The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 228

the lit.tie companies of Christians who survived the massacre met for worship in secret• in dens and caves of the mountains, and were in constant danger of their lives. Yet In t.hat_ large island to-day t~ere is a Christian population of nearly three hundred thousand, the idols have been publicly burned, and the Christian religion is publicly recognized by the state. What bath God wrought I Think of the work which Dr. Moffat accom,, plished among the degraded tribes of South Africa, not so many years ago. The con- version of Africaner, the Hottentot chief, under his ministry, is well known. Every one warned Moffat against him as a man who was a terror to the whole neighbourhood, But Moffat thought he was just the man to go to with the gospel. He went, and was t~e means of leading the savage chief to Christ, and "Africaner's changed life con- vmced many, who had never believed in them before, of the eflic.aoy of Christian missions." Think of the progress of Christianity in Japan, in India, in China. The following testimony was recently borne to mission work in China in his report to the Foreign Office by the late British Consul at Newchwang. He says, "The labours of the missionaries indirectly benefit our merchants, manufacturers, and artisans. I further believe that, partly owing to the Christian principles disseminated by the missionaries, the tone of morality among the Chinese people has during the last twenty years perceptibly attained a higher platform." The Rev. William Swanson, a veteran missionary, and lately moderator of the English Presbyterian Church, states that when he went to China twenty-six years ago there were only :five small churches at the treaty ports. Now, in going from Canton to Shanghai, and travelling twenty or twenty-five miles a day, he could sleep every night, with one or two exceptions, in a village having a Christian church. The first time Charles Darwin visited the island of Tierra del Fuego, he said that the people there were irreclaimable. He saw four Christian Fuegians at a meeting in England, and was so impressed by what he heard of the work of the missionaries that he became an annual subscriber to the funds of the Missionary Society, and said he should feel proud if the committee would think :fit to elect him one of its honorary members. When we think of these things, of the wonderful work done in the South Sea Islands, and of the many nations where heathenism has yielded to the preaching of the cross, surely we may well say," What hath God wrought!" To-day, just ae in St. Paul's day, the gospel is" the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." If we doubt the power of the gospel, our doubts are in the face of overwhelming and irresistible facts. III. 'In EVIL RESULTS OF THIS WANT OF FAITH. This want of faith has ill results on life and practice and Christian work. Many who went part of the way with Christ turned back and walked no more with him because of their want of faith, It is so still Want of faith lwds to low ezpectations andfeeble efforts. '!'rue faith in God's presence and power, instead of making us inactive and careless, is the grea~est stimulus to activity. It rouses us to put forth all our energies. It makes us patient under difficulties. It causes us to persevere even when we see no immediate result. How many a good work has been begun, but given up, because of want of faith! This was nf!M'ly being the case at one time with what has since proved one of the most success- ful missions to the heathen. After twelve years' labour in the island of Tahiti, in the Pacific, the mission seemed to be an utter failure. All but one of the missionaries left the South Sea Islands. At home the directors of the London Missionary Society seriously dis- cussed the abandoning of the mission. But two members of the committee, men of strong faith in God and the gospel, strenuously opposed this, and proposed a season of special prayer for a ble~sing on its work. This was agreed to; letters of encouragement were written to the missionaries; and while the ship that bore these letters was on her way to Tahiti, another ship was bearing to England the rejected idols of the people. How had this happened? Some of the missionaries who had left the island were led in some way to return. One morning one of them went out into the fields for meditation, when he heard, with a thrill of joy, the voice of a native raised in prayer to God-the first token that their teaching had been blessed in Tahiti. Soon they heard of others. A Christian Church was formed. The priests publicly burned their idols; and thus, after a night of toil of sixteen years, the dawn at last broke (see 'Outlines of ~rotestant Missions,' by Rev. John Robson, D.D.). What a rebuke to the weak faith of the directors who had proposed to abandon the mission I What a lesson to every minister and missionary, to every Sunday-school teacher, to every Christian worker, not to stay <Jll, XIII, 1-25.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 273