Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

THE MISSIONARY'S REST.

BY THE EDITOR OF "THE PARTING GIFT."

"And fear to sorrow with increase of grief,

When they who go before,

Go furnished-or because their span was brief;
When in the acquist of what is life's true gage,
Truth, knowledge, and that other worthiest lore,
They had fulfilled already a long age.
For doubt not but that in the worlds above
There must be other offices of love,

That other tasks and ministries there are,

Since it is promised, that his servants there
Shall serve Him still!"

THE voice of lamentation is heard, "Alas! my brother!"—the Missionary, upon whom the eyes of his friends and country were turned, whose influence was co-extensive with his active labours, and for whom a bright career of success seemed in prospect, is summoned by the Lord to resign his commission. Amidst the sorrow occasioned by his removal, mournful speculations find utterance, as to the measure of usefulness of which he might have been the honoured instrument, had he been permitted to remain on earth. Following the track of discoverers, it is thought, he would have carried the glad tidings where

"Rivers unknown to song"

are the sad witnesses of pagan cruelties, and have caused the day-star of hope to arise where gross darkness has hitherto enveloped the nations. Languages, at present only the medium

of savage intercourse, might have become the vehicle of truth, while the upholders of idol supremacy were transformed into messengers of the most high God!

But it is over-he rests from his labours, and his works do follow him. His Master has said, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

It is not then for us to conjecture what might have been the extent of his usefulness, for he is withdrawn from the sphere of action; we must rather rejoice that he is now realizing the meaning of the Saviour's prayer, "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory."

"Say not," (remarks an exquisite writer, on a similar subject,) "that he is taken from the church universal, till you know the boundaries and precincts of that glorious church; till you have measured the courts of the celestial temple, and counted the multitude which no man can number. Say not, that those who are summoned early from the church below, are taken from the universal church, or from the ministry of the saints, till you know what teachings, what helps, what preparations for final glory, are needed by a multitude of ransomed souls passing thence daily to the realms of immortality. Say not, that they have terminated their ministry to sinners, till you are sure that they are never commissioned to arrest the careless, to uphold the fainting, to stimulate the lukewarm, to approach in season the spirit of the weary, or him who slides upon the verge of ruin, with secret monitions, ineffable supports, and warnings which cannot be uttered; till you are certain there are no such ministers of grace,—say not that the Lord of all, though it be a right of His unquestionable sovereignty, has quite taken away His servant from the church below."*

* Sheppard's Sermon on the Death of a Young Minister.

If this be said in reference to any of the Lord's ministering servants, surely it is more especially applicable to those who have left home and country, and have "hazarded their lives for the name of Jesus Christ." Have we not witnessed the anxiety of such devoted men, when compelled by health, or any other cause, to revisit their native shores ?-how affecting are their prayers for the flock they have left, and how persuasive their entreaties for help in the mighty cause. If there be a disinterested sentiment on earth, a single aim, a pure unmixed feeling, it is that of a Missionary yearning over the people of his charge, and longing to return to them. In that distant region, it is not the praise of man he seeks, but the approving smile of the Saviour; he goes forth to mockery and ill usage; for his love to obtain adversaries, and to make his life the sacrifice of his devotedness. Fearful in his struggle with the powers of darkness, great exercise of faith, and constant supplies of divine grace are needed, to support his fainting spirit, and to encourage him to go forward. Often does he echo the language of the weeping prophet, "Ah, Lord God, I cannot speak, for I am a child,”—or he goes out, like Nehemiah, to mourn and pray for surrounding desolations. Perhaps for a long period he is permitted to toil, and to gather no fruit; or, he is summoned in early years, to give an account of his stewardship. But, in either case, though he departs in peace, with a hope full of immortality, he laments with his dying breath the small progress of his work. He reviews the time he has spent in missionary labours, sorrows over lost opportunities and self-indulgences, and confesses that he has been an unprofitable servant. His last words are a prayer for the heathen.

Can it be, that these intense and holy feelings of interest cease with life? that the departed Missionary is no longer per

mitted to care for sinners, or to be the bearer of glad tidings to them? rather say, What else can be implied, by his "entering into the joy of his Lord?" That joy is, the recovery of a lost world, and the tenderest exercise of love towards those who are rescued. "For thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among the sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." The Missionary on earth was a willing messenger in this divine work, and now he stands in the immediate presence, and is closely assimilated with his Lord, he is able to enter more fully into His gracious designs; with more earnest desire than ever he knew before, he longs for the disfranchisement of Satan's captives, and desires to see the ransomed people brought from the east and the west, to do homage to the Saviour. In the midst of the general assembly and church of the firstborn, he forgets not the little flock he has left, to whom he trusts it is also the Father's good pleasure to give the kingdom; and when he joins the song of praise, he anticipates the union of other voices, which he first guided in prayer. No longer do the infirmities of the flesh weigh down his soul, but it mounts freely at the command of its Master, and untired pursues its glorious course. He has no need to toil in the acquirement of an earthly medium of communication; he has learned the language of Heaven, and speaks to the spirit which is in man. Who can say that he is not made the bearer of sweet promises and precious consolations to his bereaved converts? To one, threatened for the truth's sake with stripes or imprisonment, how powerful would be the gentle touch of an unseen hand striking the chords of memory! To another, the immaterial

« ElőzőTovább »