conduct: if you have been happy in your connections at home, strive to prove yourselves worthy of their respect and love, by seeking the companionship of such as you know they would approve; if, on the contrary, you have been intimate with the idle and depraved, as you value your happiness here and hereafter, let not the golden opportunity slip of freeing yourselves from their chains, and cultivating the friendship of those who may be an example and assistance to you in your future course. But there is another motive which should also influence you, of a high and holy character. You are going forth "members of the visible Church of Christ 1, to some part of our vast colonial empire; and it becomes you to bear in mind how closely the subject of colonization is conpected with the spread of the Gospel throughout the world. No man can read the parting charge of our Saviour, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel. to every creature," without feeling what a solemn duty has been laid upon us; nor reflect without shame, that, although eighteen hundred years have elapsed since that command was given, far more than one half of the sons of Adam are still idolaters. If the duty of carrying the light of revelation to the Heathen be incumbent upon all Christians, it is so, most of all, upon us Englishmen, and that because our means and opportunities are greater than those possessed by any other nation. We have commercial, and we ought to have religious, relations with every country in the world. Our ships are, and our missionaries ought to be, every where; we are forward enough to boast the superiority of our reformed faith over other churches, but who can doubt that the great privilege of a purer religious light has been entrusted to us for this great purpose of carrying it to the Heathen? 2 1 See Note A. Appendix I. 2 See Note B. Who but must fear, that it will be withdrawn from us if we forget its intended application? In this blessed work you are invited to take part, and most interesting is the testimony lately given by one of our colonial bishops as to the value of private Christian exertion. The Bishop of Melbourne writes: "The native tribes are so few in number, so dispersed up and down the country, that I do not think a direct mission to them at present would be attended with any prospect of success. "My chief hope is, that God will stir up the hearts of his people at home and in this country, and will, in answer to their prayers, send forth a body of faithful men, who, by the enlightening and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, may be made to experience the power and know the preciousness of the Gospel, and be able, with the Divine blessing, to commend it to the attention and regard of the natives:"-yes, honest, upright, though poor, colonists, who in their own sphere of action would help in the work of evangelising the people; these are the men required, "who, residing each upon his own station, would," as the Bishop adds, "have in many cases an opportunity of doing the work of a missionary, even more effectually than a person appointed thereto." To such men as these, and there is a large class of them, who in England cannot, with their utmost industry, preserve their wives and their children from want, to such men we may with confidence point out Australia and New Zealand 2 as the most advantageous countries for their settlement. The climate is good, provisions are abundant, and the success that attends the honest and industrious agricultural labourer is certain. It is rare indeed that such a colonist should remain a labourer all his life: his wages, if saved, will enable him to purchase either stock for a 2 See Appendix II. 1 See Note C. Appendix I. preaching be the means of awakening thousands in Christian lands from their sleep of sin and indifference, or of bringing multitudes from heathen darkness into God's marvellous light. We read in St. John's Gospel (i. 41, 42.) that Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, when directed by the "Baptist" to the "Lamb of God," "first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ; and he brought him to Jesus." Who, in this case, was the world's greatest benefactor? We might be inclined to point to Peter, as a far more eminent and useful apostle than his brother; yet it was his brother who brought him to Christ. We know that publicly to preach the word, and administer Christ's ordinances, is reserved for Christ's appointed ministers; still, what has now been said may afford encouragement to private Christians, to use all proper efforts in winning over to His cause, those whom the providence of God brings in their way. In attempting this, however, you must constantly bear in mind that your chief concern is with yourselves. In order to success in such a work, a man must be a true Christian himself; the more he excels in meekness, in charity, in holiness, the more successful he may hope to be in leading others to follow his example; unless he is "hid with Christ in God," 1 - unless, as he goes in and out among his fellows, he has (in connection with the great truths of redemption) an abiding and realising sense of death, judgment, and eternity,-unless at morning and at eventide 2 the prayer proceeds from his inmost heart, 1 Colossians, iii. 3. 2 Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide ; "Lord! abide with me,”1 and his daily walk enables him to claim that blessed promise as his own, "He that keepeth my words, he it is that loveth me, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him," 2. he cannot hope to speak to the penitent with that earnestness which would induce them to think, that he believes and feels that which he bids them do. A man must have spiritually viewed and received religious truths before he can effectually declare it to others, and invite them to partake with him of its rich blessings. "Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; "I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless ; Where is Death's sting? where, Grave, thy victory? "Hold thou Thy cross before my closing eyes, Hymn written by the Rev. F. Lyte, Rector of Brixham, 1 Luke, xxiv. 29. 2 John, xiv. 23. But does the love of Christ constrain you? ? 1 and, thus influenced, are you seeking to bring others to him? Let this thought encourage you; how will it deepen your joy throughout eternity to behold even one from the bright band of the redeemed pressing forward to you, and exclaiming "Your patient and gentle warning 2 and exhortation, under God, were the means of leading me here; if it had not been for you, the blackness of darkness would have shrouded me for ever!" And let me suggest another thought: If we have no desire for-if we use no efforts for-the salvation of perishing beings arounds us,—if we seek not to bring them to sweet fellowship with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, is it not because we ourselves have no saving knowledge of the "truth as it is in Jesus? Remember, then, I beseech you, the high and noble mission assigned to your charge; for, what may not your country, what may not the Church of Christ, hope of you, if, with His love, and the love of those for whom He died, in your hearts, you go forth, anxious to show the worldlyminded settler or the poor heathen, while you equal or surpass them in the career of honourable exertion for the temporal happiness of those dependent on you, that you are chiefly mindful of a better, that is a heavenly, country, -and if worldly prosperity is to be valued, that it is only so when united to "godliness, which has the promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come.” And now I would appeal to you, more especially, as members of that pure and apostolical branch of Christ's Church to which it is your privilege to belong. It is but too probable, that to many of you the services and sacraments of our Church will not be often within 1 2 Cor. v. 14. 2 See Note E. |