Missionary alliance 1888.pdf - DSpace

28IN'I'ER .SEMI NARY )lISBIONARY ALLIANCE.THE MOTI VES TO F ORE IGN MISS IONARY WORK. 29Oh! if we could put from us, forever, a1l petty rivalries and ambitionsand self-seeking, and live for humanity in living for Christ. And wemust reach that pl ane of love and benevolence, or the world cannot bereclaimed; and if the world cannotbe thus reclaimed, thell the Gospelis a dream-then Jesus was a dreamer j then the grandest, noblest livesthat have ever been lived were ingpired by a delusion; then all thebright pictures of prophesy are but the unsubstantial fabric of a vision.But these things are real. This old Gospel is all true, every wordof it. Bonevolence' shall yet drive out selfishness from the earth.H eaven is mightier than hell. Christ shall vanquish Belial. Let uslift high in this cODvrntion, and over the whole American church, thebanner of the cross, and wave it as the one flag of sovereignty over allthe govornments and institutions of this world. Let us proclaim for a1learth's afIairs an independence of the despotism of the devil that shallshake the powers of darkness and find an echoing response in ha1lelujahs,from the thrones of light, of all the pure spirits of God's wideuniverse.Au hail the power of Jesus' name;Let angels prostrate fall;Bring forth the royal diademAnd crown him Lord of all.I have somewhere seen related the following incident in connectionwith one of the battles of the war of the rebe1\ion, An army wasmovin g out on its first campaign to its first battle, The men hadmarched . 11 day across tracts of burning sands and had waded manystreams, Many bad fallen out by the way-even horses had failed.They had cheered their weary march with army ~iOn gs. But as eveningdraws on, completely worn out, they hear the boom of the cannon intheir front- the battle is on. The men, unaccustomed to such hardshipsa.nd such sounds, thinking of home, are completely discouraged and disheartened.The general and his officers note with alarm the state of thearmy, Something must be done to cheer these men. The general with8. colonel comes riding ra.pidly up to one who was accustomed to leadthe singing of the regiment, and cries out" for heaven's sake, singsomething to cheer the boys." But what could he sing? They hadsung aod grown weary of all their army fongs. Coronation flashed up' 'd d onh .IS m~n , ao he began " All hail the power of Jesus' name." Withhghtnt~ g speed it Hew up and down the ranks, from regiment to regiment,tIll the entire army ,.-as singing that grand old song, It rose upinto the heavens and it seemed as though the God of battles was marshal­Eing theb'angels and.sending them down the sky to fight h'18 cause.ve.ryt .lng was Instantly changed, The discouraged, disheartened feltan inspIration . of . new , and mighty life swelling their ve'lD,s W'thId ~unt I eSB and inVinCIble courage they sprang forward to the dreadful confilet,and that evening won their first victory and crowned once more..•the old flag with glory. Is the army of the Lord discouraged and disheartenedby the hardships of the way? Let us, then, my brethren, inthe faith of all the bright promises of,the word of God, seeking the fullmanifestation of the divine power t hrough the operations of His holyspirit, cheer on the lagging, trembling host by exalting that name, thatis above every name, and ca\ling upon all the world to put the crown ofuniversal empire on his brow, and to place the scepter of a1l authorityin his pierced right hand. Amen and amen.The M o t ives t o Foreig n Missionary Work.ADDRESS, BY R EV. IIERRICK JOHNSON, D. D., LL. D., MC CORMICK'r UEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, CIIICAG O, ILL.Motive i. that which inHuences the choice, or moves the will.The motives to tb.e work of foreign missions- What are they?Certainly not the associations of culture and refinement; not thegratification of literary or oratorical ambition j not love of one's homeor country or church. These may enter more or less into the springsof our action as connected with work for Christ in our own land' , andthey do doubtless appeal to many in a subtle and potent way, Butthere is no room for them, and no possibility of their action, in persuadingto heathen continents. Nor country, nor kindred, nor church, noradv.ntages of culture and comfort, put in their plea for the darkplaces of idolatry and superstition.Even the '1'om(lnce of missions must now be dropped ant of theenumeration of forces by which men are influenced. Once, this elementof romance in going to dis~ant and unknown populations had itsplace and power.There was a peculiar fascination, to some minds, inthe very uncertainty and shadowy mystery of the foreign mission work.~ut in the full blaze of ou r modern exploration and research, with everyIsland and continent opened and pierced, with limitless possibilities ofinter.communication, with the nations joined)n a kind of conversationclub and talking with each other daily from all around the world theromance of missions no longer plays upon the imagination and lur~s toservice by its nameless charm.What, then, are the great motives by which men are to be constrainedto enter this wide and open door?In praying the Lord of the barvest that He will send forth laborersinto his harvest we are to use the means by which men may be influencedto go; just as in praying the Lord of salvation that H e willrescne the perishing! we are to use the means by which men are to bsaved. Hamilton's aphorism, "There is nothing great in this world bu:man, and nothing great in man but mind," is true only because mind