Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

It is submitted, my brethren, after what has been said, whether the proposition, announced at the commencement of this discourse, has not been immoveably established-that the end of heathenism is eternal death; or that the great body of those, who live and die heathens, must go away into everlasting punishment." But if this is true, then it is incumbent on Christians, who enjoy the blessings of the gospel, and hopes of eternal life through a Redeemer, to do all in their power, to impart these blessings and hopes to the perishing heathen. Let us pause, my brethren, for a moment, to consider their state, as it is described in the Scriptures, and has been exhibited in this discourse. Six hundred millions of the present inhabitants of our globe are heathens. Each is an immortal creature, destined to outlive the stars-to exist forever. At present, they have a season of probation; but this is rapidly, and, in respect to successive multitudes, constantly, coming to a close. It is likely that more than forty heathens die, every minute; and between two and three thousands, every hour. Yes, my brethren, in all probability, thousands have died, since we commenced the exercises of this meeting. Thus, a broad and mighty stream is ever pouring them over the boundaries of time-and when once they have passed these limits; where do they fall? Alas! we have seen where. They fall, to rise no more. They fall, to sink forever, in darkness, misery, and despair. They go to be treated, not with cruelty, but with unrelenting justice-go to him, "by whom actions are weighed," to be punished forever as their crimes deserve. These, my brethren, are not fictions, but facts and are they not impressive, solemn, overwhelming facts?. Are they not sufficient to excite the sympathies, and rouse the energies, of every Chris

tian heart? Here is a current, rushing from the heathen world, into that lake which burneth with unquenchable fire, down which hundreds of millions of immortals are descending, and by which thousands and thousands are every day destroyed;--and shall we sit down, and contemplate such a spectacle, unmoved? Or shall not each of us rather exclaim, in accents prompted by the burstings of Christian love,

86 My God! I feel the mournful scene!
"My spirits yearn o'er dying men!
"And fain my pity would reclaim,

"And snatch the fire-brands from the, flame."

There is a remedy my brethren, for all this evila sovereign and effectual remedy-and this we have in our own hands. It is the gospel. This proposes peace and pardon, to those who are guilty and ready to perish. This bears on its healing wings the messages of light and salvation, to those who wander in fatal darkness. Let the gospel be universally diffused and embraced, and not only the unnumbered miseries of heathenism as it respects this life are removed and healed; but the broad road to ruin becomes untravelled; the stream of moral death is dried up; and "souls immersed in the guilt and pollution of sin, and ripening only for fellowship with the spirits in the prison of despair, are transformed into the likeness of the Holy one-cheered on earth by the consolations of his grace, and received to the mansions prepared for them that love him in the skies."-Who then would be backward in diffusing the gospel? Who will say, There is nothing for me to do, in the benevolent work of spreading all over the earth, the knowledge and blessings of the great salvation? Who, that has a competence of this world's goods, but will feel it a privilege to contri

[ocr errors]

bute of his substance, towards the necessary expences of such a work? Who, that has a mite to spare, but will cheerfully yield that mite, when the cause and commands of his bleeding Saviour, and the eternal welfare of millions ready to perish, are requiring it at his hands? And who, that has a heart to feel, or a tongue to pray, but will unite to give his God no rest, till he shall appear to save the sinking nations-till he shall establish and make Jerusalem, a praise in the whole earth?

[ocr errors]

Those, who believe the heathen to be happy in this life, and safe for eternity, will of course deride and oppose all exertions to send to them the gospel. And those, who regard the gospel, as a means, not of saving them from endless ruin, but merely of improving their temporal condition, will never be much engaged in diffusing its blessings. But those, who regard the state of the heathen as it has been exhibited in this discourse-who regard them, as plunging together down to the regions of eternal death, from which nothing can rescue them, but that mercy, which is offered through Christ-all such, it would seem, must be engaged, to bring them to a knowledge and acceptance of this mercy. It was these views of the moral miseries and dangers of the heathen, which pressed like a mountain on the heart of Paul, and urged him onward in his career of love. And similar views have impressed and excited all the faithful laborers and Missionaries, who have lived and died since. Of such, my brethren, let us be the followers-and whatever sacrifices we may be called to make, or afflictions to suffer, in the service of our beloved Lord, will shortly be compensated and "swallowed up, in a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Amen.

DISCOURSE XIX.

ON THE AGGRAVATED GUILT OF SINNING AGAINST

LIGHT.

Luke xii. 47, 48.

"And that servant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."

OUR Lord, in these words, adverts to a very equitable rule of treatment among masters respecting their servants; and seems to assume it as a maxim of his own government over his creatures. Here are two servants, who have transgressed their master's will; still, they are not equally guilty, nor will they be punished with equal severity; for one of them has disobeyed knowingly, and the other ignorantly-one "knew his lord's will, but prepared not himself, neither did according to his will;" while the other had not the same knowledge of what was required of him. So here may be two persons, who have committed the same overt act of sin against God, who still are not chargeable with the same degree of guilt; for one of them may have been favored with more light than the other, and consequently may have been under stronger obligations to yield obedience to the commands of his Maker.The following, I think, is the sentiment of the text:

The guilt of wrong actions is in proportion to the light against which they are committed.

In support of this plain and almost self-evident proposition, I shall adduce, in the first place, the Scriptures. It was provided in the law of Moses, that those who sinned through comparative or total ignorance, were not considered so guilty or unclean, as those who sinned presumptuously, and with a full knowledge of their duty. (See Numb. xv. 24-31.)

It is mentioned by Job, in his description of flagrant transgressors, that "they are of those who rebel against the light. The great reason, why it will be more tolerable for Tyre, and Sidon, and Sodom in the day of Judgment, than for the cities where Christ performed most of his mighty works, obviously is, that the inhabitants of these latter cities will be found to have sinned against superiour light. -Our Saviour, at a certain time, remarked concerning his enemies; "If I had not come, and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now" (on account of the light which my ministry has shed around them) "they have no cloak for their sin."It is farther asserted by the Apostle James, "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

tùres.

These various representations of Scripture in addition to the declarations in the text, clearly teach us how God estimates the improper conduct of his creaHe measures the guilt of sinful actions according to the light against which they are committed. That this is a proper mode of regarding such actions, may be shewn, in the second place, from the nature of things. Every degree of light respecting a holy and good law, necessarily exhibits more of its propriety, and thus increases our obligations to obey

« EelmineJätka »