268

SERMON XVI.

THE DUTY OF SUPPORTING MISSIONS.

Matt. x. 8.

Freely ye have received, freely give.

I HAVE selected this passage as the basis of my discourse, because it contains, in short compass, the scriptural argument for Missionary exertions.

It may be right, perhaps, to premise, that I take the spirit of the passage, rather than its literal meaning. In connexion with the context, its literal meaning may be no more than this:-"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils:" but beware of seeking any temporal remuneration for such exercise of your powers,-powers bestowed on you for a purpose very different from that of personal advantage: Freely ye have received, freely give.

Ye have been endued with extraordinary gifts, in every sense gratuitously: their author chose you to possess them, and was not chosen by you he gave you that without price, which no price could buy: and it is for you to impart gratuitously, what ye have gratuitously received.

With this, the literal translation of the passage, we have at present no concern; but with the spirit of the passage we have universal concern. It is the argument which pervades the Gospel. It is the argument by which our Lord requires of every Christian the forgiveness of injuries: "I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me; shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee?" It is the argument by which St. John enforces brotherly love: "Brethren, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." It is the argument by which St. Paul exhorts us to the service of Christ, that they who were dead, and live through him, "should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them." All these passages come to the same point, and imply the same duty-Freely ye have received, freely give. And it is an argument which ought to strike closely home to every christian soul.

You have enjoyed the testimony of the love of God: you have been offered the covenant of everlasting life: you have not been appointed unto wrath, "but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," by the peculiar, unsought, unmerited favour of God toward you. Freely ye have received; and his will is, that you should communicate your blessings, as far as your power extends, no less freely than you have received them. This is the universal demand of Scripture, with regard to every blessing which one man may enjoy more abundantly than his neighbour.

Now it is plain that the force of this argument, as a constraining motive, will depend upon our sense of the obligation conferred upon us.

In proportion as we feel the value of the Gospel, the Gospel written and in our hands, the Gospel preached and enforced upon our hearts, the Gospel pure and unadulterated, which in this country beyond all others we enjoy; in that proportion we shall feel the corresponding duty of freely dispensing such peculiar blessings. But this feeling of obligation is apt to become very dormant in our minds. We talk of the Gospel, without always remembering what that

term implies. We speak of Christendom: and in the geographical, forget the spiritual distinction. We lament the delusions of Mahommedanism, we regret the superstitions of Paganism ; as we lament the despotism of one country, or the anarchy of another: but where is that sense of a state of spiritual death, of enmity against God, of captivity to Satan, which universally pervades the Scriptures? Where is the conviction of the personal importance of faith in Christ Jesus to every individual under heaven? Scriptural views on this poimt, my christian brethren, would do more than a thousand arguments, to silence frivolous objections, and restrain petty opposition. If the question only concerns a neighbour's trifling advantage or unessential comfort, then we may reasonably be slow to interpose our assistance or our counsel; but if his condition is desperate, if the case is a crisis of life or death, then delay is cruel, and neglect inhuman.

But I am aware, that, on this occasion,1 I have little concern with objectors or opponents. It is not probable that any should be present here, who are not as much convinced of the importance of the Gospel to every soul of

The anniversary of the Church Missionary Society.

man, as he who addresses you. And I find comfort in the thought; for it is difficult to CONTEND, even in a christian cause, without feelings less pure and calm and spiritual than befit this sacred place and sacred office.

I conceive, then, that the object of our present meeting is, not to create a feeling, but to cherish and invigorate it; to feed the flame which burns too feebly; to trim the lamp which is nigh to be extinguished by the damp and chilling spirit of the surrounding world. Mindful of this, we do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together," but desire by every means to provoke one another to love and to good works." May we never forget that the Spirit, which alone can kindle this flame effectually, must descend from heaven!

66

I. I have said, that our zeal for the propagation of the Gospel will, in a great measure, depend upon our sense of its value to ourselves, and its importance to others. Now, the fact seems often to be overlooked, but can never be openly denied, that the importance of the Gospel to heathen nations now, is the same as its importance to those who were heathens in the apostolical age. Paganism may vary in the