of the promised land, and on the prosperity to be enjoyed there : whereas the Christian missionary knows assuredly, that every true convert shall possess, in due season, all the glory and felicity of heaven. And if his own converts be but few, still he has a consciousness that distant harvests may arise, when " the handful of corn which he cast on the top of the mountains shall shake like the woods of Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth C And thus he has the consolation to hope, that " others more successful may enter into his labours ; and that he who sowed, and those who reap, shall rejoice together in heaven for ever- more."]
Let me now ask,
1. Whence is it that Missionaries are so greatly wanting ?
[The principles by which Moses was actuated were faith and love. " By faith," we are told, he embarked in this sacred cause, and executed his work with such fidelity11. But we are sadly defective in this grace. We see not with suffi- cient clearness the perishing condition of the heathen, and their need of that remedy which God has put into our hands. Nor do we feel that love for souls, which should overcome our self-love, and make us willing to give up ourselves to this dif- ficult and self-denying work. We do not realize eternity as we ought. O ! if we had just views of the eternal world, how empty would all earthly distinctions appear, and how im- portant the work of missions ! Dear brethren, we all have reason to be ashamed, and especially when we reflect on the wonders of redeeming love. How rich was the Lord Jesus Christ in the bosom of his Father ; and yet, how poor did he become, that we, through his poverty, might be rich ! This is the proper pattern for us to follow: and if once we be imbued with a sense of his love, we shall account it our highest honour to live and die for him.]
2. What is the best possible improvement of our talents —
[I am far from saying that all talent is to be directed in one channel. There is not any department of science wherein the most exalted talents may not be profitably employed. But, of all offices, that of a minister or a missionary is the most exalted. A minister, whether stationary, in the care of a single parish, or moving in the more extended field of a missionary, is the servant, the ambassador, the very repre- sentative of the Most High God ; and, as such, has scope for
B Ps. lxxii.. 16. h Heb. xi. 24.