YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL %\t ^xmifom%% auij ducruserljfttism 0f <2>^- % 3fljjrMJitanM» ms €amxMnm si Cfrratraraig. ANNUAL SERMON, DELIVERED APRIL 7, 1856, BEFORE Members of the Assyrian Mission AT THEIR ANNUAL MEETING, In Diarbekr, BY REV- DWIGHT W. MARSH. UTICA, N. Y. CURTISS & WHITE, PRINTERS, 171 GENESEE STREET. 1856. Yale Divinity Library «»«/ rtsven, Conn. SERMON. let Coh. xv : 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your work is not in vain in the Lord. This earnest exhortation follows Paul's argument for the certainty of the Christian resurrection in view of the believer's triumph over the sting of death. It is not inappropriate to the circumstances of tender solem nity under which we assemble. You have not forgotten how, while gathered at our annual meeting last year, a message from Dr. Lobdell's death-bed burst like a shell in our midst. You followed me with your prayers as the raft floated down among Koords, unsettled by rebellion and still armed. I shall never forget the emotions of landing when I learned that our brother still lived though lying at the gate of eternity ; nor how warmly, with thanks to God, and open arms feebly clasped about me, and tears, our emaciated brother received me. Oh ! it was a great stroke upon us all when he died ! and our sisters best know the greater agony of that long sickness ! But they and we all know, that to him who is gone, that death had no sting. I expect few scenes upon earth more calm and heavenly than the peace of that Sabbath afternoon, when earth forever faded from our brother's vision ; and we felt conscious of heaven and angels about us as he gently fell asleep in Jesus. " The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is " the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the "victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, . " my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, " always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch " as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." How solemnly the exhortation comes ! " The sting of death is sin." We believe that being born implies the necessity of being born again. We believe that not a man of years, or an infant of days, since God created the heavens and the earth, has entered, or can enter, the heaven of God's presence, unless God, (while it dwelt' in the body) new-created each depraved-born and sin-inclined soul. And that new creation, a work which only God can do, we believe God does in every infant who dies before moral agency commences. This confidence extends to heathen and the vilest of men ; but is intense with regard to the children of believers. We do not forget as we gather now, that when last here there was an uncon scious babe in our midst who is now in heaven. Even in transferring that little one to the Savior's bosom, how many tears our Father caused to flow ! Yet surely "it is well with the child ;" and We can give " thanks "to God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Here are other little children whose presence, as the absence of little Harding, reminds us of the grave, and carries our thoughts beyond to immortality and the resurrection morning. What a meeting when the grave gives up its dead and we go up to the New Jerusalem and the general assembly of the first born ! These children are here because death came. Our brother is bearing his little flock to our native land • and as we miss his wonted presence, his counsel his preaching and his prayers, do we not need the exhor tation, " Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding " in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that " your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Here are new laborers. They have seen trials on the way. They have heard of the Anakims of our land of promise and have not yet tasted the goodly grapes. As with our heart-welcome, beloved brethren, we set before you the nature of our work, may we not well add the exhortation, " be ye steadfast, unmovable, "always abounding in the work of the Lord." The text contemplates work; genuine toil; labor, not ease ; and labor of that kind which tests steadfast ness. It will not tolerate fickleness. If the hand has been put to the plough, you must drive it through, not even looking back. Work is demanded that will inevi tably excite opposition, as Paul was called to fight with wild beasts at Ephesus. The most persevering efforts will be made to silence you, or at least to swerve you from the solemn earnestness of your message. " There- " fore be ye steadfast, unmovable." The text not only contemplates work, but also the fruitful result : "Ye know that your labor is not in vain " in the Lord," and under this view urges to incessant diligence ; " always abounding." As you have a work, my beloved brethren, that makes you unwelcome, "be steadfast, unmovable." As it is full of fruit, "always abound." The work is both aggressive and conservative, and to these contrasted characteristics I now invite your attention. THE WORK AGGRESSIVE AND CONSERVATIVE. Because it is aggressive and tears through old cus toms, and lays "the axe to the root," it stirs up the whole brood of Scribes and Pharisees to fiercest oppo sition, and therefore "be ye steadfast, unmovable." On the other hand, because it is truly conservative, preserving and consolidating all that is valuable in society, and "ye know that your labor is not in vain," therefore "always abound." As aggressive, it is the knife girdling and the fire charring the giant forest; the plow driven firmly through all the grubs, cutting up the roots and over turning the crooked stumps of dead error. As conservative, it is the goodly seed cast into the soft furrow ; the sprouting germ, the green grain, the harvest field; barns bursting with plenty, orchards loaded with fruit. Before this work has been entered upon, society is a dismal swamp. It reeks with pestilence. Only beasts of prey and venomous reptiles haunt its gloomy re cesses. As the gospel work goes on, light breaks through the dark cypresses and spanish-moss, Pestilence sullenly retreats, stagnant waters stir with life, and finally blithe Health trips in upon meadows smiling in broad sunshine. The waste is transformed. All that was good remains ; earth now solid, stately groves and brook-side flowers, waters now wholesome, and air cleansed of poison. Nature never (since the curse) smiled like Eden, without the friendly culture of man. Your work, then, my beloved brethren, is 1st, Aggressive. At the outset, it was radical in your own soul. In its very conception you travailed with pain. It tore relentlessly through your heart strings. Stern as death, it snatched you from friends and native land. It went down to the depths. In vain your father longed to hear you preaching to some well- established church near the homestead, or at most in the no longer far west. In -vain his aged helplessness mutely plead that you would smooth his declining steps and close his weary eyes. In vain your sister dreamed of a parsonage under elms, and that the " sunny side." Before the strength of a mighty impulse, such visions went like cobwebs. The voice of God was in your soul. No more tenderness to self. No more home for you. No more your mother-tongue. Arise! go forth; an exile ; by most forgotten ; a stammering stranger ; a pilgrim till you die ! And for what ? To repeat the Baptist's cry, " 0 " generation of vipers !" Not for " ease in Zion," but to cry to "au evil and adulterous generation." 'Ye whited sepulchres, " Woe, woe unto you !" " Ye ser- "pents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape " the damnation of hell ?" ' The Spirit of God impels. In vain, when God says, " Go prophesy," man pleads, " I am no prophet nor a prophet's son." Enemies mut ter, " The land is not able to bear all his words." Am- aziah threatens Amos, " 0 thou seer, go flee away into " the land of Judah and there eat bread and prophesy " there. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel, "for it is the king's chapel and it is the king's court." The servant of the king's King replies, " The Lord '•said unto me, Go prophesy." Jonah shrank ! and we, like him, may take the wings of morning to dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; but the word comes, more imperative, "Arise, go unto " Ninevah, that great city, and preach unto it the " preaching that I bid thee." Modern preachers of the Gospel should never forget that the nature of their work is such that Apostles and prophets before them have shrunk from its uncompro mising earnestness. Ages ago, Jeremiah plead, " Ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child." But hear God ! " Say not I am a child, for thou shalt " go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I "command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of " their faces. See, I have this day set thee over the " nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to "pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to " build and to plant." "Speak unto them. all that I " command thee: be not dismayed at their faces lest I " confound thee before them. For behold I have made "thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and " brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings " of Judah, against the princes thereof, and against the " people of the land. And they shall fight against " thee." So hard was it for Jeremiah to carry out and to endure the aggressive nature of his work, that at another time we find him crying in agony, " Woe is me, my "mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and " a man of contention to the whole earth ! I have " neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on " usury, yet every one of them doth curse me." He even murmured, against God : "0 Lord, thou hast " deceived me, and I was .deceived : Thou art stronger " than I, and hast prevailed. I was in derision daily, "every one mocketh me. For since I spake I cried " out, I cried out violence and spoil : because the word " of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a " derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention " of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his " word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in " my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I " could not stay." We must not regard Jeremiah as peculiar and alone in this dread of his work, and yet impossibility of silence. In that wonderful dialogue which occurred near Mardin or Orfa, when God drew near to Job and his friends in whirlwind, we find God's chosen spokes man, Elihu, under a like necessity. Mark the intensity of his language, " I am full of matter, the spirit within " me constraineth me. Behold my belly is as wine " which hath no vent. It is ready to burst like new " bottles. I will speak that I may be refreshed. I "will open my lips and answer." We cannot think this, spirit peculiar to the old prophets, and uncongenial to the gospel dispensation. Like Elihu, Paul at Corinth, was "pressed in spirit" and testified. Peter and John replied to the threats of the Sanhedrim, " Whether it be right in the sight of "God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge "ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we " have seen and heard." How vain further threats ! They could not but speak. By imperious necessity, they spoke out. " The high priest " " and all that "were with' him" "were filled with indignation, and " laid hands on the Apostles and put them in the com- " mon prison. But the angel of the Lord by night " opened the prison door, and brought them forth, and " said, ' Go stand and speak in the temple to the people "all the words of this life.'" This strife has grown till God has directly interfered. The high priest, backed by the civil power, tells these fishermen, Do not dare to speak. God says, "Go, speak in the temple." As they speak, the captain and officers come and bear them away to the council, where the high priest sternly demands, "Did not we strictly command you "that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, "ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and in- " tend to bring this man's blood upon us." And what think you did the Apostles do? Did they cringe and lick the dust, and protest that they never intended to bring Christ's blood upon them? Were they even awed into momentary silence? Not for a moment. The sacred record runs, "Then Peter and the Apostles " answered, and said, We ought to obey God rather "than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, "whom ye slew and hanged on a tree." K) So the martyr Stephen when before the same bloody tribunal on charge of blasphemy, after rapidly recalling the sad treatment of the old prophets, gives his words a present edge and thrust. " Ye stiff-necked and uncir- " cumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the " Holy Ghost : as your fathers, so ye. Which of the "prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they " have slain them which showed before of the coming "of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the " betrayers and murderers." "They were. cut to the "heart;" " they cried out," they " stopped their ears, " and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out "of the city, and stoned him." These teachers of the gospel were plain-spoken men. They disturbed every community they entered, until their welcome was, " These that have turned the world " upside down are come hither also." At Thessalonica certain lewd fellows set all the city in uproar, and as saulted the house of Jason. " The people and rulers "of the city " were " troubled." At Corinth, the Jews made insurrection with one accord, and brought Paul to the judgment seat. At Ephesus, not only was the craft in danger, "but also that the temple of the great "goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnifi- " cence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the "world worshipeth." "They were full of wrath." " The whole city was filled with confusion." Paul and Stephen were not the only agitators. Herod thought best to slay Jamest with the sword, and impris on Peter. Silas was beaten and thrust into the stocks. But Paul, being a " chosen vessel," was the chief agi tator. Jewish customs could not limit his gospel, and he " withstood " Peter "to the face, because he was to " be blamed." What a scene was that at Jerusalem! when "all the 11 " city was moved, and the people ran together," and drew Paul out of the temple, and went about to kill him ! As the tidings flew to the chief captain that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, he immediately took sol diers and ran down. When they saw the captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. What a terrific scene ! as the chief captain bound Paul with two chains, and demanded his crime, and the multitude howled about ; and " when he could not know the certainty for " the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the " castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, " that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of ' ' the people. For the multitude of the people followed " after crying, ' Away with him.' " How strangely that chief captain had mistaken Paul's character ! gravely to ask him, " art not thou that " Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, " and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men " that were murderers ?" Paul from the stairs addressed that mad populace till "they lifted up their voices and said, away with such " a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should " live." They cried out and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, till the chief captain ordered him to be examined, by scourging. When brought before the council, " the high priest, " Ananias, commanded them that stood by him to smite "him upon the mouth." That mouth though smitten was not stopped. " God shall smite thee, thou whited " wall," was its next awful utterance. Then more than forty banded together under a curse neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Surely he was an agitator. Surely the gospel as administered by the Apostles was aggressive and unwelcome. Yet each confessor 12 and martyr could exclaim with Paul, " Woe unto me if "I preach not the gospel." : Under similar inspiration ^Isaiah exclaimed, " I gave " my back to the smiters and my cheek to them that "pulled off the hair; I hid not my face from shame " and spitting. For the Lord God will keep me ; there- " fore shall I not be confounded ; therefore have I set " my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." Ezehiel saw a glorious vision by the Khabour ; the whirlwind, and great cloud and infolding fire ; the color of terrible crystal ; the rings, full of eyes, that were high and dreadful ; the living creatures four-faced ; the burning coals and lamps going and returning as the appearance of a flash of lightning ; the wheels within wheels ; the fire, and out of the fire lightning. He heard the noise of their wings as the noise of great waters, the voice of the Almighty. God spake from the firmament : " Son of man stand upon thy feet and "I will speak unto thee." The spirit entered into the prophet arid set him upon his feet. " Son of man I "send thee to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled "against me; impudent children and stiff hearted. "1 do send thee unto them; thou shalt say unto them " Thus saiih the Lord. And they, whether they will " hear, or whether they will forbear, yet shall know "that there hath been a prophet among them. Be not "afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, " though briers and thorns,ybe with thee, and thou dost " dwell among scorpions ; be not afraid of their words "nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a " rebellious house." " Open thy mouth and eat that I give thee. And " behold a hand !" "and lo, a roll of a book !" "and '' it was written within and without : and there was 13 " written therein, lamentations and mourning and woe." Ezekiel ate the roll and God said, " Son of man go get " thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words " unto them." " But the house of Israel will not hearken " unto thee ; for they will not hearken unto me ; for " all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. " Behold I have made thy face strong against their " faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads ; " as an adamant, harder than flint have I made thy " forehead ; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their "looks though they be a rebellious house." If such were the apostles and prophets, and such God's commands to them, then surely the work of the Lord is an aggressive work. If it be to set the face as adamant, harder than flint, " to root out and to pull " down, to destroy and to throiv down ;" if it be " to give " the back to smiting, the beard to plucking, the face to "shame and spitting;" if the Psalmist must be hunted like a partridge of the mountains ; if a lion's den, or a fiery furnace, or the filth of an oriental cistern may be a prophet's portion ; if Paul was not mistaken and for getful in his record of his own experience of stoning and buffeting and the stocks ; if he was moved of the Holy Ghost to speak of men who "were tortured not " accepting deliverance," who " had trial of mockings " and scourgings, of bonds and imprisonment ; if they " were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, "were slain of the sword," if indeed " they wandered " about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, " afflicted, tormented;" if indeed those " of whom the " world was not worthy" "wandered in deserts and in " mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth," then surely they were most unwelcome men. They were aggressive. God through them brought not peace but a sword. : 14 They were no union-savers, fearful lest deliverance be preached to captives and opening of prison doors to them that are bound. They could not have been Castle-Garden conservatives, shutting out the wails and woes and lamentations of God's word, while iniquity was being framed by law. Upon the temperance ques tions they spoke out, " Woe unto him who giveth his " neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle 'to him and ' ' makest him drunken ! The cup of the Lord's right hand " shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall " be on thy glory." They dared remember the wrongs of the slave with a uThus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto " me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, " and every man to his neighbor ; behold I proclaim a " liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the " pestilence and to the famine." No "Catholic basis" made Habakkuk silent upon the peculiar institutions of legalized oppression and rob bery, which existed in his day, when God told him, "Write the vision and make it plain." "Woe to him " that increaseth that which is not his ! how long ! Woe "to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his. house " that he may set his nest on high, that he may be deliv- " ered from the power of evil! Thou hast consulted "shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and " hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry " out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall "answer it." 'J Such outspoken men were unpopular in their day They had not the woe that all men spoke well of them' They were too aggressive for their generation. They were hated and persecuted. Those who preach Christ's gospel now will be. My brethren you will find opposition in your work and 15 bitter hatred. If ye were of the world the world would love its own. But ye know that it hated Christ before it hated you, and " the servant is not greater than his Lord." This is missionary experience all over the world. When Hall and Judson arrived upon the heathen ground, what did they find ? The nominally christian East India Company was nursing Idolatry, as a, nur,se tenderly cherisheth her children. Had the ship that bore them been a plague ship, and Hall and Judson infected felons, the company could not have more carefully guarded the heathen from contact, or protected their morals more scrupulously. They were at that very moment paying revenue to idols. They were as con scientiously afraid of the gospel as any border ruffian in Missouri. Those missionaries were as unwelcome on the Ganges as home missionaries are now in Kan sas. They were absolutely hunted and driven out of India. Were they to keep silence under such outrage, and suffer the millions of India to perish, that the East India Company might quietly coin gold? Law and power was on the side of the oppressors; but Hall prayed and wrote an appeal so earnest that when referred to England the Directors dared not take upon themselves the blood of so many millions. In Georgia, society was not safe while missionaries were at large preaching God's word to the Indians. Conservatism cried out, and obedient to popular clamor Butler and Worcester were hurried to the penitentiary. In Oregon, after mission families had been exposed to cruel butchery, instigated by papal malignity, a statesman, zealous to preserve quiet, has ventured by treaty stipulation to exclude protestant missionaries from a part of the American domain. This is the world's conservatism, " a covenant with 16 " death, and with hell at agreement." Such conserva tism requires christian rebuke ; a conservatism " at " ease in Zion" while Satan's bolts are driven and forged by law, knowing no higher law, securing privilege to inquisitors, and rest to oppressors ; forever crying peace, peace, while " there is no peace, saith my God, to the " wicked." With such blind, worthless conservatism, as ministers of Christ's gospel you are at war. France has such conservatism and puts down freedom at Rome, and gags the press. Austria and Naples are its god fathers. Archbishops and Cardinals preach and despots enforce such conservatism. The Pope has just put it in concordat with his beloved Austrian son. John Hughes is striving to pollute America with it. You my brethren who have just left your native land think not that you left all such conservatism behind with the pro-slavery party of the United States. All through this empire you will find the little protestant community struggling with the gigantic evils that iufest society, abuse sgrown hoary in the name of the Koran and the church. The judicious historian of "Christian-. ity revived in the east," than whom perhaps a more wisely conservative man is not found among the mis sionaries of the American Board, in the Missionary Herald for Nov. 1855, eloquently portrays the struggles and warmly espouses what he calls " Young Armenia " You will find the protestant churches in Turkey like the prophet's speckled bird, with all the birds around pecking at it. Venerable men, the most dignified among nominal christians condemn your innovating spirit. They would have gospel wine work without breaking any old bottles. They would forbid you to cast gospel pearls before Moslem swine. Rather than lose one or two thousand swine of their own, they would entreat Christ 17 to depart out of their coasts. Very many circumstan ces conspire to make you, " my beloved brethren," un welcome. Almost every custom of the country is not simply wrong but saturated with sin. Satan, during his long rule, has contrived the structure of houses, the habits of speech, the very dress of the people, the more effectually to exclude the gospel. The languages as at Babel are a barrier. Our customs are a barrier. We are strangers and the people of Sodom are ever ready to say, as they did to Lot, " This one came in to " sojourn and he will needs be a judge." However good our intentions may be, we shall hear again what the Israelites said to Moses, " Who made thee a prince and a judge over us ?" Satan has possession of this land, and as we strive to drive him from his 'usurped right, in a thousand ways he tries to make it ap pear that we are the wicked aggressors and he out raged innocence. Strive as best we can, (and may God abundantly help us) to live at peace, and we still find ourselves men of contention and strife. In the nature of things it must be so till "the kingdom and the "dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under " the whole heaven be given to the people of the saints "of the Most High God." I need not dwell longer upon this part of the sub ject, but pass to consider what is far more plesant, 2dly, The Conservative nature of tour work. England andAmerica are examples of the conservative power of a preached gospel.' Society rests there upon ideas, not force. France has had revolutions as radical as the American, but how little has she profited ! Eng land passed her crisis more smoothly and does not depend for order upon standing armies. Yet there are no such peaceful homes on earth as are found where the Eng- 18 lish language is spoken. And this, England and Amer ica owe to the Sabbath and its gospel. If there remain gigantic evils in both hemispheres it is because the gos pel has not been brought into legitimate contact with every soul to work out its appropriate result. A residence in Western Asia would force any reflect ing mind to some study of ancient history. The mighty impress of past events is upon all this region. As we read the prophets, (Nahum, Isaiah, Jonah, Ezekiel, Dan iel,) past empires, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, India, Persia, Greece, Rome, live again with old glory. The old city walls about us recall the struggle of Persia with the eastern Roman Empire. The Persian king even besieg ed Constantinople ; but Heraclius withdrew a part of his forces for a rapid diversion into the. heart of Persia. Chosroes was compelled to raise the siege and hurry back. They met at the ruins of Nineveh and Herac lius conquered ; a battle especially noteworthy, since the Persian king is by some supposed to be the fallen star that opened the bottomless pit for the Saracens to issue forth. Certain it is that the diversion of all thought to this direction gave Mohammed a chance to muster the Arab clans under his conquering banner. Almost a thousand years before this battle of Nineveh, the ten thousand passed over the same ruins in their memora ble retreat to Trebizond ; and close by, a little later, Alexander with difficulty forded the Tigris, and not a day's journey to the east, at the junction of the Hazer and Gomel, lay the Persian host, Darius and a million men. Alexander with his forty thousand fell upon them like lions upon a flock of sheep. Then Persian scythe- armed chariots broke loose cut a bloody swarth through gathered nations, cursing each other in strange tongues elephants trampled upon the fallen, the air was dark with stones and darts showered upon friend and foe • 19 the irresistible phalanx pressed through the. confused, innumerable, panic-stricken host with standards fallen, spears broken, shields thrown away and garments rolled in blood. That whirlwind passed to Persia and India. The world was swept before it ; and Alexander return ed to Babylon to reap what he had sown. Vanity of vanities ! Nothing remained of so much toil. By al most superhuman effort the nations had been rolled into one, like a vast snowball. Alexander died, and they melted apart in the morning sun. There was no living element. We have most of us entered the Assyrian mounds, to see the relics of past glory. As we meditated there the voice of the prophets rung in our ears. " Yet forty "days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The gates of the river opened again and Sennacherib passed forth with that host, of whom 185,000 were destined in one night to die on the distant hills of Judea ; a host great er than England and France united have gathered about Sevastopol. Nahum was alive at the time and prob ably saw this very army ; and he describes so vivedly " the horsemen lifting up the bright sword and the glit- " tering spear" that we hear with him " the noise of a whip," the rattling wheels, the prancing horse, and jumping chariots, raging in the streets like flaming torches, jostling against one another in the broad ways and running like lightnings. How soon Sennacherib and a flying few brought back wailing to all this region, plains and mountains, wailing' for the cold and dead 185,000 far away unburied in Judea. Far less the wail in England now for less than a fourth of that number ! And of all Assyria's glory what good is left ? The arts are less advanced in Mosul to-day than they were in Nineveh. 20 And so all the learning and majesty of Egypt have only left her the basest of kingdoms. In vision Daniel saw an image rising upon the Meso- potamian plain, with head of gold, breast of silver, thighs of brass, legs and feet of iron and clay ; setting forth the glory of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. No doubt the vision was colosal and magnificent, but the image had nothing worth preserving. A stone cut out of the mountains without hands " smote the image." " Then were the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, " and the gold, broken to pieces together, and it became "like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and " the wind carried them away that no place was " found for them, and the stone that smote the image " became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." Thus have the kingdoms of old with all their grand eur passed away and left only refuse, like chaff, for the summer wind. You, my beloved brethren, are no part of that smit ten image ; but, if true to your mission, are of the stone that is becoming a mountain and filling the whole earth. What is there in the stone, not in the image, that makes it so grow, and become so vast ? Upon gloomy Helena Napoleon solved this question. "I know men," said Napoleon, "and I tell you that " Jesus is not a man. The religion of Christ is a majesty " which subsists by its own force, and proceeds from a " mind which is not a human mind." "Alexander, Cassar, Charlemagne and myself found- " ed empires ; but upon what did we rest the creations "of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone " founded his empire upon love ; and at this hour mil- " lions would die for him." " All the kings and potentates of earth were on one " side ; on the other I see no army but a mysteri- 21 " ous force, some men scattered hefe and there in all " parts of the world, and who have no other rallying " point than the cross." " I die before my time, and my body will be given "back to the earth to become food for the worms. " Such is the fate which so soon awaits him who has " been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss be- " tween my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of " Christ, which is proclaimed, loved and adore'd, and "which is extending over the whole earth !" Napoleon probably knew little or nothing of true religion. It is even possible that he never uttered these words, but that some deluded well-meaning man sought the magic of a great name to inculcate a grand truth. But the sentiment is exact, the contrast is just. Even though now Napoleon's name aids a despot, it is true of the third, as it was of the first Napoleon, his empire is based upon force, not love. His kingdom is without and for a season ; while the kingdom of God is within, based upon immortal love. This kingdom is not limited, even to the wide surface of the earth and all the families of man ; it extends to heavenly worlds and includes all the people of God in all ages, and will endure in all future ages of time and throughout eternity. As the text assures us " ye know that your labor is " not in vain in the Lord." If you know this then the Spirit has taught you. I do not propose to enter here, to you, my brethren, upon any dem onstration of the truth of God's word. I would rather stir up your pure minds by remembrance of what " ye know." Many think your works vain. Infidels scoff at a few men scattered here and there over the earth, among millions of opposing nominal Christians and Jews, and many more millions of pagans. The Christian camp, at best, is divided into three diverging hosts, Greeks, 22 Papists and Protestants. What can you say that has not been said ? What can you do that has not been done by men, whom you call Apostles and ProphetSj before you ?JfHow do you know that your expectation shall not perish, and your "blossom go up as dust?" Since this is the fate of nations why not of Christianity ? •Has not the gospel already grown superstitious and effete, and like Islamism, ready to perish ? How dare you hope that your labor will not be in vain ? Has the great hierarchy centred in Rome toiled for so many ages to no purpose and do you hope to succeed ? Yes ! if christians, " Ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord," you recognize an element in it that does not rely upon the sword, and yet an element that makes Protestant highways safe ; and the want of it leaves the Papal states infested with robbers. Yours is the religion of the Bible demonstrated by God's Spirit. Where it has had a fair field for work it has preserved the family, that heavenly institution only found in christian lands. It has preserved filial respect and paternal care. Congugal love has been preserved from snarling polygamy and from health-destroying, peace-destroying, soul-destroying licentiousness. Truth has been preserved among men so that there are lands where not all men are liars. The gospel fully preached preserves justice among men from bribes on the one hand and brute force on the other. Under its influence oppression ceases. Tyranny and the gospel cannot go together. Either the bible removes the despot or the despot shuts the bible. In the smitten image the fam ily was not found, nor chastity, nor truth, nor justice nor brotherhood. All these the preached gospel has sown and retained among men. So far as the gospel message is faithfully delivered God blessses the nations. The more christian a nation is the more just and hu- 23 mane are its institutions. The more christian individ uals are, the more content they are and grateful to God. They are satisfied with the pearl they have found ; it is of great price. Your labor is not in vain, as it softensangry passions, quenches strife, roots out selfishness,, makes men noble, forgiving, kind; as it builds up a church, forming a brotherhood without Emperor and Pope, and without serfs and slaves ; a brotherhood for time and eternity. If only a few souls were saved the labor would not be in vain. But as Adam knew not the limits of the results of his sin, as we know not the entire result of any one sin, (nor can we know, nor any finite mind ;) so we know not the results of one soul saved ; how many other lights may be lit at that flame, how long down the ages your influence may blaze, nor how brightly, in eternity. If God make you the means of salvation to a single soul, dare not to call your labor vain. Your work is not all contention and strife. Thank God there is sympathy too ; love and brotherhood. No workmen are so happy. Among no class of men will you find so few heartburnings ; so little mutual recrimination. It is not all plowing that you are called to. Seed , time is followed by harvest. If you only glean a few handfuls of grain it is priceless ; and you will not^envy those who have reaped more, but in the great harvest day, with the great company of reapers, you will enter into the joy of your Lord ; the Lord of the harvest. As in the joy and, honors of her son, the humble widow is twice happy, as every patmot lives in the welfare of his country, so the true Christian can perfectly sympathize with the success of every other; and his own disappointment is swallowed up and Jost in the universal joy. His apparently useless labors were ordered in infinite wisdom, and tended mysteri- 24 ously to the common glorious result. God alone be holds every hidden relation of things, and in the most gloomy hour, by faith you may know that your labor is not in vain. " Therefore be steadfast, immovable,- " always abounding in the work of the Lord." Your labor would not be in vain if you did not win a single soul. Christ may have other use for your pa tient example in eternity. They who persevere, with the churches' prayerful applause and sympathy, in the full tide of success, are not always the most approved of God. Abdiel, " sole faithful among the faithless " found," Noah vexing his righteous soul in vain at the deluge, Christ forsaken and denied are objects of hea venly approval. Christ, who endured the cross, despi sing the shame, will not forget your agony of trial. In a thousand cases (where you expect it not,) he will say, " Ye did it unto me." As Dr. Cheever well expressed it, "You may have " to heave away at a great many stones before you come " to a single jewel ; but the labor at the very first stone " is just as glorious for you and just as precious in "the eye of your Redeemer as at the last, or that " upon the very lump of ore, in which the Lord may " employ your hand to discover a diamond." If not before, at least when Christ comes in glory, and all the holy angels with him, you will know that your labor has not been in vain in the Lord. Need I exhort you always to abound in it ? "In the " morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withold " not thine hand ; for thou knowest not whether shall " prosper either this or that, or whether they both shall " be alike good." There comes also to us a voice from the grave ; a voice from that little, hated and defiled grave yard at Mosul where are gathered our mission dead, Grant, Hinsdale and -Lobdell, Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. Laurie and Mrs. Williams. " Beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, "immovable, always abounding in the work of the " Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in, " vain in the Lord." ¦;!,,r n! Pi