 There is not a member, in any of our church- 
 es, that could not increase, or double, or 
 multiply an hundred fold, what he now 
 offers to Christ, if he really believed that 
 in so doing he would please him, profit him- 
 self, and bring a rich return of blessing to 
 his own heart. There is not a minister who 
 could not so present this matter to his peo- 
 ple as to lead the weakest and most impov- 
 erished congregation in our land to feel that 
 it was a duty, a privilege, and a blessing to 
 give, and to give freely, in proportion to 
 their means and other expenditures, to the 
 work of the Lord. And there are thousands 
 of our largest and most liberal givers, who, 
 were their minds thoroughly imbued with 
 the conviction that they are agents, stew- 
 ards, and trustees for Christ's kingdom and 
 gospel, and that the blessing comes far more 
 
64 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 in giving than in receiving or increasing 
 gain, would increase their contributions 
 and their efforts, in some cases thirty, in 
 some sixty, in some an hundred fold. 
 
 ALL CAN DO SOJIETHING. 
 
 "Why should not all the godly member- 
 ship of the Church take their share, accord- 
 ing to their varying capacities and opportuni- 
 ties, in this blessed work, some in one way, 
 and some in another? If I cannot speak, I 
 can carry with me a tract, or perhaps I can 
 read to those who cannot read for themselves. 
 Methinks that the churches will never be in 
 a sound condition until somewhat of such a 
 state of things be realized — till this develop- 
 ment in the application of doctrine to prac- 
 tice is realized — till the membership of our 
 congregations become not only hearers of 
 the word, but, in the peculiar gospel sense, 
 doers also; for surely Paganism 'itself can 
 scarcely be so hateful to a righteous God, as 
 the barren orthodoxy of mere abstract be- 
 lief, and idle talk, and unproductive pro- 
 fession. Ah ! were this better spirit to pre- 
 vail more widely through all Protestant 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 65 
 
 churches — the spirit that would prompt men 
 to be not receivers only, but dispensers also 
 of what they had received — the spirit that 
 would lead all ecclesiastical bodies to make 
 the doing of some active work for the Lord, 
 in his own vineyard, as indispensable a con- 
 dition of church membership as the abstract 
 soundness of a creed, and the outward con- 
 sistency of moral life and conduct, what a 
 strange and happy revolution would soon be 
 effected ! how soon would infidelity and home- 
 heathenism be cast down ! what a new spirit 
 of ennobling self-denial would be evoked! 
 what a spirit of large-heartedness, which 
 would flow forth in copious streams in behalf 
 of a perishing world! Were this realized, 
 we might then suppose that the dawn of mil- 
 lennial glory was upon us. But, alas ! alas ! 
 though the horizon seemed already redden- 
 ing with the dawn, the churches of Christ 
 are still mostly drowsy and fast asleep. Ah ! 
 it is this that saddens my own spirit. Of 
 the cause of Christ I have never desponded, 
 and never will. It will advance till the 
 whole earth be filled with his glory. He 
 
66 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 will accomplish it, too, through the instru- 
 mentality of churches and individual men. 
 But he is not dependent on any particular 
 church or men. Yea, if any of these prove 
 slothful or negligent, he may in sore judg- 
 ment remove their candlestick, or pluck the 
 stars out of the ecclesiastical firmament."* 
 
 THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO SECURE PROSPERITY AND PEACE, 
 HERE AND HEREAFTER. 
 
 Liberality, activity, and devotion to the 
 cause of Christ, is the true way to personal 
 prosperity and peace, and to the favour and 
 blessing of God. In the kingdom of hea- 
 ven, as in God's moral government, obe- 
 dience and reward are correlatives, and in- 
 separably conjoined, even when apparently 
 divided. In loving and living to God, we 
 truly love and live to ourselves, and promote 
 our own happiness here and hereafter. We 
 are under obligations to seek and to secure 
 our best interests, however, in that way 
 alone which God has pointed out. A right- 
 eous, enlightened, and sanctified love of 
 
 * Dr. Duff. 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 67 
 
 ourselves, is made the measure of our 
 love to others. A man not only may 
 but mu%t love himself. This he must do, by 
 acquiring a perfect knowledge of his rela- 
 tions to God, and his law, and of the para- 
 mount importance of the honour, glory, and 
 kingdom of God, and of what is spiritual and 
 eternal, over all bodily and temporal inte- 
 rests. Whatever pertains to the salvation 
 of our own soul, its sanctification and growth 
 in grace, and its everlasting felicity, we 
 are under primary obligations to work out, 
 according to the will of God. And as this is 
 to be done by activity, sacrifice, service, and 
 liberality, in the cause of Christ's universal 
 reign and triumph, as surely as by reading 
 the Scriptures, by prayer, and praise, every 
 Christian is bound to be as faithful, as 
 hearty, as zealous and exemplary in the for- 
 mer, as in the latter. This is essential to 
 the right and required love of self, to per- 
 sonal salvation, and to our own individual 
 Christian character, hope, happiness, and 
 heavenly recompense. It is only in this way 
 a man can truly love God, be made a parta- 
 
68 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 ker of the divine nature and of the divine 
 benevolence, overcome the spirit of worldly 
 selfishness, which is idolatry, subdue all self- 
 will and all self-opinionated prejudices to the 
 authority of God's will, as made known in 
 his word, and lay hold firmly of eternal 
 life, secure *Uhe pearl of great price," 
 "the treasure hid in the field," "lay up 
 treasure in heaven," gain "an abundant 
 entrance into the everlasting kingdom," 
 make sure of "an eternal weight of glory," 
 "reap abundantly," "be great in the kingdom 
 of heaven," "build upon the foundation" of 
 a good hope in Christ Jesus, "gold, and sil- 
 ver, and precious stones" that shall abide 
 for ever, transport his riches to heaven, be 
 followed by his good works in their ever- 
 during results, shine forth as a star of 
 brilliant glory in the firmament of heaven, 
 and having well and faithfully employed his 
 talents for the glory of his Lord and Mas- 
 ter, receive a crown of righteousness, and be 
 applauded with the welcoming gratulation, 
 "Well done, good and faithful servant, thou 
 hast been faithful over a few things, I will 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 69 
 
 make thee ruler over many things; enter 
 thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 This shall take thine hand, and lead 
 
 Thy steps to find thy Saviour in his poor; 
 
 Yea, thou shalt find him in the cry of all ; 
 
 And Lazarus, who lieth at thy door, 
 
 Hath friends above who walk the heavenly floor, 
 
 And he shall sue for thee, and thou shalt find 
 
 That thine own prayers gain wings and readier soar, 
 
 No more blown prostrate by the wandering wind, 
 
 Aud light \inknown before, shall touch thine eyelids blind, 
 
 Such in the blessed courts that are above, 
 
 Within the living centre of all space, 
 
 'Mid their blest companies shall find a place 
 
 Where God himself reveals his glorious face. 
 
 This assuredly is the only way in which 
 a man can work out his own salvation, 
 which is his one great business here below, 
 by living, labouring and praying, by giving 
 and sacrificing so as to secure permanent and 
 everlasting riches, "where neither moth nor 
 rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not 
 break through and steal." 
 
 And yet, under the delusion of laying up 
 treasure for children and friends — a tempta- 
 tion and a snare to drown them in perdition 
 7 
 
70 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 and in sloth, and in prodigality and vice — 
 oh, how do men, yes, even Christian men, 
 live poor, and meanly, and niggardly, and 
 die poor, and go into eternity poor, with 
 few or no friends to welcome them, no works 
 to follow them, no treasure exported before 
 them, and no inheritance invested in heaven? 
 Yes, look around the church of which we 
 are each members, and of how many may we 
 say, as has been strikingly said, here is an 
 acquaintance of ours, and he has been spend- 
 ing the energy of a very good understanding, 
 of exceedingly strong will, or well formed 
 habits, in conducting business and making 
 a fortune. He owes no man anything. He 
 assists the struggling poor. And he says, I 
 have invested something for every one of my 
 children. But what, we may ask such an one, 
 have you invested for yourself? You ought 
 not, with all your love for your children, to 
 think only of them. What do you propose 
 to invest for yourself? This is the question, 
 and it is a business one. You have but one 
 way of investing money permanently. You 
 may invest it in houses, or in lands, or in 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 71 
 
 banks, but when the great fire comes that 
 will burn all that up, and your beautiful 
 mansion will be no more to the flames than 
 the dust you tread on, what portion of your 
 property is invested for yourself, and will re- 
 appear after the fire, to enrich you for ever? 
 None, but what you have given up to God — 
 literally and absolutely none but what you 
 have consecrated to the Saviour — what you 
 have expended for the poor — what you have 
 given out of love to Christ and love to fellow 
 men. This is in Christ's hands, and all and 
 only this, and he will remind you of it, and 
 show it to you in another shape at the last 
 day. Oh, what a word that is, "Make to 
 yourselves friends of the mammon of unright- 
 eousness; that, when ye fail, they may 
 receive you into everlasting habitations." 
 
 Thus thy -works may pass before 
 Waiting thee, — a blessed store, — 
 In their number, weight, and measure, 
 Laid up in enduring treasure. 
 
 These earthly friends, for whom you live 
 and toil and hoard, cannot procure a habita- 
 tion. They cannot even prepare a habitation ; 
 
72 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 they can give no title to a habitation. All 
 this is done only by the free grace of your 
 Father through the merit of your Saviour and 
 Redeemer. The title being thus given, and the 
 house being prepared for you by Christ, make 
 friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, 
 that they may receive you into everlasting 
 habitations. A wonderful thing it is to take 
 a cold shilling into my hand and turn that 
 cold piece of metal into a friend, who, when 
 the Lord shall lift up my head on that day, 
 will be there to receive me, and bid me wel- 
 come to the land of rest. None of us would 
 like to die poor. Who then is he that dies rich ? 
 That man dies rich, and only that man, who, 
 when he leaves behind him a little or more, 
 or nothing, has before him a treasure laid 
 up in heaven. Who dies poor? He that, 
 whatever he leaves behind him, has nothing 
 laid up before him. He dies poor. Thus 
 do multitudes pass away " with nothing but 
 the avenging memories of lost opportunities 
 to follow them, angels of mercy struck down 
 here to rise in the judgment against their 
 murderers." 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 73 
 
 NO MAN LIVETH OR DIETH UNTO HIMSELF. 
 
 No man therefore liveth to himself; the 
 law of universal nature, the law of man's own 
 being, the law of providence, and the law of 
 the kingdom of heaven, alike forbid and pre- 
 vent it. And yet these laws equally require, 
 as we have seen, every man to love himself, 
 to live for himself, and to seek and secure 
 the highest good of his own entire and per- 
 manent being. There is here a divine para- 
 dox but no contradiction. "He that findeth 
 his life (in living for himself) shall lose it, 
 and he that loseth his life (by denying him- 
 self) for my sake, shall find it." " For who- 
 soever will save his life (from this self-deny- 
 ing course) will lose it, and whosoever will 
 lose his life (of personal ease, indulgence and 
 aggrandizement) for my sake, shall find it. 
 For what is a man profited if he shall gain 
 (for his present, sensual, and temporal life) 
 the whole world and lose his soul, or what 
 will a man give in exchange for his soul? 
 And he that taketh not his cross, and follow- 
 eth after me, is not worthy of me. For the 
 Son of Man shall come in the glory of his 
 7* 
 
74 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 Father, with his angels, and then shall he 
 reward every man according to his works." 
 In the Christian, the present natural and 
 sinful life of selfishness is dead, being cruci- 
 fied with Christ. He has denied this self by 
 the power given to him by Christ to be- 
 come a son of God. This life, therefore, 
 he loses, and finds the life of faith, and 
 love, and consecration to God in Christ. 
 The life that he now lives, therefore, he 
 lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
 him and gave himself for him. "I live,'* 
 says the Christian, "but not I. It is my Be- 
 loved that liveth in me. I love myself, not 
 with my own love, but with the love of my 
 Beloved, who loveth me. I love not myself 
 in myself, but myself in him and him in me.'* 
 
 Nor time, nor place, nor chance, nor deatli can bow 
 
 My least desire nnto the least remove ; 
 He's firmly mine by oath; I his by vow; 
 
 And knit we are by strongest bonds of love: 
 He's mine by water ; I am his by wine ; 
 Thus I my best Beloved's am; thus he is mine. 
 
 He is my altar; I his holy place; 
 
 I am his guest; and he my living food; 
 I'm his by penitence; he mine by grace; 
 
 I'm his by purchase; he is mine by blood; 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? ' 75 
 
 He's my directing helm ; and I his vine ; 
 Thus I my best Beloved's am; thus he is mine. 
 
 He gives me wealth ; I give him all my vows ; 
 
 I give him songs; he gives me length of days; 
 With wreaths of grace he crowns my conquering brows; 
 
 And I his temples with a crown of praise 
 Which he accepts; an everlasting sign 
 That I my best Beloved's am ; that he is mine. 
 
 Feeling thus, the Christian lives no longer 
 unto self but unto Christ, and yet, never- 
 theless, in living unto Christ, and in yielding 
 body, soul, and spirit, wife, children, houses 
 and lands, as a living and loving sacrifice 
 unto Christ and the interests of his kingdom, 
 he secures his own salvation, his own peace, 
 and joy, and happiness, the presence and 
 blessing of God in all he does and on all he 
 loves. "For every one who hath forsaken 
 (the selfish appropriation, and holds in trust, 
 and for the glory of Christ) houses, or breth- 
 ren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, 
 or children, or lands, for my name's sake, 
 shall receive an hundred fold, and shall in- 
 herit everlasting life." 
 
 For any man to live to himself is mon- 
 
76 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 strouslj sinful, and for any professing Chris- 
 tian to do so, is to exaggerate such guilt by 
 the most flagrant insult, hypocrisy and fraud. 
 It is the most daring presumption and rebel- 
 lion against the glorious majesty and great- 
 ness, the perfect holiness, infinite all-suffi- 
 ciency and goodness, and the absolute power 
 and supremacy of that divine Lord and Mas- 
 ter, to whom he has sworn allegiance. It is 
 ingratitude black as hell, mingled with rebel- 
 lion daring as that of devils, against Him to 
 whom we owe ourselves, and all that we are 
 or have, or hope, inasmuch as it takes the 
 very members, faculties, talents, and oppor- 
 tunities, which are his — redeemed, regene- 
 rated and consecrated by him, for his own 
 service and glory — and employs them, like 
 the unfaithful servants, for our own selfish pur- 
 poses. The selfish man, with a heart, as has 
 been said, no bigger than his coffin, just large 
 enough to hold himself, is like those creeping 
 insects which having no object around which 
 to twine, cleave to the dust, encircle them- 
 selves, and there, by their rank luxuriance and 
 unwholesome smell, rot and die. He destroys 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 77 
 
 himself. Selfishness itself perishes, ex- 
 hausted by its own excess. 
 
 Oh what indignity, what wickedness 
 against a jealous God is this! But such 
 selfishness is not only suicidal. It gains no- 
 thing! It can only treasure up indignatioa 
 and wrath against the day of wrath. After 
 all, no man really lives unto himself. He 
 may pervert and prostitute the being and 
 the powers entrusted to him. He may live, 
 and labour, and eat, and drink, as he thinks, 
 for himself; but he lives for others and for 
 God. So are man, and society, and nature 
 constituted by God, that while man labours 
 for himself, and the distinctions of pro- 
 perty become a stimulus to exertion, he is 
 filling up his place in the comprehensive plan 
 and benefitting his species. Of all the earth, 
 he can possess at most but little, and enjoy 
 but little, and for a very little time. All his 
 labour and strength, all he makes and accu- 
 mulates, and invests and hoards, and spends, 
 he does for others. His life, his spirit, his 
 principles, his conduct, are all acting upon, 
 and impressing and influencing, others. For 
 
78 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 good or for evil, for weal or woe, for salva- 
 tion or damnation, he is living for others. 
 Soon he dies; his grasp relaxes; his titles 
 are all extinguished ; his name and his me- 
 mory rot like his body, and are forgotten. 
 The place of business, the rounds of duty, 
 the haunts of pleasure, the home of selfish 
 indulgence, the bank, the courts, the ex- 
 change, know him no more for ever, and 
 he has no further interest in anything that 
 is done under the sun. 
 
 No man, therefore, can live unto himself. 
 Equally but still more fearfully true is it 
 that "no man dieth unto himself." He dies 
 under this law of universal being, and of Chris- 
 tianity, and under its penalty. He dies as 
 he lives. He dies to all further enjoyment 
 of this world and this life, and these means 
 and opportunities of extending the gospel 
 and kingdom of Christ, and of saving souls 
 from death. He dies to meet that judgment 
 which is after death, and as he has here 
 sown the wind of his own selfish, cove- 
 tous and indolent indulgence, he reaps the 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 79 
 
 ■whirlwind of sorrow and disappointment, and 
 everlasting regret — ^'for there is no repent- 
 ance in the grave." Whether we have loved 
 God or have loved self, 
 
 These are tlie mirrors wherein souls are seen; 
 These are the books; on this heaven's scale depends; 
 Judgment announced to the eternal years. 
 
 Man can do nothing of himself but sin, 
 and nothing that is right or acceptable in 
 the sight of God ; and when by gra1;e he 
 does all he ought to do, to the utmost of his 
 ability, he is an unprofitable servant, sinful 
 and imperfect. The acceptance of his ser- 
 vices and gifts, and the entrustment to his 
 hands of "the high calling" of being a ser- 
 vant unto God, for the benefit of the perish- 
 ing world, is the gift of Christ's infinite good- 
 ness; and the recompense of reward with 
 which it is followed, the bestowment of his 
 free, sovereign, and unmerited munificence. 
 But this only makes selfishness and disobe- 
 dience, and eye-service, and love of family 
 and friends, while there is mean niggardli- 
 ness towards Christ's cause and kingdom, the 
 
80 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 more disgracefully foul and abominable in 
 the judgment of heaven and earth. 
 
 OUR CHURCHES AND CHURCH MEMBERS MUST DO MORE. 
 
 Brethren, what is to be done ? Something 
 must be done. We cannot remain as we are. 
 The best of our ministers, and churches, and 
 members, but feebly realize and act accord- 
 ing to the great law of living unto others, 
 unto "Christ, and for the salvation of the 
 world. Many, however, feel, or do nothing 
 to show that they love Christ, or value his 
 promised presence, by keeping his last great 
 and all comprehending command. Oh, it 
 is incredible to believe, and beyond measure 
 humiliating to tell, one-third of our ministers, 
 elders, churches, and members, give not the 
 evidence, by a single reported dollar, of any 
 recognition of their duty as pure, Christ- 
 loving disciples, to cooperate in the procla- 
 mation of the gospel, and the extension of 
 the kingdom of Christ to every creature. 
 These principles were fully and ably pre- 
 sented by our last General Assembly, and 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 81 
 
 "wisely urged upon the practical considera- 
 tion of our Presbyteries, and enforced upon 
 our church sessions generally.* 
 
 WHAT CAX BE DONE ? 
 
 But still, the great practical hinderance 
 remains, and that is, to get these views and 
 principles into the minds and hearts of those 
 ministers and churches who seem to take 
 their ease, to fold their hands, and go 
 asleep in Zion, and who neither read, nor 
 hear, nor feel the power and cogency of 
 these truths. And to reach this ultimate 
 end, what other method is there left to the 
 Church, than for each Presbytery to adopt 
 the course of voluntary and mutual inter- 
 change of pulpits, so that brethren, appoint- 
 ed by Presbytery, and clothed with its au- 
 thority, may kindly, but faithfully, and as 
 often and long as may be necessary, stir up 
 the hearts and minds of all who call upon 
 the Lord Jesus, to the remembrance of their 
 relation to him and to his kingdom, and of 
 
 * See the Report and Resolutions on Systematic Col- 
 lections, added as Note B. 
 
 8 
 
82 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 the inseparable connection established be- 
 tween obedience, activity, and liberality, and 
 their own spiritual life, maturity, power, and 
 progress. 
 
 Here then, is something we can do. It is 
 simple, scriptural, unexpensive, in accord- 
 ance with our spirit and principles as a 
 Church, and implied in the injunctions of our 
 General Assembly. We have the gospel. 
 It is given to us in trust for the heathen and 
 "the uttermost parts of the earth," as "light 
 to enlighten the gentiles." Of this trust 
 every Christian, still more every deacon, 
 more emphatically still every elder, still 
 more solemnly and responsibly every minis- 
 ter, and — to an extent which combines in 
 itself the responsibility and the ability of all 
 these severally — every church is a steward, 
 who will be honoured and recompensed in 
 proportion as they are found faithful. This 
 truth is power — "the power of God to every 
 one" that "receives it into a good and hon- 
 est heart," and whose "faith works by love." 
 To impart this truth, therefore, and to make 
 it effectual in the hearts of our brethren, who 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 83 
 
 either misconceive or but partially believe it, 
 is a portion of the very trust and agency com- 
 mitted to us. In love to them, in love to 
 the Church of God, whose honour, and influ- 
 ence, and pov^er, and prosperity are invol- 
 ved, and in love to the souls of perishing 
 men, and to Him, the travail of whose 
 soul they are, let us avail ourselves of every 
 means within our reach of bringing up all 
 our ministers, churches, officers, and mem- 
 bers, to the right knowledge of Christ and 
 keeping of his commandments, which is the 
 complete work and business of a Christian. 
 For surely conformity to Christ, and unison 
 of heart, will, spirit, and purpose, with him, 
 is the very being of a Christian, without 
 which he is without Christ as the source of 
 life and the spring and fountain of happiness. 
 
 MOTIVES FOR DOING WHAT EVERY ONE CAN DO. 
 
 Brethren, would we be honest? There is 
 one debt we owe, which is ever pressing 
 upon us, which we can never fully pay, 
 which we must be ever owing and ever pay- 
 ing, and in so doing experience "an over- 
 
84 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 payment of delight" — and that is "to love 
 one another, to love and do good to all men 
 as we have opportuity," that "through our 
 mercy they may receive mercy." Are we 
 paying punctual interest and constant divi- 
 dends on this debt, and thus in giving, re- 
 ceiving, in scattering abroad, increasing, and 
 in blessing, being blessed, yea, so blessed as 
 to have the windows of heaven opened, and 
 God's grace poured out upon us in such meas- 
 ure that we shall not be able fully to receive 
 it? 
 
 Would we, as Christians, be happy, and 
 live in peace and joy? Then we must live 
 in love. Christian happiness is society, fel- 
 lowship with God in Christ, with angels, and 
 with saints. God is love, and every one that 
 loveth is born of God. "If any man love 
 God, he is known of God," and so knows 
 God. " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth 
 in God." Love is the nature of God, and 
 the element of Christian life — love to Him 
 that begat, and to all those that are begotten 
 of him. Love shines as a light into the 
 Christian's heart, acts as a torch or a fire 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 85 
 
 Within him. His knowledge of Christ in- 
 flames his love and hatred. As surely 
 as he sees hira, he abhors himself, and is 
 transported with the love of Christ shed 
 abroad in his heart. Thus humble and 
 happy, he cannot restrain his feelings. He 
 is consumed with an inward and irresisti- 
 ble desire for others that they also may 
 be saved. Every soul saved is a soul to 
 love, a new well-spring of joy, an object of 
 wonder and delight, another child added to 
 the family of God, another companion in 
 tribulation and in trial, another star lighted 
 up in the firmament of heaven, another gem 
 sparkling in the crown of the Redeemer, 
 another harp, with his, to swell the song of 
 the Lamb before the throne. 
 
 Hosanna, sound from hill to hill, 
 And spread from plain to plain, 
 
 While louder, sweeter, clearer still, 
 Woods echo to the strain. 
 
 Hosanna on the wings of light, 
 
 O'er earth and ocean fly, 
 'Till morn to eve, and noon to night, 
 
 And heaven to earth reply. 
 
 8* 
 
86 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 Brethren, we have but a day in which to 
 live, and labour, and work, and that day is 
 far spent. The night is at hand, when no 
 man can work. We have but one season in 
 which to prepare for ourselves a plentiful 
 harvest, and the spring is past, the summer 
 is gone, and the harvest season nearly over, 
 and we can only reap according as we have 
 sown. We have but one life and one body 
 "to spend and be spent for Christ," and as 
 " herein he is now glorified if we bear much 
 fruit," so " will he render to every man who, 
 by patient continuance in well-doing, seeks 
 for glory, and honour, and immortality, eter- 
 nal life." 
 
 Brethren, what mean these aches and 
 pains, and this weariness, and these often in- 
 firmities, these wrinkles, and hoary hairs, and 
 these other failings of our natural strength ? 
 Oh, are they not all designed to show us 
 that our stay here is short, our connection 
 with earth transient, our continuance in this 
 earthly house but as that of the wayfaring 
 man who turneth aside from his far journey 
 for a night ? 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 8T 
 
 Oh, let us, then, now enter into fellowship 
 with Christ in the work given him to do, and 
 which he has commanded us to fill up — 
 even that which is behind and still unfulfilled, 
 of the universal efiicacy of the sufferings of 
 Christ, and "the glory that is to follow" 
 the preaching of the gospel, "whereof we 
 are made the ministers" or agents. Christ, 
 though in the form of God, and being God, 
 entered into the fellowship with us in all 
 our infirmities, nay, in our miseries, in our 
 guilt, in our condemnation and death, in 
 all our pains and penalties, in all our sorrows 
 and solicitudes. To be able thus to sympa- 
 thize with us, and succour and save us, 
 Christ united himself with our very nature, 
 and became a projntiation for the sins of the 
 world. Having done all this, he now invites 
 us to enter into fellowship with his divine 
 nature, with his gifts and graces, his glory 
 and blessedness, his death, resurrection, and 
 ascension, his ever-living power and presence 
 with his people — by preaching the good 
 tidings to every creature in all the world, 
 making them his disciples, and teaching them 
 
88p by whom is the world 
 
 his will. To have such communion with the 
 Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, is the 
 honour, the dignity, and the happiness of the 
 believing heart. Oh, then, being exalted to 
 such a heavenly privilege, let us not be like 
 brute beasts, understanding it not, but rather 
 let us rejoice in it, and count all things 
 but loss for the excellency of being lifted up 
 from death and pollution to this fellowship 
 with the throne, the society, the friendship, 
 and the service of the great God and our 
 Saviour, Jesus Christ. Oh, let him come in 
 and take possession, and have full and trans- 
 forming fellowship with these cold hearts of 
 ours, these dead and carnal affections, these 
 low and grovelling desires, and with what- 
 ever in our hopes and powers, our influence 
 and activity, our money and our means, he 
 will be pleased to use for his glory, and our 
 mutual endearment and happiness. This, 
 yes this, will be the felicity of heaven, and 
 this, yes this, may impart to us heaven be- 
 low, and, by the full exercise of this grace, 
 ripen into an early blossom the fragrant 
 flowers of Paradise. 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 89 
 
 And as it has pleased Christ in his infi- 
 nite wisdom and mercj to represent himself 
 as present and visible in these poor and per- 
 ishing souls around us, and in these heathen 
 who are his inheritance, and heirs to his 
 testamentary blessings, oh, thou divine and 
 blessed Saviour, who canst give power and 
 quicken into life, oh, give us faith to look 
 upon them as such ! Help us to look through 
 their unworthiness, their vileness, their in- 
 gratitude, their hard and impenitent and 
 blinded hearts, and to see in them thee, our 
 Lord and our God. As strangers let us 
 take them in. As sick with the foul leprosy 
 of sin, as bound in the prison of the great 
 adversary who leads them captive at his will, 
 as hungering and thirsting and yet spending 
 their strength for naught, and their labour 
 for that which satisfieth not, help us to visit 
 them, to give them the bread of heaven, and 
 the water of life, and in so doing, to feel that 
 we are doing it all to thee, and that we shall 
 in no wise lose our reward, W'hen thou, our 
 righteous Judge, shalt say to all such " Come, 
 ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
 
90 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
 one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
 have done it unto me." 
 
 Give us, then, divine and merciful Sa- 
 viour, faith and love, to break through this 
 selfishness, this self-seeking, this worldliness, 
 this covetousness which is idolatry, this flesh- 
 lusting spirit, which freezes up our warmest 
 affections. Help, help us to bring these 
 objects of thy love, which are distant, near; 
 to render them visible to the eye of our minds 
 though unseen ; to make them present though 
 absent; creditors though debtors; friends 
 though foes; dear and beloved though black 
 and uncomely ; and all this because they are 
 thine, and dear to thee, and yet to be brought 
 nigh and given to thee for thy possession. 
 
 Most blessed Saviour! Thou who only art 
 
 The sacred fountain of eternal light, 
 All-powerful magnet of my inmost heart! 
 
 Oh, thou, my heart's desire, my soul's delight! 
 My soul irradiate and thy power impart. 
 
 And then my soul shall prize no good above thee, 
 
 And then my soul shall know, and knowing, love thee, 
 And then my trembling thoughts shall never start 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 91 
 
 From thy commands or swerve the least degree, 
 Or even desire to move but as they move in thee. 
 Thus living, loving, serving thee below, 
 Do thou thy strength, thy grace, thy peace bestow. 
 
 " God be merciful unto us, and bless us ; 
 and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. 
 That thj way may be known upon earth, 
 thy saving health among all nations. Let 
 the people praise thee, God ; let all the 
 people praise thee. let the nations be 
 glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge 
 the people righteously, and govern the na- 
 tions upon earth. Selah. Let the people 
 praise thee, God; let all the people praise 
 thee. Then shall the earth yield her in- 
 crease; and God, even our own God, shall 
 bless us." Psalm Ixvii. 1-6. 
 
 " It shall come, that I will gather all na- 
 tions and tongues, and they shall come and 
 see my glory." Isa. Ixvi. 18. " It shall 
 come to pass in the last days, that the moun- 
 tain of the Lord's house shall be established 
 in the top of the mountains, and shall be 
 exalted above the hills, and all nations shall 
 flow to it; and many people shall go and 
 
S^ BY WHOM IS THE WORLD 
 
 say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain 
 of the Lord, to the house of the God of 
 Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we 
 will walk in his paths." Isa. ii. 2, 3. And 
 again, " Behold, thus saith the Lord, I will 
 lift up my hand to the gentiles, and set up 
 my standard to the people, and they shall 
 bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daugh- 
 ters shall be carried upon their shoulders.'* 
 Isa. xlix. 22. And again, "Behold, thou 
 shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, 
 and nations that know not thee shall run 
 unto thee, because of the Lord thy God„ and 
 for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glo- 
 rified thee." Isa. Iv. 5. blessed, then, 
 ever blessed be thy name, mighty and 
 most merciful Saviour, who hast been pleased 
 to make thyself known among us gentiles. 
 "Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the 
 people, give unto the Lord glory and strength ; 
 give unto the Lord the glory due to his name." 
 Psal. xcvi. 7. "All the earth shall worship 
 thee, and shall sing unto thee, they shall sing 
 unto thy name." Psal. Ixvi. 4. "All the 
 ends of the world shall remember, and turn 
 
TO BE CONVERTED? 93 
 
 unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the 
 nations shall worship before thee." Psal. 
 xxii. 27. 
 
 that the Church on earth could travail 
 in earnest prayer for this glorious day of 
 grace, with the Church of the redeemed in 
 heaven. 
 
 "And when he had opened the fifth seal, 
 I saw under the altar the souls of them that 
 were slain for the word of God, and for the 
 testimony which they held : and they cried 
 with a loud voice, saying. How long, 
 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge 
 and avenge our blood on them that dwell on 
 the earth? And white robes were given unto 
 every one of them ; and it was said unto them, 
 that they should rest yet for a little season, 
 until their fellow-servants also and their 
 brethren, that should be killed as they were, 
 should be fulfilled." Rev. vi. 9—11. 
 
 "And I saw as it were a sea of glass min- 
 gled with fire ; and them that had gotten the 
 victory over the beast, and over his image, 
 and over his mark, and over the number of 
 
94 BY WHOM IS THE WORLD, ETC. 
 
 his name, stand on the sea of glass, having 
 the harps of God, and they sing the song of 
 Moses the servant of God, and the song of 
 the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous 
 are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just 
 and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 
 Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glo- 
 rify thy name? for thou only art holy: for 
 all nations shall come and worship before 
 thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." 
 Rev. XV. 2 — 4. 
 
 So vast the electric chain, such the appeal! 
 
 Start we to hear the overwhelming claim ? 
 
 Yea, more than words the covenanted seal, 
 
 For there are Three in heaven; the glorious name 
 
 Whose word of promise sure shall never fail. 
 
 Lift then thy voice, get up unto the mountain, 
 
 Say unto Zion, from thy trance awaken, 
 
 Thy sea goes forth, in every land a fountain 
 
 Springs forth to thee! now no more forsaken, 
 
 City of Grod great things of thee are spoken. 
 
 All nations have discerned the glorious token, 
 
 Lift up thy mountain voice ; the spell of death is broken. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Note A. 
 
 As this is a truth which enters into our conclu- 
 sion of the obligation and duty which this consti- 
 tution implies, I will give some illustration of it. 
 The late Amos Lawrence, among his private en- 
 tries has the following : '^ Jan. 1, 1849 — I adopted 
 the practice ten years ago, of spending my income. 
 My outgoes since the first of January, 1842, have 
 been upward of $400,000, and my property on the 
 first of this year is as great as on January 1, 1842. 
 The more I give, the more I have." Again : 
 "Jan. 1, 1852 — The outgoes for all objects since 
 January 1, 1842 (ten years,) have been $604,000 
 more than five-sixths of which have been applied 
 in making other people happy." Here is an ex- 
 ample of reproductive profusion — " The more I 
 give, the more I get;" scattering, yet increasing. 
 And, along with the increase of substance, what 
 is still rarer and more precious, the increase of 
 personal felicity. Instead of scattering, had he 
 
 (96) 
 
96 APPENDIX. 
 
 concentrated all this outlay on himself, had he 
 spent the half million on dainty viands and costly 
 wines, on sumptuous furniture and glittering vehi- 
 cles, he would have done no more than many do, 
 on whose careworn, dissatisfied countenances, God 
 has inscribed the curse of self-idolatry; hut by 
 spending it in the effort to make other people 
 happy, Amos Lawrence extended the sphere of 
 his enjoyment as wide as the objects of his philan- 
 thropy, and in his shining face he habitually 
 showed that God had given him the blessedness 
 of a man, for whom many prayed and whom He 
 greatly loved. 
 
 So essential to the truest enjoyment is a gener- 
 ous disposition, that we cannot refrain from quot- 
 ing the words of one whose kind deeds were 
 almost as numerous as his brilliant sayings, and 
 who gives the following '^receipt for making every 
 day happy:" — "When you rise in the morning 
 form the resolution to make the day a happy one 
 to a fellow-creature. It is easily done; a left- oft" 
 garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to 
 the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the 
 striving; trifles in themselves, light as air, will do 
 it, at least for the twenty-four hours ; and if you 
 are young, depend upon it, it will tell when you 
 are old ; and, if you are old, rest assured it will 
 
APPENDIX. 97 
 
 send you'gently and happily down the stream of 
 time to eternity. By the most simple arithmeti- 
 cal sum look at the result ; you send one person, 
 only one, happily through the day; that is three 
 hundred and sixty -five in the course of the year; 
 and, supposing you live forty years only after you 
 commence that course of medicine, you have made 
 fourteen thousand six hundred human beings 
 happy, at all events, for a time. Now, worthy 
 reader, is not this simple ? It is too short for a 
 sermon, too homely for ethics, and too easily ac- 
 complished for you to say, ^ I would if I could.' " 
 
 What Sydney Smith recommends, was the prac- 
 tice of Cotton Mather, two hundred years ago. 
 Few men have ever condensed into the narrow 
 limits of human existence so much substantial 
 service to their fellow-creatures as that good man, 
 whose name is still a household word in new Eng- 
 land homes. And it would appear that it was 
 his custom every morning when he awoke, to con- 
 sider these three things. What is there I can 
 this day do for the welfare of my family ? What 
 is there I can do in the service of my neighbour? 
 What is there I can do for the glory of God ? 
 
 Of this principle, Sydney Smith affords a most 
 pertinent example of what the experience of Wil- 
 berforce, Howard, every philanthropist, mission- 
 9* 
 
98 APPENDIX. 
 
 ary, and liberal-minded and liberal-hearted Chris- 
 tian will confirm. 
 
 ''I was very poor/' says he, ^Hill I was appointed 
 to St. Paul's/' The valuable living of Edmonton, 
 which was in the gift of St Paul's, fell vacant. 
 Ey the rules of the Chapter, he could have taken 
 it himself, or given it as he pleased. The late 
 vicar, Mr. Tate, was a friend of his own, who, 
 years before, as a Yorkshire clergyman, had stood 
 up with him in favour of Catholic Emancipation. 
 He left a family behind him, his eldest son having 
 been his curate ; and Sydney Smith writes to his 
 wife the following account of his interview with 
 the widow and family, after he had determined to 
 give the cure to the son of his old friend, in place 
 of giving it to himself. 
 
 ^' Dear Kate, — I went over yesterday to the 
 Tates, at Edmonton. The family consists of three 
 delicate daughters, an aunt, the old lady, and her 
 son, then curate of Edmonton : — the old lady was 
 in bed. I found there a physician, an old friend 
 of Tate's, attending them from friendship, who 
 had come from London for that purpose. They 
 were in daily expectation of being turned out from 
 
 house and curacy I began by inquiring 
 
 the character of their servant, then turned the 
 conversation upon their afi'airs, and expressed a 
 
APPENDIX. 99 
 
 hope the Chapter might ultimately do something 
 for them. I then said, ' It is my duty to state to 
 you (they were all assembled,) that I have given 
 away the living of Edmonton; I have written to 
 our Chapter-clerk this morning, to mention the 
 person to whom I have given it : and I must also 
 tell you, that I am sure he will appoint his curate. 
 (A general silence and dejection.) It is a very 
 odd coincidence,' I added, ' that the gentleman I 
 have selected, is a namesake of this family. His 
 name is Tate. Have you any relations of that 
 name V ' No, we have not.' ^ And by a more 
 singular coincidence, his name is Thomas Tate. 
 In short,' I added, ' there is no use mincing the 
 matter; you are vicar of Edmonton.' They all 
 burst into tears. It flung me also into a great 
 agitation of tears, and I wept and groaned for a 
 long time. Then I rose and said, I thought it 
 was very likely to end in their keeping a buggy, 
 at which we all laughed as violently. 
 
 " The poor old lady, who was sleeping in a gar- 
 ret, because she could not bear to enter into the 
 room lately inhabited by her husband, sent for 
 me, and kissed me, sobbing with a thousand emo- 
 tions. The charitable physician wept too. ... I 
 never passed so remarkable a morning, nor was 
 more deeply impressed with the sufierings of hu- 
 
100 APPENDIX. 
 
 man life, and never felt more thoroughly the 
 happiness of doing good.'' 
 
 ^'I never was happy/' said a certain king, "till 
 I began to take pleasure in the welfare of my 
 people; but ever since then, in the darkest day 
 I have had sunshine in my heart.'^ 
 
 Note B. 
 
 '^ It is not to be presumed," says our last Gen- 
 eral Assembly in its Report on Systematic Contri- 
 butions, " that God gives people a soul niggardly 
 from meanness, or parsimonious from covetous- 
 ness; and yet their contributions to the treasury 
 of the Lord are amazingly disproportioned to 
 their blessings and resources. This can only be 
 resolved into ignorance of duty, or a failure to 
 apprehend the real relation of liberality in alms- 
 giving to their Christian profession. As '' what- 
 soever is not of faith is sin," so whatever does 
 not appeal to their faith cannot permanently inter- 
 est their hearts. It cannot be denied that our 
 churches have been too much accustomed to look 
 upon giving as purely a matter of Christian liber- 
 ty, a thing which might or might not be done, ac- 
 cording to the impulses which happen to prevail 
 
APPENDIX. 101 
 
 at the moment, without in either case involving 
 the integrity of Christian character. What has 
 been given, has been regarded as a bounty, and 
 those who solicit it represented as beggars. This 
 has been a feeling implicitly recognized where it 
 has not been explicitly announced. 
 
 " Appeals in behalf of the dearest interests of 
 Christ's kingdom have been in many cases coldly 
 received, in others formally repulsed, on the plea 
 of repugnance to so much begging. 
 
 "It was not that the people were penurious or 
 mean, but that they did not understand the nature 
 of the case ; and the way to remove the difficulty 
 is not by denunciation or invective, but by famil- 
 iar exposition of the scriptural principle upon 
 which these appeals are made. The law of the 
 Lord, when clearly apprehended, can never fail to 
 tell upon the hearts and consciences of the chil- 
 dren of Grod. That law in relation to the ques- 
 tion before us, is, that liberality is a grace of the 
 Spirit, alms-giving an office of Christian worship, 
 and collections for the poor and the spread of the 
 gospel an ordinance of God. 
 
 ''Giving, in the Scripture, is put upon substan- 
 tially the same basis as prayer; the one is the sac- 
 rifice of the lips, and the other of the substance; 
 and the acceptance of our gifts is a greater proof 
 
102 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the Divine condescension, than the acceptance 
 of our petitions. God needs none of our oiferings ; 
 the cattle upon a thousand hills are his, and if 
 he were hungry he would not tell us. But though 
 needing nothing at our hands, he has condescend- 
 ed, for the purpose of uniting our hearts to him 
 in profounder sympathy, to assume a position in 
 which he appeals to us as really and tenderly as 
 if he needed all things. Though our alms and 
 our righteousness extend not directly to him, yet 
 the Saviour is comforted and refreshed with the 
 humblest ministrations to his saints upon the 
 earth ; it is he who receives the cup of cold wa- 
 ter administered to his disciples. The believer, 
 accordingly, who enters into the spirit of the 
 Christian doctrine, must feel it almost hardly less 
 a grievance to be debarred from the throne of 
 grace, than to be prevented from casting his mite 
 into the treasury of the Lord, and would as soon 
 think of turning Christ from his doors, or leaving 
 him unvisited in sickness and in prison, as think 
 of slighting the appeals of Christ's earthly king- 
 dom to his contributions and his sympathies. It 
 is Christ whom we honour in serving the interests 
 of his kingdom, or rather it is Christ who honours 
 us, in thus permitting us to honour him, and as 
 all Christian duties are at the same time privi- 
 
APPENDIX. 103 
 
 leges, and every precept stands upon a promise, so 
 tlie child of God habitually experiences that " it 
 is more blessed to give than to receive." He is 
 the beggar who solicits the favour of having his 
 gift accepted, and he feels it to be a distinction 
 that he can glorify God with the fruits of his sub- 
 stance, having given himself to the Lord. All 
 that he possesses is equally devoted, and what he 
 uses for himself is rather by permission than by 
 right of property. It is this principle which 
 makes alms-giving a species of thanksgiving, and 
 gifts a part of our spiritual worship. This prin- 
 ciple underlies the whole subject of Systematic 
 Benevolence. 
 
 " The recognition of this principle, in its full- 
 ness and energy, is all that is wanted to infuse 
 new life into the Church, and to make our offer- 
 ings commensurate with our resources. 
 
 "Alms-giving being at once a duty and a pri- 
 vilege, an ordinance of God and a means of grace, 
 it is manifestly incumbent upon the courts of the 
 Church to impart this, as well as every other bless- 
 ing of the gospel, to the Christian people. Any 
 believer has a right to complain that his soul 
 is neglected, and the fulness of his Christian 
 inheritance impaired, if he has not the opportu- 
 nity of presenting his gifts as well as of hearing 
 
104 APPENDIX. 
 
 the word. The General Assembly accordingly 
 has done no more than it was bound to do, in en- 
 joining upon the Presbyteries ' to adopt some prac- 
 ticable method by which an opportunity shall be 
 aflforded, and an invitation given to all the mem- 
 bers of their congregations to contribute regularly 
 to the objects of Christian benevolence, recognized 
 by the Assembly in the organization of the Boards 
 of the Church, and to such other institutions as to 
 them may seem right/ 
 
 ^^ But it is not enough that the Assembly should 
 command in the name of Christ, it must also see 
 that its injunctions are obeyed, and hence it has 
 required an Annual Beport from every Presbytery 
 in its bounds, of the diligence of ministers and 
 church sessions in complying with its requisi- 
 tions. Therefore our General Assembly enjoins 
 upon the pastors and churches to give greater 
 prominence, in the ministration of the word, to 
 the doctrine of the Scripture as set forth and in- 
 terpreted in our standards, (more particularly 
 chap- 26, sec. 2 of the Confession; in quest. 121 
 of the Larger Catechism : in chap. 7 of the Form 
 of Government; and in chap, 6, sec. 5, of the 
 Directory for Worship,) namely, that 'saints are, 
 by profession, bound to maintain an holy fellow- 
 ship and communion, in relieving each other in 
 
APPENDIX. 105 
 
 outward things according to their several abilities 
 and necessities, which communion, as God offereth 
 opportunities, is to be extended unto all those, 
 who in every place call upon the name of the Lord 
 Jesus,' ' giving and lending freely according to 
 their abilities, and in conformity to this doctrine, 
 recognizing as one of the ordinances established 
 by Christ,' in connection with the sermon, prayer 
 and praise, a ^collection raised for the poor and 
 other purposes of the Church/ 
 
 *' 2. Rewlved, The Presbyteries, which have 
 not anticipated the provisions of this action of the 
 Assembly, are most earnestly and affectionately 
 enjoined, (1) at their meeting following the rising 
 of this Assembly, to take order that the ministers 
 and church sessions in their bounds, shall be di- 
 rected to adopt some practical method, by which 
 an opportunity shall be afforded, and an invitation 
 given to all the members of their congregations, 
 to contribute regularly to the objects of Christian 
 benevolence, recognized by the Assembly, in the 
 organization of the Boards of the Church, and to 
 such other institutions as to them may seem 
 right. 
 
 " And (2) at every spring meeting to institute 
 a proper inquiry into the diligence of ministers 
 10 
 
106 APPENDIX. 
 
 and church sessions in executing the provisions of 
 such method. 
 
 ^^3. Resolved J The Presbyteries are further en- 
 joined to enter on record and report to the next 
 General Assembly, their action on the first part 
 of the foregoing resolution, and also to record at 
 their next and all subsequent spring meetings, 
 the result of the inquiry prescribed, and report 
 the same to the G-eneral Assembly, with the usual 
 annual Presbyterial reports, stating the delin- 
 quencies and diligence of pastors and church ses- 
 sions/^ 
 
 Never did our Church, or any other, more plain- 
 ly and practically hold forth the truth on the rela- 
 tion of Christian activity and liberality in the 
 cause of Christ, to all Christian prosperity and 
 progress, than in the principles and provisions 
 here set forth. 
 
 We trust they will be universally responded to 
 by all the Presbyteries in our Church, in the same 
 spirit in which they were acted upon by the 
 Presbytery of Huntingdon, at its recent meeting, 
 when it adopted the following resolutions : 
 
 ^'Resolved, 1st. That love to Christ's cause is an 
 essential element of Christian piety; and a regular 
 communication of our worldly substance, accord- 
 
APPENDIX. lOT 
 
 ing as God hath prospered us, an ordinary and im- 
 portant part of practical religion. 
 
 '^2d. That accordingly, it is as much the duty 
 of the pastors and officers of the churches to make 
 arrangements for the cultivation of the grace of 
 benevolence, for the performance of this part of 
 practical religion, as for any other of the offices of 
 religion. Therefore, 
 
 " 3d. That it be affectionately enjoined upon 
 the pastors and the other appropriate officers of 
 the churches, to adopt and put in efficient opera- 
 tion, some plan for making regular collections for 
 the four Boards (and Church Extension Commit- 
 tee) of the Church, so that a contribution for 
 each shall be made at least once every year. 
 
 " And it is further enjoined, that one or other 
 of the following plans be adopted by each church, 
 provided there is not an equally efficient one al- 
 ready in operation. 
 
 ''Plan 1. A card or book with the names of 
 all the members of the congregation upon it, with 
 columns for weekly, or monthly, or quarterly sums, 
 such as they may voluntarily offer to pay. The 
 sum to be paid either to the elders, the deacons, 
 or to persons specially appointed in each district 
 of the congregation. 
 
 ^'Plan 2. Monthly collections in the church 
 
108 APPENDIX. 
 
 to be divided amongst the Boards, at the discretion 
 of the deaeonSj or (in case there be no deacons) 
 of the Session. 
 
 "Plan 3. A quarterly sermon in behalf of the 
 Boards, (assigning a quarter to each,) to be fol- 
 lowed by a collection or subscription for the Board 
 whose cause was advocated in the sermon." 
 i 
 
 THE ENP. 
 
Princeton Theoloq.cal ^emmary-Speer Ub'ary 
 
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