place of refuge. A Deliverer, indeed, is at hand with them; if they did but know where to find him, and how to make their application to him. But they have no man to care for their souls, or to give them the information which they stand in need of. Hence " they perish for lack of knowledge :" not indeed like sheep, by a mere bodily destruction, but under a load of guilt, that sinks them into everlasting perdition ; even into " that lake of fire and brimstone," where they shall " lie down in everlasting burnings."]
And can we doubt what is,
II. Our duty towards them ?
Our blessed Lord has taught it us : has taught it,
1. By his own example —
[He " had compassion on the multitudes." And whence is it that we are so unfeeling towards them ? Is it that the heathen are in so much better state than the Jews who attended the ministry of our Lord ? Were they who had God in the midst of them by his word and ordinances, such objects of compassion ; and are not they who are altogether " without God in the world ? " I say then, again. Whence is it that we perhaps, in the course of our whole lives, have never spent one hour in mourning over their unhappy condition, or in praying to God for them ? Had the smallest interest of our own been in jeopardy, we should have thought of it, and devised means to avert the impending calamity. But for their souls we have felt no anxiety; nor have we put forth any exertions for their welfare. Truly, we have lain in more than brutish apathy, when we ought to have wept over them, as our Lord over Jeru- salem : and to have had great heaviness and continual sorrow in our hearts, as Paul had for his Jewish brethren.]
2. By a particular command —
[" Pray ye," says he, " to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." And who is " the Lord of the harvest," but Jehovah ? for " all souls are his." And who but He can " thrust forth labourers into his harvest^? " For ministration at home, where ease, and honour, and emolu- ment, are found, multitudes are ready to obtrude themselves, and to solicit employment in the sacred office : but when God inquires for labourers in the heathen world, and says, " Who will go for us?" how few are found who are ready to reply, "Here am I; send me^!" No, in truth: there are excuses enough then : one, like Moses, has not the qualifications for so great a work : another has some temporal occupation
a £Kl3u\rj. ^ Isai. vi. 8,